Well, it's time for me to drop some cash in the performance side of upgrading my 99 v10 - and I'll be doing the intake, exhaust, and chip at about the same time. The thing I'm wondering is if there is a chip that will work with my 99 v10 and what would be the "best" or most ideal chip to use with it for max performance. I'm looking for something that I can also return to stock if I need to take it to the dealership for any other work in the future. I've read alot of the threads and posts from other chip users, but seems to be alot of debate too. I just want to get something that has the least amount of problems.

 

Here's what I have and has worked wonders for my truck. Diablosport predator, expensive yes (Summit $450), but well worth it. Not only did I gain power but mpg to boot. flowmaster 3" cat back kit (summit $250), sounds awsome and gained some low end. A tb spacer, basically a waste.

After putting on the exhaust i noticed the y pipe in front of the cat is a funky looking piece of crap probably robbs power so I'm going to order the headman headers with the good downpipe to eliminate the crazy pipe thats in there.

 

jolly74, welcome to FTE

Sounds like you have it well in hand ...

Tedster, I hope others post here about chips and tuners for a '99, but I think jolly might be the only one ... we'll see in the next few days

 

Hey Ted,

I run the Diablosport Delta chip on my '03 that you can switch on and off. I feel it only helps the HP a little bit, but I do like the way it firms up the tranny shifts. I have run it for 50,000 miles with no problems (other than paying for premium unleaded!). I looked into the programmers as well, they were more expensive and had not had a long track record yet. I probably could have just gone with a tranny improving product and been just as happy. As many others have said in this forum before the V10 is pretty efficient from the factory and you won't get a lot of gains from bolt-ons.

I have also done some exhaust work, K&N FIPK kit, TB spacer, all of it just makes it sound better, I doubt I'm making much more HP, and with 38's fighting 3.73's who knows where I'm at compared to stock.

Good luck!

J.

 

With the predator you can mess with timing and injector pulse width, I've messed with these two quite a bit get get a good balance of power/mileage. I took the truck on a 2600 mile jaunt from tucson to PA and experimented at every fuel stop. I was also towing a 9900lb travel trailer. Things I noticed about the predator:

1. Trans shift pressure adjustments are VERY touchy, seems about after increasing the pressure from stock to 50 is more than enough, 50 tends to slam in the 2-3 and 3-4 shifts.

2. Factory shift points are about right on for towing, only made 50rpm adjustment to 1-2 and 50 also to 2-3, left 3-4 alone. If you go higher than 100rpm on 1-2 sounds like the engine is screaming under load before the next shift.

3. The 93 octane program is garbage. Not near enough advance for premium fuel, the trans shift pressure is too high for the hp increase and just plainly enough bad mileage. Noticed cat blueing after 1/2 tank gone through. I ended up putting 12 deg. (extra to stock) of advance before pinging, set on 8 for good measure. Pulse width is a bit offtoo, caused a slight stumble just off idle.

4. Basically, I use the 87 octane program for a base to start from as this one seems to be the best setup on the machine and modify it to my liking (which the predator allows you to do) A few times with hit and miss experimentation and you'll find the engine's sweet spot. Mine just happened to be quite a bit higher than the predators original programming which I think diablosport anticipated due to the "modify tune" option.

5. One last thing, I'm assuming that if you haven't made any modifications to exhaust, these programs are probably right on the money.

There is still a ton of things I don't know about the machine such as the MAF adjustments that can be made and the rev limiter adjustments (useless) this machine does not support gear ratio or tire size adjustment ability either.

All in all the $450 was worth it, I get 15.2-16.5 on the highway (mathmatically, no dummy meter on th ceiling). I get 10.2 to 13 in the city.

 

welcome Ted, I spent $$$ on the Hypertec used it for a week and took it back to Summit. I got the Superchips it works good, but I found out the expensive way that the tow setting requires 91 octane. this caused the truck to ping when towing. so off it came. the truck tows just fine with out it and a gear up grade to 4.30's.

 

Thanks for all of the replies! I will be taking all of the stories and advice into consideration when I make my decision. I'll keep everyone updated on the progress!

Thanks Again!