Hi, I've been looking for a performance chip for my 93 f150 with a 5.8. I've found that there isn't many made for pre97 fords. Recently I found a bunch on ebay from $10 to $50. They wire in to the air intake temperature sensor and/or coolant temp sensor and are supposed to give 20 extra horsepower and more torque. Finaly to my question. I am wondering do these actually work well enough to notice a difference. Because from what I understand it just tricks the computer into thinking it is cold outside, in which case I live in Upper Michigan and my truck doesn't have 20 more horsepower when its cold outside. The other thing I think is fishy is that the one or two performance chips I happened to find (eg. Jegs, Summit) were $150 to $200. Has anybody ever used one of these and will it work. Also do the Jet performace chips work where i'll notice a large difference.

 

The bogus IAT resistor from eBay adds nothing to performance.

The real aftermarket chips/tuners add a bit, but unless you've added an aftermarket camshaft or done a bunch of headwork, don't expect miracles. I had a very bad experience with an aftermarket chip on a stock 95 Ranger 4.0 so I tend to not be a believer. Others on this board have had very positive experiences. It seems to depend a lot on the engine and on which chip company you use.

If you have upgraded your engine, then some sort of PCM upgrade should be considered mandatory. I would tend to recommend you seek out a dyno tuner who can re-flash your stock PCM. Others may say go with a custom-burned piggyback chip.

 

in that case, what is the biggest, cheapest, and easiest performance gain I can get for it?

 

one more i forgot to add to last post...to turbonators work or are they a scam? if they do work why don't they come stock from the factory

 

Cuz they be a scam....

 

No such thing. Big gains are never cheap.
If your engine/drivetrain is completely stock, I'd say a set of 1.7 roller rockers would probably be the most bang for the bolt-on buck, but they're not exactly cheap, especially if you have to change valve covers as a result (not required with all brands of rollers.) Underdrive pullies give a whole lot less gain for a whole lot less money. Most of the other bolt-on stuff is crap.

NO bolt-on (except a pair of decent heads) is going to give you a performance gain you can feel

 

The "eBay chips" have already been covered, they aren't chips, no programming. I'm suppose since those devices are so cheap on eBay, you're assuming jegs, Summit etc are just trying to gouge people. Ebay is crap, chips like Jet are actual programming mods.

 

Performace isn't cheap, and all the claims about gaining 10-20hp "in minutes" are always, always BS. There was a thing in Popular Mechanics a while ago about all these so-called "bolt on performance" mods. All but one actually decreased max HP and torque. The one other had no effect whatsoever, and some of them were going for $300+. All these armchair engineers don't seem to realize that any alteration by the device is almost instantly compensated for by the ECU, negating it's effect.

Those "modchips" are very common in the snowmobile world, and like here, there's mixed opinions. Some people love 'em, others have lost motors due to the chips improper setting. I don't since my machine runs off a magneto, and as far as I know, there's no chips to modify a mechanical device.

If you want significant gains you're going to have to get into the motor, no way around it.

 

Got to get in there no doubt. After my rebuild I hashed all this out with a friend at lazer cams here in memphis. If you put in a cam you got to change the ecm to get the full benifit. This motor should already have a roller cam and lifters[good for up to 300k] and fuel delivery ratio must be increased to make a cam change worth it. I went back stock and am pleased with my new motor.