If i am planning on completely redoing the ingnition system, plugs, wires, control unit, coils, etc., what would be the purpose of the superchip if my truck is a manual? should i do the chip over the ignition, or a combo of the two?

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The TRUCK:
1999 Black F150 XLT Sport 4x4 Flareside, 4.6 Triton V-8, Manual Transmission, Captains Chairs, Power Everything.

Appearance Changes:
Button-down Tonneau Cover, Webasto Sunroof, Spray-on Bed-liner, Xenon Fog and Headlights, Blackwidow Car Alarm, Window Tint, Wet Okole Seats (ALL).

Stereo:
2 10" Kicker CompVR's on Fosgate 360a2, Kicker Components Front & Fosgate 5x7 Rear on Fosgate 200a4, Blaupunkt Muchen Deck.

Performance:
265/70 R17 Yokohama Geolandar A/T+, Borla Split-Rear Cat-Back Exhaust, K&N FIPK.

 

coolsvile,

Igngition mods will strengthen your spark and control the timing over the spark. This will help improve combustion efficiency and depending on the unit you get rev limiters, etc.

A chip can alter timing and fuel curves and other programmed functions.

You can do both, they both have a seperate function.

 

The differences I found when I added a chip to both my manual F150 4.6 and my manual PSD. You will feel the increased power right away. When shifting, I noticed that my shift points had changed. I was going faster and reving up higher (with still more power to spare). By the time I got into 4th gear, if there had been a cop around, I would have had a ticket. I also found that for situations like, passing or merging into moving traffic, I had more power to get that truck out and moving. Both trucks became more fun to drive. I've not done any ignition upgrades so I can't advise you there. But as far as the Superchip, I loved what it did for my F150 and it was the first mod I did to my new PSD.

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2k F250 CC SWB 6 speed 4x2 Diesel XLT Super Duty, Woodland Green
Power Mirrors, 3.73 LS, Captains Chairs, ARE tonneau top, rear privacy glass
TT Pkg, Class IV hitch, sliding rear window, running boards, mud flaps
265/75/16 AS OWL tires, am/fm/cassette/cd, rechargable MagLite
Clarion APA 5240 amp, Memphis speakers:Components front, 5x7 rear, 10"sub
SuperChip, Stepshields, Ventshields on windows, rubber bed mat
rugged liner bedliner on tailgate, quick disconnect jumper cables
unaFORDable (decal on tailgate) Western Diesel Turbo Brake (whoa boy)
Finally gauges!!: Pyrometer & Boost on the A-Pillar mount

 

Hi coolsvile,

Ignition system upgrades in these late-model vehicles are completely separate from what the Superchip does. Ignition system upgrades give you basically a hotter spark, and some can give you multi-spark and rev limiting functions, but they cannot extend your rev limiter, they can only reduce it; to increase your rev limiter requires changing the computer's program. The Superchip controls exactly how much spark advance, fuel delivery curves, rev limiter & top speed limiters, etc., so it addresses the computer's actual program, which ignition system upgrades cannot do.

In terms of ignition system upgrades in your 1999 F-150, the only things I would do are better plug wires if you don't have the coil-on-plug system (Ford has started putting the C.O.P. system on some of their 4.6's in other vehicles already), and better spark plugs, I prefer the Bosch Platinum+4 myself, NGK's are also a decent plug. That's about all I would do when not running a supercharger, simply because you're not going to see much in the way of actual power gains from doing ignition mods. They're good mods, they're just not your typical power-gaining mods like chips, intake kits & exhaust changes, etc., that's all. Some people prefer to have the hottest possible ignition, and if you feel that way, that's fine, by all means have fun.

On the typical 4.6 F-150's without the coil-on-plug system, if you want to do a full ignition upgrade, you might want to take a look at Accel's 300 series system, and see if it's compatible with your vehicle; if so, it's a nice upgrade for the money. It's not a big power gainer, but it's a nice upgrade that will get you better throttle response and perhaps even a little bit better mileage, as well as a few more ponies. The factory plug wires in the non-coil-on-plug systems are pretty poor, with very high resistance, typically over 1000 ohms per ft. Any decent aftermarket wire is generally going to have less than 100 ohms of resistance per ft., so it's always worth doing a quality set of plug wires & plugs, at least.

The Superchip will not need to have it's program adjusted for ignition system upgrades generally speaking, so you'll be in good shape there, you can use both the Superchip and ignition system mods if you want to.

One thing to remember is that your engine is going to gain the same amount of power as the automatic F-150's do from the Superchip; the only difference is that since you don't have an automatic, there are no shift characteristics to change like we do in the automatics. Manual-transmission vehicles benefit from installing the Superchip too.

If you'd like to go over this in detail, please feel free to give us a shout, we're always happy to help if we can.

Good luck with your truck,

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
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