Any tuning precautions?

[stang77]

But you are wrong..... Catch can doesn't add horsepower and just because you run your car on stock fmic, and a tune with the boost turned up doesn't mean you aren't doing long term damage. That's not something I read on the Internet. It's fact when you look at charge air temps on stock intercooler V's charge air temps on a bigger more efficient one. That's real world data.....

Exactly. It's already been shown by members and the tuners on this forum that a FMIC is a must. If you are running higher boost levels then you want to keep you charge temps in check.

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[tcman54]

Haven't gotten to the mechanical mods yet, just about done with my cosmetic mods but I would never run a performance tune without an intercooler upgrade.

Here in Florida it's dam hot all the time, I certainly get a since of heat soak on occasion, when I get my performance tune I am doing an intercooler upgrade first but that's just my opinion.


Terry :cheers:

 

[Wulf Titan]

Yes! Great to see local EB dudes in Dallas.

 

[Wulf Titan]

Same in Texas brother. It gets hot af during the summer. I Know for a fact I can't be doing pulls on the stock IC in 100 degree weather!

 

[jtmat]

Just because you don't agree doesn't make it 100000% wrong bud. I'm tuned all stock accept a cai no issues. Don't believe everything you read on the internet. No offense!

I agree... unless you are tracking the car, live in Germany (or some other ungodly speed limit place), are simply ignore the law on public highways, then an inter-cooler is optional.

Last summer I ran "spiritedly" with some modified GTs in 95 degrees and then did several pulls of 0-60... no issue for my car. Maybe it will break down in 10 years because of that... dunno.

Am I doing that all the time? Huh, no... matter of fact, I don't like to do 7 mph over the speed limit, if that. Majority of the time I'm faced with 35 to 55 mph speed limits.

But don't come between these people and their inter-coolers!

 

[wmsky33]

But you are wrong..... Catch can doesn't add horsepower and just because you run your car on stock fmic, and a tune with the boost turned up doesn't mean you aren't doing long term damage. That's not something I read on the Internet. It's fact when you look at charge air temps on stock intercooler V's charge air temps on a bigger more efficient one. That's real world data.....

I have never seen any data that shows that you are doing any damage, long-term or otherwise, to your engine running a good tune with the stock intercooler. If you have any, please share it. Obviously, the tuner needs to know that you are running the stock intercooler, as well as any other mods you have, in order to adjust the tune properly. And yes, the tune should be more conservative, meaning less HP, because the CATs will be higher.

Exactly. It's already been shown by members and the tuners on this forum that a FMIC is a must. If you are running higher boost levels then you want to keep you charge temps in check.

Keeping in mind that I am talking strictly about a daily driver EBM that only occasionally sees WOT, I haven't seen any posts on this forum where any member or tuner has *shown* that an aftermarket FMIC is a must. I have seen posts by members where their opinion is an FMIC is a must. And I have seen posts by tuners, whose statements I respect and trust, that you can lose up to 10-15% HP, if you run the engine under boost frequently, due to heatsoak of the stock IC. But none of that means that an aftermarket IC is a must. I would put it more in the category of "highly recommended".

I have been running an Unleashed tune on the stock intercooler with a CAI for a year and 10k miles now through one Texas summer with zero issues. I have datalogged IATs vs CATs multiple times. Under normal driving conditions, I have seen IATs 1-2 degrees above ambient, CATs 15-17 degrees above ambient. Under WOT from 0-60, I have seen the CATs climb to about 35 degrees above ambient, but cool back down to 15-17 over ambient in about 30-40 seconds after the pull. I did tell Torrie when I got the tune that all I had was a CAI. He did have me datalog after the tune. He told me that all looked good, but did recommend I get an intercooler.

All that being said, I will be getting an intercooler this summer, not because I believe that it's mandatory, but more because I think that the stock intercooler does limit the engine, especially if you like to drive enthusiastically. And this car just begs to be driven enthusiastically.

 

[p0werslave]

Great post wmsky33, thanks for your thoughts.

 

[doulos4jc]

Tuned with stock intercooler for a year and half... No problems. Ideal? Probably not, but def doable.

 

[stang77]

I have never seen any data that shows that you are doing any damage, long-term or otherwise, to your engine running a good tune with the stock intercooler. If you have any, please share it. Obviously, the tuner needs to know that you are running the stock intercooler, as well as any other mods you have, in order to adjust the tune properly. And yes, the tune should be more conservative, meaning less HP, because the CATs will be higher.



Keeping in mind that I am talking strictly about a daily driver EBM that only occasionally sees WOT, I haven't seen any posts on this forum where any member or tuner has *shown* that an aftermarket FMIC is a must. I have seen posts by members where their opinion is an FMIC is a must. And I have seen posts by tuners, whose statements I respect and trust, that you can lose up to 10-15% HP, if you run the engine under boost frequently, due to heatsoak of the stock IC. But none of that means that an aftermarket IC is a must. I would put it more in the category of "highly recommended".

I have been running an Unleashed tune on the stock intercooler with a CAI for a year and 10k miles now through one Texas summer with zero issues. I have datalogged IATs vs CATs multiple times. Under normal driving conditions, I have seen IATs 1-2 degrees above ambient, CATs 15-17 degrees above ambient. Under WOT from 0-60, I have seen the CATs climb to about 35 degrees above ambient, but cool back down to 15-17 over ambient in about 30-40 seconds after the pull. I did tell Torrie when I got the tune that all I had was a CAI. He did have me datalog after the tune. He told me that all looked good, but did recommend I get an intercooler.

All that being said, I will be getting an intercooler this summer, not because I believe that it's mandatory, but more because I think that the stock intercooler does limit the engine, especially if you like to drive enthusiastically. And this car just begs to be driven enthusiastically.

You need an intercooler to make consistent power. I ran Torrie's tune for quite some time. He recommended an intercooler after my first revision.

 

[wmsky33]

You need an intercooler to make consistent power. I ran Torrie's tune for quite some time. He recommended an intercooler after my first revision.

Exactly! With a proper tune, you won't damage your engine with the stock IC, but the stock IC will heatsoak much quicker than a good aftermarket IC, and once an intercooler is heatsoaked, it is useless, and you will lose 10-15% power. So, if you are in boost frequently enough that the IC can't cool off, you will not make consistent power. My car is my DD. I have a 20-25 minute commute to and from work every day. The traffic is heavy enough that I only get 1-2 chances to really get on the throttle, if that, and there are minutes between those times which gives even the stock IC a chance to cool. So, I haven't been limited by the stock IC so far, and I don't really need an IC at this time. But I eventually would like to track my car occasionally, and if I find myself driving on a nice back-country road where I can get into boost more, I would like to not be limited by the stock IC. So, since I'm going to do it eventually anyway, might as well do it sooner than later.

jtmat has said that with the stock IC, he was able to run 'spiritedly' with modified GTs and do several pulls during that time. He may have lost a little power during the run, but it was little enough that it didn't detract from his fun with the car, and didn't cause any issues. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Wulf Titan]

Exactly! With a proper tune, you won't damage your engine with the stock IC, but the stock IC will heatsoak much quicker than a good aftermarket IC, and once an intercooler is heatsoaked, it is useless, and you will lose 10-15% power. So, if you are in boost frequently enough that the IC can't cool off, you will not make consistent power. My car is my DD. I have a 20-25 minute commute to and from work every day. The traffic is heavy enough that I only get 1-2 chances to really get on the throttle, if that, and there are minutes between those times which gives even the stock IC a chance to cool. So, I haven't been limited by the stock IC so far, and I don't really need an IC at this time. But I eventually would like to track my car occasionally, and if I find myself driving on a nice back-country road where I can get into boost more, I would like to not be limited by the stock IC. So, since I'm going to do it eventually anyway, might as well do it sooner than later.

jtmat has said that with the stock IC, he was able to run 'spiritedly' with modified GTs and do several pulls during that time. He may have lost a little power during the run, but it was little enough that it didn't detract from his fun with the car, and didn't cause any issues. That's all I'm saying.

Exactly! I'm really in the same boat as you. I have 13 mile round commute though. But i feel for the casual daily drivers who just drive "spiritedly" on occasion, the stock IC will be fine. Yes heat soak will occur but i normally only do one pull a day. An intercooler is certainly an upgrade I will do eventually but for now it's fine.

 

[richard0ne]

If you care about your warranty, do not tune your car! This comes from experience, trust me!

Best advice! Tune at your own risk but make sure you have $$$ sitting in the bank in case something goes bad (tune related or not). Ford is REALLY cracking down and once you tune your car, there's no going back.

Some have tunes and have no problems.. Some have tunes and the engine went, had to foot the repair bills.

Gotta pay to play.. My buddy works at Dodge and they denied a lot of cars because of the tune. Ford is no different.

 

[PRG3k]

I swapped back to the stock intercooler for warranty work a couple of months back. Its good for a laugh, not daily driving.

I would probably have the same opinion as many of you if I had stuck with the stock and had no idea how the car felt on an upgraded unit.

 

[stang77]

Best advice! Tune at your own risk but make sure you have $$$ sitting in the bank in case something goes bad (tune related or not). Ford is REALLY cracking down and once you tune your car, there's no going back.

Some have tunes and have no problems.. Some have tunes and the engine went, had to foot the repair bills.

Gotta pay to play.. My buddy works at Dodge and they denied a lot of cars because of the tune. Ford is no different.

I agree with this but some dealers are more willing to work on modified cars than others. From my experience it's up to the dealer if a repair is covered or not.

 

[jbailer]

I swapped back to the stock intercooler for warranty work a couple of months back. Its good for a laugh, not daily driving.

I would probably have the same opinion as many of you if I had stuck with the stock and had no idea how the car felt on an upgraded unit.

Really? You put your stock FMIC in to take it in for warranty work? If you dealer would deny you for that, they are really picky. What would they say, nope, not covering it, your intake charge is too cool.

Just so it's clear, the upgraded FMIC won't give that much extra power. It can a little based on the computers tables that are modified by temperature. The real gain is what the tuner is able to do with the tune now that the temperatures are better controlled.

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