Hi Sal, I have been reading your info. on onelist for quite some time. You sure give a lot of your time to answering questions, and I thank you. I know you have answered these questions a thousand times but I need to know. I posted these on one list a few days ago, but have not heard from you so here I go. I'm ready to order a chip and filter for my 99. Will I need to remove them when I go to the dealer for service? Can the chip be flipped when driving down the road, or does the key have to be off? Also is the stock Ford muffler a pile of crap that will cost me power with my new mods? I don't mind a cat back system if it helps power and is not real loud. Headers are not an option. (been there and done that in high school, blown gaskets and tick tick tick noise from leaks.) If the stock muff. is not robbing any power I will leave it alone. By the way I im a new member, so I'm sorry if you are getting tired of these questions.

thanks Jerry

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hey Jerry welcome to the board, as Sal will attest the weakest link in the Lightning exhaust is part you dont want to replace, & the part you are wanting to replace really doesnt need to be (the Lightnings strongest point in exhaust system). I had a mustang that had a full aftermarket exhaust, but never had any problems, the peices by bassani seem to be high quality, & if installed correctly they wont leak. Also you asked if the chip could be "flipped" while you drove down the road, why would you want to do that??? You should just super glue it in the "performance" mode!!! That way no one can surprise you ! Anyways get the headers & replace the cats with high flow ones, get his filter-chip combo then go ut into the world & destroy all that crosses your path. DOH! Sorry had some hot flashes there, better go back to my corner.

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99' Black Bolt
PSP Filter
PSP Custom Chip (on order)
Clear Corner lenses
SVT #3443


**Millions have seen Lightning
Few have ridden one**



[This message has been edited by Yoda (edited 12-08-1999).]

 

Yoda,

You are going to scare the life out of this poor guy! He probably thinks we're all nuts (true) and that we have death wishes (untrue, at least for most of us) and that we are those bad influence people his mother used to tell him about (possibly). j/k...

Jerry,

Welcome to the clan! Just to field a couple of your questions (Sal is probably busy trying to get orders out for Xmas):

1) Yoda is correct in his assessment of the exhaust system on the L's. The cats are the first restrcition, followed closely by the manifolds.

2) Whether Ford will void your warranty over an after market chip depends in large part on your service writer. If he is a stickler and want's to hang you out to dry, just remove the chip and clear the PCM before you take it in. Procedures have been posted to do this efficiently and easily here in this forum.

3) I haven't heard anyone say Ford has given them a bad time over the filter setup, as the air sensor is still in the airstream at the same point as the stock setup.

IMHO, the filter is a must have, mainly because the third worst restriction in the motor is the intake. The stock airbox really limits the blower's ability to draw as much air as it wants to, especially under WOT conditions.

With the PowerStack cone setup from Sal, my boost gauge pegs about 800 RPM sooner than w/the stock setup, this is percieved in the seat of the pants and the ears as the blower coming in stronger and sooner than before.

The howling of the supercharger drowning out the exhaust as you blast some poor F body into the ditch as you fly by is prone to cause brown stains in the competition's upholstry. This is a very good thing!

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Chuck 'Wyldman' Shelton
wyldman@houston.rr.com
Black 99.5 Lightning Build # 1273, DOB 5-14-99, NLOC #315
Best run to date 13.16 @104.8
CD Changer; Tow Pkg.; Lojack; Sal's custom nitrous chip; G-Tech/Pro; SnugLid; BedRug; Invinca-Shield, full kit; NOS KIT 80 hp shot (currently); Clear and smoke Lexan fog light covers; 3M Ti Window Tint; Bel radar detector (shouldn't be an accessory); PowerStack cone filter (a.k.a. supercharger waker upper); American Auto Designs ram air hood; Cal-Tracs traction bars

 

Hey Jerry, Sal here. As Chuck and Don have explained, you should feel out your dealer for how they react to chips and such. It's really just common sense. If you bring the truck in for any kind of running problem or drivetrain related problem, they could easily use the chip as an excuse. They could use the filter as well, but I doubt that. You can switch modes while driving, the change is instant. As for the exhuast, the headers and especially the cat pipe, are the restrictions. The cat back is the least restrictive part of the exhaust. If you don't want to do headers, at least do the cat pipe. But these headers and gaskets don't have the problems you are thinking of, so don't worry about that. The fit like OEM, and will outlast the truck. Hope this answers your questions!! :-)

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SAL
13.35@103mph
All stock with PSP 99 Lightning Chip and Filter Kit

Power Surge Performance--- Your SOURCE for SVT Lightning EFI Tuning and Performance!! http://members.aol.com/NLOCsvt/svt.html

 

Hey Sal,

Did Bassani ever say if they were going to make a catless x-pipe? That would be really cool to be able to switch back and forth as necessary.

Collin

 

I don't have a chip YET but would like to know how you clear the PCM? I must've missed that one.

Mike

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99.5 Black Lightning
PowerSurge Cone Filter
JBA Jet-Hot coated headers
Flowmaster muffler
Watter Wetter
Lo-Jack

 

Hey Wyldman,

About taking the truck to the dealer with the PSP filter attached, I called SVT and they said if there were any blower or engine problems they could very well use the PSP filter to void your warranty. They would definitely make note of it. Well now that I know SVT is just a marketing company, I don't if you want to take that seriously, but when I took my L in for some diagnostics I opted to put the stock box back on.

Mike

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99.5 Black Lightning
PowerSurge Cone Filter
JBA Jet-Hot coated headers
Flowmaster muffler
Watter Wetter
Lo-Jack

 

hey sal, whats the current estimate on filter orders placed recently?

 

Thanks Brimstone,

I guess they'll use any excuse they can if they really don't want to back the warranty. That's ok, a couple of hours with a wrench and Beastie can be back to stock real quick.

------------------
Chuck 'Wyldman' Shelton
wyldman@houston.rr.com
Black 99.5 Lightning Build # 1273, DOB 5-14-99, NLOC #315
Best run to date 13.16 @104.8
CD Changer; Tow Pkg.; Lojack; Sal's custom nitrous chip; G-Tech/Pro; SnugLid; BedRug; Invinca-Shield, full kit; NOS KIT 80 hp shot (currently); Clear and smoke Lexan fog light covers; 3M Ti Window Tint; Bel radar detector (shouldn't be an accessory); PowerStack cone filter (a.k.a. supercharger waker upper); American Auto Designs ram air hood; Cal-Tracs traction bars

 

Sal, Ditto Nathan... I submitted my order for a filter w/outerwears yesterday on your websites secure page.

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99.5 White Lightning. Snuglid, Bedrug, then stock (for now).




[This message has been edited by Steve Bopp (edited 12-10-1999).]

 

Sal, Just wondering what turn-around time is on your filters. Let us know, if you get a minute.

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99.5 White Lightning. Snuglid, Bedrug, then stock (for now).

 

Hey Steve (and others), Sal here. I was hoping to send out a bunch of orders this week, but I'm waiting on filters. There are two versions of the filter I happen to use, with an internal lip and without the lip. I called to see where my latest shipment of them was and was informed that the ones with the lip were sent by mistake. Hopefully I will get the correct ones either late this week or early next week, and then they will go right out.

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SAL
13.35@103mph
All stock with PSP 99 Lightning Chip and Filter Kit

Power Surge Performance--- Your SOURCE for SVT Lightning EFI Tuning and Performance!! http://members.aol.com/NLOCsvt/svt.html

 

Because it's been asked about here by several people, I wanted to give you all some information regarding the use of aftermarkets parts and the affect on your warranty under the law here in America.

Thanks to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, no dealer can *legally* void your warranty just for using aftermarket parts. By law, the automaker is first required to *prove* that the aftermarket part in question was the sole cause of a related parts failure! They are further required to prove that had the aftermarket part not been used, the related part would not have failed. That is very strong legal protection!

However, it is very true that you can be told just about anything by a service writer, and in fact most dealer service departments know nothing about the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, so it's doubly important to know your rights under the law. So should you ever have a problem, your first step is to take it up with the Service Manager, then the GM (General Manager) of the dealership, and last, if all else fails, get the name and telephone number of the dealership's "Zone Representative", commonly referred to as a Zone Rep. Zone Rep's *know* about the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, as does FoMoCo.

In general, things like free-flowing aftermarket air filter/intake assemblies, chips, cat-back exhausts, etc. do not cause warranty problems. This is not an unlimited thing by any means, however, so you cannot use the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act to justify the use of say, nitrous oxide, for example. In other words, it gets down to just what exactly does the part you're thinking of installing actually *do* to the vehicle. For example, on a non-Lightning F-150, installing a supercharger will normally void your powertrain warranty, as a lot of blower kits can stress the powertrain beyond it's design limits. But a K&N air filter, a chip, exhaust mods, etc., in general, do not void your warranty.

I hope this helps some of you to better understand your rights under the law, and what steps to take at your dealership if this happens to you. One last point is, if you think you may have a problem, it's a simple enough task to remove your chip prior to going in for service. Just remove it, and disconnect the negative lead of your battery for 20-30 minutes. If there is any chance that your vehicle will be connected to Ford's SBDS (Service Bay Diagnostic System)diagnostic system, you will definitely want to remove any performance chip first. Reason being, anytime you attach to the J3 connector (which is the edge connector at the back of your computer, where you mounted your performance chip), it acts like an on/off switch. The edge connector (J3) is an external data path, which Ford designed in as a way to quickly load and test different software revisions at the factory and still not have to have a replaceable or socketed EPROM, this was their way to keep us chipmakers out, heh-heh. When a chip is attached to it, it will tell the computer to turn off it's internal EPROM, and to seek it's instructions via the external data path, which is the J3 edge connector at the rear of your EECV-IV or EEC-V computer. This will result in a false error code being reported by SBDS, telling the technician the computer's internal EPROM has failed, and to replace the computer! Of course, removing the chip will instantly reverse this, and switch the internal EPROM back into service. For this reason, it's usually much easier for most people to simply remove the chip prior to service, as opposed to trying to train your service technician to ignore that error code, and procede with his work. A performance chip will *not* prevent SBDS from reporting any error codes, it simply causes that additional error code about the internal EPROM not functioning, which is exactly what it's supposed to do, as per Ford's design.

Our bests to all for a Merry Christmas,

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com