Thoughts on performance chips?

[Mr Big]

I wasn't meaning the program lasting. How long will the engine last? Most tunes will make their HP claims at the flywheel, not the rear tires. Hell K$N at one time advertised 25 HP at the rear wheels and were crucified for it. They subsequently removed that claim from their ad's. I wanted to know what tuner made the claim of 100HP at the rear tires. Folks just love to toss figures around I guess.

As far as engines lasting, it all depends on how hard you drive it and how well you maintain it. My 2000 Ford Excursion had over 200,000 miles on it. I mostly used it for daily driving and road trips and I occasionally towed a trailer full of gear. I kept it well maintained and it still looked almost new when I sold it 22 years later. I never tuned it. It was a stock 5.4ltr V8.

 

[biz77]

I'm not looking for a list of tuners. I wanted to know who increased the HP by 100HP at the wheels and how long it lived.

All of the tuners I listed are capable of getting 100+ additional horsepower to the wheels and it's common to see these types of gains on many modern forced-induction engines outside of EcoBoosts.

Again, there are plenty of examples of tuned Ecoboosts with over 100K tuned miles. Do some people abuse thier stuff, not perform regular maintenance of it and subsequently see drivetrain parts needing to be replaced in short order? Yes! Does that happen on stock vehicles as well? Yes! Do we see a bunch of tuned 3.5 EcoBoosts failing after being tuned for only 5K, 10K or even 30K miles? No.

Here is MPT showing +117HP to the wheels on a 2021 Rapto HO 3.5 EcoBoost on 93 octane: https://morepowertuning.com/product...eZJ59VbEgxGucIYzIPMoI6xC4k16-KeM_CXsLXA1tDHPG

Here is 5 Star Tuning showing multiple reults from +102HP to the wheels on 93 octane to +220HP to the wheels on E50 (yes on stock turbos): https://5startuning.com/got-2017-f150-3-5l-v6-ecoboost/

My personal 2017 F150 was never on the dyno, but ran 14.3 stock, 13.6 with the 5 Star performance/tow tune, 13.1 with the performance 91 octane tune and 12.6 with the E50 tune. To go from a low-14 second quarter mile to a mid-12 second quarter mile in these heavy trucks takes well more than 100 additional horsepower. This truck was traded in with 85,000 miles on it and over 50,000 of those miles were on one of the above tunes. The truck was also regularly used to tow a 7,000 LBS travel trailer on the performance/tow tune. It ran fine when traded in and outside of oil changes, spark plugs and brakes, it only needed the rear axle bearings replaced in those 85,000 miles.

 

[balthisar]

Before you spend money on a chip or tuning, put it in sport mode and drive it for a couple days. My Platinum flies in sport mode. Huge difference over normal. And I wouldn't do it until you are out of warranty.

This is a great use case for tuning. Sport mode is fine, except once I'm at the desired speed, it takes several seconds for the car to decide to get into the cruising gear from the acceleration gear.

 

[Left Coast Geek]

if you don't blow up the motor, you'll blow up the transmission if you drive it hard enough to be using that extra power.

 

[Left Coast Geek]

btw, Ford ships a special version of the 3.5L Ecoboost II with 660 HP and 550 ft-lbs, in the Ford GT. Engine changes include larger turbos, bigger injection, beefier everything, dry sump lubrication, and a Getrag 7DCL750 7 speed DCT manual. combine that with a car that has a 3450 lb curb weight, and ZOOM.

 

[Mr Big]

If gas engine vehicle manufacturers could increase horsepower by 45-65, and increase torque and fuel mileage - every new vehicle would come with the “performance chip” you referenced as standard equipment.

I always wondered if that is what Ford does to increase the horsepower from around 375 hp to 440 hp on certain model 4th GEN Expeditions. Maybe not a chip, but a tune?

 

[Left Coast Geek]

I always wondered if that is what Ford does to increase the horsepower from around 375 hp to 440 hp on certain model 4th GEN Expeditions. Maybe not a chip, but a tune?

I believe they allow limited overboost at peak throttle for a certain number of seconds.

 

[balthisar]

I always wondered if that is what Ford does to increase the horsepower from around 375 hp to 440 hp on certain model 4th GEN Expeditions. Maybe not a chip, but a tune?

I think they advertise the high HP with 93 octane, and the low with 87 octane. Maybe not the high output version on the Timberline, but perhaps the Platinum vs. XLT, for example.

 

[Fastcar]

Has any body measured the size of the drive pully? Use to mess with them on the Lightning.

 

[biz77]

Has any body measured the size of the drive pully? Use to mess with them on the Lightning.

You would do it on a Lightning to spin the supercharger faster thus making additional boost. It's not worth touching on an EcoBoost.

 

[Trainmaster]

I've tried comparing the parts book listings for both motors to see what's different. I couldn't find anything that stands out...