Well its Friday night (3-22-02) and I had a full tank of 91 octane (almost $29 for a 25 gallon tank!) and I proceeded to take out the battery, battery tray, unplug computer harness, pull out computer, and clean and clean and clean. I used alcohol q-tips and a razor blade. I plugged it all in and.... raerrrrr......raerrrrrrr...........raerrrrrrrrr. Dang! I must have the curse of the 1999 model solderless jumper blues!!!! If I can't do it, I can have a local T.V. repair guy solder the connections in the computer tomorrow morning. But I need the pages that shows the circuit board and where to solder.


If anyone reads this and has a clear copy of the how-to-solder the ECU/PCM circuit board jumpers (connectors) so that the Superchip will function properly, I would greatly appreciate a copy of it.

Anyone willing and able to help can email it to me at:
jason5761@yahoo.com
or if you email me I will give you my home fax no. and you can just fax it to me. I can pay a small fee via moneyorder, but I need the info now!

Thanks.

 

Im sending out the email that Mikes secretary sent me this week with the pictures, I hope you can open it ok. It is a .zip file. I will try to send them another way also. As I told you in the email I had the worst case scenario. Had to take out the battery, battery box, do the jumper thing, modify the bracket. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I would have started before midnight! It is probably a good move to have the t.v. guy solder it for you. I am a appliance repair tech (Maytag Man) and I was nervous doing it. It isn't a big deal, but again I was doing this part around 1 a.m. and trying to keep this whole purchase from my wife! Good luck and by the way, $29 isn't that bad, I just filled up my first tank of 93 octane premium and it ran me $39 $1.69/gal. We need to charge more for cheese and drop the gas prices up here in Wisconsin.

Later,
Brent

 

Brent,

I just emailed you to thank you. But after I just read your post, I cannot stop laughing. Maybe, its the fact that it is 4:00 am Oklahoma time right now or the coffee. But, what is so funny is that I bought my superchip off a guy from this site and I paid him in a money order so that it would not show up on the creditcard bill Ha! Then tonight/last night I went out to the garage and started on the chip install after my wife went to bed. When she asked what I was doing with her q-tips and rubbing alcohol I told her I was cleaning the battery terminals....and she believed me ha!

Don't know if you will read this first or my email, but I had one last question. Since I have the Box type A and with all 4 (four) of the little metal "dots" in a row, do you solder the first two together and then solder the second set of "dots" together?

Or do you put solder between the first and second and solder between the second and third as well as the third and fourth?

In other words is it "Dot"solder"Dot" no solder "Dot"solder" Dot"
or is it "Dot"solder"Dot"Solder"Dot"solder"Dot" ? Hey that sounds like a dance move, lets see, we could call it the Superchip Shuffle!

I am going to go to the local T.V. repair wizard and see if he will
solder those d*** little metal "dots" ha!

I was really going to brag in this forum how easy and fast it was to install it and drive off in the sunset......d***! little metal dots.

 

We would all like to report a flawless install. The reality is it won't be flawless for some. Not that your install is flawed. You have just run into one of the possible obticles. You will get past it!

When I did my chip, my intake and especially the supercharger, I had the feeling that I was bonding with my truck. You [Iron Horse] probably have more experiance working on vehicles, so might agree that it's like surgery when working on these newer vehicles. It can be tedious at times. You are involved in (F150 Online) what I believe is one of the best support networks availible to owners of F150's. You will come out on top!

How can you guys keep this stuff a secrete from the woman? I can't help but talk about vehicle stuff. My girl doesn't give a hoot. It would be hard for me to hide it from her!

Have fun!
Tom

 

Wittom,

Okay I have had some sleep.

That is weird that you say that. Because, as I was taking the ecu out and trying to get the superchip to work, I keep thinking that I felt good about finally doing something to my truck to improve drivetrain performance. Plus, for me, working on vehicles allows me to get more familar with it and gives me more confidence with the thing.

I have said this before but, sometimes I am amazed how total strangers from across this country will take the time and effort to help each other out. I hope that I can help someone too.

Yeah, it would be smarter to get the wife involved with the truck and we oftten "trade" vehicles for the day. But, my wife thinks I leave nothing alone (shes right on that) which means more $$$$. On a side note, I have been following your posts because you have done what I hope to do and that is get some smaller aftermarket mods. and then go for the gusto and get a roots style supercharger (magna). Thanks.

 

I only have one question for you (Iron Horse), are you absolutely sure that the connectors are clean on the ECU ???? That may be the problem that you are having with the chip. It would be better to talk to Mike T. before going to far, just incase you do the jumper solution and that is not the problem !!! You may end up talking to the wife and telling her that you blew up you ECU and need a new one.

P.S. - I don't know if it will blow up the ECU if the jumper is done and it isn't needed. Only guessing on that but it could happen. Electronic circuits are weird things.

Do call Mike though !!

Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean

 

IzzyEddy,

Thanks for advice. You have been very helpful.

I actually called Mike T.s organization yesterday morning. Spoke to a nice and helpful lady. She said she would leave an email for someone to send me the soldering info. I never received it. However, Mike T. has been so helpful to me even though I have not purchased anything from him, I am not going to make an issue of it.

But, a f150online member and a f150world member both emailed me the info last night/early this morning. This afternoon I took it to a local electronics/computer repair guy and he soldered it for $35 bucks. He also pointed out that sometime in the future, I am going to have to have a capacitor replaced as it appeared that one was about to "go out" due to a plus shape on top of it starting to expand.

Anyway, I installed it and it started on the first try. I just got back from putting about 100 miles on it. Here are my initial impressions:

Shifting is better, rpms raised per shift, a little more responsiveness in mid range and top end. Better gas mileage.

Not impressed with it....yet. Can not spin my tires any better. Throttle still feels like it is stretched. Feels like no change in low end torque. Maybe it takes more than 100 miles of use to fully realize the benefits.

If this is what an extra 20hp/tq. feels like in a late model F-150, then I must need about 200 more. Ha!

Going directly to the garage to cut a large hole in a perfectly good airfilter housing to increase airflow.

Going to continue to save for a 2 or 3 underdrive pulley set, electric fan(s), catback exhaust, shorter tires and maybe 4.10 gears.

Thanks to everyone that tried to help.

 

Iron Horse - that is good everything worked out for you. You do need to put some more mileage on the truck for the computer to learn everything fully from the chip. I think the chip has about 75% of the effectiveness as soon as you plug it in but then it takes some miles before it is complete. Have Fun & don't do too much racing !!!!

Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean

 

Hi Iron Horse

Glad you got it fixed I know the feeling. I had the same problem..pcm jumper/connection.

Good news..your now an official jumper connection/no start member. You do know its a select elite group!

A few of us had that problem...but the fix itself was simple.

Use another 3 or 4 tanks of gas....then pull the chip out. Go for a drive, you should feel the difference.

I had cat.back and K&N (dropin) before chip. Those mods..mainly the cat.back helped...was looking for alittle more..and the chip did it.

Cat. back on these trucks makes a difference..that would be a good mod. next...of course alot of other goodies to. Just takes $$.

Our highest oct. here is also 91. Used to be 92. Its really hard to tell (seat of pants) the difference 91-92, my truck heavy...92 maybe 3-5hp more, do loose that gain but chip/91oct still better than stock.

Good luck...OT

 

Congrat's on the install Iron Horse!
I think I know what you mean when you say "not impressed with it ....yet". It seems at first (at least it did for me) that you might get a more direct feeling gain. I have been through so many parts catolouges in the past few months. I have seen so many things that I think I should have to get all I can get. The credit card doesn't have a big enough limit to be able to do all the stuff at once. In fact with all the things I have found that I think would make my truck go "better" I really can't tell you when I will be able to get to most of them. What I'm trying to say (I think ) is for a few hundred bucks you can optimize the system you already have. For close to four grand (more if your not careful) you can expand the system to get even more.For twenty HP it is a pretty good for the price if you ask me. I know you have had experiances with vehicles in the past where you have had significant gains. I still have a payment on my truck so I can't afford to "experiment' with my truck. The bolt-ons that I have, have been (I hope) tested. The R&D the the companies have done should save us the hassle.
I did a lot of reading before I installed my Superchip. I admit I would have liked more "noticable" gains. I did get good gains. I could not have gotten thoes ganis without the chip, or something. What ever you find out there that will give you a 10% gain is going to cost about the same amount of money. I think it's the same at the higher end.
It looks to me like it's a process. A few hundred here, a couple there, grand there, ect. There appears to be no end. Looks closer to the top, but wait! there's more! There is always more.
You should feel more as you get a few more miles on. After you've had it in there for a thousand miles, take it out. You should knotice a difference then. When you put it back, it's even better, I think.
It's big bucks, tuning these trucks (ha, I rhymed ). Take it one mod at a time.

Tom

 

The Superchip must be some kind of "learning computer"? Tonight, after cutting a rectangle hole in the airfilter housing and then driving about 8o miles, I have seen another increase in the performance. I am not kidding. I really noticed it. I don't know why, but it really felt good to finally "feel" it.

You know, just like all of you have said, I think with the chip, extra airflow I am getting from my mod. to the airfilter housing (which I can make larger if I want to, but for now I cut a rectangle hole facing the front end and away from the engine in my crude attempt to keep hotter air out of it, yet the housing is still connected to the fender for outside air) , the underdrive pulleys, electric fan, and especially the catback exhaust, I think I am going to have some good performance increases.

I got a little nutty while in a "SuperWalmart" tonight. I saw a leafblower and actual thought, "I wonder if I could mount that to my intake, connect it to my battery and rig a switch to the dash". Ha!!! Ha!!!!

 

There were a couple of companies that did that, if you can believe it. They were called "electric superchargers" I think they only worked up to a certain rpm, then the engine would pull in more air than they could provide. Supposedly they gave a small low end boost, though. The intake mod probably did help you, too. Did you clear the computer during the install? That would have given the majority of the difference right away. IE: turn on headlights, disconnect neg. battery terminal, wait ten minutes(to be sure), then reconnect the batt. Turn off the headlights. If you have driven about 80 miles or so, then that it is a dead issue. The full benefit should hit soon, if it hasn't already,,,,,98

 

Hi Iron Horse,

I wanted to mention a couple of things.............

Just so you'll know, we did in fact attempt to email you the jumper info, Anita did that for you personally, and was happy to. Apparently it did not make it to you, in which case, we'll probably get a return notice on that email in a day or two with some kind of fatal error explanation. That is usually what happens on our end when an email doesn't go thru, so until we get that notification we know nothing about it, we just see that it has been successfully uploaded. I'm glad to hear you got the info you needed and that you're up and running, that's the bottom line of course!

The Superchip is a 10% power gainer in round numbers, making it the most cost-effective modification, but it's still just a 10% increase in round numbers, which won't turn a 2-3 ton truck into a tire-shredder. By the time you have about 350-500 miles on it, you'll have the full effects of the Superchip. Fully clearing the ECU after installation of the Superchip ( test-fire engine after installation of Superchip, disconnect battery, turn on headlights for 5 min., turn lights back off & reconnect battery) allows you to feel about 75%-80% of what the Superchip will ultimately do very quickly, within 20-50 miles, and then the rest comes in gradually over the next 350-500 miles. Without doing that, it simply takes a bit longer to take effect, but does not affect the long-term results, this is strictly in the short-term we're talking about here, just to give you some more backgroud info on what to expect & why you're feeling what you are, etc.

You wouldn't believe how many guys have thought of the idea of using some kind of electric motor/fan arrangement to achieve some kind of positive air pressure increase into the intake to try to get more oxygen into the combustion chamber. Electric fans, compressed air, oxygen tanks & lines, etc., have all been tried. None of them that we've seen over the years has shown to be really worthwhile in our opinion, compared to all the other readily available & proven methods of increasing engine power output, but it is indeed a perfectly logical thought that many hot-rodders have at some point in their hot-rodding, including yours truly in what seems another lifetime. Maybe some day someone will come up with a viable alternative to say, nitrous oxide or supercharging for pumping in significantly more atmosphere under pressure.

Glad you're up and running, have fun with your Superchip!

 

Thanks screamer.

So far I have about 180 miles on it (first drive 100 miles second drive 80 miles). I noticed a real increase in power on the second drive. This was after I put a rectangle hole in the airfilter housing. Today, Sunday, I just took out the "silencer" out of the airfilter housing tube. I also checked my throttle cable. I have about 1 and 1/2 inch slack in the cable. Temporarily, I put a fishing line weight on the cable near the accelerator.

Of course I took the battery cables off over an hour ago, then hooked everything back up. I am going to drive down to autozone and see if I can find a universal cable adjuster kit and see if taking the silencer out and taking up alittle throttle cable slack helped. Although, some say you need a little slack in the cable or it can get stuck in open throttle.

 

Mike T.,

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to try to help me. I felt like the cheap bum that I am sometimes, when I called because your staff (Anita?) was very helpful, yet I was not buying anything.

I know you are helpful regardless if we buy anything because you obviously have a lot of character and integrity as well as its just good business since they are potiential customers. But, this is how you support your family (unless you are independently wealthy, then I wouldn't feel bad at all. ha!) therefore, I hate taking up your time unless I am ordering something from you.

However, in my opinion, you are the most reliable, single source of highperformance F-150 information. A lot of vendors of any/all goods or services in these modern times need to take quality/management/customer relations/ etc. training from you. Thanks.