Success,
Installation took me about 45 minutes. My biggest difficulty was removing the air suspension disable switch. This was necessary to get the computer out which I must say was crammed into its spot pretty tightly.
Before I talk about my initial performance gain I First I have a question about a panel I had to remove. I am not sure if all the trucks have this or not. I will try and describe what I found.
On the passengers side under the glove box below the (Knee Board) there was this black panel (COVER) mounted underneath this is no big deal as it popped off with a couple of plastic (push screws). On this cover was snap in plug with a screw driver slit… After removing the cover I found out that this plug was connected to an (adjustable device). I not sure how to describe it but if you pulled off an radio ****, the metal part that remains.. This is what was sticking down out of a (large box?).
Since I cannot find anything in the manual about this I was wondering if anyone knew what the heck this does?

Now to my first impressions of my newly installed Superchip. WOOOOOHOOOOO. Finally firmer shifting . The HP gains and Torque gains were noticeable right off the bat. At medium throttle or a quick light tap my P255/75R17 tires immediately start to spin kicking in the AWD (front tires). I hope this does not hurt the transfer case or what ever pops in the front tires…
I have not yet tried a highway test yet. Also I will post my gas mileage when I learn not to put my foot in it. This is not a race machine since the GVW is almost 4 tons, It sure seems to move out pretty good though. Currently my gas mileage was 15 around town and 17 on the highway. My wife somehow achieves 20 MPG on the highway which is its max rated MPG on the sticker.


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2000 Navigator. Laser Red, Every option. from NAV system to Air suspension. Climate controlled seats, Phone... everything. No Sun roof is offered with the NAV system.

 

Hi LaserNav,

I haven't seen that particular panel you describe I don't think, I wonder if that is something that is on the Navigator but not on the Expedition that it's based on perhaps?

You're right about the air suspension switch, that will partially block your access to the computer, and must be moved out of the way. Your 45-minute installation time is pretty good considering the air suspension switch!

As far as spinning tires hurting anything, that system is designed to work like that anytime the rear wheels lose traction, it shunts torque to the front wheels. Now of course that system is primarily designed to give you more traction in inclement road conditions, and we have that same system in the last few of our Ford trucks with 4WD, except you can turn it off of course, it's not full-time AWD in our trucks. Ford knows that this 300-hp stock vehicle is capable of spinning it's tires on occasion on dry roads. I probably wouldn't advise trying to do a "burnout" of course, but that aside, you should be just fine.

Those DOHC motors respond very nicely to the Superchip, I'm on my third one myself, though mine are the smaller 4.6 DOHC's of course.

It's also quite normal to use a lot more throttle than before after first installing the Superchip, and as the novelty wears of and your driving returns to a more normal pace, you may be able to see some mileage gains as well. I don't know what will happen in that big heavy vehicle, the 4.6 DOHC in my much lighter Mark 8 picked up 2.3 mpg.

Have fun,

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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
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[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 10-19-2000).]