Does a chip really affect the amount of throttle necessary to cause a downshift? In other words, is it possible to custom program the chip (in each gear) what amount of thottle (with obvious rpm limitations) will trigger the lower gear?

If not, is it possible that the line pressure increase caused by the chip could affect it?

Reasoning is, I would swear my diablosport downshifted much quikcer and with much less throttle application than the supership. I would also swear that the superchip jumps through gears faster than the diablo at low throttle. I end up in overdrive very quickly with light throttle. I also would mention here that the superchip shifts much firmer than the diablo and hence triggers my question about either program or line pressure, neither, or both, are causing it.

Since I don't care about 1-2 mpg differences, I would like to see my truck shift with light application of throttle (Except out of OD) but not do it to run the rpms up. In other words, if I am cruising around at, say, 65, and I am turning 1700 rpms, and I push a small amount of throttle, I don't mind the truck jumping to 2200 and then going back again to get the thing moving forward. I know this a subjective call as I know some just want the torque without the downshift....

And finally, Mike, can you program Diablos with a custom program to increase the shift firmness a little over the standard setting?

Thanks,

Ken

 

Hi Ken,

To answer some of your basic questions, yes, a chip can affect how much throttle is requried to effect a downshift, but it's usually not a good idea to start playing with that in most cases, as it can cause other symptoms & "cascading" effects, and you can end up chasing all kinds of other problems as a result. It's not possible to make it more prone to downshift with less throttle pressure without running the rpms up, that goes hand in hand of course. Yes, that is a custom program, which requires a fair amount of work to do correctly, so it will require a custom programming fee. For those details, just give us a shout privately, please.

What has to be remembered is that these vehicles are setup mechanically & electronically with fuel mileage in mind first and foremost, from A to Z, even as poor gas mileage as they get, tremendous efforts have been gone to to get the mileage they do deliver. One of the key aspects is turning as few rpms as possible.

You're usually far better off raising the part-throttle upshift points a bit, so that you don't have to make it downshift so much to begin with, than messing with % of throttle required to affect a downshift. We've been thru this a number of times in the F-150's. However, either can be done in a custom program, and yes, we can also increase your shift firmness as well, sure!

The Superchip upshifts sooner at light throttle simply because it has more torque. We do not make any changes to those light-throttle shift *points* (we change other shift characterstics on part-throttle but the actual shift *point* isn't one of them in our "standard" performance program for each computer code) at all, in fact, the only shift *point* we routinely change is the full-throttle upshift point, for maximum acceleration at full-throttle.

The part-throttle shifts are controlled by very sophisticated factory algorithms that take into consideration vehicle speed & throttle position versus load, among other factors, and they work very well for the most part.

However, I know exactly what you're talking about here Ken, as we're F-150 specialists, and if you'd like us to make a custom program for you, that can certainly be done, please just give us a call when you get a chance, and let's take some time to go over this thoroughly, to come up with a solid plan for the program changes to get you the exact result you're looking for.

Nice talking with you, & look forward to hearing form you in the future!