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Any downside to using TracKey every day?

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Got my TracKey installed today. I only have 190 miles on the car, so I haven't leaned on it that much. However, I can tell a difference with TracKey even without leaning on it hard. Is there any downside to using TracKey whenever the car is driven? It's not a daily driver, so I don't drive it to work, on errands, etc.

Also, how much horsepower is provided with TracKey? I run 91 octane all the time.
 
Yea I can the grin factor being an issue with the red key. Use at your own risk and beware of premature aging....lol


As far as the lopey I have read that other tunes especially the ghost tune causes the cats to go early in life due to getting very hot. Not sure if this is the case with trackey.
 
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OK, I'm sold. The red key goes on the key board. The silver key goes with my stash of extra keys.

;D ;D ;D
 
Silver key is for when my gf makes me an offer I can't refuse and I let her drive the car (under my supervision). I just can't resist the apple crumble she makes.
 
CaliMR said:
Silver key is for when my gf makes me an offer I can't refuse and I let her drive the car (under my supervision). I just can't resist the apple crumble she makes.

Wow, unless "apple crumble" is a code word for something, I thought we were going in a whole different direction there... ;D
 
;D

I drove with the regular key last week to test something out, and aside from the lack of engine braking it wasn't that bad. It seems to surge more with the silver key but it might be my imagination. I could get used to driving the car with the silver key, but on the other hand I would have probably bought a different car if that was how it always was.
 
CaliMR said:
;D

I drove with the regular key last week to test something out, and aside from the lack of engine braking it wasn't that bad. It seems to surge more with the silver key but it might be my imagination. I could get used to driving the car with the silver key, but on the other hand I would have probably bought a different car if that was how it always was.

Cali, the red key is THAT different? I've read so many posts but the major changes I've read are partial throttle difference, lopey idle, and the engine braking? Maybe I should get the red key before some of my other mods... (trans scoop cooler, LS brake ducts)
 
It isn't huge, it is a lot of little things. Little crisper throttle, little less j-brake noise, little more engine braking. The idle is ok but it isn't super, I could honestly live with or without it and often deactivate it when cruising around town in stop and go. But they add up to give the car more attitude. Honestly when I bought it, I was really disappointed that it felt so tame as I had ridden in my friend's TK car which had convinced me to buy one. Opening the pipes and dialing up the damping helps a lot too. It isn't night and day, and really it is mostly just attitude rather than performance (stock is more performance than ever needed on the street), but it just feels more right with TK.

I don't know how better to explain it than it is just how the car was meant to be.

After the warranty is out, I'll do a lot more to it. But for now TK makes me smile every time I drive it.
 
I have heard some love the TrackKey for daily driving, and others hate it... Some say its smooth and more responsive, others say its jerky at low speeds, or stop and go traffic. I think allot of this has to do with the driver... How the clutch is released, etc...

The TrackKey is just a "Tune", and tunes can only change the feel of the car so much, it can change shift points and pedal response, but only to a certain amount. Its still the same motor, tranny, shifter, etc... just more "Spirited" as some call it.

I would think that the TrackKey could be used anywhere (once one got used to it). A buddy of mine says he drivers with the TrackKey, but pulls into the garage with the Silver Key so he doesn't shoot through the other side of the garage...

I guess it all depends on how you drive it... especially if Ford says "no HP gain" with the TrackKey.
 
JonW said:
Got my TracKey installed today. I only have 190 miles on the car, so I haven't leaned on it that much. However, I can tell a difference with TracKey even without leaning on it hard. Is there any downside to using TracKey whenever the car is driven? It's not a daily driver, so I don't drive it to work, on errands, etc.

Also, how much horsepower is provided with TracKey? I run 91 octane all the time.

I've said this once before (perhaps on another forum, and I apologize if it was here...), but 40+ years ago the first thing a new Boss owner would do is grab a screwdriver and take the rev limiter off his car. BTW, I would add that taking the rev limiter off a '69-'70 Boss 302 had a vastly greater impact on the old beasts than what adding TracKey does for the newer generation... That aside, I always opt for the red key when I go out for a drive. I, too, only drive the car on weekends or for the occiasional errand that serves as more of a joy ride, but I don't see any real downside to using the red key... unless, of course, you lose the silver key along the way. Don't lose the silver key, as it could be very valuable some day! During the restoration of my '69 Boss, one of the hardest parts to find (and therefore, expensive) was a functional rev limiter. Sadly, when guys removed those disgusting little pieces of technology solely designed to suck the power right out of the car - turning a low 12 second car into a mid-14 second car - they pitched them in the trash... Forty years from now, people trying to add a Boss 302 to their collection will be asking whether the car they just found has its silver key, and unfortunately, those who will have them tucked away in some remote garage, dusty and in disrepair, will ask, "What's a silver key?"
 

Justin

Save the dawn for your dishes!!!
I drive with the Trackey everyday. And I drive the car everyday to work. Heavy traffic getting there and getting back going through a tunnel. The bucking can be induced if you dont have smooth foot on the gas. I can creep along at idle in first or second gear in traffic. I also get the car moving using nothing more than the clutch.

The exhaust note is vastly different between the two. At idle under load and decel all have a diff sound all together.

With the magnaflow comp cat back I just installed yesterday you can now hear and feel the "lopey idle" of the trackey. Still sounds just like it has a baby cam in it but sounds much better.
 
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To me, the TracKey seems easier to drive around town than the silver key. Maybe it's just my driving style. I've also been starting out in 2nd gear more often and than seems to help with the jerking.
 

Justin

Save the dawn for your dishes!!!
JonW said:
To me, the TracKey seems easier to drive around town than the silver key. Maybe it's just my driving style. I've also been starting out in 2nd gear more often and than seems to help with the jerking.
I think it's easier too
 
Once I get my car and Track Key I "Plan" to drive mainly with the TrackKey... course not having driven a Straight-Drive for almost 10 years may force me to the Silver for a little while just to get back into the swing of things.. LOL
 

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