Checking in from CA

[Sburn]

Greetings All,

So I've had my Gryphon (canned tunes) now for a week or two now and wanted to intruduce myself and provide some thoughts and observations.

Level 2, 87 towing, makes a nice daily driver setting. My daily commute is around 50 miles, starting at sea level, over a 1,500 mountain pass, and then back to sea level. Often typical CA stop-and-go highway traffic. The canned #2 seems to quiet down much of upshift/downshift and lock/unlock that goes on in the factory tune. Much more crisp shifts, like the transmission actually knows what to do instead of just wandering around. Also, a bit more power (seat-of-pants dyno) off idle to around 2500 RPM. Hard to say about gas mileage yet, since I'm enjoying the better performance, but I'd guess no worse mileage and maybe 1 or 2 MPG more.

Level 3, 93 performance, makes a nice weekend "fun" setting. My Scottish ancestors wept with shame as I acually paid for a fill-up of 91 octane. We don't have 93 octane anywhere that I know of around here, so I modified the #3 program to take -2.00 counts out of the timing. On a scale of 1 to 10, with the factory tune being a 5, I'd say the #2 canned tune makes the truck into a 7 and the #3 tune, with the octane settings above, make the truck into an easy 8.5.

However, I have developed a new noise from the right side of the cab. When I'm enjoying these new tunes, I often hear a "you're going to get a ticket!" sound from the right seat area.

In general, a very nice product with good support from good folks.

[JWBFX4]

Hi welcome to the forum Glad you are enjoying your programmer.

[secondarychaos]

Welcome from another californian

[Jackpine]

Welcome, Sburn! I liked that "noise" comment from the right seat!

But, I think you may be cheating yourself and really horrifying your Scottish ancestors too, with your Level 3 settings. If I'm not totally out to lunch, the canned Level 3 is for 91+ octane (I read that as 91 or better), which means it should be good to go on the gas you have, no reduction in timing needed.

And, even if it does need a reduction in timing, the manual recommends only 0.5 degrees for each octane point, so 93 down to 91 should only require a 1 degree reduction.

I'm very interested in the timing, due to my experiences with a 94 Toyota pickup. From the day I bought it (new), it pinged a bit under load, or even at cruise in our hot summer months. I told the dealer about it and they dialed the timing back (I forgot how much). It ran like a very sick dog - but didn't ping. I couldn't stand that, so I reset the timing back to spec and once again it pinged but ran just fine. So, I reduced the timing by the smallest amount I could measure (this was the days of distributors, of course and I was changing the static timing). Again, it ran like a dog. I finally put it back to spec, lived with the ping and sold it at 104K having suffered no problems.

So anyway, I'd try resetting the spark change to 0 and see how it drives.

- Jack

[88Racing]

Sburn,

Welcome to the forum! I have that noise too but I don't have a tuner yet. Wonder if its going to get worse after I get one.

-Lars

[Sburn]

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

And, even if it does need a reduction in timing, the manual recommends only 0.5 degrees for each octane point, so 93 down to 91 should only require a 1 degree reduction.

...

So anyway, I'd try resetting the spark change to 0 and see how it drives.

- Jack

Jack,

I was playing it very safe with the timing since my tank still had some 87 octane in it when I filled up with 91. I did a quick calculation of the mix ratio and gave it a little more retard to err on the side of caution.

Long term, I'm just a bit too thrifty to run anything but 87, so I'll probably go back to #2 tune, or maybe think about a custom #3 87 octane performance tune if there's any significant difference between that and the #2 87 towing tune.

Or....If the kind folks at PHP have a way to add a knock sensor or spark retard PID to the available Gryphon display gauges, then it would get easier to optimize the timing without going to far in the bad direction.

[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by Sburn

Jack,

I was playing it very safe with the timing since my tank still had some 87 octane in it when I filled up with 91. I did a quick calculation of the mix ratio and gave it a little more retard to err on the side of caution.

Long term, I'm just a bit too thrifty to run anything but 87, so I'll probably go back to #2 tune, or maybe think about a custom #3 87 octane performance tune if there's any significant difference between that and the #2 87 towing tune.

Or....If the kind folks at PHP have a way to add a knock sensor or spark retard PID to the available Gryphon display gauges, then it would get easier to optimize the timing without going to far in the bad direction.

I wondered if this was the reason for the spark retard (after I had posted, of course).

I have Scottish ancestry too - met Janet at Scottish Country Dancing! "If it ain't Scottish, it's CRAAAAP!" I've never even tried the 91+ octane tune. There IS a difference between the "tow" tunes and the non-towing, "performance" tunes. Bill explained it once and it has to do with the fueling maps and shift points mostly as I recall.

A gent calling himself "Bluejay" over on the f150online forum says he noticed a big dropoff in power at high RPMs using a tow tune and loves his 87 performance tune from Bill. I thought Bill's custom 87 tow tune was great and for a while, that's all I had. Now though, I have a custom 87 "economy" tune too.

Again, welcome!

- Jack

[kokopellimotorsports]

Welcome to the site. Funny thing is my noise from the right side is me, when the wife is driving. She loves the power.

[SinCityFX4]

Welcome to the site