Would it be worth the money to install a superchip in my 94 F-150 with the 4.9? I want the most horsepower for the money. I'm looking at eithe the superchip or a K&N FIPK, maybe both? Also, can regular gas be used with the chip and still get the performance from the chip?

Thanks.

 

Hi gibson1,

The single most cost-effective modification for that vehicle is to optimize the powertrain priogramming with the Superchip, as that will get you a solid 15 hp & 31 lbs./ft. of torque in your 1994 "Big 6" 4.9 I-6 motor.

You will have to use premium gas with the Superchip, you cannot use low-quality regular gas. This is one of the very first things to remember about increasing performance in any gasoline engine, use good quality fuel. Think about teh fact that the very best of today's premium gasolines are still low quality compared to the fuels we had in the 60's & 70's in the heyday of the musclecar. Our best 93 octanes are equal to about 88-89 octane leaded fuels, though we're better of without all that lead, of course. Just a little perspective FYI......................

One thing you might want to think about if you have to use low quality fuel is going with our 2-program Superchip Flip Chip. We can set that up in a dual-octane configuration to allow you to use 87 octane gas or premium gas at the flip of it's switch. However, you won't make any real power gain from it on 87 octane gas, maybe a few horsepwoer at best. It just allows you to run crappy fuel on 1 of it's 2 programs if you had to, so that you have that added flexibility. So that is an option if you want, and that way you would have both a program for 87 octane and our normal performance program that requires premium gas, too, at the flip of the switch. We do everything we can to improve performace even in the 87 octane program, so if it's an automatic it will still have the improvemengs in shifts, top speed limiter, etc., it's just that the "real" raw power gain from the engine will come on the premium gas program, just so we're clear.

Reducing the restriction in the air intake tract is also a good idea, and can free up as much as 8-10 horsepower on the Big 6. That will also work well with the Superchip, too.

Please feel free to give us a call if you'd like to go over this in detail.

 

The Flip Chip sounds like the way to go. Does both sides of the chip take away the speed limiter? I hate it when I hit the 85 mark and the truck shuts down on me. Also, would I have to send out the computer from truck?

Thanks for your help

Kyle

 

Hi Kyle!

You would only need to send your computer in if you had a code that we had just never had acess to before. By "code", I'm referring to the actual software revision in your particular trucks' ECU (that's it's powertrain computer). This is one of the things we ask you for when you place your order for the Superchip, so we'll know in advance whether we have your truck's code or not. There are hundreds of different factory codes each model year in these vehicles (and most others), and we make a different matching performance program for each and every one, so that we can tune each vehicle to the same coinsistent end result.

The Flip Chip is an elegant solution for those who want a dual-octane capability, so you can run 87 octane gas when you want or need to, and it has a simple 2-position toggle switch that allows the driver to select which program the vehicle is running on. What we do is basically make both programs virtually identical, except for the octane level the engine is tuned for, so that you get all the other benefits no matter which program you're using. So yes, when we remove top speed limiters, they are removed from both programs in the Flip Chip, to answer your specific question.

So the first thing to do is to locate the computer code of your truck, and there are a few places it can be: First, open the driver's door, and then look in the front part of the door frame, in the area of the door hinges, and thre you should see a sticker that has 3 letters and 1 number on it, 4 digits total. That's your computer code. BY the way, we're not talking about the sticker on the back of hte driver's door that says "calibration" on it, that's not what we need, wrong end of the door.

If you do not find a code sticker where described, then you can always get it from the computer itself, which is mounted behind the driver's kick panel, behind the aluminum mounting plate for the emergency brake pedal. You can just pull the kick panel and then look for the code sticker on the computer, which is a rectangular-shaped aluminum box, basically.

If you have any trouble finding the comoputer code, just give us a call and we can walk you thru it.