Ford Racing ProCal Tune

[Rcmchicago]

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fms-m-9601-g?seid=srese1&cm_mmc=pla-google-_-shopping-_-srese1-_-ford-performance-parts&gclid=CMX09Yid8tQCFYxMDQodBosDDQ

I'd advise staying away from oiled cotton filters for daily driving (if your bent on running one, just buy both an swap it out for track days). They only provide 96% efficiency which translates into about 12x amount of dust contamination. The 3% difference results in quite a few more particles getting through and their dust capacity is about half. So you need to clean then 2x as often and once they clog, they clog very rapidly and your high flow filter turns into a massive restriction.

Dust contamination is directly proportional to piston ring wear. I'd suggest for daily driving use either the paper filters or use the Ford Performance or similar synthetic media dry filter. The dry filters have the same filtering capability as the paper filters but you can re-use them.

Also an outer wears pre-filter works really well over the dry filters to keep larger debris from piling up on them so your cleaning interval has a longer time span. The outer wears pre-filter is especially useful if your running a ram air duct like I am (Velossatek).

Thanks for the tip! I plan to clean it often but might get the airraid in the meantime. In between jobs right now otherwise I'd be getting everything!

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[JamesinLittleSilver]

Thanks for all the info Lion...I am not sure about everyone but I appreciate all the work have done to document your work and advice.

Also for what it is worth I have read somethings that point to the dry filters being better for efficiency and the oil gumming up the sensors. Not sure of the later one but throw it out there if you are looking for the safest choice I had the aFe Pro Dry S Air Filter with the stock air box. They don't have a direct replacement for the cone filter yet though there may be one in the size you need. I would go with them again or the Ford Performance Blue filter suggested by Lion.

 

[yomamma219]

Ugh I keep coming back to this thread hoping to read something that will either talking into or out of getting this tune.

I am not sure if its just summer time or the new wheels and tires I got a couple weeks ago, but I swear the power band has felt different to me lately. Recently it has felt like I've been getting peak torque more-so around 4.5k-5k. I will mash it in 3rd or 4th from 2.5k and get a bit of lurch then smooth acceleration, then all the sudden its like I hit the after burners. I know this is sorta an EB trait but I thought I used to remember it happening around 3-3.5k rpm, not so high in the range. This could just be placebo since obviously after I got new tires I was over analyzing the driving experience but it has been bothering me and I've been wondering if a FP Tune would help put me back where I was and then some.

I went up to a 315/35/20 in the back and I'm NON-PP fyi. (Yes I know its a relatively significantly larger diameter and has been one of the things I've been wondering about)

 

[v8_vega]

Not sure if video link will work. Ford tune with Magnaflow muffler in place of resonator and muffler deletes. Yeah, I was a little happy about the results. Lol.
https://www.facebook.com/jesse.j.sutton.1/videos/10210137607297760/

 

[TheLion]

Ugh I keep coming back to this thread hoping to read something that will either talking into or out of getting this tune.

I am not sure if its just summer time or the new wheels and tires I got a couple weeks ago, but I swear the power band has felt different to me lately. Recently it has felt like I've been getting peak torque more-so around 4.5k-5k. I will mash it in 3rd or 4th from 2.5k and get a bit of lurch then smooth acceleration, then all the sudden its like I hit the after burners. I know this is sorta an EB trait but I thought I used to remember it happening around 3-3.5k rpm, not so high in the range. This could just be placebo since obviously after I got new tires I was over analyzing the driving experience but it has been bothering me and I've been wondering if a FP Tune would help put me back where I was and then some.

I went up to a 315/35/20 in the back and I'm NON-PP fyi. (Yes I know its a relatively significantly larger diameter and has been one of the things I've been wondering about)

Your final drive increased. If your a non-pp stick you probably have a 3.31 if your an auto then 3.15. That's pretty tall final drive when combined with up-sized rears. I hated 3.31 in my stick, love the 3.73 with the FP tune and inter cooler. Car performs very well and very consistent.

If your bone stock the combination of heat and too tall gearing is probably sucking up all that torque. Gear it down or tune it, better yet do both :-). I up-sized a small amount, 27.8 final size but I also have a very low 3.73 rear end and it works out great. Also if you didn't buy light weight wheels you just added a bunch of unsprung mass which is going to also suck up your ability to accelerate and how the car feels. Sounds like there's a bunch of things working against you, some of which you could easily fix. Tune + Inter Cooler will make a huge difference alone.

 

[TheLion]

Thanks for all the info Lion...I am not sure about everyone but I appreciate all the work have done to document your work and advice.

Also for what it is worth I have read somethings that point to the dry filters being better for efficiency and the oil gumming up the sensors. Not sure of the later one but throw it out there if you are looking for the safest choice I had the aFe Pro Dry S Air Filter with the stock air box. They don't have a direct replacement for the cone filter yet though there may be one in the size you need. I would go with them again or the Ford Performance Blue filter suggested by Lion.

The Ford Performance synthetic media cone filter is made by AEM and it's their Synthamax series. You can buy it from FP or from AEM.

Cone filters have quite a bit more surface area, while a dry flow filter won't net you much if any gains in power if it's the same size as the stock panel fitler, going to a cone filter that's dry media will net some small increase as there's more area to flow = less overall restriction. There's two ways to reduce air restrctions. 1. use a higher flowing material 2. increase the surface area. You can get higher flow while maintaining optimal filtration if you go the #2 route which is what Ford Performance did. I'll trust in a team of engineers with a climactic engine dyno and 25+ years of experience over here say on the internet forum and one sole tuner who claims otherwise. Not doubting there might be certain applications or methods of tuning where the stock air box may actually perform better, however there's a lot of dynamics and I really doubt FP would have included the GT350 CAI if there was no benefit with their engine tuning.

It's a simple fact that conical filters will flow more air at the same vacuum. If the car is making less power that to me would indicate an issue with the tuning method / lack of depth of understanding. Conical filters also have a higher dust capacity because it's physically much larger. So it will take much longer to become significantly restrictive compared to the stock panel filters. Many people only look at the initial power, but what about after 10k miles on the filter before cleaning? 20k? Conical filters will out perform over time every time!

I don't see any cons with using the FP GT350 CAI combined with their upgraded filter. Buy once, cry once. Plus if you want to maintain it at it's peak performance (clean), it's super easy to clean the dry filters compared to oiled cotton filters. I see the only appropriate application for oiled cotton as for track use, where you need max power for a short time and it's a relatively clean environment (not lots of road debris or dust being kicked up by other vehicles, or if there is it's only for the time your on the track that day, not hundreds of hours over the course of a year).

There is no one size fits all and it's not that hard to swap them out either if you occasionally track the car. We've seen people net about 1 mph higher trap and about a tenth by switching to an oiled cotton filter in the stock air box, so they do have application, just be sure to use it for its intended purpose, track, not street / daily driving.

 

[TheLion]

By the way, I finally got to data log the Levels Gen 3 FMIC. At 5800 RPM in 4th gear at 22 PSI boost the temperature differential was only 10.8F between the charge air temps and ambient! Ambient was about 85F and charge temp was 96F.

It cools off extremely quickly as well, really what I noticed is that the inter coolers perform much better under boost due to the higher air density which allows for better thermal transfer. Although it still does a good job cruising under vacuum at only 100~105F with mid 80's to low 90's ambient.

I cannot stress enough how important a good inter cooler is to go a long with the FP calibration. The combination of just those two things makes a world of difference. Like you just upgraded to a whole new engine. There was so much power that can be safely pulled out of the 2.3L that is still warranty friendly and longevity minded it's impressive.

It's got a really good balance of power vs. handling. I'd expect low 13's on the 1/4 mile (maybe breaking into top of 12's with an auto + gearing) and a really good track car compared to it's competitors (WRX, Camaro V6, BRZ etc.). Might even beat out a stock GT on a track given the acceleration is so close but you have a significant handling advantage (faster entry and exit) due to a 175~200lb weight advantage. This thing would really fly in a 2016+ Camaro chassis which is yet another 200lbs lighter.

Track times are cumulative so small differences add up and there's a balance of dynamics of handling vs. power. Drag is all about power. I wanted a balanced car for auto cross / twisty roads and now I have achieved that. It would be nice to take it to the strip at some point just to see what I can do, but time is hard to come by right now with the whole single parent thing since loosing my wife this year :-(. But I digress!

If your running a base model, gearing will also make a quite noticeable difference, especially when combined with a Torsen diff that's found in the GT's like I did. It's a pain to swap unless you have air tools, it takes time but it's worth it if your running a base model that's over geared.

 

[jbailer]

I've always thought it was just the opposite regarding dry filters and oiled ones. My understanding was oiled filters would stop more of the dirt, that was the function of the oil while dry filters allowed those smaller dust particles to pass. The problem with oiled filters is most people aren't the the best at knowing how to oil them and tend to over oil them. Then the oil passes through and contaminates the MAF (if exists). This makes it look like less air is coming in and the computer sends less fuel making the engine run lean. The US version ecoboost doesn't use a MAF to meter input air, it uses the MAP.

Personally I chose the dry filter [MENTION=25093]TheLion[/MENTION] mentioned along with the recommendation of the Outerwears pre-filter. The combination is fantastic for my daily driver. One of the great things about the combination is maintenance. The hassle with washable filters is getting all the crap out of them when it comes time to clean. The Outerwears pre-filter blocks ALL of that crap, making cleaning the filter simply washing out the fine dirt it collects and that is even needed less often. I also have ram air and even more so, I have the Cervini's Stalker hood with the functional ram air so I'm getting even more air forced directly in to the filter. When it rains, I also get a little more moisture so the Outerwears pre-filter also is water resistant, an added bonus.

 

[solodogg]

It cools off extremely quickly as well, really what I noticed is that the inter coolers perform much better under boost due to the higher air density which allows for better thermal transfer. Although it still does a good job cruising under vacuum at only 100~105F with mid 80's to low 90's ambient.

If you really want to see a huge difference vs stock, sit in some traffic for a bit.

I got stuck on 4 the other night at 1am by a wreck, arely creeping for almost 45 minutes. Ambient was 80 degrees, but IAT shot up to 130-135 and IAT2 was hovering around 140-145. As soon as I got past the blockage, I did a 2nd/3rd gear WOT run, and IAT dropped to 90 within seconds, and IAT2 was back below 100. Cruising down the highway for the next 5 miles saw some of the heat soak return, but IAT2 never went back over 100, and remained within 5-7 degrees of IAT temps.

To say I was impressed with the little Mishi IC is an understatement. With our high heat and humidity evenings, I wasn't expecting much. But I think the greatest benefit with an aftermarket IC is removing the shutters and keeping the ECU from blocking air flow during normal cruising speeds. I'm sure I could I have very slightly better performance out of the ATM or Levels IC, but for a stock appearing IC, I'm thoroughly impressed with pairing the mishi with the Ford tune.

 

[Redcruzer]

Ugh I keep coming back to this thread hoping to read something that will either talking into or out of getting this tune.

Dude, by the time you make up your mind your warranty will have expired and you might as well go with a Tune+ or whatever.

The combo of intercooler and FP tune is very solid. You want warranty? Maybe a little more long term piece of mind? Go this route. Simple.

You want max power, no warranty? Go aftermarket tuner. Simple.

Whatever route you choose, I think you will enjoy it.:cheers:

 

[JamesinLittleSilver]

I've always thought it was just the opposite regarding dry filters and oiled ones. My understanding was oiled filters would stop more of the dirt, that was the function of the oil while dry filters allowed those smaller dust particles to pass. The problem with oiled filters is most people aren't the the best at knowing how to oil them and tend to over oil them. Then the oil passes through and contaminates the MAF (if exists). This makes it look like less air is coming in and the computer sends less fuel making the engine run lean. The US version ecoboost doesn't use a MAF to meter input air, it uses the MAP.

Personally I chose the dry filter @TheLion mentioned along with the recommendation of the Outerwears pre-filter. The combination is fantastic for my daily driver. One of the great things about the combination is maintenance. The hassle with washable filters is getting all the crap out of them when it comes time to clean. The Outerwears pre-filter blocks ALL of that crap, making cleaning the filter simply washing out the fine dirt it collects and that is even needed less often. I also have ram air and even more so, I have the Cervini's Stalker hood with the functional ram air so I'm getting even more air forced directly in to the filter. When it rains, I also get a little more moisture so the Outerwears pre-filter also is water resistant, an added bonus.

No the dry filters are more efficient aFe had the breakdown, for "best" performance they push the oiled filter but for best filtering dry.

 

[TheLion]

Ugh I keep coming back to this thread hoping to read something that will either talking into or out of getting this tune.

Dude, by the time you make up your mind your warranty will have expired and you might as well go with a Tune+ or whatever.

The combo of intercooler and FP tune is very solid. You want warranty? Maybe a little more long term piece of mind? Go this route. Simple.

You want max power, no warranty? Go aftermarket tuner. Simple.

Whatever route you choose, I think you will enjoy it.:cheers:

Well, unless he ends up sitting at the dealer writing a check for $7k for the new engine...should have bought the GT or went with the FP calibration, doh! I still contend that most after market tunes, especially shop tunes, are most suited for track only cars (or if your EB is a secondary car you don't depend on).

Remember the 60k power train warranty is still in effect in with the FP tune. I've gone over that many times with their language it does NOT void the new vehicle limited warranty.

Their 36k warranty is a supplemental warranty in case their software were to cause a failure within that time frame. If something fails and it's not specific to their software then it's still a Ford warranted repair (like the HPFP failing or an injector getting stuck and leaning out a cylinder which the PCM would show in it's recent history).

I believe you can even still have the extended warranties as well. After 60k miles FP found no difference in wear between a stock EB engine and their tuned engine. That's really good news for those that want to keep their car for 150~200k as a daily driver and depend on that car for transport like do. By the way, this has got to be one of the biggest threads on this forum lol. Started by the guy to types too much ;-)

 

[TheLion]

No the dry filters are more efficient aFe had the breakdown, for "best" performance they push the oiled filter but for best filtering dry.

Bob the oil guy has some very extensive write ups and testing on filtration etc.

This would be the correct reasoning, oiled cotton flows better but has much poorer filtration efficiency and about 1/2 the dust capacity. Meaning it will clog much sooner and it's "dirty curve", or the rate at which it dirties is very non linear.

So it will flow very well for a period of time, then the curve becomes exponential and becomes more restrictive than paper and dry media filters very rapidly once you start to past the inflection point which is at about 1/2 the capacity of the dry filters which continue to become more restrictive at a relatively linear rate.

Aka the more you use them the more restrictive they become little by little as opposed to suddenly and very rapidly clogging. Oiled cotton is best suited to track applications.

 

[yomamma219]

Ugh I keep coming back to this thread hoping to read something that will either talking into or out of getting this tune.

Dude, by the time you make up your mind your warranty will have expired and you might as well go with a Tune+ or whatever.

The combo of intercooler and FP tune is very solid. You want warranty? Maybe a little more long term piece of mind? Go this route. Simple.

You want max power, no warranty? Go aftermarket tuner. Simple.

Whatever route you choose, I think you will enjoy it.:cheers:

Damnit [MENTION=16750]Redcruzer[/MENTION] I was just thinking this today. I think I am back leaning towards pulling the trigger. Figure if its gonna blow I might as well blow it before I hit the 36k mile mark. Might need to start digging deeper into inter-coolers too. Haven't even done the CC yet though and everyone seems to think that should be #1. :shrug:

 

[yomamma219]

Your final drive increased. If your a non-pp stick you probably have a 3.31 if your an auto then 3.15. That's pretty tall final drive when combined with up-sized rears. I hated 3.31 in my stick, love the 3.73 with the FP tune and inter cooler. Car performs very well and very consistent.

If your bone stock the combination of heat and too tall gearing is probably sucking up all that torque. Gear it down or tune it, better yet do both :-). I up-sized a small amount, 27.8 final size but I also have a very low 3.73 rear end and it works out great. Also if you didn't buy light weight wheels you just added a bunch of unsprung mass which is going to also suck up your ability to accelerate and how the car feels. Sounds like there's a bunch of things working against you, some of which you could easily fix. Tune + Inter Cooler will make a huge difference alone.

I think the gearing doesn't help but having the slightly longer first gear has been the one upside to the increase in diameter. I am quite jealous you put a 3.73 in yours though as i think that would be great but I am trying to maintain warranty while I have it. Definitely not out of the question for me a couple years down the line though.

The wheels I got were vossen CV3Rs. I dont think they are considered light weight so I am sure that also adds to it. But I really feel like the noticable effect of the increased unsprung/rotating mass factor is almost negligible. I'm sure it could be quantified on a track but I haven't had that opportunity yet.

I did a bit of logging and below is a clip of a recent 4th gear pull IIRC. I have looked at some 3rd gear pulls recently too and am seeing the knock sensor get flagged every time and then all the expected safety can be seen too (timing, a/f, etc). My IAT2s go pretty high as you see so I'm sure an FMIC would be a solid helper.

The other thing I just realized is that I haven't replaced my air filter yet any haven't event opened the airbox in a while to check it...should probably do that asap. If its dirty I might be looking for one of those high flow drop in replacements. Probably gonna go oil-less simply for the fact that I am lazy and don't want to worry about oiling a stupid filter. We'll see if that helps.

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