I have a 5.4L auto and I recently raced with my superchip in. What is the trick to run with this in an automatic, as it held gears forever. Do I have to actually let off the gas a tad to upshift at WOT? Because I didn't know how to drive with it in, I got clobbered by a stock 2000 Mustang GT. I didn't feel too bad, because I only outweigh him by three times.

Anyway, what are the tricks to it? Besides this drawback, I love the chip thus far. I especially love the shifts.

 

Just mash the gas.
I have a 99 Off Road w/ 5.4L. My truck runs like a raped ape, My truck pulls hard all the way to 4950 rpm's in 1st and 5100rpm's in second, I haven't watched 3rd yet. After my speedo barries I remember Im driving a 4x4 and I watch the road.
Shifts are quick and hard.

I smoked my buddys 01 Explorer Sport w/ a SOHC 4.0L and a 5 speed last weekend.

Everyone knows they are quick.

Just mash it, It might take about 500 miles for the chip to fully change your truck.

 

Hi dufunnel,

Well, you have made a big change in tire size, and that will automatically throw off the speedometer, odometer and the shift points as well, and must be corrected for with a custom program in the Superchip.

If that has already been done, then you just keep your foot in it and allow it to turn enough rpms to upshift, however, if that custom programming has not been done, then you could very well end up hitting the rev limiter before it every upshifts at full throttle. That won't hurt anything, but does need to be taken care of so you can nail it & have fun.

Because of the use of screen names here, I don't know who you are, so I have no idea if perhaps we may have already taken care of that for you. If so, then you just need to keep yout foot in it and let the motor turn enough rpms to upshift at full throttle, and that will be 5000+ rpm in most cases. Those factory tachs can be way off, too, reading either high or low, especially when accelerating hard. If you have not had the custom programming done to take care of the speedo, odo & shift points from your tire size change, then please give us a call and we can take care of this for you.

Please feel free to call us just go go over this in detail if you need to, there's no obligation, we'll be happy to go over this with you to see just what the situation is.

 

From my calculations, my tire size didn't change my stock size significantly. Last night I took it to the track and just punched it, and indeed it did shift at around 5000+ RPMs like has been said, and I ran a fair run as well. As I do not yet have my headers on, the times with my FIPK, Gibson Supertruck, and Superchip are as follows:

60' 2.528
330 7.059
1/8 10.812 @ 65.86 MPH
1000 14.026
1/4 16.759 @ 82.04 MPH

Not too bad for my Supercrew. I ran another Supercrew 4x4 that just had an AirForce 1 and his 1/4 was 17.32 @ 80.01 MPH.

I'm curious to see what the difference will be when I get the headers on.

 

Hi dufunnel,

OK, thanks for your response, & glad to see no speedo recalibration is needed then, it was just needing to let it turn enough rpms to hit it's WOT upshift point.

Nice times given that vehicle's weight!

Figure the headers are usually worth about anywhere in the range of roughly about .15-.25, all else being equal, but of course that isn't something you can conveiently do a proper same-day back to back controlled test to really nail the ET & trap speed difference they make. Power-wise, about 17-20 HP from a set of JBA's, on average.

 

Hmm, my next goal is sub-16's. We'll see what it takes to meet that. What exactly do the octane placards on the gas pumps indicate? I have never found a placard that says 93 octane here in Florida before, but I started buying my high test at Sam's now, and they have the 93 octane placard. Is there any truth to these, or are they just there for show?

 

Hi du,

The yellow octane stickers on the pump simply mean the minimum octane level that is guaranteed.

However, we advise everyone to forget buying gas from Sam's Club, Costco, etc. as what you're getting is almost always a lower quality low energy fuel, bought on the open spot wholesale market, which is why they can sell it for so much less. You're getting less, and those fuels will almost never provide the performance and mileage you can get from a good fuel like Texaco, Amoco, etc., to say nothing of the quality of the actual detergent & other additives. We rank Sam's, Costco, etc. fuels with all the rest of the off-brands & no-names, to be avoided unless the only other option is walking. Yes, every once in
a while you can get lucky and get a decent fuel from a source like that, but day in and day out that's just not the way to go. Shopping for gas based on price will usually yield the lower quality fuels.

Best performance & mileage is obtained with the best *quality* fuel of the highest energy content all else being equal, and octane is not a particularly good or accurate measurement of actual fuel quality. The octane rating is simply a measurement of the fuel's resistance to a specific form of detonation in a specially built 1-cylinder variable compression ratio octane rating engine, nothing more. Yes, we need higher octane to run the Superchip of course, but octane is by no means the sole indicator of actual fuel quality, the energy content & additives are extrtemely important, and that is something you won't ever find on any gas pump.

Just FYI, & good luck!