Evening Mike, long time no talk.

As of about the first of November, the beastie started to exhibit a lot of detonation (pinging) at anything over 3000 revs and especially on what I call transitional throttle. Run it up medium through first, no sound, shift into second and gradually back off as the speed builds at 3000/3500, and I got the rocks in a coffee can effect. Per your earlier instructions, I use Texaco 93 octane only. Solved a lot of earlier problems during the spring and summer with idle etc.

In any case, tried a couple of other stations of same brand with no improvement.
Trying to communicate with station owners/managers/employees regarding change in spec to winter gas got nowhere. No bigot here, believe me, but most of them speak little or no english other than the amount of the bill.

Main question is, and by the way, I had to switch to the standard setting on the chip to get away from the detonation, do I just have to do this for 3/4 months a year?

I do realize that it is possible to send the chip back in to get massaged regarding the ignition advance curve and so on, but is that just going to reduce the advantage gained from the chip when the better gas reappears in the spring.

Not at all unhappy, just curious. I miss the thunderous upshifts with the chip. Now I am back to the standard Ford mush.

Bill

------------------
Bill Murray
99.5 Lightning
Oxford White
Bedrug/ARE LSII lid

Tow Package CD Player
Superchip
HobbyTownUSA Graphics
Identical 1/10 Scale Tamiya RC Truck incl. graphics.
Truck interest e-mail:
fastwhitey@myf150.com
4 heavy decals!
Kennesaw (Atlanta) Ga.

 

Bill, did you pull the chip out and try your truck without it? You might have some sensor going bad or a busted vacuum hose.

Not trying to be a buttinski or nuttin. :-)

 

Morning Bill B:

Actually, no I didn't pull the chip because as soon as I flipped from the performance mode to the "stock" position, the problem went away and has not returned. Seemed to me from the instructions that this was the right thing to do.
As mentioned above, the truck now drives just like I remembered it pre-chip, ie good power but not crisp and a return to the mushy shift.
Let's see what Mike has to add to the question.

Bill

------------------
Bill Murray
99.5 Lightning
Oxford White
Bedrug/ARE LSII lid

Tow Package CD Player
Superchip
HobbyTownUSA Graphics
Identical 1/10 Scale Tamiya RC Truck incl. graphics.
Truck interest e-mail:
fastwhitey@myf150.com
4 heavy decals!
Kennesaw (Atlanta) Ga.

 

HI Bill,

Yeah, this is a winter fuel formulation problem, as it didn't happen like that before, and it can easily be adjusted out. The vast majority don't see this, but a few have, and it sounds like yours is one of them.

I would just have Superchips do the update to it to compensate for your local fuel quality, as anytime you have detonation you are already losing power, due to the knock sensor system telling the ECU to back off spark advance. So what I tell them to do is to make a note of what rpm range you see this occur at, and they can easily make the required adjustment. For example, most of them so far exhibit this only at full-throttle and at higher rpms, primarily at the top of second gear. What you're describing sounds like more than that, and is typical of a very poor winter fuel formulation. And it won't make much if any difference which brand you try when it's a winter formulation problem, as these formulations will affect every brand sold in that geographical area. It's not a real octane problem, you see, it's a problem of energy content, or BTU's per lb. These "reformulated" or "oxygenated" fuels have considerably less energy content, so they cannot support the same combustion chamber conditions as normal gasolines do. Exxon's gas is so poor in energy content that Harley-Davidson has recommended not using it for their customers at all!

It might be best to just give me a call, and we can discuss this in greater detail to decide what is the best course of action for you. Some people are content to simply use a bit of octane booster of some kind for in the winter in these Lightnings, as most people don't use them for daily drivers. I'm not a big fan of them myself, but they do have their place. It's either that, or an adjustment to compensate for the change in your fuel formulation, or just run the Flip Chip in the stock mode until spring fuels arrive in a couple of months.

Lightnings tend to be more sensitive to this than any other vehicle, as they are of course a supercharged high-performance engine.

Feel free to give me a call,

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

 

BTW Bill, what exactly is a Tow Package CD Player?

 

In order of receipt:

1. A tow package CD player was a Georgia only option put together by SVT for those of us down here who are 18 wheeler pilots/tow truck operators and for the largest part the guys that tow those mobile homes on the Interstates at 45 mph and sway back and forth so neat. They are programmed to only play country western CD's; no rock, no classical, no jazz and no heavy metal.

2. Mike T:

As stated, I am totally happy with the chip and will live with the lousy gas until March.
I am installing Sal's chip tomorrow just as a comparo test. He and I discussed the subject pretty thorougly and mine was set up with a little less timing but higher line pressure for the shifts. I will not sell or get rid of my Superchip, although I do think I will send it in for the modification you mentioned. I think mine was probably one of the first 10 or so you burned for 99 Lightnings, and the timing might have been just a tad aggressive for Ga. gas. And yes, we are in the metro Atlanta area which is #3 on the list for air pollution so we do tend to get tampered gas.

3. Bill B again:

Since Frank and I were under the hood anyway today to install the PSP air filter, we checked every vacuum line we could find and did not encounter any loose or broken ones. That is not to say a sensor might be a bit off, but I could not check that. And, I thank you for the tips.

Assuming we are able to get the PSP chip installed tomorrow, I will report whatever results we may see.

Bill

------------------
Bill Murray
99.5 Lightning
Oxford White
Bedrug/ARE LSII lid

Tow Package CD Player
Superchip
HobbyTownUSA Graphics
Identical 1/10 Scale Tamiya RC Truck incl. graphics.
Truck interest e-mail:
fastwhitey@myf150.com
4 heavy decals!
Kennesaw (Atlanta) Ga.

 

Dear Bill,

Yes, I understand about your local air quality, I just wish those silly politicians would leave our vehicles alone, as they are *not* the cause of most of the air quality problems these days! What comes out of the exhaust pipe of most vehicles built in the past 15 years or so is so clean, that we do NOT need to do silly things like screw with all these different fuel formulations, etc., how utterly ludicrous and futile!

Just let me know if you'd like to have this adjustment done, and I'll be happy to arrange it for you.

OH, and Airaid just released their airbox elimination kit for the new Lightnings! Roger Lemere and Steve Eppinger are just now adding it to the Digital Marketplace here.
------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com

[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 01-06-2000).]