Chip Vs. Programmer
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Joined: Mar 2001
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From: Roanoke, TX, USA
Chip Vs. Programmer
I have a 2001 Supercrew (4.6 auto) and I am slowly turning it into a 4 door Lightning. I am very much looking forward to a supercharger some day but other stuff first. I wanted to know the pros/cons with chips and programmers. Which one will work best for me as I will continue to upgrade the truck after the purchase of the chip/programmer. I am already leaning toward the programmer because I have the lightning wheels and tires and need to re-calibrate the speedo.
Thanks,
Mike Rader
Thanks,
Mike Rader
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Hi Mike,
Well, nobody with a hand-held programmer does anything other than completely generic programs that are compromised to run on all similar vehicles, instead of being made for each individual vehicle as we (Superchips) do. Also, they only tune the engine on full-throttle, so they really aren't very beneficial to actual power gains or performance increases.
Hypertech is the only company currently shipping a hand-held programmer (ours will not be released until it's actually required via a design change in FoMoCo ECU's, the R&D has been going on for a long time already), and even they are only shipping for an extremely limited number of these late-model FoMoCo vehicles. Few of their speedo corrections in these late-model FoMoCo's actually work correctly (they are having better success on their GM speedo recals), we have customers calling us frequently with reports of those changes working in reverse and increasing the error instead of correcting it, etc.
The addressability issue will soon be cleared up enabling us to correct the speedos in the 2001 & newer units, so I wouldn't be too concerned with that issue of using a "chip" or a "programmer" per se, it's the quality of the actual powertrain program that really matters at that point.
Since you are doing serious modifications, supercharging, etc. you'll need top-shelf custom programming services, so the main thing that really matters is the quality of the powertrain program, the "carrier" is of next to no concern as long as you can get done what you need to get done.
If you like, please feel free to give us a call, and we can go over all of this in much greater detail than we can here, so you can giove it some thought at your convenience.
Sounds like this is going to be a fun project and a way-cool vehicle, you've got me somewhat excited for you already! It'll be great to see a Super Crew laying down some serious performance.
Well, nobody with a hand-held programmer does anything other than completely generic programs that are compromised to run on all similar vehicles, instead of being made for each individual vehicle as we (Superchips) do. Also, they only tune the engine on full-throttle, so they really aren't very beneficial to actual power gains or performance increases.
Hypertech is the only company currently shipping a hand-held programmer (ours will not be released until it's actually required via a design change in FoMoCo ECU's, the R&D has been going on for a long time already), and even they are only shipping for an extremely limited number of these late-model FoMoCo vehicles. Few of their speedo corrections in these late-model FoMoCo's actually work correctly (they are having better success on their GM speedo recals), we have customers calling us frequently with reports of those changes working in reverse and increasing the error instead of correcting it, etc.
The addressability issue will soon be cleared up enabling us to correct the speedos in the 2001 & newer units, so I wouldn't be too concerned with that issue of using a "chip" or a "programmer" per se, it's the quality of the actual powertrain program that really matters at that point.
Since you are doing serious modifications, supercharging, etc. you'll need top-shelf custom programming services, so the main thing that really matters is the quality of the powertrain program, the "carrier" is of next to no concern as long as you can get done what you need to get done.
If you like, please feel free to give us a call, and we can go over all of this in much greater detail than we can here, so you can giove it some thought at your convenience.
Sounds like this is going to be a fun project and a way-cool vehicle, you've got me somewhat excited for you already! It'll be great to see a Super Crew laying down some serious performance.