[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by GlockBoss

Hello, I have few a few questions any help would be greatly appreciated!

I have a 2006 Ford F-150 with the 5.4. I was looking at getting the Gryphon CS with custom tunes. Most of my driving is a mix of city and highway and some bumper to bumper traffic. The truck has a leveling kit, exhaust is a cherry bomb extreme SI/DO muffler dumped before rear axle, AEM Brute Force intake, Airaid throttle body spacer, 22 inch rims on 35 inch tires(325/55/R22). I was planning on doing a 87 performance and 91 performance tune and questioning ordering a third tune for fuel economy or towing. I have seen several references in the forms to economy tunes; however I don't see that as an option; are they no longer offered?

What would be the best recommendation for fuel economy?

If ordering the 87 performance and 91 performance, would there be much use for the custom 87 tow?

If 3 custom tunes are ordered do the canned tunes remain on the Edge or are they erased?

Is there a color option for the mounting pods, or they all the same color?

Thank you every much

First, welcome to the forum! I'm going to try to answer your questions, and others may give their own opinions.

1. You CAN get a tune for "economy", you just have to tell Bill you want it set up that way for the kind of driving you do. And, you need to be VERY explicit about your driving needs/style in the remarks section of the form that is used for ordering. When I ordered my first tune, I typed a separate page that went into detail on this. You could do the same and FAX it to them (include your real name, address and a phone number). They're probably not offering as "specific" economy tune now because most people seem to want "drag-strip" style performance. The two are quite different and you can't have both at once (in the same tune).

2. Your description of your driving here was pretty good, at least to me. I suppose if you could, try to quantify how much is the slow city stop and go vs the cruising highway kind. Bill can tune the engine lean at highway cruise, but not during acceleration.

3. If you tow something over 2000#, I'd get a tune for that task. If you don't, don't bother. And, with the CS, you can ask Bill to leave the canned tunes in place, so you'd have the canned tow tune there if you ever need it. It wouldn't be as good as a custom tow tune, but it would be better than stock. So, that indirectly answered another of your questions. You need to tell Bill you want to keep the original tunes, normally they are replaced.

4. Do you put 91 octane gas in your truck? That would be the ONLY reason to get a 91 "performance" tune. Realize, if you do this, the tank needs to be virtually empty before filling with 91 octane and changing the tune. And, if you refill with 87, you need to get the tune off right away. Personally, I don't see the point of this tune and have never used it. I never fill with anything higher than 87 octane.

5. Pod color is "fixed", I'm afraid. It's a slate grey that should almost perfectly match the dash on your truck if that part of it is the slate grey color too. I'm VERY pleased with my color match. They CAN be painted, but finding a matching paint color might be a bit of a task. The pods take paint very well.

6. Your question about fuel economy is probably going to elicit a few suggestions you may not like, so I'm going to start them off and please understand, I'm not putting you down.

a. I would ditch the Throttle Body Spacer. It does nothing for a fuel injected engine. I don't know that it hurts anything, but EVERYTHING I know about them tells me they don't help.

b. I'm not a fan of commercial CAIs. They tend to cause more problems than they fix, especially when the engine is "tuned". Instead, I'd opt for the "Gotts Mod" (you can do a search on this), if your want to increase airflow into the engine. I did it and I think I have positive results (better MPGs at highway speed).

c. The big tires you have on your truck are probably hurting economy and putting a strain on your transmission. Have you thought of re-gearing to get the effective axle ratio closer to stock? Right now, unless you have re-geared, you are driving in all conditions under a higher engine load than the designers set things up for. This uses more gas and increases operating temperatures.

6. The exhaust should not be a factor. If you like it, tell Bill you have it and that's all you need to do.

Hope I've helped - I know it seems a lot of money to drop on something like this. I did it and have not resented it at all.

- Jack