My truck is a Ford F-150 FX4, 5.4L, single cab. I placed a 2.5" level kit in the front and a 3" rear block in order to fit the 35/12.5/18 tires. The tires are BFG Mud Terrain KM2. I mainly use the truck in the city to get to work, i have never used it for towing. I do a lot of highway driving, approximately 150 miles twice every other week. I use regular gas, 87 octane, but i have heard that using octane 91 or 93 gives you more power with the gryphon. Anyways, i ordered my gryphon today, level 1 (tranny) with 87 octane, level 2 (tow) with 87, and level 3 (performance) with 91 octane. I talked to bill from php who recommended i drive using the level 2, but i was wondering if i should just go with the level 3, 91 octane? or should i change my order to level 3 with 87 octane? what do you guys recommend? i am new to this and i have no idea which one to use.

 

Mine I have a performance 87 level 2 is a custom tow tune and level 3 is a performance 94 tune.

 

Hey, maybe I can help. With your setup, you could definitely go with the canned tunes. (We're all for using the canned tunes whenever possible to avoid the custom tune charge!) However, if you normally drive using 87 octane fuel, then ordering that 87 custom perf tune was a good idea. With a higher octane fuel, you would notice a bit more power after about 60% throttle, but if you're doing so much driving in the city, you probably won't see that benefit very often. Honestly, I'd say that the majority of our customers order an 87 performance tune to use for their daily driver. Especially if they order only one tune -- that's the one they request and then they can always use the CANNED 87 Tow.

 

Level 2 (canned 87 Towing) FTW. It puts a smile on my face every time I touch the pedal. I even let my dad iv the truck and he had very few words to say as usual but I could tell by the distance we drove and the number of times he smiled was directly proportionate to his right foot pushing towards the floor. I asked what he thought because we drove a few blocks on stock tune and then went to level 2, he was impressed. Instead of a 1 minute trip around a few blocks, we drove for about 5-10 minutes and kept going around in larger block circles than originally planned, lol.

 

Corey and yetti96, thanks for your help!....Corey, i think i'll just stick to what i ordered, the level 2 (87octane) and level 3 (91 octane). If i dont like the feel of the level 2, i can always switch it to level 3 (using the 91 octane) and vice versa, right? or once i switch it to level 3 i cannot lower it back to level 2? ..........again, i'm sorry for dumb questions!!

 

Something you all may want to consider, this is happening here in NH and I can only guess it is or will happen else where. More and more gas stations are dropping the higher octane fuels and are only selling regular.

Just another effect of our wonderful economy...

 

No, you can switch back and forth between any of these tunes to your heart's desire. Just be careful going from Level 2 to Level 3 - You need to make sure your tank is FULL of 91+ octane gas, since the spark is advanced in Level 3. Coming back down to Level 2 is not such a problem, but the truck will probably feel like a dog until you get most of the 91 octane gas out, since now your spark will be retarded for the gas you are using.

I was perfectly happy using the canned Level 2 tune all the time until I got Bill's custom Level 2 tune. Then I was even happier!

- Jack

 

JackandJanet, you are awesome, thanks for your advice!!....i'll try it out, if for some reason i dont like the feel of 91 octane, i'll just return it to bill for a custom 87 performance, just like you.....thanks again buddy!!

 

I may have misled you, chito. I NEVER tried any 91 octane tune. I just don't think our engines are set up to use this gas efficiently at their compression ratio. So, while I know you can burn the high-priced stuff, and you can advance the spark to try to take advantage of the "smoother" burning performance of it, I never felt it was worth the expense. I was happy with 87 octane tunes all along.

But again, balance the results against the costs. If you really like the way it drives on the expensive stuff, it's worth it! If you can see a percentage increase in mpg that exceeds the percentage increase in fuel cost, it's worth it!

I didn't try. Bluejay did. And, he liked the results. But, not enough to make the switch to the expensive stuff. (Did I get this right, Jim)?

And, I've found 87 octane gas is pretty much available at any gas station I stop at. So, that's what I use. (At high altitudes though, I can use 86 or 85 with no ill effects).

- Jack

 

I'm not real sure what exactly is being asked and said, so I will just recap my experience.

I bought the Edge about 50,000 miles ago, when my truck had about 31,000 on it. I tried level 2 and it did not do what I needed. I do a lot of driving on 2 lane highways and city freeways where quick acceleration, sometimes even at highr speeds, is very important. The level 2 fades rapidly over 2000 rpms as it is a towing tune, delivering most of it's torque at lower rpm. Level 3 fit my needs better as it pulled all the way till you had to let off. I found that I could run 93 octane on level 3 for the same cost as 87 on level 2, since I got 11% better mileage with level 3 and 93 octane. I was reasonably happy for about 30,000 miles. The one thing lacking was a good downshift pattern. There were speeds where it would just not downshift, leaving you exposed at times. I gave in, ordered an 87 Perf tune and a 93 Perf tune from PHP. I was amazed. The 87 Performance tune was as strong as the level 3 canned tune and the downshifting was awesome. My 93 Perf tune is stronger, but I really don't NEED it, but I do run it occasionally, just for fun.

Hope this is helpful.

 

ok, i called PHP today and changed my order to 87 perf tune, which i will use instead of the level 3 canned tune. Will ship on monday, cant wait!!!