I have run the superchips programming for a year or more now and have not noticed a big difference from the stock tuning even with a K&N filter and open airbox. (its a 98 150 with the 5.4) Superchips claims 10 - 15% more hp, that comes out to 23 - 35 hp over stock. That seems like it would be quite noticable. I can feel a small difference in throttle response but not much in overall power. I did recieve my new header yesterday and will install soon. I assume this should help it wake up a bit more and help with 3" dynomax cat back. What are your opinions?

 

If you got a generic chip tune, it may not have the program changes that make enough difference.
A custom tune is the best way to go.
The PCMs have all sort of running program changes and may be why yours has not lived up to expectations.

 

While it's certainly true that our custom tuning will yield the best results, that is *not* the problem here - the power gains are correctly stated by Superchips.

The *real* problem is that you are *guessing* at the performance by the seat of the pants feel - and that is the absolute worst way to try to judge the performance of any part, on any vehicle - especially a 2.5-3 ton pickup truck or SUV!

If you ever did any properly controlled before & after 0-60 or 1/4 mile times, etc., you would have instantly seen that you are in fact getting solid power/performance gains. Use the SEARCH feature here to look up any of our many past posts regarding how to do properly controlled testing to identify the actual performance gains from your tuning and follow them - do that and you will quickly see that, done correctly, there are immediate & measurable performance improvements.

Just don't try judging any performance part by the seat of the pants feel, as that simply does not work - that is nothing more than pure guesswork, my friend. Trying to call into question the manufacturer's thoroughly tested power gains (which I have witnessed & duplicated many, many times personally) by guessing via seat of the pants feel is the *real* problem here - not any misrepresentation or revision issues, etc.

I hope that info helps & good luck!

 

Mike, I wasn't really trying to put down the 1715 tuner as I have read many good post about it here. I was however expecting more 'seat of the pants' improvement as it seemed like others got. I was wondering if there may be something that may be holding it back that you might be able to recognize more easily than I could. I understand that the vehicle is very heavy but, I figured I would still be able to "feel" a 20+ hp gain. I have cleaned the MAF sensor thinking it may be 'gummed up' from running the K&N. How much of an improvement can realistically expected from an aftermarked intake eg. airraid or FIPK?

Again, thanks for any advice / help.

 

Hi.

A 20 hp increase on a 6000lb/260 hp truck ( for example), represents only about a 7% change in the hp/weight ratio.. which is probably below the threshold of detection by the majority of the butt-dyno population.

Consider: a 20 hp increase ( say jetting and a new pipe) on a 500 lb/160 hp sportbike is on the order of 13%, and according to most pundits is sorta detectable. Damn thing is fast already ;-)).. and detection is marginal because of sensory overload due to the ridiculously low hp/weight ratio... Yee-haw.

Now consider the same 6000 lb truck, but with a blower strapped on, giving a *conservative* 100hp increase. That translates into a whopping 31% change in hp/weight. You are gonna feel that me thinks ;-)). If it's the right kind of blower, the instant availability of low-end torque is what is noticed first.

The measured changes in ET, however minor to significant, are real and are the only true objective measure of any gains.

There is the placebo effect in evidence too... and part of the perception relates to where the torque builds in the first place. Heck, some manufacturers have been playing with throttle 'tip-in' curves to fool people into thinking a vehicle is quick, when it really isn't.

What is not as easily quantifiable but nevertheless an improvement perceptually is the aggregate increases in the *responsiveness* overall of the vehicle as mods are added ( escpecially custom tuning) This truly is what transforms the driving experience. Reduced time-constants/delays, crisper tranny shifting, engine control optimizations ( tuning ), reduced parasitic losses (efans/pullies), better exhaust scavenging ( engineered catback ), etc, etc. Big grins!

An admittedly simplistic approach to an explanation of why you can't trust your jeans-to-seat interface ;-)), but perceptions still count.

Cheers

 

Hi malongway,

Understood, & no problem at all, my friend - and I hope I didn't come off "too strong" in my response, that does sometimes happen when I'm typing out a written response - I'm not the best at expressing what I'm thinking in words (I'm a terrible writer), so what I'm trying to express in a matter-of-fact manner via the written word sometimes leaves a "harsher" impression when read that is *not* actually intended!

One of the problems inherent here in all of this is that you see so many of the "WOW!" type of posts here that sometimes, people (and I think it's quite natural) tend to sometimes expect these heavy trucks to feel like a rocketship just from tuning. Some people feel a 20 HP gain and it makes a big impression on them, while others simply can't feel a 20 HP gain at all in such a heavy vehicle - and everything in between.

Now while a good performance tune *is* the single best bang fort the buck mod, I wouldn't say that everyone is really going to feel a "WOW" kind of result in the seat of the pants - in fact, in our custom tuning documentation we send to each of our custom tuning customers, we specifically tell them NOT to try evaluating ANY performance modification or part by the seat of the pants, and go over a couple of methods of how to identify just what a given change actually did for the vehicle.

Now with regards to a K&N FIPK kit installed on say, a 1999-2003 5.4 2-valve F-150, it gains about 14-15 HP SAE Net at the flywheel (averaging 8-11 Hp rear wheel, depending on the dyno & test method) - where an Air Force One will gain right at 17.9 HP at the flywheel, just to give you a rough comparison. In the 4.6's, it's about a 10-12 HP gain flywheel. So the intake is not going to do as much for performance as tuning will, but a good intake kit is the #2 best bang-for-the-buck mod, generally speaking - depending on what the upshift points are in an automatic, sometimes our underdrive pulley set will actually be the #2 best bang-for-the-buck mod, but I prefer to do the intake kit before the underdrives, myself.

I hope that gives you a bit of perspective on this, and please feel free to give us a call to go over any aspects of your vehicle's performance, improving it's performance, what mods to drop in what order for best bang for the buck and what specific parts to use, etc. - that's what we specialize in, of course.

Thanks for your post & good luck!