Xcalibrator & 1714 shift point (question)
I have an Xcalibrator and my first to second gear shift point is 5100 rpm’s and my second to third gear shift is 5250 rpm’s at WOT. What’s yours?
If you specify to Mike exactly what you want you can get it. He told me himself that these engines produce the best ET's (if that is what you are tuning for) if they shift out of 1st at 5600rpm. Although that is a bit high to spool the engine.
I suggest 5400rpm 1st gear shift and the same for 2-3 shift. When I dyno'd my truck I made max power at around 5400rpm.
When I get my Excalibrator I am tuning for maximum performance. The highest Mike can tune me I am going to let him. I am installing a tach in a few days (I have a base XL model...no tach) and I will adjust the tunes as needed. Granted I will have to have Mike retune the Excal if it needs it. Or, I can opt for the online retunes sent via e-mail and you can load them into the tuner I do believe. Mike, please clarify this.
That may help you. If you feel higher shift points will help you, have Mike send you a different tune.
I suggest 5400rpm 1st gear shift and the same for 2-3 shift. When I dyno'd my truck I made max power at around 5400rpm.
When I get my Excalibrator I am tuning for maximum performance. The highest Mike can tune me I am going to let him. I am installing a tach in a few days (I have a base XL model...no tach) and I will adjust the tunes as needed. Granted I will have to have Mike retune the Excal if it needs it. Or, I can opt for the online retunes sent via e-mail and you can load them into the tuner I do believe. Mike, please clarify this.
That may help you. If you feel higher shift points will help you, have Mike send you a different tune.
chucks bp hit the nail on the head. The factory tach in my Lightning was around 400rpm off, and believe it or not the tach in my Cobra was a whopping 700 rpm off. Both read lower than they actually were. Ford tachs are SLOW in responding to the actual engine RPM....
I can imagine that the factory tach is probably off a little but it seems to be fairly close because it does show 5100rpm for the 1-2 up-shift and 5250rpm for the 2-3 up-shift. The stock tune shifts out at 4900rpm according to the tach.
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Gentlemen,
It's largely a waste of time to worry about what every tach shows on every different truck for every upshift - or try to determine where everyone *else* thinks their truck is shifting at, etc, etc.
No, your factory tach (or any electronic tach) is NOT that accurate - not even from gear to gear. This is very basic, and Chuck & Marc hit the nail on the head it's your TACH that is of, NOT your shift points!
Your engine gains rpms much quicker in 1st gear than in second, and much quicker in 2nd than in 3rd, and so forth..........so it's off the most on a full-throttle 1-2 shift, of course! About the only time you can hope the electronic tach is particularly close to accurate is when cruising at a relatively steady speed & rpm - NOT when accelerating at heavy throttle. Not only that, but we do NOT set everyone's WOT upshift points at exactly the same place, all the time, in every single tune, in every single truck - that would hardly be appropriate, nor would that be CUSTOM, for that matter.
Simply put - your 2004 & 2005 trucks are shifting right where they are supposed to at full-throttle with our tuning, gentleman. Remember, at full-throttle most of these tachs are going to indicate either higher or lower than actual rpms - and in the case of a full-throttle 1-2 upshift, more often than not they are going to indicate less rpm than the engine is actually turning, as they can't keep up - that's why sometimes the automakers will make an electronic change to offset that engine acceleration rate skew and sometimes overshoot, indicating MORE rpms than the engine is actually turning. In other words, it's an ELECTRONIC tach, and a FACTORY unit to boot - so don't sweat it, is our advice.
For those who *insist* on an accurate tachometer at WOT, we DO have a solution - we do actually offer a conventional distributor ignition retrofit/conversion for these coil-on-plug 5.4 motors and can provide cable-driven tachometers so you get a much more accurate tach reading (and hotter ignition). The distributor is driven off one of the camshaft's gears, and exits the front of the cam cover, and will have to have traditional spark plug wires, etc. But only *you* can decide if that is really worth the roughly $1500+ that will cost at a minimum, not including installation - personally, I don't think so.
I hope that info helps & have fun!
It's largely a waste of time to worry about what every tach shows on every different truck for every upshift - or try to determine where everyone *else* thinks their truck is shifting at, etc, etc.
No, your factory tach (or any electronic tach) is NOT that accurate - not even from gear to gear. This is very basic, and Chuck & Marc hit the nail on the head it's your TACH that is of, NOT your shift points!
Your engine gains rpms much quicker in 1st gear than in second, and much quicker in 2nd than in 3rd, and so forth..........so it's off the most on a full-throttle 1-2 shift, of course! About the only time you can hope the electronic tach is particularly close to accurate is when cruising at a relatively steady speed & rpm - NOT when accelerating at heavy throttle. Not only that, but we do NOT set everyone's WOT upshift points at exactly the same place, all the time, in every single tune, in every single truck - that would hardly be appropriate, nor would that be CUSTOM, for that matter.

Simply put - your 2004 & 2005 trucks are shifting right where they are supposed to at full-throttle with our tuning, gentleman. Remember, at full-throttle most of these tachs are going to indicate either higher or lower than actual rpms - and in the case of a full-throttle 1-2 upshift, more often than not they are going to indicate less rpm than the engine is actually turning, as they can't keep up - that's why sometimes the automakers will make an electronic change to offset that engine acceleration rate skew and sometimes overshoot, indicating MORE rpms than the engine is actually turning. In other words, it's an ELECTRONIC tach, and a FACTORY unit to boot - so don't sweat it, is our advice.

For those who *insist* on an accurate tachometer at WOT, we DO have a solution - we do actually offer a conventional distributor ignition retrofit/conversion for these coil-on-plug 5.4 motors and can provide cable-driven tachometers so you get a much more accurate tach reading (and hotter ignition). The distributor is driven off one of the camshaft's gears, and exits the front of the cam cover, and will have to have traditional spark plug wires, etc. But only *you* can decide if that is really worth the roughly $1500+ that will cost at a minimum, not including installation - personally, I don't think so.
I hope that info helps & have fun!
Gentlemen,
It's largely a waste of time to worry about what every tach shows on every different truck for every upshift - or try to determine where everyone *else* thinks their truck is shifting at, etc, etc.
No, your factory tach (or any electronic tach) is NOT that accurate - not even from gear to gear. This is very basic, and Chuck & Marc hit the nail on the head it's your TACH that is of, NOT your shift points!
Your engine gains rpms much quicker in 1st gear than in second, and much quicker in 2nd than in 3rd, and so forth..........so it's off the most on a full-throttle 1-2 shift, of course! About the only time you can hope the electronic tach is particularly close to accurate is when cruising at a relatively steady speed & rpm - NOT when accelerating at heavy throttle. Not only that, but we do NOT set everyone's WOT upshift points at exactly the same place, all the time, in every single tune, in every single truck - that would hardly be appropriate, nor would that be CUSTOM, for that matter.
Simply put - your 2004 & 2005 trucks are shifting right where they are supposed to at full-throttle with our tuning, gentleman. Remember, at full-throttle most of these tachs are going to indicate either higher or lower than actual rpms - and in the case of a full-throttle 1-2 upshift, more often than not they are going to indicate less rpm than the engine is actually turning, as they can't keep up - that's why sometimes the automakers will make an electronic change to offset that engine acceleration rate skew and sometimes overshoot, indicating MORE rpms than the engine is actually turning. In other words, it's an ELECTRONIC tach, and a FACTORY unit to boot - so don't sweat it, is our advice.
For those who *insist* on an accurate tachometer at WOT, we DO have a solution - we do actually offer a conventional distributor ignition retrofit/conversion for these coil-on-plug 5.4 motors and can provide cable-driven tachometers so you get a much more accurate tach reading (and hotter ignition). The distributor is driven off one of the camshaft's gears, and exits the front of the cam cover, and will have to have traditional spark plug wires, etc. But only *you* can decide if that is really worth the roughly $1500+ that will cost at a minimum, not including installation - personally, I don't think so.
I hope that info helps & have fun!
It's largely a waste of time to worry about what every tach shows on every different truck for every upshift - or try to determine where everyone *else* thinks their truck is shifting at, etc, etc.
No, your factory tach (or any electronic tach) is NOT that accurate - not even from gear to gear. This is very basic, and Chuck & Marc hit the nail on the head it's your TACH that is of, NOT your shift points!
Your engine gains rpms much quicker in 1st gear than in second, and much quicker in 2nd than in 3rd, and so forth..........so it's off the most on a full-throttle 1-2 shift, of course! About the only time you can hope the electronic tach is particularly close to accurate is when cruising at a relatively steady speed & rpm - NOT when accelerating at heavy throttle. Not only that, but we do NOT set everyone's WOT upshift points at exactly the same place, all the time, in every single tune, in every single truck - that would hardly be appropriate, nor would that be CUSTOM, for that matter.

Simply put - your 2004 & 2005 trucks are shifting right where they are supposed to at full-throttle with our tuning, gentleman. Remember, at full-throttle most of these tachs are going to indicate either higher or lower than actual rpms - and in the case of a full-throttle 1-2 upshift, more often than not they are going to indicate less rpm than the engine is actually turning, as they can't keep up - that's why sometimes the automakers will make an electronic change to offset that engine acceleration rate skew and sometimes overshoot, indicating MORE rpms than the engine is actually turning. In other words, it's an ELECTRONIC tach, and a FACTORY unit to boot - so don't sweat it, is our advice.

For those who *insist* on an accurate tachometer at WOT, we DO have a solution - we do actually offer a conventional distributor ignition retrofit/conversion for these coil-on-plug 5.4 motors and can provide cable-driven tachometers so you get a much more accurate tach reading (and hotter ignition). The distributor is driven off one of the camshaft's gears, and exits the front of the cam cover, and will have to have traditional spark plug wires, etc. But only *you* can decide if that is really worth the roughly $1500+ that will cost at a minimum, not including installation - personally, I don't think so.
I hope that info helps & have fun!


