Extreme first timer.

[Streetholden]

Hey guys, as you can see, i just registered. How ever iv been reading various threads on your forum for the past hour or so.

I have decided to join your forum due to, from what iv seen, you guys having a hell of alot of experience in tuning a car via computer.

Heres the run down of my current situation:
I have decided i want to do some tuning on my car after purchasing a cable to check errors and do diagnostics via EFIlive4. After that i started looking for tuning software. So i went looking for other software. They want around $800 and the use of their hardware as well as extra costs for licenses.

So after some more googling, i came across you guys, from what i could determine was: You knew what you were on about, make it sound simple and no need for $800 components to do it.

So here i am, asking for a link to a page or a good run down of:
What i need. (iv just sourced out a Eprom programer from ebay: MCUmall GQ-4x and have Tunerpro)
How to do it (not step by step, just a page describing what each function does. Im also readin "Delco Tuning For Dummies atm)
And a goo learning experience.

Thanks in advance, Jesse.

[antus]

Hi, and welcome to the forums. It sounds like you have a good general understanding so far, and have a good prom burner.

What car do you have? What chip is in it at the moment? What are your plans for the car?

If its a VN/VP you'll need to a comms mod described here https://pcmhacking.net/forums/view ... f=11&t=173 Or, you can use VL400s comms board from the thread below.
If its a VR/VS/VT/VX/VY you'll need an ALDL cable which you should be able to make happen for under $20.
For realtime tuning you'll need one of VL400s kits from https://pcmhacking.net/forums/view ... ?f=11&t=71

Unfortunately we dont have a good getting started page (none of us are really in to the doco) although its on the list of things we do need! Until then your probably best doing what your doing and reading through some of the other 'how do I get started' posts that are already on the forums. If you cant figure something specific out just ask and we'll explain.

good luck!

[Streetholden]

Hey, thanks for the info. Im currently using a stock memcal that came with the VS Ecotec Auto from 1996. Im currently on a miss atm.

Iv grabed this XDF file from: https://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopi ... &t=5#p5588
Then got this bin ($51 3.8L Auto 16208257 (RFI) ECU Police Version): https://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopi ... 7&t=3#p231

Im currently looking around see how to go about moding and such, really just looking to see what i can and cant do and what it all means.

[antus]

Ok cool. The police bins arnt really far different from the regular ones, the main difference is they have a higher idle speed set to keep the amps up from the alternator to run the on-board electronics. You can run them no problem though. There are different revisions of the bins, so for $51E $ means hex, 51 means program 51, and E means revision E. The other revisions are subtly different, with changes like everything being 1 byte out past a certain point in the bin. You'll see this in the 3d table graphs where a row along the edge doesnt smoothly meet with the rest of the table. the 51 is just an ID, and 51 hex is 81 in decimal, but as the number isnt used for anything its just referred to as a $51E bin.

[Streetholden]

OH i see. Im glad i chose the cop chip one as i had a slight suspicion it may be closer to the stock one. I had a look at VL400s items, and when i get some cash ill have to grab one from him. Just not 100% on that as my eprom programmer may not program it.

Im reading the EFI guide for common trivializations. But currently looking through out the forum to find more of a tuning guide. Nothing like step by step, more like a rule of thumb. IE: what function does what and how it effects it. IE: Power mode 1st to 2nd gear at 100% TPS the current value is 64.37. At a guess if i change that too 65, itll change gear from 1st to 2nd in power mode at 65km/h instead of 64.37kh/h.

Mentioning that, that is pretty much what i have learnt so far in the way of tunerpro. Im slowly looking at each option and seeing what it could and couldn't do.

[antus]

GQ-4X is a good unit, it will do everything you may need, eproms, eeproms, nvram.....

The bins dont (usually) contain the exact number you see on the screen. Each field has a equation that converts between the raw data in the rom and a human readable value. its likely that the data you mention was meant to be 65 but 64.37 was the closest value that converted properly to the raw value in the bin. You can test this by typing 65 in, and if it changes back to 64.37 when you hit enter then thats why. Ive not done any electric auto transmission tuning myself yet as my car is a manual, and my VS test setup is just a pcm on the bench, but there is some upcoming stuff that you'll find interesting

[Streetholden]

Thanks for the reply. Ill be on the look out for your VS tuning posts. As for what i want to achieve is power and fuel economy. But a mad scientist device that switches between the too whilst driving without the need of a laptop.

[Doctor Bob]

Ok cool. The police bins arnt really far different from the regular ones, the main difference is they have a higher idle speed set to keep the amps up from the alternator to run the on-board electronics.

The only police specific calibration that has the increased idle speed is the VT V8
the ONLY difference in the others is a different broadcast code so they could issue a new part number for production identification purposes.


Rob

[Holden202T]

As for what i want to achieve is power and fuel economy. But a mad scientist device that switches between the too whilst driving without the need of a laptop.

That is all controlled by the right foot

if you are happy to put 98 octane fuel in the car then you can fairly easily bump the timing up to get more go out of the ecotec, but in my experience you can't go much more than stock on 91 without knocking!

i've also had some experience with tweaking the tranny a bit and you can get it shifting quicker and holding gears longer etc if you so desire .... in the trannys case you can have a mad scientist button in the power/econ button .... basically adjust trans parameters for the power mode and leave econ as it is etc it allows you to have a beast gearbox setup but still have a "sunday drive" setting for the grandparents!

[Dec_head]

You can use a different eprom setup to load several different tunes for different fuels and trans combinations and switch between them as well.