Well I received my flip chip and airforce 1 from Mike yesterday. I did notice a difference, but it sure ain't no mustang, yet. I had a couple of problems that I thought I'd share with you all on here that are about to order the same thing. First off I installed the FIPK. The hardests thing about taking off the stock parts is pulling the air temp sensor out of that rubber grommet. I thought I was gonna break it. Then it came time to install the FIPK and the venturi that connects to the filter on one side and on the other side connects to the mass air sensor(MAF) is too small! The holes did not line up for the bolts to bolt them together, I had to redrill them. And the venturi that comes with the FIPK is smaller in diameter than the stock MAF. Well I called air force one and they said Ford changed suppliers for the 2001 model MAF, and that it was ok to drill new holes, and even though the venturi is smaller in diameter it will not make a difference in performance? I thought the whole reason to do this was to increase air flow, but this piece seems to be restricting air flow. MIKE, is this OK? Also once I got it bolted together there was a gap between the venturi and the MAF and if you held it up to the light you could see daylight. So I took some blue silicone gasket sealant and ran me a bead on the venturi so when they are bolted together it formed a gasket. Again Mike, is this OK. Other than that it was pretty easy to hook up, but I have a question to other air force one owners out there. When I start her up with the hood open and rev it up I notice the tube shakes a lot, is this normal? It seems like it might break after a couple of months or years of this. Anyone notice this?

Now I started on my chip. The only problem I had was getting the computer out. I had to remove the battery and the tray to get to the bolt in the wiring harness. And I didn't realize the bolt was what HELD the harness into the computer. I thought you just loosened the bolt and UNCLIPPED the harness from the computer, similar to every other electrical harness. But you need to unscrew the bolt ALL THE WAY. Just thought I'd pass that along. Once I got the computer out it was a piece of cake, but be warned once you unscrew the computer and open it up to clean the coating, it smells like a sweaty pig! I don't know why but that circuit board had quite a smell. Just passing that along for FYI in case they start a "Who wants to be an F-150 Millionaire"
But seriously, I cleaned those contacts like the instruction said, carefully wiping them with an alcohol soaked q-tip every 5 minutes or so, then I decided to try it out. Put the chip in, installed the computer, hooked up the battery, and guess what, IT STARTED FIRST CRANK! After reading all the problems about cleaning the contacts I thought I would have to try this numerous times, but I got it on the first time. So its not that hard guys if anybody is thinking about it. I went for a 2 mile test drive and I love the sound from that fipk and I can definitely feel firmer shifts, but as far as power I couldn't really tell in only 2 miles. I'm gonna go find my two brother in laws and their chevy ext cab 1500 and then I'll see if I got more power once we put them side by side. But that will have to wait for another day because today I have some tailgating to do! College football baby!

Mike, I'm not complaining at all about the airforce one, I just thought I'd pass on the info to other future owners, and as for the questions, it's not bothering me enough to bother calling you on the weekend, so I posted it here so when you have time you can answer my questions. I read a couple of posts and the instructions that said to CALL YOU and not post, but like I said, this is not a problem for me, I would just like for you to reassure me that the smaller diameter and the gasket I did is alright. Either way I'm still gonna enjoy the hell out of both mods! Thanks Mike.

 

Hi cajunscrew,

Thanks for your detailed post.

Yes, what Air Force One told you is correct, so you're in good shape, not to worry. We've just started seeing a few 2001 vehicles with MAF's with a little bit larger bolt hole pattern like that here very recently; it's completely random, and luckily, it's an easy work-around. Air Force One is already making changes to accommodate that out of the box, by enlarging those holes a bit. The vast majority of 2001's don't have that, but there are a few that will, it's just another minor production variance.

Yes, doing the bead of silicon to seal as you mentioned works just fine, we've done that on a couple F-150's as well. That is required once in a while, and when that happens it's due to the MAF not being well machined from the factory, specifically, not being completely flat, it's not a problem with the Air Force One kit itself. The deal on the black piece (the venturi/MAF adaptor) is that it is machined far more precisely than the factory mass airflow meter's mating surface is, that black plastic piece is specially machined to be perfectly flat, it's not just sent as it comes out of the mold. That way, we know that if the MAF doesn't seal perfectly on there, it's a problem with the MAF's mating surface not being flat, and not a problem with the AF1's piece; that is precisely why that AF1 piece is machined flat. If your MAF's mating surface isn't perfectly flat, and some of them aren't, then you need to use just a thin bead of silicone around the circumfernece of the MAF where it mates to the venturi adaptor, and that takes care of it quickly. That too is being addressed, as AF1 is going to start including a gasket to use, just in case anyone doesn't want to do a silicon seal if need be. The gasket material has to be thick & compressable, to accommodate a non-flat MAF. Personally, I prefer to silicon seal method.

All in all, everything sounds just fine with your installation, it sounds like you did everything as required.

Speaking of that venturi/MAF adaptor, it's *supposed* to have that "flute" on other end like that, that's the venturi design, to accelerate that airflow when it exits that area by creating a pressure drop on the other side.

With regards to your comments on the installation of the chip, in our additional Performance Products documentation that we send out with every Superchip we ship, we point out that the 10mm bolt is an integral part of the wiring harness "hub", and that it is not going to be removed, just loosened. We mention specifically to loosen it until you can detach the wiring harness, and not to try to remove it. All you do is simply loosen that 10mm bolt, and then as you loosen it,. the wiring harness will slowly back off the front of the front of the computer, and then you can detach it. Of course by now, you already know that.

By the way, just so you'll know, don't ever worry about calling us if you need or want to, even if it's over the weekend. We want you to have the info you need, so when in doubt, go ahead and call, just leave us a voicemail if it's after hours & we'll get back to you over the weekend.

Thanks again for your post, & we hope you enjoy your new go-fast parts!