Has anyone noticed that Ford built in an approximate 1/4 inch "block", or "positive stop" halting gas pedal travel? Crawl under there and take a gander!
I was just under there myself, to see if my new winter floormats were interfering with full pedal travel, and noticed the design.
I would love to get my hands on a spare unit, modify it, and see if gaining more pedal travel would increase power. I remember reading somewhere on the forums that others have complained that they didn't think their throttle bodies were fully opening. hmmmm!

Another thought: I wonder how much work would be involved with retrofitting an older cable operated throttle, and ditching the DBW and TPS systems. (I'm sure the ECM would go on strike!) Man, it'd be nice to get instant throttle response back!


oh, and here's something for all you folks out there with anxiety issues...

...ever wonder what would happen if your DBW unit shorted out and put you at WOT unexpectedly? nice...one more thing to have going through my head!
-gambi06

 

the whole engine works together, if onr sensor goes down the ECM goes crazy

 

I could be wrong here, but being an engineer, one would think there is a software relationship via parameter settings controlling full throttle movement vs the available amount of pedal movement and that you are not getting short changed 1/4".

 

+1

The drive by wire assembly will not get any more power or throttle response by allowing for more travel. If you took it off, it would do 1 of 2 things:

1) Not make a difference past where WOT point was set

or

2) Make the drive by wire unhappy, and shut down after WOT point was set

It's precise. It knows exactly what degree those butterflies should be open when you're on the pedal.

 

I'm sure you're right. That's why I wish I had a spare unit to mess with, and I'm not out there with a hacksaw right now!
I like to tool around with the less obvious mods...just to try to find some untapped potential! (What can I say? I'm a designer. We are trained to constantly think unconventionally!)

 

That's easy... get rid of the factory tune.

 

Step 1: Push the clutch in.
Step 2: Shift into neutral.
Step 3: Turn off car.

 

Uhhh ....... If any car sticks at WOT I would do it in this order:

Step 1: Turn off engine by turning key back one detent (you don't want steering lock at speed).
*** Be prepared for no power steering & realize you only have 1 or 2 pumps on the brakes before the vacuum drops and they're no longer boosted ***
Step 2: Push the clutch in.
Step 3: Shift into neutral.
Step 4: Bring vehicle to a stop & check underwear.

 

I remember a thread about the TPS(Throttle position sensor) readings from a datalog not showing 100% when the pedal was at WOT. Not sure whatever happened to that discussion.

 

hmmm i need to hook up my laptop and SCT to the car, there is a program that monitors the TPS and where it is at WOT

 

Let us know what you find out. I'd just be nice to know that while we are all spending gobs of money on go-fast parts, that the one thing dictating the whole process (the throttle) was truly working at 100%.

-gambi06

 

If you can hit 6250 rpms, you are getting max travel.

 

Using LiveLink 3, you could monitor TP_Relative, pedal_position, and ETC_TP_relative and see what you are getting.

FWIW I can hit 6200+ RPM w/o going WOT in the Stang

 

Yeah, just because you can hit the rev limiter does NOT mean you must be giving it 100%. I can hit the limiter at 25% throttle if I just don't shift!!

 

Just as Don mentioned, get rid of the factory tune which by the way ? Doug's 93 race tune will provide 99% improvement in throttle response that will not leave you disapointed..

 

Throttle position only goes to @80%.
Because of the design of the throttle plate, this actually is max. airflow.

 

That's true up to a certain point. I could hit 6200 RPM in 1st gear w/o going WOT, but I'd probably run out of road trying that in 2nd or 3rd gear. The 3650 seems to work well with speed shifting. The limiting factor in my case is the driver's hand/eye coordination!

 

There systems are torque based, not pedal following systems like a GM. So this means the throttle stop is irrelavent. And of course, with this feature it is built in that if the engine is not within say 10% of what it is supposed to be making it goes into Fail safe mode. Also if the PCM detects any faults in the DBW system it goes into failsafe, this is a precaution from Ford so it wont stick at WOT.

With the stock tune the throttle will actually begin to close when it reaches 400 rpm's of the stock rev limiter. This can be taken out with the tune of course. Also if the tuner has access to the DBW values they can also get the throttle to open up fully at low RPM's, this is something from the factory tune that wont allow it to go to WOT below 2250 RPM's.

Of course this is ONLY if the tuner has been to SCT's advanced training class which they dont have anymore, I'm sure they'll get it again but thats a whole different story. I was in the first class.

This can also be done with the custom tuning in Diablo software but isn't something that is done in the base Diablo tunes.

Thanks, Doug.

 

i bet you cant hit 6250 without being at full pedal travel even in first gear...

 

Not with an auto, no. with a manual, yes!