This TNT announcement is both a blessing and a curse for me. I finally got my power and egt's where I want them with my 4300# truck camper on back and towing my 21' ski boat over Stevens Pass to usually Banks lake or Lake Roosevelt. The TNT tune now answers my next quest of helping to slow this pig down, but I am not looking forward to spending the dough on a new hydra to try it out.

Rich, at one time did you have DP Tuner decel tune? If you did, I would like to know how it compares to the new TNT tunes!
See sig for my set up.

Have a Happy Turkey Day!!

 

Huh? It works fine, and just as I'd expect, at altitudes from forty-some hundred feet to over 11k. Press button, braking action comes on over a couple of seconds, and is plenty strong when in 3rd or lower with higher RPMs and the CC engaged (less so in 4th, for equally obvious reasons), press button again and it eases off over the next second. Very handy, and worth keeping the EBPV, stickiness and all. (That's another thread, and an issue to fix the next time I have the turbo off.)

On a semi related note, I might have kept my Hydra had I been able to find a decel tune and a tow tune with good tranny behavior. As it is, I'm quite pleased with my current setup, though nothing is perfect.

Mark

 

My apologies for not getting back on the site. Didn't know the internet password until tonight.

With that said the after driving Stinky and being able to play with the different tunes the TNT tune (as well as the others on stinky) by far is the best engine braking for an exhaust setup that I have ever tried. We went from high speed no numbers needed down to 25 mph pulling off the interstate without touching the brakes once. The grin on my face was ear to ear on this and will be getting this for my truck in the near future but unfortunately my truck is far from 100% at the moment. Last night I drove 500 miles down to southern Ca and driving through the sierra Nevada's from 4k ft in elevation up 8k then back down all I could think was that TNT tune. It will put you into the windshield! I drive a semi truck in the sierra nevada with 80k plus loads and I know what a true engine brake fills like and this up there. For the city as I can't say because I have not used it in traffic but what I just went through with this crazy LA stop and go I can see it being a huge benefit on cost of brakes.



The rosonator was very nice as it does keep the hiss sound down to a minimal without being obnoxious to others in the morning for worm-ups as well as using the TNT tune with the windows down for that nice fresh air without the need to roll them up. Not sure if different filter setups change the sound as I have the noisy 6637 where stinky has the AIS.

By the way Tugly 540 miles, 32 gallons and made 17.4 MPG I was real proud on this one.

 

I'll let Tugy answer this but from recent experience and a lot of talking with Rich, I'll throw in my 2 cents.
The big difference with the DP is that, say you want to get on the fuel and climb the hill or pass the semi truck then bam there is a curve with the TNT all you have to do is let off the fuel and the EBPV kicks in and you are slowing down quick then you hit that go peddle and your back into it. No going back and forth with buttons and watching the road, dash going back and forth, just drive.

 

So is this a tune hydra owners can just download through php when the time comes, or is it a single tune for purchase?

 

Sounds like a great tune. Have to give it a try if I change tuners.

 

Yes, with DP (and other decel tunes), you have to turn it off and on like flipping a "slow down" switch.

Stevens pass, westbound, after the summit - that's the bad boy. 60 MPH limit with 45 MPH curves - and a freaking 3000-foot cliff for a shoulder to keep you honest. I never touch the breaks, I just run the throttle in TNT. Towing will still require use of the brakes before the corners, but just a little - not the pad torching that usually ensues.

Blewett pass northbound nearing the bottom. You know the corners... the ones with all the signs, reflectors, road paint, and no escape except into a ravine or a rock wall. This is of course after many miles of riding the brakes from the summit (if you don't downshift) until you get a nice glow in the rearview mirror - and i don't mean from the brake lights.

Oh hey... how about Westbound, coming off the Waterville Plateau? Rocks on the right, traffic and cliff on the left, a hairpin here and there, bouncing speed zones - and that's in good weather.

I drive them all in TNT with no breaks, no switching, no downshifting, and running in CC when the speed zone stays the same for each scenario.

 

As for the intake, I have the S&B: My old AIS was a much quieter intake, but that has no effect on a decel tune. The S&B with a 38R is a quieter intake than the 6637 with a stock turbo.

 

I suspect this will be a custom tune ($75), but Bill will have that answer.

 

My bad on the AIS.

 

Wow, I havent been on here in awhile due to my computer being down and not having easy access to this site through my mobile, but this tune sure sounds useful.

Unfortunately I wont be able to use it due to having a different turbo set up, but for the sake of learning, I have a couple questions. Tug, if you need to PM me the answers instead I understand as well.

First, what are the parameters that activate the EBPV? My reason for asking is if you are cruising down a small grade, and dont need throttle, but dont need braking, is the EBPV going to activate and prematurely slow you down resulting in increased throttle usage? Or is it a situation where it is based on on throttle, load, rpm, and changes between the three?

Second, does this eliminate any chance of simply cruising without throttle input?

Lastly (for now) it sounds like this is something that really shines/useful with the use of cruise control only. I know personally I think I have used cruise exactly 1 time for about 25 mins since I've owned my truck. Personally for me, I like directly being in control of my speed, rather than having the PCM control throttle for me. This brings me back to my first question, where is the threshold for activation? Is it based on Pedal Position? Because if so, I'd see a potential issue based on the sensitivity of the sensor. I know on my truck, my pedal % without touching the pedal is about 11-13% I've also seen other trucks with the same value as low as 8% and as high as 18%.

PS. Looks like I have some serious reading to catch up on with regards to the adventures of stinky. Doubting that I will get caught up anytime soon as most of my time these days is taken up by work, play, and taking care of the house, but I'm sure I'll find some time to read through the novel that it appears you have written about your adventures. Glad it seems that you have finally ironed everything out and happy with where you are at. Part of the reason I have been so MIA is the fact that I havent done anything to the truck in almost a year now. Although brakes are needing to be replaced sooner rather than later, and it looks like tomorrow I will be tackling rebuilding the rear joint in my front shaft due to the bearing being shot making 4x4 completely unusable because of the resulting vibrations. Hope all is well man, actually was looking for Stinky on the roads the last two weeks because I was working on a project in Wenatchee up near Castlerock. Had to check the license plate on every white SD I saw on the roads over there!

 

How it works is the Colonel's Secret Recipe....

 

Truthfully though, I'm actually REALLY PISSED that Bill even mentioned the availability of it.

Am I proud of it? Damn straight; the fact that I've been hiding it for the past four years so nobody else could copy it should speak volumes. There are plenty of unscrupulous companies out there who will stop at nothing to offer what competent people have been able to conjure up.

 

I'll play, as the business side of all this is interesting to me...

First, someone smarter than me claimed there is no magic in this. (See post linked above.) True?

Second, is the tune Bill's to sell? If so, why would he not?

Third, don't all 7.3 tuners essentially pirate Ford's code, making all the pots and kettles in this business black?

Mark

 

I'm not smarter than anybody. I had exhaust valve contact on a truck before any "limiting" was in place in the initial calibrations. That wasn't a timely mistake for me as I was busy as heck. Secondly, the "magic" to which I was referring had to do with finding "secret tables" that nobody else had ever seen before.......There's nothing magic about using stuff that's there and plain to see.

Technically, yes. I was still under his employment when I shared with him the initial builds of the calibration files. I advised him against it a while back because of pressure issues on deceleration (and lost a transmission because of it) although I have a slick-*** way around it but it makes for undesirable (for most) driving manners if one isn't understanding to what's happening. The iterations Bill will be selling don't have the added pressure (hence the warning about stock-ish transmissions).

Not really. The initial calibration files written by Ford have been copied, recopied, and shared for many years. However, the correct way to go about it is to self-copyright any changes to the Ford copyrighted material. Once there is a change, it's no longer Ford's copyrighted calibration. If I were to put a copy of a stock calibration on a chip and label it as MY calibration, that would be a copyright infringement.

In this case, MY calibrations (intellectual property) were shared with my employer because offering anything on my own while under the "umbrella" of PHP isn't really what I could consider an ethical business practice. My big issue with setting free the caged elephant is that once it's out in the wild, it's fair game for anyone with the ability to analyze it. It takes very little to erase one person's personal (or business) copyright and simply replace it with another. Ethical business practices aren't really the 7.3L aftermarket's forte.

I have long since stopped using the calibrations on my own vehicles and work trucks until I can make the necessary hardware changes to allow TRUE safe operation. It's nice to have but it isn't worth my time to worry about people blaming me for failures.