First Post
 

Let's get this first post over with...

Let the fun begin.

So, I have an 07 F150 5.4, 4x4, 3.73 with 55K on the clock. It has the usual delay or hesitation to it. Would custom tuning eliminate this? What else could I expect from the tuning? My truck has a cat back and a slightly taller tire. Other then that, it's as Ford built it.

Thanks

My first post here too!
 

Good first post question!

I'd say YES to the elimination of hesitation by having a custom tune. In fact, the first thing I noticed when I bought my Edge (that has since been converted to a Gryphon) is that the hesitation was immediately cured.

Other benefits you'd gain are the ability to make your truck's speedometer read correctly for the larger tires and, indirectly, your shift points would be where they should be according to speed. Custom tunes will put those shift points where they should be for the effective gear ratio you have now with the larger tires.

You'll get a horsepower increase and probably somewhat better gas mileage too. Add to that the ability to monitor things like transmission fluid temperatures and battery charging voltage, etc. and you have a pretty worthwhile mod. All told, I would not give up my Gryphon for anything.

- Jack

What Jack said X2!! Plus your truck will be WAY more fun to drive and it will also shift SO much nicer. :eek::jawdrop:

Jack, you've pretty much covered it. :) Not much I can add there.

You'll definitely noticed better power performance hands down but as far as gas mileage goes, well, lets just say good luck on keepin' your foot out of it :hehe:

After having the Gryphon, I wouldn't give it up either.

I also have a 2007 F150. I have had the Gryphon for a few weeks now with the canned tunes and can only say it made my good truck great. Acceleration, shifting etc are all better. Can't wait till my custom tunes come in as I expect it to be even better.

Good to know that tuning will fix some of the flaws Ford gave us. Now, how does this monitor mount up? I see the plastic housing, but how does this attach to my dash. And I've not looked yet, but do they come colored to match my factory dash?

The dash mount is injection molded to fit the dash and is colored the same silver-gray as the dash. They did a really good job at color matching when designing the pod. It snaps into place and comes with two small brackets and velcro for more secure fastening to the dash. Most people don't bother to use the brackets as the pod grips the dash quite well.

The toughest part of the installation is removing the dash side panel in order to gain access for cable routing. In some cases it is possible to route the cable without removing the panel, but for a cleaner installation removal of the panel is best.

Other than that, everything else is straightforward. The only thing to remember is to have the ignition key in the ON position with the engine NOT running. The programmer needs to be able to query the PCM and determine what the calibration filename is so it can properly program the PCM.

It is also important to note that if you need to disconnect the battery for any reason (or have a dead battery), it is always recommended to unplug the programmer from the OBD-II port. The reason for this is because when the batter is reconnected (or charged), the unit will reboot and try to query the PCM. Since the key is most likely not going to be in the ON position at this time, the programmer will time-out on the data request and not get a valid calibration. The unit will still function correctly as a monitor but the next time you go to program the vehicle it will fail, indicating that the current PCM is not supported. If this should happen, don't worry. Simply turn the key to the ON position with the engine NOT running, unplug the cable from the OBD-II port, and then plug it back in. The PCM should be correctly identified and programming functions will now work properly.

Hope this helps.

I've found the easiest way to remove the side panel is to simply stick my finger into the AC duct hole in it and pull it out. I think it may come off slightly easier once you do it the first time too.

- Jack

Just a thought on this. The color match is good unless you have the tan interior, then if you want it to match you'll have to do some seaching to find a match that does not cost $50 a can. I found some at Gladwin Paints that is real close but not exact. It would be good to offer that color as an option if possible. Other than that small detail the Gryphon is a great unit that would not give up for anything.

Interesting! My truck has what I would call a "tan" interior (it's a King Ranch and much of the plastic in the dash is tan), but the part that the Gryphon snaps onto is a titanium grey, and the pod matches that area nearly perfectly.

There are a couple of pictures of mine on the PHP website - the ones that show a green display and a dash hood that looks sort of like it's covered in football leather.

Back on the f150 forums, I saw a picture of a pod that someone had painted to match the tan part of the dash, and it was a good match, but as I remember, it was sitting on the grey section. I personally feel the metallic grey color is better.

As far as I know, the pod comes only in the grey color for late model trucks. It used to be black.

- Jack

The portion in my truck where the pod sits is a dark brown mix, the gray pod really stood out so I found that paint. Looks alot better.

Well heck! I keep learning new things! I thought ALL the complimentary dash colors were that silver-grey!

- Jack

In the course of 4 years on those trucks, I've only seen 1 picture of a non-grey dash strip and have never seen one personally. It's like a super-rare option.

The only thing you can do in those cases is paint the pod to match. I wish I had a good line on interior paint so I could offer it to the customers, but being that it's such an odd thing I don't know if it's not just easier for the few customers who have that color scheme to find it locally.

If you look in my albums, I have a picture of the pod pre-paint. I'll post one after paint tomorrow and include the paint I used to match it.

Awesome! That'll really be helpful. :2thumbs:

Now, I finally got around to paying attention to the color combo on my dash. So, the grey pod will work.

Now the next question comes to custom tuning. Which tune would be most appropriate for plowing?

Thanks for the help on this

That's a nice looking interior, Dfishrmn! I can see why you would be unhappy with the grey pod color. I'm going to guess though, that the "texture" of the pod is close to what is in your dash - right? The older, black pods had a texture that was completely different, so even if you got the color close with paint, it still looked wrong (at least on the newer trucks).

Plowing tune? That's definitely one for the Mad Doctor! :hehe: But, I'd guess some modification of a towing tune. Would you be running the truck in 4WD Low to perform this task?

- Jack

Yeah, the texture is real close. I just added a picture of the pod with the new paint to my albums. It isn't exact but is a lot closer than the grey. I bought it at Gladwin Paints but may be available at other outlets. I think it ran about $14. It's made by SEM. Easy to apply, just wipe the pod with paint thinner, let dry one minute, and paint. No primer.

A lot better than the grey, in my book! Still, I can see it's a little too "warm". I wonder if Ford sells any matching paint? Seems like they should, doesn't it?

There's also this internet source: http://paintscratch.com/ They seem to be able to match any OEM colors and can even account for differences in assembly plant locations. I doubt you'll have any luck finding a color code for your dash (other than some generic thing for "tan"), but maybe if you contact them they'd have some ideas.

Maybe, if you sent them the part of the panel that the headlight switch mounts into, they could mix a color match.

(You can see how "obsessive" I get over things like this, can't you)?

- Jack

I looked at Paint Scratch first but all I can find are exterior colors on their website. The Ford dealer said they don't carry anything for interiors. Other auto paint dealers said they could custom match for about $50 for a 4 oz. can. I can live with this for now, depending on lighting sometimes you can't really see the shade difference. If anybody else out there has sources I think other folks in this situation would appreciate it too.

I'll only end up in 4 low if I screw up and bury my truck... again. The plow blocks a ton of airflow from the radiator, so there's potential to run on the warm side. Not sure how it all works, but a tune that offered more low end grunt all while not adding too much more heat to the motor would be great. But I'm the last guy on the planet to have a clue about this stuff.

I don't have much of a clue either about plowing! :rofl: All I know is, I moved several tons of snow from my driveway and walkway when I was stationed in Pennsylvania, then got to move several tons more when the snowplow came by and put up a wall between me and the street! :cry: When we left Pennsylvania, I left my snow shovel as a "housewarming" present for the new owners! :smiley_roll1:

I would have guessed though that 4 low would be the gearing of choice. Again, shows what I know - nothing!

But, I bet Bill can take all these (sometimes conflicting) requirements into account and he'll give you what you need.

You should post some pictures of your rig. Heck, I should do the same! :1toast:

- Jack

This is my truck.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...5/DSC00069.jpg

That's a pretty impressive piece of hardware, Henry! :thumbsup: Is it hard to mount on the truck? (Looks a bit heavy to me).

However, it looks to me like it doesn't really block the airflow into the radiator much at all. I suspect any overheating you'd get would be due to running at high RPMs and very low forward speed. Still, you're performing this operation in winter, when the air is cold, so I'd expect things to stay relatively cool.

One thing nice: with the Gryphon you can monitor your Cylinder Head Temp (CHT), Oil Temp and Transmission Fluid Temp (TFT) and you'll get a digital readout that tells you exactly how hot things are getting. I wouldn't even bother with the Coolant Temp. It's not actually measured at all but is inferred from the CHT. Don't be surprised when you see the oil temp go up quickly when the engine is under load. Mine shoots up close to 250 degrees when I'm pulling my trailer up a long incline in a lower gear range, but the CHT stays around 212-214 under those conditions.

- Jack

That thing is awesome! I'd like to have one here in Texas just to see how people react.

Thanks for the compliments on my truck. It's the second best F150 I've owned so far. My 89 F150 Custom work truck was the best.

This plow isn't heavy compared to other plows. It's a SD (standard duty) Fisher that weighs in just shy of 500 pounds. Fisher's MM2 mount is great. Drive into the pickup points, flip up the lever, push the upper frame into the truck, connect the 3 plugs and lift up the jack post and your set to plow. Sure beats the old days of having to almost climb under some trucks to put in or pull out pins.

My reference to heat comes from the factory outside temp gauge. As I'm sure you know the temp sensor is located on the support post in front of the middle of the radiator. One day when I was paying attention to things, the outside temp was 10. With the plow on and driving down the road, the outside temp sensor indicated it was 48. So, my thought is, we need to pay attention to the amount of added heat performance tuning may give. Heck, as my wife reminds me, I drive like Grandpa Walton, so it's not too often that the revs go very high.

Any chance of another sale?

Time to put the plow on we've got another storm brewing for today.

Where on Long Island? I grew up in East Brentwood and now reside in Fort Lauderdale:sniffle:

Well it's finally official, well almost, I just sent my order in for custom tuning for my truck. Can't wait to check it out!!!