Its almost winter time so i plan on holding off putting any more "extra" money into my truck untill spring time. Having hopefully saved a good amount of money over the winter, i plan on putting in

1. underdrive pulleys
2. Magnaflow high flow cats
3. 285/70/16 or 285/75/16 (whichever one is biggest) BFT AT KO's
4. gator back belt
5. Hellwig rear anti-sway bar (maybe)

Now, presuming that i actually get all of these things ordered and put in to my truck, would it be best for me to sell my 1715 superchips tuner on ebay or something and order the 9100 superchips tuner with a *custom tune*? Or will the 1715 still give me enough power/compensation for loss of power, or peferably more power with the extra add ons? I like the 1715 in everyway, except for the fact that i feel, and this is only "feel" like i lost some low end power, but thats not really a problem now, put it will be when the bigger tires are on. (and tires will be the first thing i purchase after winter, then definitely the pullys)

So any help or suggestions on the future mods. that i should put in or shouldn't put in will be greatly appreciated, as well as "should i get a 9100 after all that stuff is installed, or can i keep the 1715, save some money and still have relatively increased power from an outdated programmer"? THANKS EVERYONE!!!

 

none of the mods you listed require an updated tune. the 1715 works good, 9100 works better. you will lose some more low end with the bigger tires. I've used the 1715 with all those mods and the 9100 is an improvement over it. you decide. IMO i'd add the mods and keep the 1715 to see what you think, buy the 9100 later and sell the 1715 or use it for a back-up.
Randy

 

Hi Delta,

The mods you have listed will still work OK using the 1715 Micro Tuner.

However, when using underdrive pulleys and larger tires, I prefer to do a custom tune - not only because you'll get significantly higher power & performance gains from our custom tuning, but more importantly, to insure you get the normal alternator output at idle (thinking of driving at night in summer, pull up to a stoplight when you have everything on, the A/C, headlights, radio, etc., and you're at the lowest engine rpms - idling in gear) and so you have more power steering assist to turn those larger tires when stationary, for example. Now that is not a "must" by any means (unless you have 34-35" tires), don't get me wrong - you can still use the 1715 with the mods you listed (though I don't know what other mods you have on your vehicle right now, so I'm just *assuming* that your current mods are compatible with the 1715). But between the 50% larger power gains from our custom tuning, and having that idle speed in gear up a little bit to get full normal power steering assist for larger tires, that is what I would prefer to do.

Another thing you'll want to know about, as it can have a significant effect on your decision to have us do a custom tune or not, is that in some of these F-150's the additional power gain from our custom tuning is even more than 50% higher than what you get with the 1715 - there are some computer codes that are just terrible from the factory, not even allowing open loop operation, long delays, etc. What I would suggest here is to give us a call with your vehicle's computer code (if you don't know how to find it, we can go over that with you very quickly too, it's easy to find) and I can take a look at it while we're on the phone and let you know just what kind of shape your vehicle's computer code is in, and what kind of additional power & performance gains we're going to see on your individual vehicle from our custom tuning, as compared to the results with the 1715 - will it be the normal 50% larger power gain over the 1715, or will it be even more? If your particular truck's computer code is one of those that has problems from the factory, then that allows us to make an even higher *additional* power gain than normal using our custom tuning. Some can't go into open loop at all, others can, but there are long delays before they'll go open loop (full power mode), etc. There are some of these trucks that even on 87 octane, we can gain another 10-15 HP additional power gain over the 1715 just by fixing those kinds of problems, for example.

You might want to also go back and review some posts from those who have used both the 1715 and our custom tuning in the 9100 on their vehicle - like some of Randy's (watsonr) earlier posts, where he compared our custom tuning to the 1715 on his truck & said it felt like he got twice the performance improvement with our custom tuning over the 1715. We've spent a good deal of time dialing in the tuning on his truck, which has a very rare and difficult code to tune - one that some other chipmakers didn't want to touch - and he's provided excellent feedback & review, etc. on that tuning in his previous posts. They make for good informative reading on the difference between Superchips "standard" performance tuning in the 1715 versus our in-depth custom tuning in the 9100.

Another F-150 Online member who has done even more thorough testing of both the 1715 and the 9100 loaded with our custom tuning is a member going by the screen name "openclasspro" - Phil Kanarkowski (I hope I spelled that right, Phil). Now in Phil's case, he also tested at the drag strip, testing the 1715, the Diablo tuning and then our custom tuning in the 9100 - our custom tuning blew them all away by a large margin - his truck ran 4 tenths quicker in the 1/4 mile with our custom tuning over the next closest results! That's quite a bit more additional performance gain - whether someone drag races or not, or is doing towing, or however they use their vehicle, the additional power & performance is always welcome in these vehicles.

That's just some FYI stuff in case you'd like to check out what others have done in comparing our custom tuning to the 1715 Micro Tuner.....................

The Magnaflow hi-flow cats, when properly installed, will still allow your vehicle's OBD-II system to function properly, so that's not a problem, in case you might be wondering. One thing to think about in that regard is the cost versus the power gain on the hi-flow cats. Because of the custom pipe bending required (which any competent exhaust shop can easily do), figure that the installation of those cats will cost probably as much as the cats themselves. Now on a typical F-150 with say, an intake kit, our custom tuning and a good cat-back exhaust (like Magnaflow), figure that you're going to see somewhere around 7-9 more HP at the rear wheels from doing the hi-flow cats. I mention this only because depending on what all you have done to your vehicle, there might be better bang-for-the-buck mods - say, like converting over to electric fans, just for one example. Again, I don't know what all you have done to your vehicle at this point.

If you'd like to go over any of this in more detail, please feel free to give us a call - we can go over what all is currently installed on your vehicle, then go over each of your proposed mods, and let you know the bang-for-the-buck value, and we may make some other suggestions for you to consider - just a thought.

Best of luck whatever you decide,

 

AWSOME!!!

I never thought that i would ever have the chance or need to call you since i thought all these things i want to do to my truck are pretty much the basic bolt on applications. I did not know that different codes affect the performance given out by the tuner, so that will be something i'm looking forward to finding out when i contact you. I'll probably try calling tomarrow because i have alot of hw i need to get done, and i dont want to be over excited and not concentrate. quick question - does it matter that i am not planning on buying any of this equiptment or possibly a new tuner until much farther away, like april (my birthday/spring/more money!!) ?? I'd love to find this info out now so i look forward to something for my truck through winter - but i do not want to waste your time-i know your very busy.

At any rate, your help is very much appreciated, as well as too all those who post reply's to everybody's questions!
thanks again and i'll call real soon!

oh yea current mods -
airforce one intake
flowmaster force II exhaust
1715 programmer (with only 1 tune)
thats all i have for actual peformance on my truck

 

Hi Delta,

OK, with the mods you have now, and those you're going to do next spring, you can still use your 1715.

I do recommend having us do a custom tune as well, for 2 reasons - first, because compared to the original single-program 1715's premium gas tow-safe tune, our custom tuning will add another 15-20 more HP - and that's just from the tuning alone, you'll still see the other additional power gains from the other mods (pulleys, etc.). Then second, because we can also address the higher idle speed in gear that we'd like to see for the underdrives & bigger tires, etc.

So the bottom line is - you can still use the 1715 with next year's mods if you want - or, to basically double the performance gain that your 1715 gave you, go with our custom tuning when your budget permits. Either way it's up to you.

Best of luck whatever you decide,