6 speed tune questions

[Lock]

New to the forum and I have been doing a lot of reading. Did all the comparisons, and decided for the $, the PHP chip is the one for me. I have scoured the 12 pages of forum answers here to try to get enough information to make me comfortable choosing my 6 tunes and placing an order, but I still have a couple of questions to be sure I do this right the first time.

I see that those of us with a 6 speed manual tranny seem to skip the daily driver tunes altogether and go for a race or perf tune. So, I'm looking for some input on whether my choices below make sense for my truck:

Position 1: stock
Position 2: 65 Moderate Tow
Postion 3: 100 Perf
Position 4: 120 Race or 140 Extreme
Position 5: Smoke
Position 6: Whisper

I haul a slide in camper and tow a 20' jet boat during some weekends. Commute ~100 miles roundtrip in mixed driving every weekday as my daily driver also.

I had three requirements when I decided to purchase a chip: I want a tow tune to make my truck perform better with the camper and boat; a fun tune to play during my daily commutes that doesn't get horrible fuel economy, and a smoke tune to black out the roadway when I need to. I don't sled pull or dragrace, but I do like to fool around on the street as much as a guy with a 6 speed manual can get away with.

With my early '99, do I get any benefit from the 140 Extreme or even the 120 Race? Can I just use the smoke show tune as my 'play' tune (watch my EGT's of course) and put something else on that setting of the chip?

Last q: Do the folks with the Whisper tune actually find the folks in Drive Thru's can hear you and take your order, or do you find yourself still shutting off the truck? Just wondering if its worth the spot on the dial also.

Thanks in advance!

[Power Hungry]

The 65 Tow should be just fine for your intended loads. Where you're going to run into a problem is that the early '99 isn't going to realize any benefit from a 120/140 program due to the limited volume of the injectors. I probably wouldn't spend the money on either of those.

You can also use the Smoke Show program as your play tune without any problems, just keeping in mind that you're still going to be a bit limited by the smaller injectors.

As to the Whisper Mode, I personally find that as long as the drive through is "open" (like a McDonalds where there isn't a wall on the passenger side of the vehicle to reflect sound) then the program works quite well. However, if you have a confined drive through (like many banks), you may still need to squash the engine. I generally don't have a problem, but the effectiveness of the program can vary from vehicle to vehicle.

One final suggestion... I'd probably consider going with an 80 Daily Driver as a, well... Daily Driver program. It's a good, all-around program that gets pretty good economy and still has enough cajones to get you up and going.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Take care.

[Tholt34]

I have the Fu chip in my truck. I usually run a tow tune, the 100 performance is what I usually daily drive in. I like the characteristics of it. It have good power but crazy on smoke and it seems to get the best mileage. Even with the whisper, I usually still have to turn my truck off at drive thru's. It does quiet the truck down a lot but there is still a lot of noise and hard to hear.
I think you have a good choice of tunes. The only thing I would change and that is depending on how cold it is where you live, but i'd put a hi idle tune where the whisper. I just put it on my chip and love it right now in the cold.

[RacerBowie]

A couple more questions to piggy back on the 6 speed / manual transmission love here, hope that it's ok! (Maybe it would be better in another forum?)

2000 F250 7.3 4x4. Intake and exhaust. 210k miles, fresh clutch 30k miles ago.

Looking at a 6 position Phoenix of course. 1) Stock, 2) high idle, 3) 65 tow, 4) something, 5) something, 6) Redneck display... err, I mean smoke show.

I've figured out through reading around here that for what I tow (28' Featherlite with a light car in it) the 65 Tow is right for my needs, so I'm cool with that.

I'm JUST enough of a 'neck to want to smoke things out occasionally. I've come to terms with that too. (no banjo emoticon?)

What I'm struggling with is what to fill the last two spots with. I'm not going to be modding the truck any more, I've got a race car to fill that jones. I want something that drives well but gets good (better, best?) mileage on the street/highway, and I want something that's FAST BABY!

So that narrows it down to... about everything, since I don't need to worry about shift points and transmission programming. 80-100-120? DD, Performance, Race? It seems like there used to be a "Fuel Sipper" but that's gone now due to people having too high expectations?

Advice, comments, etc?
Thanks!
Bowie

[cj45lc]

Originally Posted by RacerBowie

A couple more questions to piggy back on the 6 speed / manual transmission love here, hope that it's ok! (Maybe it would be better in another forum?)

2000 F250 7.3 4x4. Intake and exhaust. 210k miles, fresh clutch 30k miles ago.

Looking at a 6 position Phoenix of course. 1) Stock, 2) high idle, 3) 65 tow, 4) something, 5) something, 6) Redneck display... err, I mean smoke show.

I've figured out through reading around here that for what I tow (28' Featherlite with a light car in it) the 65 Tow is right for my needs, so I'm cool with that.

I'm JUST enough of a 'neck to want to smoke things out occasionally. I've come to terms with that too. (no banjo emoticon?)

What I'm struggling with is what to fill the last two spots with. I'm not going to be modding the truck any more, I've got a race car to fill that jones. I want something that drives well but gets good (better, best?) mileage on the street/highway, and I want something that's FAST BABY!

So that narrows it down to... about everything, since I don't need to worry about shift points and transmission programming. 80-100-120? DD, Performance, Race? It seems like there used to be a "Fuel Sipper" but that's gone now due to people having too high expectations?

Advice, comments, etc?
Thanks!
Bowie

If you're right there close to Bill I'd set up time for the dyno & chip in one shot. That's just me talking but you can believe if I was within a 4-6 ride from his place that's exactly what I'd have done.

[RacerBowie]

I am way close to their shop. Kinda funny, I drove right by it last night on the way back from picking up dinner, then today I figured out where it was.

I'm just kind of concerned about the $$$ aspect of it. I mean, I can't get in and out of a trip to the dyno for under $500 with my racecar, I would be astonished if PHP could stay in business charging much less than that.

I mean I'd bring the pizza/beer/Whopper Jrs (since those are apparently popular around here) but I doubt they get paid like that.

[cj45lc]

IDK about the $$ involved but you'd have everything tuned to your truck. Just throwing it out there, but like I said it would be the way I'd go. One & Done. Good luck with it.

[RacerBowie]

Originally Posted by cj45lc

IDK about the $$ involved but you'd have everything tuned to your truck. Just throwing it out there, but like I said it would be the way I'd go. One & Done. Good luck with it.

It is certainly something to think about, that's for sure. Maybe I'll randomly drop by one day and bug them. Just kidding! I'd call first. I'm sure it would be annoying to have Joe Schmoe who's never spent a penny with them just come waltzing in while they're trying to get work done.

[cj45lc]

Yea give them a call, they're really great people & the best outfit I've ever dealt with HANDS DOWN !! You may be happy with just ordering a chip BUT you have the chance to have everything tweaked to your specific truck, no brainer IMHO...lol