I finally made it!

Ryan Vitek
Wauconda, IL (about 40mi West / North West of Chicago)
2001 Ford Explorer 5.0 V8 AWD
White
KKM Intake
Custom Cat-Back with a RaVin Series 33 Muffler (http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=63494)
Gabriel Gas Ryder Shocks (They suck and are getting replaced ASAP)
Westin Safari Bar, Custom DLR/Fog Light Setup (This is getting sold and I'm lowering the truck and adding an air-dam)
Custom Apten Chip (I have two of them in my garage, but my port is disabled Agrh! (http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61655), Argh!! (http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62355))
Escort Passport 8500 / Garmin GPSV

I've been married for 2 years to my wife who's now going for her MBA.
Our daughter, Yoshi, is an 8 pound puppy-cut Shih Tzu that will be 2 in February.
I brew beer.
I build stuff. I own a small business (Fine art and Custom Woodwork, (extremely new website) vpCreate, Inc. (http://www.vpcreate.com)).
I constantly work on my house.

Thanks for looking!

Ry.

Our Truck.
http://www.explorerforum.com/data/3060/9266truck_detail.jpg

Our SLS.
http://www.explorerforum.com/data/3060/9266truck_sls.jpg

Our Daughter.
http://www.explorerforum.com/data/3059/9266yoshi.jpg

Update: The last two weekends I worked on my truck with removing my Safari Light bar and lowering the front end an inch last weekend, and installing new fog lights this weekend.

Pilot Free Form PL-800 Fog Lights. Aluminum, 55W Amber beam with blue crystal lense. Mounted directly to bumper via self-tapping stainless steel screws.


http://www.explorerforum.com/data/3060/9266fog_lights_off.jpg


http://www.explorerforum.com/data/3060/9266fog_lights.jpg

Decided to give you a better shot of the lights on.

These fogs rock, they fill in the center of where the headlights cut off, and the fog lights end. They're perfect and don't draw a bit off my battery.


http://www.explorerforum.com/data/3060/9266new_fogs2.jpg

It works!

12-30-2002

Brian from Apten was able to pull my code from my EEC as apparently, it was reflashed at some point. He was then able to custom burn a chip program for it.

The proof is in the pudding. My wife actually asked me - why's your truck so fast off the line now? LOL - she noticed because she said that under acceleration, her head would almost hit the back of the seat (you know, the stop / go passenger head bob!). Now I'm not flooring it - it just feels nice and tight on the low end.

I took her on a nice 400mi trip since I've received the chip and I love it. My shift points have changed and while I wish it went into OD a bit sooner (it's set to go into OD at about 40mph), I'm getting used to the nice amount of usable power in third gear until it gets there. I'm going to leave it as is now and evaluate it in a month or so.

I haven't done any 0-60 times, but I can tell you that I actually feel very confident that I won't have any problems with anyone off the line now! What I can tell you though, is that I'm probably going to upgrade to a dual program chip as LOL, this chip is going to be very dangerous on my pocketbook with all the gas I'll now be using with all this power!

Brian - I appreciate all the help you've given me and am glad I did business with you! Brian's been a great guy and would recomend his work and products to anyone!

Ry.

Wauconda, IL – Orland Park, IL: 65mi
Return Trip: 65mi, MPG = 15.1

Wauconda, IL – Westchester, IL: 38mi

Westchester, IL – Ft Madison, IA: 247mi, MPG = 15.4

Ft Madison, IA – Knoxville, IA: 134mi, MPG = 16.3
Return Trip: 134mi, MPG = 16.4

Ft Madison, IA – Wauconda, IL: 260mi, MPG = 16.3

Wauconda, IL – Orland Park, IL: 65mi

Orland Park, IL – Prophetstown, IL: 136mi, MPG = 15.4
Prophetstown, IL – Wauconda, IL: 142mi, MPG = 16.2

Wauconda, IL – Orland Park, IL: 65mi
Return Trip: 65mi

-----Apten Chip Installed-----

Wauconda, IL – Bettendorf, IA: 175mi, MPG = 15.9
Return Trip: 175mi, MPG = 16.9

Wauconda IL – Ft Madison, IA: 260mi, MPG = 15.8

Ft Madison, IA – Knoxville, IA: 134mi, MPG = 17.1
Return Trip: 134mi, MPG = 18.3

Ft Madison, IA – Wauconda, IL: 260mi, MPG = 17.2

Miscellaneous At Destination Driving: 526mi

---------------------------------

Total Miles: 2814mi
Total Moving Time: 54hours
Total Average Speed: 11mph
Pre Apten MPG: 15.8
Post Apten MPG: 16.8
Total Average MPG: 16.3

Had the following work done on the XLT late last week:

Replaced all four ball joints.
Replaced (rack and pinion) pinion seal, flushed and refill power-steering fluid.
Replaced both seat-backs and seat-back mechanisms.
Cleaned and re-calibrated MAF.
Cleaned and re-calibrated Throttle Body.
Replaced front and rear break pads. Re-cut front and rear rotors. Re-bled all four breaks.

My Ford ESP just paid for itself after only one visit. The truck runs like a dream and is very responsive.

The MAF/TB cleaning + break job + Ford ESP deductible = the $496 total.

It's going back in today as it now needs an alignment as the settering wheel is turned to the right and pulls to the right under deceleration and braking. The dealer will be picking up this cost for me. I'm still suffering from a gas pedal/hesitation issue when she's hot. I'll have them look into that again.

Interesting, they claim my KKM is the reason my MAF/Throttle Body was so dirty. In any event, I will switch back to my stock air-box for some testing as I've complained about the KKM's performance in the past. I did reconfirm, I have no vacuum leaks with the KKM install which, if they existed, would explain my dirty MAF/TB.

The Apten chip has been pulled for a first round of testing. With the premium gas prices hovering towards the $2.00 mark, I decided that the extra performance wasn't needed right now. I also noticed it didn't shift down into the torque-converter until about 45mph - since most of my driving is under the 40mph range during the work commute (we move, just go slow), I was wondering if the extended time in 3rd gear was causing un-needed RPMs. I'v discussed this with Brian. I'm thinking the current program will be great for when I have my boat hooked up, but I'm thinking I need a different program for every-day driving. As money perfmits, I may look into the flip-chip idea.

I'll report back my findings as they happen.

Ry.

After the ball-joint work, I had some bad shimmy's and the truck would drift to the right. So I took it in for an alignment.

Since I lowered the front, I needed to have the caster-adjusters installed (and purchased as well) so Sears did the whole thing, for $196. My before and after numbers were insanely different!

After a weekend trip, my traveling west MPG was at 16.5mpg.
My traveling east MPG was at 17.8mpg!! :bounce:

(Both numbers on regular gas, without my Apten chip.)

She tracks straight as an arrow and will coast for miles!

I'm happy!

Ry.