HI Rick!

That program has plenty of "headroom" in it from a fueling standpoint to be able to handle those changes.

However, if I may make a suggestion, I would advise against installing 3.73 gears. Your factory gear ratio is 3.55, and there is going to be extremely little gained by going to 3.73 gearing. If you want to change gears, then I would suggest going to 4.10's, and yes, we can correct for 4.10 gearing. I would never do a gear change that small, with the sole exception of if I was configuring a professional race vehicle for a particular track, then you use any ratio change that will accomplish what needs to be done. But in this case, I wouldn't go thru the expense and hassle to change rear gear ratios just to go from a 3.55 to a 3.73, the performance gain is negligible.

The chip and the intake changes you have made are going to get you the single biggest increases in performance on that vehicle. Headers will help a bit, you'll pick up about 15 hp or so going with the headers, and in the Lightning we don't need to do anything in the program to compensate for the headers.

With regards to doing a cat-back exhaust, you won't see much gain from that either, as the factory exhaust system from the cats on back flows very well. Just to give you an idea, if you went with say, the full Bassani setup that includes full-length headers, custom high-flo cats, and the rest of the exhaust system all the way back, the biggest gains we've seen are about 25 hp max, and that is a $2000 setup!

What I would do is to go ahead and install headers, and wait a bit before deciding that you definitely have to have more performance. And if you do, then think about going with perhaps 4.10 gearing.

Generally, F-150 trucks can benefit from using a good cat-back exhaust system; however, the Lightning is a bit different. The people at SVT did a very good job making sure the factory exhaust system flows very well, and so as a consequence we do not see "good gains" from doing cat-back systems on the Lightning, as a rough general rule. If you want to change the *tone*, then by all means have fun. But strictly for power, I don't know if I would do that. Of course, it's your vehicle, and *you* are the only one that has to be happy with what you do.

Feel free to give us a call if you'd like to discuss all this in greater detail,

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System

 

Mike,
I think you should say you MIGHT be able to "correct for 4.10 gearing" dure to the fact that I have returned my chip 3 times now for reflashing to correct my speedo.Only to be told that I will have to settle for a 5 mph difference at best.
I dont want anyone else to be disappointed like I was.

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99 F 150 4x4.ORP,S/B 4.6 4.10 gears, Gibson 3" cat back. K&N filter. Superchip

 

Mike,
Thanks for the information. At this point I am going to do the catback system. I'm aware that there isn't much HP to be gained but the L needs a bit more voice. If I decide to change gears I can get them done for the cost of the hardware plus a twelve pack, it's good to have friends that do this for a living. I'm not sure about 4.10's as it rains a lot here and it's hard enough to get traction. As for the headers, I might have to think about the value of these some more. If you figure $700 for them and gain only 15hp (per your reply), that's about $47 per hp. At that price the money might be better spent finding other ways to entertain myself.

Thanks again.
Rick

 

Mike,
I have the superchip with the CUX2R2 program in an L. Currently I have just an Airaid filter but I am thinking about JBA headers, catback and 373 gears. Where is the make-break point in the current program with these additions? I know I can do the catback with no problem but what about the headers and the gears. Will this program handle them? Do you have an updated program on hand that will cover these?

Thanks
Rick

 

HI Jarrett,

We are talking about a Lightning in this thread, and not your vehicle. In the Lightnings it's a well known adjustment, due to the fact that they all have the same computer code, or software in their computers from the factory for each model year, being a low production SVT vehicle.

There are some F-150's that the speedo corrections cannot completely overcome the changes made, especially when we have to deal with changed tire size as well as changed gear ratio. We are limited to a certain percentage of change that can be made, and for those outside that limitation, we can only get as close as our total adjustment range is capable of.

What you need to understand is that the Lightning is much different from your regular F-150, far different, and no comparison can be made in this regard; The Lightning has only one computer code, or software revision in it's computer, for each model year to date, So all 1999 Lightnings are CUX1, and all 2K Lightnings are CUX2.

Whereas with your regular F-150, there are literally dozens and dozens of different software revisions for each model year, and thus the R&D required to make these changes is many times greater. It's much easier to get a consistent result like we get on the Lightnings, with only one code to have to work on. When we have dozens of different codes, the R&D required is simply tremendous. We've had very good success on the vast majority, but there have been a few that we have not been able to completely compensate for.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System

 

hwy 2 l,mike is right about the gears. go with the 4.11 and you will be alot happier.as far as a cat back all you will get is a differant sound but no power increase.the cats are the restriction not the muffler.i put the jba headers on mine,took the cats off,and put 2 70 series flowmasters on it.may have lost a little power on low end but more than made it up after that.sounds a lot better and the chip is still working fine.

 

Hi Gil,

Nice to "see" you again!

Hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day weekend. Just finished the Indy 500 and now watching the Coca-Cola 600.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System

 

well, my man bill is already out so thats why im on the net.corse i have dale jr in the race pool so maybe i can win a little money.