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Custom tune

tcruarceri

Active Member
Joined
February 16, 2011
Messages
89
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9
City, State
Long Island, New York
Year, Model & Trim Level
2000 xlt awd 5.0
Since i have a spare sct tuner around from an old project I am working on getting a custom tune made from mo’s speed shop which I have used in the past for web tunes.

Right now the tune will mainly focus on transmission performance, overdrive engagement point, tire size adjustment and removing pats since I only have one key. Maybe a 93 octane tune. Just curious if there was anything I was missing that people would recommend.

For those interested it is about 500 for a tuner a set of tunes, and I was just quoted about 150 for a new tune since this is a different vehicle than before but I already have the tuner.
 



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I'd replace the back half of the exhaust first, which is the easiest part to mess with. The stock exhaust is a single exhaust, and making it an actual dual exhaust would be helpful(and not too expensive). Doing the manifolds and cat pipes is very high from aftermarket choices. Fitting a second tail pipe is the rub to making it dual, I have a picture someplace of on added over the spare tire(runs up to the floor in front of the spare, and snakes around the shock to the left corner area). One muffler is twice as restrictive as two, no matter what anyone suggests. That was the magic of duals in the 70's, the second muffler and tailpipe doubled the potential airflow, halved the back pressure. Since you are doing tuning, that will correct any minor lean condition from the extra airflow.

Let us know how it turns out, I wouldn't expect much from the 93 octane tune. It might help a little.
 






Yeah mainly doing it for pats and so it won’t engage overdrive until after 45 mph. Get the speedo corrected to the 245/75r17s I have on it. This is all to make a future body swap easier if I decide that’s the end plan. Since I already have the sct tuner it’s much cheaper than doing a carb swap with the body swap.

Been thinking a flowmaster y piper after the 1st set of cats and quality 3 inch muffler / pre axle turn out. Figure what I lose in single muffler I will gain by not having the extra 3 feet of bent pipe and my current stick muffler has acquired a hole.
 






If you aren’t planning to ever run headers I don’t know that I’d bother with duals. I ran my Mounty for a week with no muffler at all and it wasn’t really loud at all. The manifolds are just so restrictive I don’t see having any issues with flow in the rest of the system.
 






If you aren’t planning to ever run headers I don’t know that I’d bother with duals. I ran my Mounty for a week with no muffler at all and it wasn’t really loud at all. The manifolds are just so restrictive I don’t see having any issues with flow in the rest of the system.

This is very much what I was thinking. And with the header situation, I don’t see that happening. If I do eventually swap a different body on this, I will have more room and I might consider custom headers at the point if I build Motor with non p heads.

I have had a tune done to a drive by wire 4.6l with a 4r70w and it made a world of difference, not sure I will see anywhere near the difference on the 5.0. That being said, even the preloaded 5.0 tune in the sct unit livened my truck a decent amount off the line.
 






The stock exhaust is horrible, period, the entire system. The manifolds are the worst part, they are probably about 1/3 of the flow of a decent shorty header. The cat pipes are more like 70% of what they should flow. The rear half is no more than 1/2 of what it should flow, a stock 302 engine should have at the least two 2.25" mufflers and tail pipes.

A performance V8 engine, which is what everyone is aiming for or planning for, should not have that dual 2.25" size. Stock 302 Mustangs came with dual 2.25" systems, and any upgrade always goes bigger than 2.25", so dual 2.5" is the next possible step above that. Thus I wouldn't waste my time or money on anything that flows less than the dual 2.25" standard.

One 3" muffler will not flow what two stock 2.25" mufflers flow. I understand about being cheap, or replacing rusted out parts short term. But listening to the crowd saying one is enough, that's ignorance, and the result is low performance, as proven by all 302 Explorer dyno reports. Every one is strangled by a bad exhaust, and it's not just one part.

I am not saying anyone has to install a perfect system. You can do parts or sections at a time, I will when I get going on mine. But don't presume that if part of it is still horrible, then it's okay to make other poor(restrictive) changes. The manifold space is terrible in these trucks, no doubt. But the space for the rest of the exhaust isn't too bad, there's no good excuse to not make the rest pretty good. Power is cumulative, every reduction in restrictions help.
 






Have you ever seen a dyno sheet that showed an improvement with duals vs single out, with factory mufflers? I can’t imagine it’d make more than a few HP difference.

To me it’d be like feeding a house with a 3/4 inch line and increasing the house piping up to 1 1/2. You are still limited by the flow available upstream.

I think exhaust is often oversized by people who think bigger is always better, just like they do with carburetor CFM. When I built my 454 I was told by a bunch of people I’d need a huge carb, when in actuality a 650 or 700 was perfectly fine.
 






Even the mustang guys tend to agree the cat back claims are often inflated. I feel like 2 less cats and a performance muffler will be sufficient for my purpose...

Nothing else worth changing via tune though?
 






I also have a 2000. I tuned my tranny to shift later and harder under high acceleration and WOT (1-2 and 2-3) . I have it downshift to second sooner to be able to pull faster and drop down to second around corners.

I got away with increasing timing 3 degrees as I live at altitude, 5,400'

Speedo fix is done with FORScan, it's not in the tune on 2000's. I tried to adjusted mine for 265/70R16's, but there is a maximum size a bit smaller than what I run, no luck with larger tires. FORScan does allow you to program keys so maybe PATS wouldn't need to be shut down?
 






Are you removing the rev limiter? My 5.0s always shift at the limiter under WOT.
 






I also have a 2000. I tuned my tranny to shift later and harder under high acceleration and WOT (1-2 and 2-3) . I have it downshift to second sooner to be able to pull faster and drop down to second around corners.

I got away with increasing timing 3 degrees as I live at altitude, 5,400'

Speedo fix is done with FORScan, it's not in the tune on 2000's. I tried to adjusted mine for 265/70R16's, but there is a maximum size a bit smaller than what I run, no luck with larger tires. FORScan does allow you to program keys so maybe PATS wouldn't need to be shut down?

Hadn’t heard about this system but would prefer to completely uncoded keys. Not to worried about the tires too much as they don’t seem to be off as much as previous trucks I have owned.

Are you removing the rev limiter? My 5.0s always shift at the limiter under WOT.

With our punny valvetrain and fuel system I am going to leave the rev limiter where it’s at. I rarely push this motor past 3k.
 






Some photos of the rig here:

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E36A0623-ADE5-4D34-99F9-5C68E36CC318.jpeg


214F46FA-2483-4CF0-87B4-8400F241539F.jpeg
 






I bang my rev limiter all the time. I was referring to Blown who said he made it shift later under hard throttle. Mine couldn’t possible shift later unless I removed it. It’s already maxed out.
 






I bang my rev limiter all the time. I was referring to Blown who said he made it shift later under hard throttle. Mine couldn’t possible shift later unless I removed it. It’s already maxed out.

These shift utilizing many variables before it hits the rev limiter at 5,250rpm. I wouldn't increase that without rebuilding for higher RPM.

I have increased the WOT shift RPM.
I have tuned the Shift Schedule which is a table of MPH X Throttle Position (TP). I increased the MPH at higher TP for 1-2 and 2-3 shifts.
 












Thanks. I cleaned it up a decent amount when I picked it up 3 years and 30k miles ago. Was just thinking if I am keeping it I should start considering more preventative rust maintenance.

Tune is loaded, just waiting for the sct to do all its updates. It’s been in the parts pile for awhile. Truck didn’t seem thrilled with temperature today but neither was I.
 






Tune is loaded, just waiting for the sct to do all its updates. It’s been in the parts pile for awhile. Truck didn’t seem thrilled with temperature today but neither was I.

The updating killed my sct unit. Waiting for the help line to reopen tomorrow at 9am to have it fixed hopefully. Have had to drive my truck around with no tune at all for the first time in over a year, will probably make me appreciate the custom tune all the more, assuming my sct unit isn’t just a bad paperweight now.
 






Up and running. Tune is a big improvement over the truck without it as far as off the line grunt, but only a small improvement from the preloaded sct tune. With the pats removed I got a spare made for the truck finally, cost 3 dollars vs whatever the dealer would have charged to have keys made so I already think this was worth it. Obviously it would be more worth while if I was planning big engine upgrades down the road but with the complications of headers and space I don’t see it happening. Again, this may not be the best solution for everyone but I had the sct unit around doing nothing.
 






Good job!

The Tweecer I use will turn-off PATS, but you still get the blinking theft light.....................so I drive it like I stole it!
 



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Good job!

The Tweecer I use will turn-off PATS, but you still get the blinking theft light.....................so I drive it like I stole it!

lol it flashes quickly for the first minute or two of driving and then goes away thankfully. just had him do a small update to downshift the truck out of OD under 40 when coming down from higher speeds. very happy with the tune and customer service at this point.
 






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