As a proud 03 SCrew Fx4 with a 5.4, 3.73 LS and Class III towing package, and having recently discovered this site.... I am very interested in making some performance upgrades. My goal is to start by adding SilverStar head and fog lamps followed by a cat back exhaust system (that i haven't decided on yet) high flow intake, and some form of a tune or custom tune. I've been up until 3:00am for about 5 or 6 days now using the "SEARCH" function and researching my choices. I've also been to other sites of similar interest trying to make the best choices possible.


I've read numerous opinions about the various mods i intend to make (in this case since we are in the computer chips forum I am talking about tuning) most of them about satisfied customers and even or a few folks who have not had the best of luck for some reason or another.


I've read alot of threads that Mike Troyer has responded to questions of different members and by just reading a couple of his post I realized that he must be the best salesman that has ever lived. Mr Troyer is about the best I've ever seen at overcoming objections and using every opportunity given to inform us members about the benifits and giving us a reason to buy. Among other things I've been impressed with his knowldege and commitment to this site. I think most people would agree with that....although I have found a few who weren't so happy, but thats to be expected. Overall I'm sold on Troyer Performance.

There are some questions that i really haven't found good answers to.

1. What are the cons to changing the tuning in your truck either with a chip or tuner? ie: causing any long term problems for any part of the vehicle......ENGINE, DRIVETRAIN...ANYTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG OR NEED TO BE REPLACED SOONER!!! I know there has to be some and that's reasonable. I can't think of anything that doesn't have pro's and con's.

I would appreciate an honest response to my question from Mr. Troyer. I just want to make the best choice and not effect the reliability of my only vehichle. I can always buy a different truck for that.


2. With the mods I'm planning on doing Is there anything that will be affected in a way that would cause a need to upgrade another item that doesn't work well because of the changes?...ie torque converter...sensors, anything.

3. In what order should I
perform these changes?

 

I think the only "cons" to chips and tuning is getting it done by just anyone in the buisness. Some tuners are great and others will make changes to your truck that can cause damage over time. Things such as running to much timing, running to lean, disabling torque reduction without proper tranny mods, or cranking up line pressures. Mike can give more detailed info.

Send me an e-mail when your ready for the 9007 Silverstars. I have a brand new pair of them I'll sell you.

Mike is the man on F150's and will do you right. I am going to get him to work me up a SCT 9100 when I get the coin. I'm going to need traction bars before the SCT so I am shopping for those now.

 

When you decide to make a change to youre truck I would recomend first talking to Mike Troyer. When I started upgrading my 2001 supercrew I baught what i thaught were parts to upgrade my truck, not that the parts were bad ,but some parts work better when mixed than others. Mike does a lot of R&D and best knows what works on a 6000 pound truck. What might work on a mustang will hurt the performance on a truck.
All of Mike's combinations have been dyno tested and will work together to make youre truck what you want. He will take all the time necessary and talk to you to determine what you want from youre truck before he sells you part one. This way you will be happy with the outcome and if you wish you can add to youre comination as time comes.
The only down side to a custom tune is wishing you did it sooner.
Take it from me do it once and do it right, do it Mike's way. Mike is always there to help He did my tune nearly a year ago and when I call he has a file out with everything that's been done so when you upgrade ther is no questions and no guessing. Call Mike the man is impresive!!!!!!
NO BULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

sloth,

I understand your concern about mods that will affect other parts when subjected to greater stress caused by the increase in performance. Mike's systems are planned out to insure that their installation will not cause something else to break. Rest assured if you change out a part that will cause another one to fail Mike will tell you about it. Call Mike and tell him what you want to accomplish and he will guide you in the right direction. I have discussed at length what I want to do to my truck and Mike's been doing the tuning for it since I brought it back from the dealer. He recently programmed a custom 4 bank chip for my 4.6 to a 5.4 swap. He knows how I drive it and expressed concern over the rev limit I had on the 4.6 not being compatible with the 5.4. The rev limit is set to his recommendation and I could not be happier with the results.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

Hello sloth,

>>>I would appreciate an honest response to my question from Mr. Troyer.<<<

I'll make this very simple - any time I tell someone something, it's "an honest response."

Your concerns, which are indeed very appropriate, are actually no different from everyone else's. *Nobody* wants to see their engine or transmission ruined from some idiot that doesn't know what they're doing monkeying with the PCM's program trying to be a tuner, or some lame-brained chipmaker who's on a mission to make the claim of "highest power gain" by doing things that will endanger the powertrain, etc. These are very expensive vehicles, and all owners share that same basic concern, trust me. Now you *will* see me talk a lot about us getting the best results in power & performance, as we've been performance tuning the F-150 platform longer than anyone else, we specialize in these trucks. But you will also see us often speak of this in terms of the best "safe & sustainable" improvements - that's a very important aspect to all F-150 owners.

What matters far more than an engine's potential peak power output when pushed to the limit, is how that vehicle is actually operated and maintained - that's what has the largest effect on your engine's service life, assuming some over-eager (and poorly informed) vehicle owner doesn't try strapping on a 12 PSI supercharger on the stock factory pistons, for example. I mention that as a specific example because unfortunately, there are far too many who try to do just that because some vendor told them they can run 12 PSI boost on stock pistons - wrong answer, that's a ticking time bomb. So it really gets down to a matter of using common sense in your modifications, as well as working with a reputable & well-known vendor who is an expert in this platform and has been in business doing this for many years.

Its' very simple when dealing with us.....

1.) There will be *no* reduction in powertrain service life from our tuning - period. The engine will last as long as it would with the stock factory program, and the friction materials inside the automatic transmission will actually last a bit longer, thanks to the reduced slippage. About the only thing you will see us talking about replacing sooner are things that need more frequent replacement even in stock trim, compared to what the automaker lists on their maintenance schedules - things like replacing the upstream O2 sensors every 30K-50K miles instead of never - like replacing the fuel filter every 15K miles instead of the factory-recommended 30K mile interval, etc. etc.

2.) I don't see any inherent problem with your proposed modifications - there's nothing trick or complicated or "involved" in anything you've listed, it's all very standard & basic stuff that properly done, couldn't hurt your vehicle. You will find those headlamp bulbs won't last as long as the stock units, but they're a good choice and are exactly what I'm running in our trucks here.

Now it *is* important to the results exactly which specific brands of parts you use (especially in the areas of tuning and exhaust), so you don't end up sacrificing lower-rpm torque for a few more HP at high RPM's - you need *both*, and there are parts that will achieve just that.

What I'd suggest is to spend some time on our web site over at www.TroyerPerformance.com - read up on our tuning, intakes, exhaust & other performance parts, as well as our Stage 1-5 performance packages, etc. In particular, our Stage 1 kit using our custom tuning would be the hot tip, as that gives you the best tuning, the best intake, and the best cat-back exhaust all in one package, for those who can afford to do more than one mod at a time and can thus take advantage of our package pricing. Or you can always do the mods one at a time - whatever fits your budget & desires.

And of course, please feel free to give us a call at our number listed below & we'll be happy to go over any question you may have, as well as let you know exactly which parts you should use in each area of modification to get the highest quality and the best safe & sustainable performance improvements.

You're absolutely right to be concerned about your expensive new vehicle, so I'm glad you're exercising caution up front - a loaded SuperCrew like that will sticker for over $40K these days, and for most people, it's the second-largest expenditure we'll ever make - second only to our homes! So it's darned important to make sure you're not going to be making some inherent compromise of your vehicle's engine, etc. when doing performance mods!

Thanks for your post, & I hope this info helps a bit - don't hesitate to call us to go over all of this, and make sure to check out our web site, too.

Best of luck whatever you decide,

 

wow- a local boy!