Mike et al,

Unfortunately, I cannot access my email at this time, so I need to ask here. It may be appropriate for more than just myself. Anyway, I have a Flip chip, and want to go with the Apten port. Will my chip need to be reburned? Thanks.

 

Hi baddgene,

Good to see you again!

I'm *very* glad you asked, as a number of people have gotten into some problems by not checking on this up front, some of them still don't know why they hurt the engine, while others don't' even know they are a ticking time bomb, etc - and there are vendors out there selling these port jobs who don't have a clue that this is a serious potential problem.

First - there's no "problem: with that port job - it's working well, it's the *results* that you have to know about.

The reality is, you'll need more than just a "reburn," you'll need new custom tuning and you'll also need to upgrade the MAF meter, too, as you will peak it most of the time with the "Apten" (which is actually done by Steigmeier out in St Louis) port job, due to the increased cfm's & engine loading. The power gain isn't gigantic with that port job, 18-30 Hp at the rear wheels depending on pulley size & tuning - certainly worth doing and we're big fans of that porting work on the Eaton M112 blower. But the increase in flow thru the MAF is usually enough to peak the 90mm MAF in the 2001-2004 SVT Lightnings when running any raised-boost pulley and the port job.

Here's what we see - Running a 4 PSI pulley & the ported blower, about 65%-75% of the time (2 out of 3) you'll peak the stock 90mm MAF - and then with anything more than a 4psi pulley (say, a 6 PSI pulley or a 4 PSI lower and *any* upper pulley), you will virtually always peak the stock MAF with that ported blower.

So...........

To run the ported blower and any raised-boost pulley *safely*, you should count on needing to upgrade the MAF meter as well as a new custom tuning, to be installed at the same time the ported blower goes on. We can handle all of that for you, no problem.

Basically, it's time to get into a 4-bank style custom tune anyway, at this point - the single-bank 2 program Flip Chips, while fine for their day and will continue to work well for your present setup, are older technology and no custom tuning is being done using them any more - that stopped back in late 2003. So the way for you to get into the tuning you'll need is to get a new custom chip (or custom hand-held tuner), too - we can work a trade-up deal with you, where you can get something out of that existing Flip Chip to offset a part of the cost of the new multi-program custom chip or multi-program custom tuner. And we normally recommend going the tuner route as opposed to the chip, just so that you do not have any limitations with regard to scan tools or dataloggers that can be used as you have with some scan tools (like Ford's WDS system) when using any chip attached to the J3 connector.

So that's the scoop (briefly) - please feel free to give us a call to go over this in proper detail, go over your various options, costs, results, etc., as always we'll be happy to help.

Thanks for dropping by again & talk to you soon!