Ill put my 5.0 up against any 4.9 on the board and we will see what happens. My friend has a 92 and he beats me for about 5 feet, then I put about 10+ truck lengths on him. The Superchip on my truck was a great mod, it did so much for it. I need to get to the track, so I can see what I actually run. As far as interstate power, I can tow a 6000# boat at 85 mph w/ no prob, RPMs are a little high though. Plus I have 3.31 gears. When I cnage to 3.73 or 3.90s then I think I will be alot quicker. One of my friends at school has a 94 Chevy w/ 350, and he puts about 2 truck legths on me at the end of 1st, (havent run with him since I got the new exhaust though) but then my little 302 comes screaming past him in 2nd and puta about 3 truck lengths on him at 90.

 

LOL well put PKRWUD

I knew youd be along to vouch for a chip. Didnt you say you've had runability problems though? Maybe not, I just thought I heard that.

 

LOL. It's my work truck. It averages 5800 pounds, but often exceeds 6k. I have no desire to run it in the 1/4. I make my comparisons based on real world. Not SOTP, not a contolled 1/4, but the world in which I drive. I've driven the Conejo Grade a thousand times, easy, and there was a big difference with the chip, but the biggest difference of all was with the FIPK. I NEVER was able to take it in 5th before, and now it's not even worth thinking about. It takes it in 5th, at 75 mph, everytime.

Like any mod, the chip started to feel like it wasn't doing anything after a year or so, but when it created a minor glitch at cold start-up, I had to remove it in an attempt to rule it out as the source of the problem, and that is when I realized just how much that chip did. It made changes in both spark advance and fuel curve, on the fly, at part throttle and at WOT.

I was very impressed. I have heard that chips are generally a waste of money for the V8's w/ a 5 speed, but take it at face value.

Take care,
~Chris

 

A 4.9 will almost always beat you off the line. I reach my ultimate torque curve alot sooner than you do.

Take care,
~Chris

 

Hey beastie!

I'll race my 4.9L to your 5.0 in 1/16th mile race!

 

beastie....

I'm curious what happens when you hit a long, steep climb with that 6,000lb boat.

PKRWUD......

The FIPK did that much for your truck? There aren't many steep hills out there on the highway that I can climb in OD, I'm down into 4th on anything remotely steep.

 

I kid you not. At one point, about 6 months after installing the FIPK, I had the bright idea of installing the stock air box back in, except with the bottom turned around, so that the air path would be a straight line, rather than a "U". I tried it, and instantly noticed a decrease in power. I was pinched for time, and said I'd swap it back "later". A week went by, and I was headed to the Valley to pick up an engine. As I approached the grade, I got on it to build up speed, and as soon as I hit the incline, it felt like I was towing a trailer. I thought something serious was wrong, until I remembered that I hadn't swapped the FIPK back in yet. I did the next day.

What gears do you have? That might effect where you will notice the biggest gains. I have 3.55's, and while I do notice a difference everywhere, the biggest gains are above 50 mph.

Take care,
~Chris

 

Above 50mph huh? It would be nice to have some more get-up-an-go on the highway. My truck's got 3.55 gears. Do you know exactly how steep the grade is on that particular hill you're talking about, so I can maybe compare it to something I've driven on?

 

The FIPK did wonders for my 4.9L also...PKRWUD explained it perfectly.

I spent the $150+ on the K&N FIPK and was a little pissed when I got it seeing how simple it was...cone filter/some mounting brackets..ect I could have just done it my self since the cone is like $50+ at store's and I could have done most of the mounting bracket's on my own.

 

Just my .02.... (well maybe a dime)....

The 300 is a great engine and makes it's power down low where a truck needs it. They respond well to mods, just like the 302 does. Either will make a great truck engine with a couple bolt ons. The 302 is quicker unloaded and once you get the revs up, the 300 is a great torque engine and keeps the curve in the daily driver range.

Much like Chris, I had heard little good about Jet. I think he had what is considered a Stage II chip with more aggressive fuel and timing curves. Regardless of which one it was, I have enough faith that Chris wouldn't speak well of it if it didn't work for him.

The only runs I've seen where the Superchips lived up to claims was on the Lightnings, and the 4.2s seem to get good gains as well. I've seen some miserable dyno results on some vehicles.

Personally unless I had a trusted opinion on another brand, I would tend to trust what Chris has said about the Jet. He's one of the few that admits when something doesn't work for him, and has more background than the majority here.

It's very easy for someone to claim a superior product, but backing it up on paper and in daily driver has a lot more weight IMO. "Up to" claims tend to be exactly that. When I see claims of 19 hp tune ups I tend to think that the "up to" is a bit optimistic.



Rant mode off, Nomex suit on!

 

I know this won't answer your question, but it's the best I could find:

http://www.gbcnet.com/ushighways/US101/101pics9.html

 

Hey man, thanks for looking that up!

On the real steep hills that I travel on in Oregon (passes on southern stretch of I-5, climbing the Cascades, etc), if I shift early enough I can hold 65 in 4th. There's one particular hill on I-5 that drags me down to about 63mph, and it won't pull a single mph more. My trucks is usually loaded with a couple dirtbikes, coolers, riding and camping gear when I drive over those passes.

Kinda hard to explain hill climbing......

 

I live right off the I-5 here and I go dirt biking at a place called "Gorman", anyway's to get there you have to go up through this part of the I-5 North called the "Grapevine' which is realy steap and whinedy...hense grapevine. Well with my dirtbike and my g/f's quad in the back of my truck and my 3:31 gears/31 inch tires I'm doing about 85mph the whole way up in 4th gear about 7 miles.

But if someone slow's me down then it take's me a bit to get back up to speed.



<I love this guy>

 

The first real test I put my truck through was in July of '97. I hadn't quite had the truck a year yet, and the only mod it had was the FIPK. My ex, her twin 12 year old daughters, her 15 year old son, myself, 2 large ice chests, sleeping bags and suitcases for each person, and a brand new refrigerator drove from Ventura, Cal., to Grants Pass, Ore. This included the Grapevine (named for the town, Grapevine), the I-5, and up and around Mt Shasta. Keep in mind that the boxed refrigerator was upright the entire time, acting like a damn billboard standing 3 feet taller than the roof of the cab. The only time during the entire trip that I had to shift from 5th into 4th, other than for traffic or when exiting the freeway, was when I waited too long before I turned the a/c off while going up around Mt Shasta. Turning on that a/c is just like opening a parachute when going uphill! Anyway, I passed traffic like I was in a sports car the whole way. I got horrible gas mileage, but I averaged 90 mph.

I know for a fact that without the FIPK, it would have been like driving with the a/c on the entire time.

Actually, that's a pretty good analogy. The difference between stock and having an FIPK is like the difference between stock w/o the a/c on, and stock with the a/c on.

Take care,
~Chris

P.S. That refrigerator box was BLACK with bugs on the forward facing side, from the roofline up, by the time we got to Oregon!

 

Perfect analogy!
Now when the A/C is on it feels like the truck did stock.