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KOOKS Re-visited

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I finally did the KOOKS long tube setup.
It really did wake the car up quite a bit, as shown in the attached dyno sheet.

Oops, no can attach dyno sheet - RWHP went from 402.76 to 424.49; tq went from 353.3 to 372.05
Most significantly, A/F went richer on the KOOKS, from 12.28 stock to 12.63 on KOOKS. Looks like the FOMOCO closed loop ecu actually works...

This is on test pipes w/o cats.

I was curious as to what others with KOOKS will do when it comes time to update their Track Key.
According to my dealer they cannot update track key without the stock exhaust, since the program must run a diagnostic (which will fail w/o cats) before the upload is accepted by the ecu.

- Anyone run into this?

- Anyone tried putting their ecu into a stock 302 for update purposes or purchased a second ecu as a mule?

- Anyone found a good tune for the 302; i.e. reliable for track duty?

I personally would not in any way consider reinstalling the stock exhaust setup for dealer purposes since the KOOKS job is indeed a bear.

Thank in advance for any replies.
 
lbp said:
I finally did the KOOKS long tube setup.
It really did wake the car up quite a bit, as shown in the attached dyno sheet.

Oops, no can attach dyno sheet - RWHP went from 402.76 to 424.49; tq went from 353.3 to 372.05
Most significantly, A/F went richer on the KOOKS, from 12.28 stock to 12.63 on KOOKS. Looks like the FOMOCO closed loop ecu actually works...

This is on test pipes w/o cats.

I was curious as to what others with KOOKS will do when it comes time to update their Track Key.
According to my dealer they cannot update track key without the stock exhaust, since the program must run a diagnostic (which will fail w/o cats) before the upload is accepted by the ecu.

- Anyone run into this?

- Anyone tried putting their ecu into a stock 302 for update purposes or purchased a second ecu as a mule?

- Anyone found a good tune for the 302; i.e. reliable for track duty?

I personally would not in any way consider reinstalling the stock exhaust setup for dealer purposes since the KOOKS job is indeed a bear.

Thank in advance for any replies.
Running a tune from Justin at VMP just accounting for the LT's and offroad H-pipe. I told him not to go crazy as I wanted just the gains from the exhaust changes. I will be putting it on track next week if it ever warms up.... My rwhp went from 397 to 437 and rwtq from 359 to 379. I've been running his tunes on my GT500 for 3 years with heavy track use and zero issues.

5thgearsaeltsandorhpipe.png
 

steveespo

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lbp said:
I finally did the KOOKS long tube setup.
It really did wake the car up quite a bit, as shown in the attached dyno sheet.

Oops, no can attach dyno sheet - RWHP went from 402.76 to 424.49; tq went from 353.3 to 372.05
Most significantly, A/F went richer on the KOOKS, from 12.28 stock to 12.63 on KOOKS. Looks like the FOMOCO closed loop ecu actually works...

This is on test pipes w/o cats.

I was curious as to what others with KOOKS will do when it comes time to update their Track Key.
According to my dealer they cannot update track key without the stock exhaust, since the program must run a diagnostic (which will fail w/o cats) before the upload is accepted by the ecu.

- Anyone run into this?

- Anyone tried putting their ecu into a stock 302 for update purposes or purchased a second ecu as a mule?

- Anyone found a good tune for the 302; i.e. reliable for track duty?

I personally would not in any way consider reinstalling the stock exhaust setup for dealer purposes since the KOOKS job is indeed a bear.

Thank in advance for any replies.
You air fuel ratio got a little leaner, still OK the higher the air (12.63) to fuel (1) by weight the leaner the mixture. 14.7:1 ratio is stoichiometric for gasoline, meaning theoretically all of the fuel and oxygen molecules would be consumed in combustion. Real world you have to have a surplus of fuel in the combustion chamber to prevent lean burn hot spots and potential preignition issues. The finer a tuner can get to the sweet spot the more power and fuel economy you have. If you get it wrong ( think cylinder #8 issues) the better chance of melting pistons and rings and valve heads.
Nice power gain, a tuner like Brenspeed, Steeda, or VMP can get you about 10 more HP and 5 ft/lbs Torque safely for road racing.
Steve
Steve
 
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lbp said:
I was curious as to what others with KOOKS will do when it comes time to update their Track Key.
According to my dealer they cannot update track key without the stock exhaust, since the program must run a diagnostic (which will fail w/o cats) before the upload is accepted by the ecu.

Ok, this is now the second time in a week or so that I've seen someone mention "updating" Track Key with a new or future version from Ford. I wasn't aware that it was intended to be updated. Is there a TSB or something?
 
344
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Rich_S said:
Ok, this is now the second time in a week or so that I've seen someone mention "updating" Track Key with a new or future version from Ford. I wasn't aware that it was intended to be updated. Is there a TSB or something?

I've heard there is an update but have not checked at any dealership.
 
130
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Are "updates" free from a parts/labor standpoint, like warranty work? Or do you have to pay again?

Either way, unless there was some very specific issue that the update addressed, I'd be leary of doing it.
 

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