2002 w/39k mi. i was told by latest owner that: ford while under warranty replaced the short block, that when he got it from the 1st owner he bought a diablo preditor tune and 4lb. pulley and installed it w/the basic tune, but has not put the colder plugs in it and left the top pulley stock. it also has a k/n air kit the whole shabang. this pickup is show room clean including drivetrain and runs as had if not harder than my 70 429 cobra torino ie. 12.80 108. i dont have the owners manuel of the tune nor the hand held tuner. my question is... w/it pulling above 10lbs am i facing a time bomb w/diablo and pulley? is it going to lean out once winter is over? 35k ft above sea level 90octane ama.tx please all respond, what do i do to save what i cant foresee is going to happen or am i alright?

 

Bring it to someone who deals with lightnings for a look over to see if it has a lower pulley change and have it dyno tuned to be safe. Thats the only insurance against not blowing your motor, unless you buy a package deal from one of the supporting vendors here with a pulley and hand held tuner with a custom tune. But a dyno tune is always best. I deal with Sal from Power Surge Performance. By far the best tuner out there in my book.

 

Where is he located, how much? it has the pulley because the boost goes above 10lbs when your on it.

 

If you are running 12's now, you should go race at Cecil you would probably have a 9 second truck.

--Joe

 

just figuratively by seat of the pants feel and the way it pulls so quickly through the gears, not been clock. do you have any further input on what ive got or what to do?

 

You mean 3.5k above sea level right? Im guessing you dont live on Mt Everest...
Best thing you can do is go to a dyno with A/F and make sure its no leaning out, and if needed have your tune tweeked.

 

oops, yea 3.5 thanks for the input.

 

Personally, I would not trust a tune that I knew absolutely nothing about. I would buy a Predator and have the L dyno tuned!

D-Day

:santa:

 

where are you located? Check to see which SV you are closest to. Also you need to check whether or nto it actually has a pulley. Is there a cage around it right now? If there is a cage there's a good chance it's the stock pulley. These trucks have been known to hit more than 10 pounds of boost with just an intake in cold weather. I would not go WOT especially running 90 octane and in cold weather like this assuming you have the canned predator tune and a 4lber, unless you're just itchng to buy a built shortblock. The stock predator tune is very agressive and could blow your motor especiallly in these cold winter conditions. Definitely get it to a shop that deals with Lightnings and have them look it over. And what happened to the predator programmer? Should have been included with your truck. Hope this helps a bit. Merry christmas! :santa:

 

I'm in Amarillo, Texas. The cage is gone from around the pulley and the bolts on the pulley have alan wrench insert heads. 90 octane is all that i can find in this area. the original pulley and programer was kept by the last owner and wants 175 for it w/stock pulley. i've not bought it yet, dont know if it is worth buying back or spending money for a new one, different one that is less aggressive or detramental to the motor, or going back to stock everything? Would it be safe to keep the tune and go back to a stock pulley?

 

your going to need the tuner or your screwed if a tune is programmed onto the truck. when my truck was broken into my predator was stolen. i was out a new predator, a new pcm and ford had to transfer the data from the old pcm to the new one.

Will

 

i was told that if ford plugged into the computer it would automatically erase the preditor tune and the computer had a default setting that would return everything back to stock settings, i guess this is not the case?

 

the default tune is NOT saved on the pcm. it is saved on the predator itself. the tune loaded on the pcm will stay on the hard drive inside the pcm forever until rewritten with the stock tune. hence why i had to dish out 1000 bux for the predator, pcm and for ford to copy the pats info.

Will

 

Yea you need to buy that predator. You should tell the guy that its locked to your truck and cant be used on any other, maybe he'll give it to you. I have been through Amarillo a few times and filled up on 91 right off I-40 at Exxon. So its there, just gotta look for it. I wouldn't worry too much with your setup. Being at 3500 feet lets you get away with alot more. I have a #6 pulley and just as much timing as that predator tune. I'm at 5500 feet in Albuquerque. If its the updated pulley tune you have no worries. But dynoing it is a good idea though.

 

What tune do you have? You given me hope and encouragement, what colder plugs # and make do i need and how much to have them changed? I'm not even going to attempt to change them, these motors and elect. and vacum line are all new to me, im old school shadetree.