Should I look at intake/exhaust then tune or tune first? Seems the tune does a lot of good in these Fords.

 

You'll get the most noticeable gains with the tuner over those other mods.

 

Get the tuner!!!!!

 

Oh yea and do it right away takes awhile for the whole process to go through.

 

Man, that tis a BEAUTIFUL 2006 Lincoln Mark LT - very nice!

In terms of the order of bang for the buck, here it is: Tuning, intake, and then exhaust, in that order - that is the actual order of bang for the buck - meaning amount of performance improvement per dollar spent.

I advise doing all 3 of course, and that is actually our Stage 1 package - ordering it that way gets you the lowest total price on everything, but we do realize some people can't do all 3 mods at once. So if you have to choose 1 mod to get started with, go with our custom tuning, hands down it's the #1 mod.

Congrats on that fantastic Mark LT truck - I'm jealous!

 

sandslinger450, please make that signature much smaller, that makes the forum very hard to read when having to scroll down a page to see the next thread.

 

Sweet truck...let's trade

 

He did

 

I'd be happy to trade for that truck myself!

 

Just as long as we are trading truck payments as well.............

 

Yeah, I would imagine the payments on that Lincoln are pretty serious - though ours are too, actually. On our last new F-150, we put nothing down, A-planned it, and financed it for a short period, so the payments are probably comparable to yours.

However, I doubt you're really want to part with that beautiful Mark LT - I've been a "Mark" nut all my life, fro the Mark 1 all the way thru the Mark 8, and not the Mark LT truck - love 'em all. And truth be told, after the supercharger, headers, intake, exhaust, ignition, e-fans, pulleys and so many other mods we have done, we're not gonna trade ours away any time soon, either!

Congrats on a fantastic truck!

 

I seem to remember that the Troyer custom tune takes into consideration the mods already installed.

If you do the tune first and then the intake and exhaust, don't you have to go back and modify the tune? If so, is there a cost associated with this?

If you do have to pay extra to re-tune the vehicle, why not do the other mods first and only do the tune once?

Beautiful truck and the right color also!

Enjoy.

 

Thanks, I kinda like it and think I'll keep it around for awhile. Also thanks for the advice. The payment is steep as I'm also a $0 down low finance at 2.9% buyer.

 

How does the PCM work on these trucks? Is the tune stored in a EPROM that you swap with another when you "tune"? It seems counter-intuitive that you would tune first and then add mods. I have a Z06 that I tune myself using my laptop and tuning software and I always tune after I make a change which alters the amount of fuel or air that enters the engine. Just curious why it's done in reverse on the F150?

 

Hi Les ( & others),

Just some quick FYI here to dispel some common misconceptions that LOT of people tend to naturally have about these thigns............

No, it's not true that you have to retune when you do other bolt-on modifications like a properly designed intake kit, ANY cat-back exhaust system, headers, electric fans, underdrive pulleys, etc., on these F-series (and most other mass-air) vehicles. We can do the custom tuning first, as at most people do since our custom tuning is the best bang for the buck performance mod, then add other mods as the budget allows without needing to retune as long as quality parts are used. Now if you did a supercharger, different MAF setup, involved mods like cam changes, ported heads, etc., then you may need further tuning - but that is easily done via email, & you'd have to have that done anyway just to be able to run *those* types of mods, so it's really not applicable. There really is is no reason anyone needs to wait to do the tuning last when doing any of the typical bolt-on mods when *we* do the custom tuning.

Now in general, there are some computer controlled vehicles where you DO need to retune after simple "airflow" mods - the newer Harley motorcycles are an one example, as just installing a low-restriction air filter causes a need for retuning, as the darn thing will run dead lean with a low-res air filter setup or a free-flowing exhaust - but that is a rare exception, and a motorcycle that does not used closed loop - it runs in open loop all the time anyway, and thus there is no adaptive like you have in the typical mass-air vehicle with conventional closed loop/open loop transition operations.

As for the Corvette Z06 (drool, drool), that does NOT need to be retuned for airflow types of mods if the tuning is done properly to being with AND a properly designed air intake kit is used - and I emphasize the **properly designed** part on the intake kits, as many of them are not properly designed and throw of the transfer function quite a bit, and thus CAN cause a need for tuning changes. Interestingly, most of the newer Z-6's also have a unique problem of using way too much spark advance in the mid-range, causing it to be in knock-retard much of the time even in bone-stock trim (the driver rarely actually hears any *audible* detonation, as the knock sensor system catches it too quickly) and just fixing that adds anywhere from 20 to as much as 28-30 more Hp at the rear wheels in certain rpm ranges.

The bottom line is, in mass-air vehicles, with proper tuning in the first place, it is almost unheard of to need to retune for something like a **properly designed** cold air intake kit, or a cat-back exhaust system, etc., later on - doing so reflects tuning that something was not set up correctly in the tuning in the first place (for example, there are things you can easily do to allow even for intake kits that alter the transfer function a good deal that will not affect normal operations when you do NOT have an intake kit installed) - OR - in some intake kits, just like has been seen in some 5.4 3V F-150's, if the intake Kit is not properly designed to begin with so that it ends up vastly altering the MAF transfer function, then yes, that could potentially require some touching up - but this is precisely why we test every intake kit made for these vehicles and thus we know which ones are actually designed properly and do not cause problems with the transfer function and thus do not need any tuning to compensate for, just for one common type of bolt-on modification example.

This is just some quick FYI for you - the bottom line is, in these F-150's, a decently designed intake kit does NOT cause a need for retuning, and NO cat-back exhaust system causes that need, either - nor do most other bolt-on modifications. We specialize in this platform and so we test so very many parts released to see just what's what, so we generally know pretty well what parts do what to the vehicle, which are worthwhile, etc. We have to, so that we can properly advise our customers on which units to go with so they don't have problems, get the best actual power & performance improvements, quality, etc.

It's pretty simple when you do the proper R&D up front - but then, that is something that so few companies do these days, and few vehicle owners really understand just how all of this really works and thus what needs to be done to do this type of evaluation/R&D (just like I wouldn't have a clue how to pilot a 757!!)

Just kinda thinking out loud here trying to share relevant info, gentlemen, & thanks for your posts.............

Last - for the gentleman with the Z06 - I'm SO JEALOUS! What a way-cool car! I've been a life-long Corvette nut, having owned 13 of them (including the last Z07 ever made) and am having a very hard time holding off on picking up the new 500 HP (normally aspirated!) Z06 Corvette - enjoy that beautiful car & best of luck with it!