Ford Performance Tune for 2018+ GT

[ice445]

As I stated, I already have my tune file from them. So, yes, they do, and it didn't seem that they had any issue with it. I've been with Lund for a while now and they tuned my 2014 GT CobraJet setup with the tricky FTPP big monoblade TB and my car ran absolutely flawlessly. A little high on idle, (about 100 RPM higher) but they said that would be the case with the monoblade and was really not an issue considering the HUGE performance gains I got.



Odd choice to you perhaps, but my choice. I did this simply because I love the stock look of this airbox and the "Ford Performance" on the front. 87mm TB is just a bonus to me. If they had this airbox that would fit on my stock TB, I'd get it. ... But I also do alright for myself so I can splurge for this entire kit to get the parts I want out of it.
I did have the Roush CAI (Lund tuned, with the MAF insert removed) before this. It hauls, just got tired looking at it. It's pretty huge in the engine bay. This FRPP CAI has a much better appearance IMO.

Curious how many tuners you actually spoke with directly. Because I spoke with both PBD and Lund up front with my intentions (to get more than just one opinion) with this kit and both had absolutely no issue with tuning it.

Again, I have the Lund tune in hand. I just need to install the kit today and flash the tune.

Will let you know how it hauls once I get some datalogging done!

I'm not really criticizing you, it's definitely a neat way to go about it (and the FP intake does look really good), but you're one of the very few to attempt this. Most of what I read about tuners refusing to do it or it not working right were from posts I read on this very long thread from years back, not direct experience or anything like that. So clearly that was something that's been resolved for a while now, which is great. IMO the bigger throttle body with its tapered adapter is a big part of why throttle response feels nicer with this kit. Just feels like the car likes it more. So you'll probably notice something similar.

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[kz]

I did have the Roush CAI (Lund tuned, with the MAF insert removed) before this. It hauls, just got tired looking at it. It's pretty huge in the engine bay. This FRPP CAI has a much better appearance IMO.

You mean you've spent ~$1000 just to get a poor fitting CAI, Throttle body, an adapter and a tune (that most of this money is for) that you're not going to use ?

Why not just buy the intake and throttle body separately ?

I went exact same route, but ran the kit for year and half before getting tune from Lund - I consider it rather waste of money, highly doubt intake and throttle body provide any meaningful improvements here, the fit of the intake was terribly poor and all it does is raise IAT to sky high numbers.

 

[kz]

Most of what I read about tuners refusing to do it or it not working right were from posts I read on this very long thread from years back, not direct experience or anything like that. So clearly that was something that's been resolved for a while now, which is great. IMO the bigger throttle body with its tapered adapter is a big part of why throttle response feels nicer with this kit. Just feels like the car likes it more. So you'll probably notice something similar.

I did it with Lund beginning of last year (with Alex) and they didn't say a single thing about intake / throttle body, just sent me tunes (which are much better to FP ones btw).

 

[ice445]

After 1500 miles and a lot of deliberation, I went back to stock again. After extensive datalogging and testing with different things, I still managed to hear some pretty loud ping leaving a gas station. Ambient temps and engine temps were fine, but the IAT shooting up from sitting must have done it. There's basically zero hope of it not being ping city once it actually gets hot outside. It's a combination of fuel quality here not being good enough, and the tune's borderline corrections being somewhat aggressive. I also want to blame octane adjust not being turned on. I have no clue why they chose not to use it. My car also probably contributes, it's always been a slight oil burner. I have some carbon on my piston tops which may be contributing. Other than that, every single thing has been checked and found to be good. No air leaks, new spark plugs, the works.

With all that said, I never logged or saw anything that I felt was unsafe or truly problematic. Light ping isn't going to break anything. But I just don't like hearing it, and knowing that I have zero margin for high ambient temps, bad fuel, etc. My recommendation is to pass on this kit if you only have 91 in your area. It still feels better, but now that I'm back on stock I'm noticing there's some overlap between the FP tune on the minimum fuel it can tolerate (91) and the stock tune doing the best it can on 91. In short, it doesn't feel all that different outside of the initial hit in higher gears, like 4th and 5th. But that's also where I always saw the most KR being pulled too. I'll miss some aspects of it, but the car is still fun stock. I logged the stock tune and there's still some situations where KR goes positive (very low RPM lugging), but for the most part I'm getting negative across the board, sometimes close to -5.

I don't consider the kit a complete waste though, especially now that I know you can get other tunes that work with it. So maybe in the far future I'll play with these parts again. I also learned a lot about how these tunes work and what's going on under the hood, so that's nice.

My apologies polluting this thread with my indecision I still think it's a good kit, and I'm jealous of those of you who have access to 93. But for my particular car and location, it isn't quite there.

 

[StangTime]

Well don't feel bad. I'm in a similar boat as you. Exception being, I have good quality gas here and can fill up with 94 octane anytime. The stock tune does well even on 87 and we have both seen it add timing.

I thought the cause of my knock was my oil separator. Not so sure now.
When I went back to stock I left the oil separator on = had knock.
Stock tune, removed oil separator = no knock.
FP tune back on without the separator = back to knocking.

Frankly I'm tired of fucking around with this tune. My car hates it.

 

[ice445]

Well don't feel bad. I'm in a similar boat as you. Exception being, I have good quality gas here and can fill up with 94 octane anytime. The stock tune does well even on 87 and we have both seen it add timing.

I thought the cause of my knock was my oil separator. Not so sure now.
When I went back to stock I left the oil separator on = had knock.
Stock tune, removed oil separator = no knock.
FP tune back on without the separator = back to knocking.

Frankly I'm tired of fucking around with this tune. My car hates it.

Yeah, we tried everything we can think of. At the end of the day, stock works great, so that's the consolation prize, haha. You for sure had it worse than me, mine only knocked occasionally and was clearly temperature/octane related.

Still though, one thing I could never figure out is why sometimes you can hear knock despite KR not being maxed out. It's like the sensors just ignore it when it's under a certain threshold. I thought it might just be cam adjustment noise or something, but we both don't get it stock so I'm highly doubtful at this point.

 

[DevereIII]

You mean you've spent ~$1000 just to get a poor fitting CAI, Throttle body, an adapter and a tune (that most of this money is for) that you're not going to use ?

Why not just buy the intake and throttle body separately ?

I went exact same route, but ran the kit for year and half before getting tune from Lund - I consider it rather waste of money, highly doubt intake and throttle body provide any meaningful improvements here, the fit of the intake was terribly poor and all it does is raise IAT to sky high numbers.

I bought the kit because of the "Ford Performance" Embossing on the front, which the GT350/Mach1 intakes do not have. It's also my money to "waste", but I got what I wanted...

Also, I can say, install complete now, from what I've read here (and I've read the entirety of this post months ago in preparation), that Ford has redesigned/repackaged some things in this kit... The foam barrier piece is differently designed and seems to fit better than what I've seen described here. I did have to 'massage on' the clean air tube with my heat gun applied to the rubber corrugated pipe piece; but it went fine and is seated squarely on the TB. That part, I have to admit, was a bit of a pain. The rubber hood seal was pre-installed on my kit, so I didn't have to mess with that.

That being said, kit installed and Lund tune uploaded the car started right up and ran great in the driveway. No strange noises or tapping. Revving it definitely seemed more responsive!
Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to take her out and datalog as storms were moving in. I'll get to that this weekend with some pics of the install. (She's a garage whore, lol).

 

[Lbj]

I did some painting on it's not done yet

 

[ice445]

I did some painting on it's not yet

Looking good, I like your attention to detail!

As a final update, my car is much, much happier back on stock tune. The difference running 20 degrees cooler makes is unbelievable, so I'm glad I tried that. Instead of riding the edge of knock, now the car is always giving me timing and sounds deep and angry, and I'm getting way more fuel overrun and burbles. It's great. This must be what people who successfully went to the tune were describing, lol.

So yeah, if you have grille shutters, disable them and enjoy the free performance. At least in the summer. For winter use, they're still pretty nice. They help the car warm up much faster.

 

[DevereIII]

I did some painting on it's not yet

Looks great...! Did you use Ford touchup paint or something else to do it with? Same exact thing I was thinking about doing, which is also why I spent the extra $$$ to get this CAI. ;)

 

[Lbj]

Deverelll ..I used some paint pens from my local craft store

 

[Cody5.0]

This kit at most should’ve been a tune & airbox or even just a tune & filter. As much as I’d like to have the neat look of this airbox the fitment is utter garbage.

 

[ice445]

This kit at most should’ve been a tune & airbox or even just a tune & filter. As much as I’d like to have the neat look of this airbox the fitment is utter garbage.

I wouldn't say it's utter garbage, but I just replaced my hood liner at the cost of $185 with shipping because I had to cut a hole for the brake aspirator tube to not make contact, lol. If you don't, it just rubs through eventually anyway. That's my biggest complaint with the kit. Well, that and the fact the PCV tube butts up against the throttle body and doesn't fully seat on the intake manifold as a result. I still don't understand that one, because the throttle body and PCV locations are fixed on every motor. So how are some people not having that issue but I was? I even bought a new PCV hose thinking it was that, but nope. Same issue.

I do miss how cool that intake looks though. I really wish the tune had some configuration options at least, but I agree with you that a "power pack 1" option that's just the tune and a high flow filter would have been nice. But I guess it's either all or nothing for them from a profit perspective.

 

[dottle]

I agree with you that a "power pack 1" option that's just the tune and a high flow filter would have been nice.

That'd be perfect for me.

 

[Lbj]

Has anyone with this tune and a automatic transmission notice a hesitation of 2 or 3 seconds going from reverse to drive even if the car transmission is hot or cold i don't remember it doing this before the tune

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