Installed my Superchip today! It was a little challenging to get the 10mm bolt out, but perseverance won out. Cleaning the circuit board was a cinch and my truck cranked over the first time! It's amazing what just a FIPK and a Superchip will do to a 4.6L SuperCrew. It's like my SuperCrew is on steroids. I can hardly wait to install the Gibson headers and Side Swept exhaust next week. Thanks to all F150 Online member who posted all the information I needed to pick the right mods. I also appreciate the help that Mike T provided on Superchips.

 

Hi Jonas,

Thanks for your post, & glad to hear it!

Those 2 mods work very nicely together, and between the both of them, give a very noticeable increase in performance.

We may have already discussed this, or you may already know this, I don't remember so just n case, when you get your headers, please do yourself a big favor, make sure to have them Jet-Hot coated. This is the ceramic coating offered by all header manufacturers that will not only help them to last longer but also help you to gain a bit more power and most importantly, keep the heat down under the hood. Headers produce tremendous amounts of heat, and without doing the ceramic coating, you will shorten the service life of a lot of the rubber & plastic components under the hood. This is an option that will add about $125 or so to the cost of a set of headers, but it's one of the best investments you['ll ever make. You don't need the 2000 degree black coating, the 1500 degree satin finish is fine.

Enjoy that "Super Crew on Steriods"!

 

Mike's absolutely correct. Intake and chip created a whole new truck. On my third tank of gas and have noticed an average 2-3 mpg increase. Now if I can only keep my foot out of it every time a slow poke gets in front of me, I may average 3-4 mpg increase.

On a side note however, I notice a slight ping/swishing noise when the vehicles shifts from 1st to 2nd under full throttle. No pinging under normal driving. Using 93 octane and the flip chip.

Any comments?

 

I gotta comment for ya Dan. Nice frigg'n truck. Love the Black SCrew with the L wheels. Very nice indeed.
Now I just need to get me one of those Superchips.
You say you increased your gas mileage but don't you have to spend more $$ puting premium fuel in? Doesn't that kind of wash out the mileage savings?

 

If you want to play you gotta pay!

 

Hi Dan the Man,

Glad to hear you're picking up solid mpg gains, that's always a nice added bonus.

If you're getting 2-3 more mpg and not using primarily light throttle, I'd say that's an excellent result; and in that case, I would agree, with more conservative driving, there could well potentially be a better mpg to be had still.

The average increase from the Superchip for those who see mpg gains usually runs about 1.5-2.0 mpg, and then from the Air Force One kit, anywhere from 1.0-2.0 under similar driving conditions. So it is possible to see as much as a 3-4 mpg total gain from both of those parts, under the right conditions.

By all means, please do let us know if you're able to attain those kinds of numbers, that would be interesting to see. Of course, you may never want to back off the throttle that much, and we understand completely.

Good luck with your mpg & thanks for your post.

 

Hi Chipper,

I saw your post, and so I just wanted to make a comment or two in response, if I may, to give you a better understanding of the Superchip in this regard...............

You're absolutely right, the Superchip is not intended to make people pay less for gasoline, that is not at all it's design purpose.

The Superchip is a *performance* chip first and foremost, that just happens to have the potential for improving gas mileage as long as good quality fuel is used and the vehicle isn't driven hard. This potential for gains in fuel mileage is primarily a by-product of the increased spark advance used on part-throttle, as part of our performance tuning for premium gasoline; it's not something that was designed into the Superchip specifically for the purpose of reducing fuel consumption.

It is true that many people, when they can keep their foot out of the throttle so to speak, do see improvements in mileage from the Superchip, just as Dan the Man posted in his results, and in his case, the Air Force One kit also contributed to his mpg improvements. However, that cannot be absolutely guaranteed, as there are just too many variables. Your mileage results with the Superchip will depend primarily on how you operate & maintain that vehicle, and the quality of the fuel being burned, specifically, it's energy content.

Just to give you an idea of the "average" result in terms of fuel cost from installing the Superchip and running it on premium gas all the time, for those driving 15,000 - 20,000 miles per year, in roughly a 50/50 mix of city & highway driving, most people will spend no more than $150 - $200 per year more for gasoline, a few bucks a week. Given the performance gains, that's a very respectable result. This assumes a 20 cent per gallon cost delta between regular gas and premium gas.

There are people who, between their cost factors and how they operate & maintain their vehicles, who do manage to spend a few pennies less for gasoline, but that is an above-average result and should not be expected. For example, here in our part of Virginia, we pay only 10 cents more per gallon for premium over the cost of regular, so for us, we do actually spend less money for gas running the Superchip on premium than we spent previously running on the factory program on 87 octane gas. Again, that's not the norm, and is skewed on our case by virtue of our lower cost delta between regular & premium.

Think of the Superchip as a performance part that can improve mileage when you keep your foot out of the throttle. Most people will still end up paying a little bit more for gasoline, but it's a small increase, and the results are very well worth it. If you combine the Superchip with something like the Air Force One kit, like Dan the Man did, you can see substantial enough mpg improvements for this to end up actually paying for itself over time. It's all in how hard you drive it and the fuel quality being used, basically.

I hope that gives you a little bit better understanding of the purpose & types of results from the Superchip in the area of fuel costs, etc. & if you would like to go over this in more detail, etc., please feel free to give us a shout, our contact info is just below.

 

Thanks for the info Mike. I actually spoke to you back in '98 about your Superchips. This was a nice refresher course. Have your Chips changed at all since '98? Also, what is this additional Air Force One thing you're talking about that goes with the Chip?

 

Hi Chipper,

You're very welcome, anytime!

The Air Force One kit is an airbox elimination kit, it's a separate part from the Superchip altogether, though I may have inadvertently caused some confusion because of how I referred to it in talking about Dan the Man's mpg gains in my response to his post.

The Air Force one kit eliminates the extremely restrictive factory airbox assembly altogether, and replaces it with a beautiful highly polished T-304 stainless steel assembly & air filter that is far lower in restriction, and delivers an 18 hp gain on the 5.4 F-150 & Expedition, 15 hp on the 4.6 motors in those vehicles.

Because of how much restriction it eliminates, you can get solid mpg gains from the Air Force One kit, even though it is considered to be a "performance" part.

To answer your question about has the Superchip changed since 1998, no, not really, though there were some minor changes in the area of the automatic transmission calibrations that was implemented a little over a year ago, which gives a little bit better shift characteristic. That aside, no, there are no changes to the Superchip, how it works and what it does.

Nice to hear from you again, we're glad you decided to drop in and join us again after all this time!

 

This is my first post to the form, and I want to thank everyone for all of the GREAT information found here.

I am considering some mods for my truck and only decided one thing so far, the Gibson SS. My question here is: Being that my truck is new, does the air force and super chips void the warranty? I would be pretty sick to spend the $$ and have something go wrong just to have Ford say sorry, you putzed with it, it’s yours to fix.

Thanks

 

Hmmm, I think I'm having a identity crisis. Welcome to the board, just don't look at you radiator if you have the tow package.

Capitol-G Geeky

 

Hi Geek,

Welcome to F-150 Online!

There is specific legislation designed to protect the rights of those vehicle owners who choose to use aftermarket parts of any kind, whether they are replacement, appearance or performance in nature. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is perhaps the most important, it has many provisions but basically, it gives us the abilty to do whatever modifications we want to our vehicles, with the provision that those aftermarket parts do not actually cause damage to the vehicle. As long as you do not damage your vehicle with what you do to it, then your warranty remains intact, by law. That's stating it simply of course, but that is what it boils down to.

So then it all gets down to just exactly what you choose to do to the vehicle. Things like a Superchip, the Air Force One kit, a Gibson SS cat-back exhaust, those do not damage your vehicle, thus they do not void your warranty.

Now, if you were to install a supercharger, for example, you can probably count on paying out of pocket should you have an engine or transmission failure, as it can be argued that a supercharger pushes some components beyond their design limitations. Same thing with something like nitrous oxide.

It is also true that there are a few dealership service departments who will try to play fast & loose with some of this, either from ignorance of the law or other reasons, so it's important for those of us modifying our vehicles to know our rights under the law. Here is a link that will give you some more information about this:

http://www.sema.org/fedleg/warranty

We hope you'll hang out here with us at F-150 Online in your spare time, & best of luck with your truck!