isthatahemi

My opinion is it’s not necessary, but it will perform much better. That’s specifically how the stock tune is set up.

Theres a lot of deliberate reducing of performance on 87 on the stock tune, quality aftermarket towing tunes solve most of it.

E30 blends ( though not sanctioned by Ford) work really well, even with the stock tune.

isthatahemi

Here is a drastic over-simplification:

Here are the stock "power" tables, the first one is what you could call the 87 octane table, the second is hypothetically the 91 octane table, the 3rd is what a mild 87 octane tune looks like. Consider that the 87 tune, vastly outperforms the stock tune on 91 octane at WOT.

The numbers represent "air load", as in if you have a 3.5L engine, and your air load is 2.0, you either have a 7.0L engine, or a 3.5L engine with 2 atmospheres of air going in (14psi of boost). Note that that power levels are significantly (5%ish) higher with better fuel


87 OCTANE - STOCK TUNE


91 OCTANE STOCK TUNE



87 OCTANE - MILD TOWING TUNE
Note that adding power is a matter of not deliberately reducing the load at higher rpm, flat pull to 6K adds about 55hp on a 2020 3.5, it totally changes the character of the truck.

Ptoughneigh

what kind of MCT temps are normally expected? Big difference in output at different MCTs.

jcb206

Some talk of performance and some talk of pocket book.

Ptoughneigh

I feel like 5% is hard to notice, but at low RPMs- 1500 and 2000, depending on the temperature, you can see up to 18% more power.

Graygoose2021

If I was towing, hills, etc...id do 91 for sure.

Daily grandpa driving, 87.

isthatahemi

If you open the lower grill shutters and disconnect them,15- 20F above ambient, add an intercooler, maybe 12-15F above ambient. (ya, an aftermarket intercooler doesn’t help a ton, it’s the shutters that overheat the intake).

Leave it completely stock and it’s always too high. (I saw 120F in cold weather), it’s always causing power to be less than possible.

My single piece of advice….open and unplug the shutters and the truck does everything better.

Plug them back in fall if you live somewhere cold.

mass-hole

I would and do. I found my 2014 is not maximizing timing even on 91. I will run 91 + Boostane to get me to 94 when towing in the summer and that nets me 2-3 degrees of additional timing.

these engines can honestly utilize far more than even 94 if allowed to with some tuning.

one other thing I will say is that I get pretty big differences in fuel as I fill up at different locations towing in UT and the surrounding states. 91 at one station will give me 2-3 degrees of timing more than some station in the middle of nowhere and my OAR will drop. Thats even with Boostane making it “94”.

I wouldn't wanna be trying to tow with that same stations 87 and no boostane.