Roushed '04

I bought my first F150 from a buddy of mine back in December-2004 F150 Lariat 5.4L Supercrew. I have always wanted a supercharged truck and never got around to it with my 2004 Tacoma. Anyway, I have recently purchased a Roush charger w/intercooler, Roush Cold air intake, and SCT 3015 tuner from Stage 3 Motorsports. The kit comes with the Roush Calibrated PCM tune but it I heard it leaves untapped HP on the table. I will not be installing the mods myself but having a shop here that specializes in late model Ford mods and is SCT authorized tuner. They told me to get a blank tuner and we can run tune packages for it and Dyno it at the shop. Since I am here in OH driving to Mike Troyer is out of the question. My main question is does anyone know of or heard of Precision Autosports in Xenia, OH? They have really good reputation in the area, but I'm not sure how many trucks they see. Should I just send it to Mike anyway and have the shop here install and Dyno? Thanks!

Blown Ford

I would let Mike do the tuning. He has tuned literally thousands of Roush charged trucks without issue. He understands the limitations of the F150's transmission, fuel pump, Maf, torque converter and so much more. He has written tunes for my truck that needed no adjustment when dyno'd and others that needed only minor adjustments. That was when we installed dual fuel pumps and had to tune the volatage tables. Mike knows his stuff.

I personally have been down the road of the local well semi local shops that have a great rep and good tuners and my truck stumped them all. Fastlane Motorsports of Benson NC with Caleb Skinner, and National Speed of Wilmington NC. Niether could get it right but Caleb finally did after 4-5 months or so I thought. Transmission failed. Now intially I would have never pointed a finger at the tuner over a trans. And then I got to see the breakdown of my tune from SCT. No changes to the trnasmission what so ever. No TC lock up adjustments, no power allowed through, shift pressures, shift points. Everything remained at factory settings. In fact the only adjustments made was timing and air/fuel ratios which were set up like a Mustang and that is extrememly dangerous in these trucks which weigh 2000lbs more and push a lot more air. Keep in mind Caleb is a renouned Mustang tuner and he is smart as a whip. But he knew nothing about tuning a truck. National Speed in Wilmington is a state of the art facilty but they failed after four Friday-Saturdays with my truck that I met with their GM who gave me my money back. Looking back I remember these guys spending about 20 minutes on a laptop adjusting the tune, loading a file and then on the dyno. This went on and on and on. Mike spent a better part of 4 hours building my tune with me at his desk expalining why and what he was doing, loaded the file, dyno, a quick tweak if I desired or it was needed and she was done.

Lesson is there are some great "tuners" out there and then there are "tooners". And there are guys who are "tuners" when it comes to specific vehicles. So be careful. Again I highly recommend Mike Troyer for your Roushchrged truck. Tell him Jason sent you. When you speak to him on the phone you will know you are talking to the right guy for the job.

Roushed '04

Thanks brother! That was the answer I was looking for and kind of expected. Since this truck isn't right off the lot and is a little older (98k miles), I definitely want an expert setting me up and from what I seen on the forums Mike is the guy! Once my SF3 gets here ill send it down. One more thing too, as mentioned I have a SCT SF3 coming. But I will also be looking for a monitoring set up. Called Stage 3 and thy said I could send the SF3 back and go with the Livewire TS. However, I've seen some threads with some people running into some real issues and customer support problems. My initial thought was keep the SF3 and get a dash mount Edge Insight CS or CTS. I can get either one at fair price too. Thoughts? And big thanks man! I've read quite a bit of threads you have offered advice/info on and it has helped along the way with determining what I want my set up to be.

Blown Ford

No problem. With the SCT3 or their other products you don't have to send your device anywhere. The tunes can be SCT makes a Scan Dash product as well. I personally would like the Livewire TS and I believe the bugs are worked out but even the handheld SCT3 gives you data logging and a screen featuring all the numbers. I really only use it when racing. If the PCM recieves bad or inaccurate data so will you and then you get rods scattered about. I use gauges to monitor what I need to know. Wideband A/f and EGT are the two most important. Next is the boost/vac gauge and a trans temp gauge is always good.

Roushed '04

Cool, great info! Definitely some things to think about. I know I'm getting a monitor for sure. Don't want rods making my hood look like swiss.

Blown Ford

Exactly. Thats why you want a wide band a/f and an EGT. Not really any info on the dash pieces that will keep you from blowing her up.

I should add blowing her up is not likely. But it can happen. Bad fuel, more ethonal in the fuel then you are tuned for, failing injector or fuel pump, pegging the maf, overheating the exhaust valves, clogged fuel filter, etc. As you can see most issues revolve around fuel and fuel supply. Thats where the a/f and egt's come in to play. You will know about an issue instantly giving you the valuable second you need to let off the gas before something happens. They are also great for diagnosing problems.

Roushed '04

Yea, just talked with Franchi and I think I'm gonna send the SF3 back and go with the Livewire TS with tunes by Troyer so I have those vitals at my fingertips. So considering I'll likely be running 6-8 lbs, do you think I'll need to change anything with regard to the fuel system (physically, not something that can be tuned) when my charger goes on?

Blown Ford

No. 42lb injectors come with the blower. The factory fuel pump will support 6-8psi of boost.