Hmm where to start. I guess from the beginning, so I can describe how I came to decide that Mike Troyer and his crew at Troyer Performance is SIMPLY THE BEST. They are the best at tuning and customer service.
In september 2005 I went to a troyer dyno day, so that my truck could be the test vehicle for custom tunning versus superchips canned tuning. I'll include the links to the dyno results of my stock tune and troyers tune. I forgot to scan the superchips in, but will tomorrow. Just a quick break down of what happen. My truck was stock except for drop in K&N Air filter and Full Boar cat back dual exhaust.

Stock Dyno: HP= 215, TQ= 246
SuperChips: HP= 224, TQ= 248
Troyer Tune: HP= 241, TQ= 297

After the dyno I put on the 3.25 AF1, but couldn't stick around to get another dyno run.(had the wife with me and had to go)

In March/April 2007 I put 35 Inch tires and 2.5 AS Lift on truck and needed to revisist Mike to retune, since I had the old firmware on my xcal 2 and wanted to get it on the dyno again. Mike set me up with some new tunes, and my 3.25 AF1 had a crack in it so Mike put on a 3.5 tube for me and retuned. After about a month, the truck just didn't feel the same, slight throttle lag and cruise control had problem. I called Troyer up and talked with Neal, who was very helpfull, but I felt like my truck could perform better then it was at the time. I thought the 3.5 AF1 was giving me problems, so like an idiot with no patience, I sold it and bought a JLT short ram air intake. I also tried some other tuners, which I've posted results in a different thread https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...60+1%2F4+times. Still I wasn't real confident in my truck and wanted Mike to look at it. Once I've gotten to speak to Mike he asked me to come down as soon as I can so he can see what is going on with his tunes and the truck. I have such a busy schedule with travelling and such, Mike told me whenever I can make it down to come down and he can get me on the dyno. I eventually was able to make it down and boy was Murphy on my back. The power went out and I couldn't get on the dyno that day. Again Mike told me anytime I can make it down he would get me in and on the dyno right away. He said that he believes the tunes that he made me got corrupt. I got to make it back down yesterday.
Mike got me up on the dyno and we did a run with the JLT Intake on the dyno. It was very depressing seeing the results. 221HP, and 293 TQ. Now when I left Mike's place when he put on the 3.5 AF1, my truck was putting out 247 HP and 301-304 Tq. I thought that the JLT was performing better and the 0-60 times I posted in the other post troyers tune with AF1 didn't seem to perform well.(Those times were with my stopwatch) Mike decide to put another 3.5 AF1 on and did a quick tune for my truck to get a baseline before dialing it in. Basically it was what I would have gotten if he emailed me a tune. The performance difference was amazing. 250 HP and 311 TQ. Again this would have been a mail order custom tune from Mike not a dyno dialed in tune. You can see the difference between the JLT intake and Tune vs. Mikes was about 29 hp and 18 Tq. Mike did some adjustment after looking at the data and the numbers came down a bit, but then he found out exactly what my truck liked and got me 251hp, and 311TQ. It just goes to show that when Mike sends out a tune even though he doesn't have your vehicle on the dyno it is spot on. It was amazing seeing Mike work also. He isn't happy until he knows it's the best. I understand why it takes so long for custom tuning now. I was there from 10am-5pm. With Mike working on my vehicle. Then when he was satisfied with the result we did a road test. That even further my respect for Mike. He wanted to make sure that there wasn't any problems which I was experiencing before with the slight throttle lag. Boy the truck finally performed like I expected. By far this is the best performance I've gotten out of my truck in since I owned it. When we came back from the road test Anita was in the office and asked if the truck performed any better. I told her the first thing that came to my mine "HELLLL YEAHHHHHH".

Continue next post

 

Continued from last post

In closing If anyone has any doubt about Mikes tuning or performance or about the AF1 intake just erase it from your mind. I know from first hand experience that the AF1 is a WAYYYYYY BETTER INTAKE then the JLT. His tunes are far more superior then any other tune I've tried. And here is the list of ones I tried: Bama chips-customer service isn't the best, tune was soso had problems with shifting; BrendSpeed- Decent customer service, tune is problem the 2nd best next to troyers new tune; Innovated Diesel-Excellent customer service, Tune was very, very well but couldn't get the lean condition fixed for 3.5 AF1, but very good tune(This tune would be the closes to Mikes and would be my vote for 2nd best if not running lean; VMP Tuning-customer service okay, tune was okay had problems with shifting, but got it worked out after couple weeks of emails; Brent Hughes DTP Racing(JLT's recommended tuner)Good customer service, tune was all right; MIKE TROYER-EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE, TUNE IS SIMPLY THE BEST......
Mike I want to public express my thanks and gratitude for all the time and effort you and your crew has put into getting my vehicle to where it should be. Your customer service and dedication to your customers is number one. If everyone could experience your the time and effort you put into every tune, they would understand why the wait for their tune is the way it is. Thanks again, and if everything goes good, I'll be seeing u for a blower hehe. Hopefully sooner then later.

Also I did a 0-60 Time with Mikes tune and it was 7.10 logged with a dashhawk. And the Air intake temperature difference between the AF1 and JLT is the AF1 is approximately 15-20 degrees hotter then ambient temp, and the JLT is 35-40 degrees hotter them ambient temp, now this is driving at speeds from 45-80. Sitting the temp difference goes up more. The AF1 is 25-30, and the JLT is 40-50 hotter then ambient temp.

Here is the links to the dyno numbers
https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?num=14226

 

EXACTLY the reason mike is the only one that will tune my ford vehicles-i want safe and maximum power- if my van is out of commision-so is my livelihood-my .02$ phil kanarkowski

 

Basically the same reason as me ordering the Troyer tunes.
I had the Edge and added the AF1 intake and it ran scarry lean.It ran bad enough that on my 0-60 times i lost 1 second I finally took the edge out and am just running the 3in AF1 until i get my tunes.I have a long wait but in the end i know i will have the safest and most reliable power that can be made in my truck .Also from past orders i know Troyers customer service is the best out there IMO

 

Would love to take mine to Mike's shop and put it on the dyno to see if I'm getting all I can out of it. You summed up though I went with Mike and his custom tunes over anything else though.

 

yep mike hits it spot on from the get go. i made the trip up in aug 06 for dyno day. he made one pull on dyno with my truck and saw it was spot on right off bat, no changes needed.

 

Hi Ski,

Thanks for that wonderful post (and everyone else for their kind words, too). We're delighted that we have again shown that the best F-150 tuning comes from Troyer Performance (okay, shameless plug, sorry!).

A couple of points - the 0-60 times Ski just logged are perhaps under a bit hotter conditions than the previous runs on other tunes, as it's later into summer. And one of the other tunes that gave the quickest times also gave continual lean codes - leaner makes more power, but is obviously not safe to run. Some may see some of the previous 0-60 times and think ours wasn't that much of an improvement - but it's safe and the realty is if they had been done with our normal controlled methods here at the shop, the differential would have been even more.

I was only a bit surprised that the other tuner's 93 octane tune & JLT intake only put down a best of 221 HP - our dyno is known to be somewhat "stingy", as we all know. Then our very first tune right out of the box with no tweaking made 250-251 RWHP in round numbers, beating them by 30 RWHP - about 10 of which is due to the AF1 and the other 20 is due to the tuning, roughly - and is just like we send them out via mail order, no dyno tweaking, and was also with very heavy 35" tires, so I have to confess I was happy as I was hoping for maybe 239-240 with those HUGE 35's, of Ski's, bigger & heavier than most I have seen.

Ski has been such a good sport all thru this - I was determined that no matter what the dyno said, we were going to prove that nobody else can *safely* do for the actual performance what we do on these trucks. So we asked him to come back in so we could prove not only the AF1 intake, but also our tuning was simply the best. There are some additional things we could have done to make his power numbers even higher and 0-60 times even lower, but we wanted his truck to be more representative of what we send out via mail order rather than a dyno queen on a drag-race only type of tune - maximum safe & sustainable power, that is what it's about on a street-driven vehicle. Ski has allowed us to tune his vehicle since he bought it, and we have updated several times through the years. His truck was one of the 2004/2005's that ran lean stock, as the first time I dyno'd it years ago it ran 15.0:1 A/F's right from the factory! We later determined that this was due to the O2 sensors being contaminated with anti-seize at the factory, so we have suggested that he change the O2 sensors, as I am convinced that we will make even more power once that is done and adaptive goes to work. As I told Ski, I wish I could have had another whole day with his truck - we're so **** about our tuning, there are so many things we like to test when we have extended access to the same vehicle.

We also tested another aspect to our tuning that can now add some additional power to 5.4 3V's on premium gas, and we incorporated that into Ski's new tunes - I feel that if we could have dyno'd his truck earlier in the day when we first made 251 right out of the box with our initial baseline tune with these new changes, that we could have gotten it up higher - maybe closer to 260 RWHP even with those heavy 35's on his particular truck - the fact that later in the day with hotter temps & higher humidity we were able to get it back up to 250-251 RWHP shows this clearly. Though we used SAE corrections, higher humidity puts more load on the ignition system and reduces power, and correction factors cannot take into consideration the harder job the ignition has to do when humidity goes up, so overall, after the many pulls we made and changes we tried, getting it back up to 251 RWHP at the hottest & most humid point of the day was a very good result.
I am also very pleased by his 7.1 second 0-60 time given the conditions and his 35" tires with stock gearing - given all of that, it's nothing short of amazing.

AS we told Ski, every few months we throw everything right out the window and completely do all new tuning R&D from scratch - this is how we keep fresh and stay on top of our game - but this also adds some time to our tuning - but it's one of many things we do to provide the best possible tuning & performance results, no matter how the vehicle is used.

Last - my apologies for not being here as often as I used to be lately, but we are determined to get as many tunes done as possible as we know some of you have been waiting beyond the 5-6 week time period we initially estimated - for example, we got almost 20 sets of CPW's in on 4/24 alone - so instead of spending time here typing, we have to count on you guys to let people know where to go for their F-150 performance needs and we must spend our time tuning, tuning, tuning - thanks for your understanding, you guys are simply the greatest bunch of people to work with, and we are honored to serve you. And thanks once again to Ski for working with us!

 

I run my Edge and the AF1 and have no problems...How do you know you are running 'scarry lean'?

 

I just did another 0-60 this morning, my air intake temp was 55 degrees it pulled a 6.78. When it pulled 7.10 the intake temp was 86 degrees. Just thought I would throw that out there. Colder is better. Oh and that's with 35's and Mikes wonderfull 93 performance tune 3.5 af1.

 

Do you have the 4.6 or 5.4???

I spent allot of time and money on parts to try to fix the lean condition i had with the edge and AF1 combo.My truck ran great with just the edge and when i added the AF1 it ran lean.You could feel it right at the point of detonating in most rpm ranges.What i have found out is that the edge programmer makes most of it's power by leaning the motor out.The edge is a set tune made to fit a wide variety of vehicles and i could not change any of the tuning adjustments except at WOT.I could make it run good by increasing the WOT fuel way up.It would then run great at WOT but everywhere else it still ran like chit.I have also found that by decreasing timing i could make it run better but all that did was cost me power.I was honestly scared it was gonna blow up I then started doing fuel pressure cheacks and it was within specs.I decided to just go ahead and install a Walbro 190LPH fuel pump.I also put in a new motorcraft fuel pressure regulator and a fuel filter with no change in the way it ran.So then i started playing with different levels on the edge.I found that level 3 ran better than level 2 but not by much.I finally returned the truck back to stock and it ran great on the stock tune of my truck.I have been running it that way for months now and it runs great.I also tried loading the edge tunes back in numerous times with no results.I also reset the comp to try to make it relearn everything many times.I am not sure if this was just on my particular truck with the AF1 combo and the 5.4 engine or what.My comp code is ATC2.I know there is nothing wrong with my truck because it runs great except when i did that specific combo.Like i said i have been running the stock tune now for months and it's fine so i know it was the edge.So i am waiting for my tunes from Mike so i don't have to worry about it.I spoke to Mike and Neal at TP and they both said that the edge leans the motor out some to make power and any CAI will lean the motor out some.Depending on Intake design just how much it will go lean.The final thing is if combined does it go lean enough to put the truck over the limit.My truck did!!!!!Others may not notice this on their particular trucks depending on engine size,CAI they bought and maybe even comp code.
So this time on my tuner choice i will not have to worry about a lean condition!!

Kevin

 

I have the 4.6L. Doesn't sound like fun. I'm actually looking forward to custom tunes as well ..Still need to get that order in...

What happens when you think its running lean? Are you getting flickering CEL? Loud pinging? Just curious..

Thanks..

 

Hey my truck never kicked a CEL but you could feel it hesitating.It would also bog very badly.No accelerating power by part throttle,only at WOT if i increased WOT fuel.Gas mileage average went up to over 20mpg average for gas.You could also feel it missing in certain points of throttle.It also did do some pinging.I assume these positions were where it ran very lean.Oh and when you pull a couple plugs to cheack they are completely white,no tan color.No fun,ya got that rightOh and did i forget the truck had absolutely no nutz

I doubt you will have a prob with the 4.6!!

 

aem makes a great wideband that is pretty easy on wallet and lets u keep a good eye on air fuel ratios and ablitlity to data log a/f for mike so no trip to dyno is needed to check a/f ratios. best mod yet bedside mikes tuning

 

I think i am going to cheack into something to read the A/F ratios.Anyone know how much they are roughly.Are there any on the market that will do other things besides reading A/F ratios.

 

kevin follow my lead what i'm doin-msd dashawk-accepts a wide band fuel air rattio gauge-like aem- also shows many things- mine is getting mounted above my rear view mirror -i have a link to mount-phil