Gryphon vs X3

zeruin · #1 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 12:23 AM

Hey people.. I just e-mailed Corey about this, but feel free to chime in with any personal experiences..

I'm a member from F150online.com and it seems like the Gryphon is getting pretty decent reviews from ya'll at PHP. I drive a 2008 F-150 FX4 thats got a 6" ProComp lift, 35" Toyo MT tires, 20" Procomp 7005 rims.. I have a custom true dual Magnaflow exhaust, AF1 3.0" CAI, 4.56 gears and I'm currently set on a 93 Performance tune from VMPTuning.com.

I love my truck, and it drives pretty great, but all the mods were done within the first 100 miles, so I dont have much to compare it to.. lol 99% of my driving is done in the city where the speed limit is usually about 35-40mpg and the majority of my driving is 1-2 miles away. I realize that this isn't the best scenario for fuel economy, but I imagined that I would do better than only averaging a steady 10mpg. Come to think of it, I don't think I've even done better than 13 mpg driving 70mph on the highway. It's not that big of a deal.. I put less than 10,000 miles a year on my truck, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

My tires are properly inflated, I drive reasonably and even re-geared the truck, threw on the typical intake/exhaust mods.. and tied it all together with an X3 tuner, but I'm still getting pretty lousy fuel economy. I've tried the 87 performance and 87 economy tunes with little to no difference in mpg.

Realistically, could I expect to see any noticeable changes in fuel economy or performance with switching to a Gryphon over my X3?

Here's my truck..

jumpn · #2 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 12:35 AM

Well, I don't have any answers for you, just want to say that's a sweet truck you have there. All the right stuff. Alot of that is just a wish list for most of us. Good job putting it all together the right way

JWBFX4 · #3 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 01:11 AM

Nice truck, well I cant really help with your questions either. It seems that the regearing should have helped you out a little better than that but

Not to hijack, but are those tips painted black? If so how good have they held up over time?

TA2Dsailor · #4 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 01:35 AM

oh my! That thing is a beauty! welcome

SinCityFX4 · #5 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 03:04 AM

Well..like the others...

Nice ride man.

Next...On my Livewire I run the 87 perf tune from Justin as well and I get around 14 mixed on a good day. I can get pretty good if all highway...what MPG's are you getting? The economy tunes are crap..you will get the best MPG increase with your perf tunes..the shift strategies are crud on the MPG tunes and quite sluggish in comparison to their perf brothers.

I have not yet received my tunes from Bill so I cannot give you info that way.

***Jackpine*** · #6 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 11:31 AM

Those big, wide tires are great for off-road in the mud or sand, but they add a huge amount of rolling resistance on the highway. The combination of the lift and the wide feet adds quite a bit of wind resistance too. The bigger gear ratio, while giving you back some, if not all of the power you lost with the bigger tires and wheels means your engine operates at a higher RPM for a given speed, which translates to more gas used.

However, your truck looks great and I bet it's fun to drive.

I'm sure Bill can write tunes that will improve things, but realistically, I'd expect something in the neighborhood of no more than a 1 MPG increase with your setup.

I wonder if your exhaust is helping or hurting you? There was a thread in this forum a while back where Cody, I think, talked about how exhaust mods don't always give you what you hope for. (But I bet it sounds nice).

- Jack

zeruin · #7 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 02:27 PM

yea.. I figured as much.. obviously the lift and tires aren't helping me much, but they do look cool..

I assumed having the gear swap would have improved the rpm range for lower speeds, I guess it only contraindicates itself with making my truck faster off the line..

I'm pretty sure most exhaust setups don't give too much in mpg gains to begin with.. mainly you get the sound and slight performance boost.. any gains in economy are quickly droned out by the awesome sound..

I never planned on getting the best fuel economy.. I guess I can settle for what I get.. besides, I always have an 06 Honda Civic sitting in the driveway if the pocketbook ever gets too tight..

-btw- the exhaust tips were painted black with some Krylon BBQ or High Temp spray from the local Wal-Mart.. They've been holding up pretty well since March '08, I haven't had to touch it up yet.. worst case scenario, you get a chip and then ya spray a little more..

kokopellimotorsports · #8 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 07:25 PM

That is one beautiful truck.

As Jack stated earlier I wouldn't expect to see any increase to possibly 1 MPG increase.

Ty

johnnyd · #9 Tue, February 24th, 2009, 08:16 PM

Hey Z, your driving situation sound identical to mine. When I first got my custom tunes from Bill I was running my summer wheels, which are 33's, and I saw now difference in my mpg. Now that I've put my stockers back on for winter I'm doing a little better. With the factory wheels and tire size back on, this truck is a real blast to drive and it's gonna' be hard to go back to the 33 x 20's

Honestly though, with a rig like yours who cares about mpg