Scott, thanks for doing this. It's very interesting.

 

Second gear. In reality first and second do not interest me, after all it is called Trackey. The only time I use second there is leaving or pulling in the hot pits or the hair pin at Sebring in heavy traffic but there in second I would only be on the gas.

 

i have significant engine braking at higher rpms in higher gears on the track with the aftermarket tune, i agree with you scott that it would seem something in the hp or torque would need to change. When i had my tune done on the car i didnt need to wonder if it had increased engine braking or if it was subtle, it was very overt and obvious. this seems strange, good work trying to get to the bottom of this. i had very honestly thought about returning my car stock to get track key and for now i am very glad i didn't. warranty issues aside, $400 on a dyno tune and i guarantee you will see more hp, torque, and engine braking.

 

That is kind of my point here, if you put that much time and work into something spend tons advertising it , hauling cars around to every show to let people hear the idle, then to have it come to the point the differences are so subtle - what's the sense? I know it is not the guys fault who worked on this it is squarely on CARB and their out of touch politically driven ideals.

If anyone here bought an after market tune - that was suppose to change 600 things and that company posted youtube vids of a loud shaking lopey car then when you get it you need a machine (JMO) to tell any the difference they would be getting slammed all over the forums!

I wanted to get this mainly to stop codes and limp mode at the track. Come on, after nine months and rumors floating around I knew it would be water down. I was also hoping it might change fan setting for better cooling and wow the idle in the vids would put me in a good run mode while waiting in the hot pits, it did at Miller. Of course the other 597 things.

For months as we waited for Ford to tell us when this was coming, yet they said nothing, just a webpage that would say "coming late summer" We hear rumors that CARB caused changes yet no official word from Ford. When it was finally ready for release Ford was a week ahead of the game posting and telling us everywhere how the warranty is effected now - (after first saying it did not) - dam that was quick! I guess they do know how to get a message out after all!!

The facts as I see them now are

Some people see little change, others much more but I have yet to see any "blown away" or it's a "different car". 600 things right? or have I said that already.

As reported by a local Boss owner the car is still going into limp mode at the track. He stated it happened several times and in fact first session first lap at Sebring Sun. I was saddened to hear this.

If someone comes up with a tune the guys at the factory have in their LS's I will buy it or look into some other reputable tune that is tested and not change before released.

My tests can be flawed, not on purpose but by human error but it goes back to the start of this long winded post, why did I even need to do them if this was suppose to change the car with 600 different things and make it race car trackable. I am glad some of you are happy, I am not, mostly about the limp mode. That was the nail in the coffin for me.

Bottom line .. Boss = great car - Trackey and Ford's communication = fail - CARB = ***** of ******* ******* ******** (edited for you families protection)

 

Thanks for all the info Scott. The fact that you had to run the car through the paces proves there is not much of a difference. Maybe the dedicated track rats will be able to have 2/10 of a second faster lap times. Thats great for them. I'm sure they' ll love it. For me, I'll pass. Many other things I would rather spend my money on.

I agree Ford made a great car and did what any company does with a good product. Market it, Hype it. But, they should have let everyone know Carb made them water it down. Instead, they have remained quiet, except to release their possible get out of warranty card.

 

I'm as angry about the politically motivated CARB and its ever growing power as the next enthusiast. But I've yet to hear of any of you state your involvement to try to fight back. Repeated letters to legislators, becoming active with organizations such as SEMA, etc. An uphill battle will never be victorious with mere incessant complaining. Get involved or face the wrath of power hungry granola eaters out to save the world. ;-)

Furthermore, how do you know that Ford didn't have trouble meeting current emissions standards with the red key? Study the following pdf closely by comparing the silver (black) to the red key. The calibration that Ford (via Badillo) submitted that eventually was approved shows it to be dirtier (however minuscule) than that of the OEM or black key calibration.

http://arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermkt/de...eo/D-598-8.pdf

 

Tob- Well said and you are absolutely correct.

Perhaps the minimization of TK programming by CARB will (it certainly should) galvanize us owners into a blunting action plan to oppose their infiltration into other states.

The pdf on TK exemption is great! Thank you very much for posting this valuable piece of information.

 

Don't thank me - thank CARB (and the freedom of information).

I'll keep digging. The internet is one heck of a valuable tool to have on your side!

 

Tthanks for that!

Rreplacement air cartridge?

 

Noticed that myself. Mine appears to be standard Motorcraft part. No mention was made at the dealership of a replacement air filter being part of the package.

 

One possibility has crossed my mind. It may be that a fresh, clean, air filter was deemed necessary when adding the new calibration. No doubt, the tune is really on the edge when it comes to a factory tune. The answer may lie in the dealer side instructions in asking them to verify a clean filter be in place. If they deem it to be, maybe you don't get a new factory replacement.

Just a guess. Have to check.....

 

I agree.

 

I don't see mention of it in the dealer list of instructions. Maybe it was an early concern due to the fact that cars may show up to be flashed with dirty, restrictive filters...

 

I have a partial answer Scott. With Trackey enabled Commanded Throttle will drop immediately to the idle value when foot is lifted from accelerator. With regular key the Commanded Throttle drops slowly to the idle value. So, you will notice the most difference right after you lift. I will try to attach a graph of this from a data log. NOTE: They may be doing many other things to enhance engine braking, too. But, this is the only obvious thing I see.

 

How would a Mustang Boss emissions change data with TK compare to other vehicles already on the road say a GT500, since they usually don't mind us Boss folks picking on them.

 

It's the GT500 drivers that are "dirtier", it's not their cars.

 

I actually just choked on a piece of turkey while reading that.

Ladyboss, if you are wondering how the two compare I can post up that data when I get home from work.

On edit...Jim, excellent job sharing your datalog results. Notice anything else?

 

Great info. Thanks for posting this. It would be nice if we could see some data on the other parameters that would affect track performance. What we really need are some lap times with each key, holding all the other variables as constant as possible. I'll just be a spectator waiting for results until April though.....man that seems like a long way off

 

Jim, are you logging via an SCT handheld tuner?

 

Hi Tob. I am using Dash Command on an iPhone to data log. It gets the data from OBDII so there are sample rate considerations.

I was trying to get some hard date on low RPM acceleration (since Trackey is supposed to improve low RPM torque) and on engine braking. I did not post those results because I am not confident in the numbers I got. Data sampling rate is part of the problem (and I can improve on that by sampling fewer parameters). The other problem is that I did not perform the experiments on the same stretch of road. So, I might have been going slightly up or down hill on different runs.

What I observed (AGAIN I DON'T YET TRUST THESE NUMBERS):
- engine braking (time to drop from 60 to 50)
-- trackey .177 sec less

- time to accelerate from approx 2000 RPM to 3500 RPM in second
-- regular key - about 2.28 seconds
-- trackey - about 1.21 seconds
Given sample rate (about 1/3 second per sample) these numbers
could be way off. Road conditions were not equal either.

I have a request -- for those of you dyno testing trackey, please ask the operator to begin all the tests at low RPM (like somewhere below 2K). I think it is in the low RPM range where you will see a difference.

Thanks,
-- Jim