Thats what makes this one sweet. Its a tuner. You actually program your computer and unhook it. Then when you take it in to the dealer for service you can send your origional programming back into the computer. The tuner just plugs into your under dash OBDII plug. Very clean design. Your chip may have been putting out some high EGT's. That would cook heads quick.

 

uncles got a 6.0 ford with a edge chip, supposed to make 185hp and 285 ft/lb of torque on the highest setting, i drove her a few times with it on max, let me tell u she is wild, doing 65 put her to the boards and before u can even blink ur pushing 90 LOL

 

The results for gas are far less impressive. More in the +50 HP and +60 Torque on a GM big block(8.1). Still is very nice but no where near the gains seen by the deisels. Better fuel economy though, and the abillity to change computer setting for different size tires and gear ratios.

 

FH,

Agreed that it is not nearly as impressive, but on a close to 300HP Tahoe or Expedition if I got it up to 350-ish with one simple mod that would be very well serving while towing etc. It would be fun to get it up to 400, but that would requote a turbo or super charger or some other item. Also putting THAT much more HP through the rest of the drivetrain could cause some other type of failure, we all know that when you bump up the HP it helps you find the weak links. Even if I got a solid 25 HP boost it would be worthwhile - on a big V8 when you are towing you really need to run high octane gas anyways, so why not run the high octane gas and at least get some extra HP to boot.

Also I'm gonna have to come down to SD and try out that 863 someday, those Bobcats always looked like a hoot when I worked in construction.

 

If your looking for some nice (but not too crazy) gains look into a new muffler. The MagnaFlow is a straight through exhaust. Combined with the cone air filter like the Airaid or K&N you will see and feel some impressive gains. Better fuel economy too... I put that steup on my 1500 Silverado and I love it. Really nice power and 50 extra miles on a tank of gas to boot.

Oh and the 863 is a blast... It's like a video game. I'm glad I don't do it for a living but for some weekend fun its pretty cool.

 

Who says you need to run high octane gas when towing? I have towed with chevy's 350 and 454 and never once ran anything besides 87 octane. The temps on the engine never got high. Never any signs of knocking.

I would think the same princaple of octane that applies to quads would apply to trucks. Run the lowest octane possible without it causing predetonition. So unless you are running higher compression (supercharger/turbo/pistons) or timing changes, you should be fine with the cheap gas.

 

FH,

My thoughts exactly on the 863 - it looks cool the way they turn and zip around but I'd bet if you did it every day for a month or year it would get VERY old all of the bumping and sliding etc.

As for the muffler type setup - I installed a Gibson performance Exhaust on my 1998 F150 4.6L (in 1998) and a K&N air filter along with a trick that opens up the air filter feed from about 1.75" to a full 3" and didn't seen anything notable or impressive. Every engine / vehicle is different obviously but in my case I could have saved the $300 I spent on the cat back exhaust on pretty much anything else and been better off - I didn't really get any different exhaust note out of it.

Sandaholic,

I would agree on the octane comment however as my truck has turned over 50-60k miles, it now gets a knock / ping when I have my foot in it towing, so I keep at least midgrade gas in it most times. (Unless I'm going on a basic road trip with no load.) Even with 89 if I really get my foot in it while towing it will ping, but with super it doesn't make a sound. (I don't generally tow with super in the tank though.) As far as engine temps I've never seen my temp gauge move very much once it gets up to operating temperature be it pinging or not; but then again I try to drive in a manner that keeps it from pinging at all costs.

I'm looking forward to a tow vehicle with 295 or 300 hp and lots more torque however the additional weight will offset that a little, but not a lot since it is only a few hundred pounds heavier than my F150.