Hypertech's Power Programmer III - Palm Power

Rather than divine the actual benefits of the PPIII by the seat of our pants, we wanted to see what the reprogramming would show on a chassis dyno. Former Mopar Muscle staffer Tom Rounds uploaded the PPIII programming into his '99 Ram (5.2L, auto tranny), which is bone-stock with the exception of Flex-a-lite electric fans. Here are the results of the baseline dyno run, done at Norris Motorsports in Ocoee, Florida.

After establishing the base run, we used the PPIII to increase the top speed limit and rev limit of the stock computer. Compare the horsepower and torque curves seen here (using the PPIII programming) with the baseline graph. The graphs illustrate the (max) gain of 4.9 hp and a 10.8 ft-lb increase in torque with the PPIII programming versus the stock ECU setting. The real numbers for many truck owners, however, are revealed in the accompanying Dyno Chart 1 (stock) and Dyno Chart 2 (PPIII-programmed). There we see significant gains in torque, and to some degree horsepower, low in the rpm band. If you're hauling or stump-pulling, that's exactly where you want the muscle to be.