Marauder Tune

Alternative Auto Performance Tune for Mercury Marauder

More useable power and torque combined with improved transmission operations and gear ratio change accommodation creates a winning combination.

Alternative Auto has designed a new tune for Marauders with the stock 3.55 or 4.10’s (we highly recommend 4.10 gears for the Marauder). The 4.10 gear program will handle all the necessary re-calibrations for the 4.10’s, like shift points and correct speedo reading.

Our calibration on the Xcalibrator flasher makes a significant difference in both horsepower and torque in the most usable area of the Marauders everyday driving power-band – low end & mid range.

As shown in the dyno graphs, we’ve found a substantial amount of power and torque in the low and mid range. The peak numbers are also much better, but the real story is that the power and torque curves are above stock numbers all the way through the band! As the graph shows, mid range torque is increased by as much as 20 ft. lbs and the horsepower in the mid is up as much as 20 RWHP as well. This was achieved and optimized for use with 92 or better octane.

One very cool feature we’ve unlocked on our Marauder tune is the ability to shut off the alternator at “Wide-Open-Throttle”. The Marauder is one of the few Ford vehicles that came from the factory with the ability to shut off the Alternator at WOT, but Ford choose not to take advantage of.  By shutting off the alternator at WOT we found this alone to be worth 4-5 RWHP with no adverse affects on the vehicle.

At this time we are not recommending colder plugs nor cooler thermostats as we’ve found the detonation threshold to be the same between 185 – 210 degree F engine temps.

One of the most significant changes made with our tune and the Xcalibrator flasher are several enhancements to transmission operations. We have made a noticeable improvement in how the Marauder’s transmission feels when shifting at light load and part throttle loads, plus substantially firmer shifts at wide open throttle. A key calibration area we’ve focused on is torque converter lock-up. We’ve basically made converter lock-up inactive until speeds above 63 mph have been reached in 4th gear. This makes a Marauder feel much peppier at intermediate speeds in city driving. This change also eliminates the unnecessary, frequent “up-and-down-hunting” shift at intermediate speeds. To sum it up, these transmission changes make the car respond much more quickly and feel like it’s in the correct gear at all times during city driving speeds.

Full throttle shift points are raised slightly and made more consistent at 6100 rpm – which from our testing appears to be optimal for the Marauder engine. The vehicle top-speed limiter is also removed.

Finding the extra power and torque is one thing, but we are especially proud of how this flash-tune improves the driving experience through our transmission refinements. The drive-ability improvements we’ve made can’t be shown through a dyno graph, they have to be experienced to be appreciated and understood.

Our Marauder Xcalibrator complete with our tune sells for $425.00.  It can also be reused or tuned in the future when a Trilogy blower is added to your Marauder. The Trilogy kit will be discounted accordingly if you already own a chip or Xcalibrator purchased from Alternative Auto Performance.

The Xcalibrator4 Flash Tuner

Our Xcalibrator4 includes the latest performance tune for the Marauder and costs $425.00

The Xcalibrator4 Flash Tuner will reprogram your Ford ECM with the custom performance tune that we load onto it. Before installing the new tune it will download and save your factory calibrations so that the vehicle can easily be returned to stock.

1. •Can hold up to 10 Custom Calibrations (4 included in our TUNE PACKAGE)

2. •Retains Factory Calibration for easy restoration back to the stock calibration

3. •Easy installation. No tools necessary

4. •Easy to use push button & LED interface

5. •Quickly Flashes PCM via OBD-II diagnostic port

Alternative Auto Performance Marauder Tune and SCT Xcalibrator4 $425

Please call the shop for more info and ordering.

For comparison sake, All the dyno-ing with the Marauder is done with the converter locked and the trans program configured to not down shift out of 3rd gear at WOT once speeds greater then 25 mph have been reached on the dyno. This makes for more consistent and repeatable dyno runs and much more clearly shows how hard our tune kicks in over stock at the low revs and off idle.