Well, this is my first post, so I might as well make it a good one. I was fortunate enough to get in on the last group buy, so I made the plunge. I just recently bought a 2002 f250 ccsb 4x4 w/ v10, at, and factory 4.30's. The previous owner had the entire Banks power pack installed, including the Banks chip (ottomind??), consisting of headers, y-pipe, 3.5" exhaust, ram-air filter housing, and k&n style filter. The truck has 111k miles on it, has a 2" leveling lift and almost worn out 285/75/16 goodyears.

First the empirical data; I have a G-Tech peformance meter, that is suprisingly accurate (cannot measure roll-out) and is only slightly (.03-.05 seconds) different to actual dragstrip clocks. All runs were made on the same street, with a full tank of fuel, power braking the truck to 1500 rpm before start. 1/4 mile was slightly up hill.

Banks--- 0-60--8.79 sec. 1/4 mile--- 17.24 @ 81.9 mph
Very minor wheel spin, maybe 2 turns or so

Stock comp.--- 0-60--8.81 sec. 1/4 mile--- 16.96 @ 84.2 mph
much more wheel spin, had to feather throttle to keep from blowing them off

5-Star 87 oct. perf.--- 0-60--8.46 sec. 1/4 mile--- 16.84 @ 85.1 mph
Major wheel spin, had to completely back out on 1/4 run. Additionally, there was a minor stumble after the 1-2 shift, so possably another 0.10 second and some more mph left on the table there.

Subjective data; the truck is much smoother on the stock tune than the Banks, and is even smoother yet on the 87 perf. tune, and the trans shifting with Mikes stuff is.....just right!! Doesn't bang gears, but is firm enough to know that there is some performance tuning there. Also, the part throttle seems to be great with the 87 perf. tune.

On a side note, Mike has got to be the best in the bussiness as far as customer service goes, he ket following up with me for the strategy (sticker missing from chip install) and when I finally got it for him (over a week later) I e-mailed him at 8pm his time thinking that I might get something the next day, nope, 9 pm his time I already had the tunes in my mailbox!!! I give Mike 6 starts, not 5!!!

 

Wow it looks like Banks tuning is even worse than I thought. Mikes a great guy and has a great product line. I'll be ordering an X3 within the next couple days.

 

You must remember that Banks tunes with longevity and work in mind, and not as much on extreme performance like you can get with a multiple tune tuner. It's one set all around tune to complement their products and that's it.

With a 5 star, you can tell them what you want as an individual, and they will match to suit.

 

Banks basically adds a little fuel. Just because a tune gets extra performance doesn't mean its not more dangerous than the Banks or stock tunes.

 

Drive it for a few days, and see if that "stumble" doesn't go away at the 1-2 shift with the 87 perf tune.

Out of curiosity, do you have any idea what the stock calibration code is?

And WOW, do those 4.30's make a huge difference compared to my 0-60's. Maybe I now know what I should get for a Christmas present

Anyway, it's interesting that the stock tune is faster than the Banks. I wonder, if there's any way to check if the Banks stays in closed-loop at WOT? You can use the X3 as a datalogger (even without Mike's tunes installed) and check it.

Also, remember, even with the perf tunes, the knock sensor is working, so there's no real "danger" except for extreme lean conditions, and I can guarantee that that's not the case

 

As far as the Banks tuning.....it sucks. I know that the diesel guys that use their stuff have extreme egt's...definately not good for work and longevity (this is from Ford, Chevy and Dodge engines that my friends have had).

I wasn't going to mention this, but, i towed with the full power pack, including the tuning, and it was super depressing. The trailer is a 24' wellscargo box trailer, loaded with tools, some water and fuel, and a 2000 lbs. 5 seat sandrail. weight around 6500 lbs. hardly heavy by any stretch. The truck had to go into 2nd. gear, spinning 4200 rpm to make it up a 2 mile 6% grade with a stiff head wind....unnaccepatble, considering that my last truck, a silverado 1500 crew cab w/4.8 v-8, 3.90 gears and a tuned pcm did the exact same speed, same gear, same trailer, same 'rail, similar headwind. And, the v10 got 6 mpg while the chevy got 10!! The moment that I took the Banks chip out, the truck felt like it picked up 30-40hp, with a ton more mid-range. I now feel confident that the truck could pull the same situation in direct, not second. Pluss, the truck ran worlds better on the stock programing than the Banks.

Krewat... the stumble is only noticed on wide open 1-2 shift, Mike said it is probably the tc locking too early, and like you said the adaptive strategies should work that out.
Which PID do you monitor for the O2 sensor?

 

If you use LiveLink (the datalogging software from SCT) and hook up a laptop to the SCT X3, and that to the OBD-II port, you should be able to find a PID called "OPEN LOOP".

When it goes high, it's in open loop, which is whenever I hit wide-open throttle.

 

Kerwat I had the same thoughts this morning...
You can also datalog PID. FUEL SOURCE
0 Closed Loop fuel control mode is active.
5 Stabilized normal drivability logic - Base fuel Table


And thanks straightaxle for posting up real world results.
I appreciate the nice words as well..