I have 96 4.9L f150, and would like to know how to put a chip in it? What chip would be the best for it? And can you put the chip in without removing the inner fender panel or the ecu? Thanks.

 

There's a lot of options for chips. Especially considering you have a 96. However on these trucks they are kind of a waste of money. There's other things you can do for the same amount of money and get more reliable results. Most "chips" are just designed to fool the computer to send different amounts of fuel to the engine. A lot of these chips also cannot be removed once installed. Some just change the shift points to a second later. Making the engine rev higher so you think that you have all this extra horsepower.
I have never heard of having to remove the fender to install a chip but then again I've never put a chip in a gas engine vehicle because of those reasons.

 

I also looked at chips to see the results in a 4.9, but like what was said they are pretty much useless for a 4.9l, especially with a manual trans. You can bump the timing, new coil, new wires and plugs and open the gaps a tad bit to get some extra power.

 

If you're running EEC 4 ( OBD-1 )it's possible that you could get better performance by going to a custom 8361 processor chip inside the ECU. The thing is that all of the engine sensors really ought to be replaced so that the entire system is working within specified values & parameters.

Hardly seems worth doing except for the purist with gobs of time & money or somebody that's trying to tune it for racing.

With EEC 5 there's probably no need to replace the processor chip because the factory fuel injection program isn't permanently built into the ECU. All you would have to do is re-flash the ROM with a program designed for low end torque, fuel economy, or high end performance. The thing is that there are functionality tradeoffs. You might gain on the high end but lose out on fuel economy or low end performance.

Seems like the best reason to re-flash the ROM with an upgraded program would be to take advantage of technological advancements in the understanding of engine performance since the machine was built.

 

jet makes a performance module that plugs right into the ecu. its spendy but its easier to install than a chip. check out their site its easy to find

 

Unless you drop a power stroke in it or substantially upgrade other engine componants you will be wasting your money. like said earlier all they do is change fuel mapping or shift points, even if you do see hp gains more likely than not your just adding wear and tear on other engine parts. if you drop in a new cam and or bore/stroke it upgrade fuel system parts i would reccomend you take it to a local tuner before buying any chip or programmer.. just my 2 cent..

 

maint is also another great thing to do for these trucks! you would be suprised on how much changing fluids and taking care of it will do. add a aftermarket intake, with a new exhaust system.

 

So the general consensus is theirs not much I can do except keep it tuned up properly. Thanks for the feedback.

 

For whatever it's worth :

I've always tried to maximize the fuel burn & reduce internal engine friction.

A really good quality synthetic motor oil and then go right through the ingition system. Some parts are better than others. I usually throw in a new distributor cap, rotor, high quality ignition wires & platinum plugs. Some plugs are supposed to give you a more complete burn of the fuel charge in the cylinder.

It's all around good. Better fuel economy, easy cold weather starts, and MORE POWER !

 

Yes'm thats the consensus unfortunatley. Like said before a good ignition system and proper maint. is about all you can do. if it makes you feel any better i have the 5.8 which can handle boost pressure stock but i dont have funds to throw a hairdryer on it : (