Hey everyone my name is Michael Decipha Ponthieux from EFIDynoTuning down in New Orleans. I have O&E Speed Shop here in Kenner, Louisiana where we specialize in turbo charged coyote's with our own Voodoo turbo kits. Although the majority of what I do is newer vehicles I do dabble with the eec-v and eec-v significantly. I have a website
www.efidynotuning.com where I have write ups for everything tuning related explaining exactly how the ecu's function and how to properly tune them. I have a support forum there as well that I just revamped and from there I was referred here from the member efloth after he posted a link on my forum to help a fellow sixer out. After I jointed here one of your moderators suggested I post a break down of what all is needed to custom tune the stock ecu's in the 96/97 trucks as the need is increasing. I though that was an excellent idea and figured I'd break down those specifically. If there's any other ecu's yall commonly use just LMK and I can give you the specifics on those as well but for the most part its the same process for all 1983-2021 fords.
About me, I create open source DIY tuning support for stock ford ecu's. I also write custom code to do anything I need to with the stock ecu's as well; such as reassigning pins, writing dry shot n2o control code, 2-steps, over heat protection, wideband lean out safety, boosted fuel control, I create tables and functions for custom things I want just basically anything I desire. The ford ecu's are 100% user-programmable to do anything you want. There are no limitations at all. There is absolutely nothing you cannot do when writing code for the stock ecu's. However their are processing limits and on higher horsepower applications it does becomes beneficial to swap to aftermarket ecu's. For EEC-IV that limit is right around 1200rwhp. For early EEC-V that limit is right around 1400 rwhp and for later 2004 (27mhz ecu's) that limit is right around 1900rwhp. PowerPC's used in the 2005-2010 vehicles I usually cap off around 1200rwhp. 2011+ copperhead siemens tricore continential ecu's that limit hasn't been reached yet but I'd suspect its somewhere in the realm of 2500rwhp. Yes it is possible to take each of these ecu's to higher limits but the processing speed is not what I consider optimal beyond these limits. From these horsepower ranges on down there is absolutely no reason to swap from the stock ecu as it is more than capable of doing whatever you need it to.
First you need the hardware to plug in to it. For any 2004 and older ecu that has a J3 port on the back the only practical option is a Moates quarterhorse. Its by far superior to any other option out there. The Moates quarterhorse is a real-time emulator which basically means it allows the engine computer to run off your laptop. You can even make real-time WOT corrections if your ballsy enough. Not only is real-time tuning far superior to anything else which even most aftermarket ecu's don't support but its also significantly easier to dial in a vehicle and a lot less time consuming being that you can apply corrections while the vehicle is running. You literally update the tune in the time it takes to press the key stroke on the laptop. The QH also gives you far superior datalogging support compared to any other options out there. The J3 port is a direct access port to memory and can data log 1000x faster than OBD-2 ports on EEC-V computers. In fact it datalogs so fast that I intentionally slow down the logging speed since 1000 frames per second may have 200 frames with the exact same value. In any case the moates QH can be purchased direct from Moates.net for $250. Moates is located in my neck of the woods as well in Baton Rouge and stands behind their hardware 100%. Craig and Dave are both stand up guys and have always gone above and beyond.
Next you'll need the software to actually see the values in your tune file and to data log with the quarterhorse This is achieved with the binary (.bin) file which is the actual open source calibration tune file. The definition file maps out the parameters in the tune to human readable values rather than hexadecimal values which look like gibberish to the average person. The definition file is created by disassembling the binary and finding where in the code the parameters are stored.
As I complete my definition files from my own engineering based values to a more polished and easily readable listing I post my definition and even my own custom base tunes on my website as free downloads to help out the DIY tuning community.
The QH install is pretty straight forward. You simply remove the ECU and pop the black cover off the back of the ecu (or pop out the pop out) that covers the J3 port. You then clean the terminals will a razor blade to scrape all the plastic protective adhesive film off the terminals placed there by the factory. On some ecu's you may have capacitors in the way that you can easily and carefully lay over with your finger. The QH is idiot proof and only plugs in one way with the USB cable hanging out the hole for plugging in your laptop. I recommend placing a piece of masking or duct tape over the j3 port and QH to seal and protect it from coming loose. DO NOT UNPLUG OR PLUG IN ANY J3 PORT DEVICE WHILE THE IGNITION IS ON. This will fry the ecu and usually fry the device as well.
Software wise TunerPro RT is my poison. The best part is its free and I write all of my own definition files for it. The datalogging abilities of tunerpro are far superior to any other software options out there as well and everything is integrated by the definition developer (me) so it requires nothing on end user (you).
TunerPro requires very little user knowledge and very little user input to install and get going in quite literally a matter of only seconds (if you have your def and bin files already). Hence Its significantly faster to get setup and going compared to any other custom tuning software available. If it sounds like I'm partial I am. I've used just about every single tuning platform for fords and TunerPro is hands down second to none. The free part is just unbelievable.
So on to tuning. Unless your extremely well versed in fords algorithms its most highly advisable to start your tune from a known good base calibration. A base calibration is stock properly tuned vehicle file made by yours truly. In stock form the stock tunes require extensive changes to dial in the tune properly. If you want to start from a stock tune file and dial it in manually keep in mind that I've been tuning and programming since Hurricane Katrina over 15 years ago and to this day I still find limiting values that I have to manually dig for and remove on some vehicles. Save yourself the headache and frustration and go straight to a known good base tune you'll thank me later.
ECU wise the 96/97 ford trucks have 4 different ecu's that are all interchangeable some what. The hardware codes for these ecu's are:
ml1-441
ml1-442
ml1-422
ml1-421
One ecu is for a 6 cylinder manual, one is for a 6 auto, the other is for an 8 cyl manual and another for the 8 cyl auto.
AN 8 CYLINDER ECU CAN BE USED ON A 6 CYLINDER WITH NO PROBLEMS. A 6 CYLINDER ECU CANNOT BE USED ON AN 8 CYLINDER SINCE 2 CYLINDERS WILL NOT HAVE INJECTOR DRIVERS AND THUS WILL NOT OPERATE.
These ecu's can all run the same calibrations and all fall under 2 different definitions.
[AGANF] 1996-1997 Trucks 4.9/5.0/5.8/7.5 w/ manual or E4OD transmissions.
[CFAK7] 1996-1997 Trucks 4.9/5.0/5.8/7.5 w/ manual or 4R70W transmissions.
As for tuning there's simplistically 3 basics to dialing in the tune. Fuel Spark and Air. First you dial in fuel by putting your actual injector data in your tune file and either dialing in the mass air flow transfer or the VE table if speed density. Spark can only be dialed in after your fuel is dialed in and is as simple as plugging the value you want in your spark table. You make a pull either on a dyno or on the street and use the results from the dyno or the butt dyno to gauge whether or not the vehicle likes or dislikes the spark adjustment. You can adjust til your blue in the face to get the spark dialed in. The best method is always going to be running down the drag strip though to verify what timing makes the engine perform best. Dynos and butt dynos are a good choice to get it in the ball park though.
Air can be broken down in to two primary categories. Idle Air which I simplify in all my tunes to having the throttle stop set correctly and simply dialing in the isc multplier table for cold starts and startup friction.
Dashpot which is the idle air control valves decay of the rpm back to idle. This is where all your drive-ability and street manners come in to play.
Both are dialed in by applying correction in realtime to get the idle air error to 0 and by being able to control the rpm drop back to idle stable. Dashpot is significantly person specific as what one person likes for rpms returning to idle another may hate. Similar to transmission shift points which is very subjective to the driver as well.
And thats the basic premise of tuning. It sounds pretty simple because it is. Anyone can tune their own vehicle if they are willing to put the time in to learn. There's absolutely nothing to it just a little common sense, playing with value and guess work (literally).
For a full break down and in depth explanation I highly recommend going to my site and starting at the homepage and working your way down the left side table of contents.
If anyone has any questions don't hesitate to post back and I'll try to respond as soon as possible although I don't frequent here often.
