New to LS1 tuning

[darky82]

HI all im new to the world of LS1 tuning and need a insight to what i need to get started with a 2001 VX berlina
It has a maIl order 300kw mafless tune on it atm from reputable tuner but its locked and i dont have the coin to fork out ridiculous amounts of money for somewhat minor changes
I just need a base gts bin to get me started if thats possible to find for my original pcm i still have
The PCM is SERV# 12200411 and HDW# 09386530

I know i can use PCM hammer to get the bin and cal, edit with tuner pro and write back to the PCM but where can i find a XDF or do i need to know the OS first?
Do i need an ADX? thats only for logging right?
Also the only interface cable i can find available is the vxdiag vcx for gm, will this do the job before i go ahead and buy it?

[antus]

Need to know the osid first. You can just do a get properties to see that, locked or not.
ADX is only for logging. Not sure the best free logging option, people mostly dont use tunerpro for that.
vxdiag will work if its not a bad clone. We generally reconnect OBD XPro, though.
For the lock there is a pin you can ground momentarily which crash it force it to enter recovery mode, at which point its unlocked and you then you should be able to do a read.

[darky82]

Thanks antus
Managed to find a OBDX pro VX

I did see a video on people doing that with grounding the pin but if its efilive or HP than the tune is still locked and unreadable isn't it, and how would you convert it to be used?
How can i tell if its a modified factory bin or a HP or efilive bin?

[antus]

Those programs change the OSID to ones that identify what they are. They're still based on factory OSIDs, and for the most part the same XDFs for the matching factory tunes should work for most parameters, as well as universal patcher. For the minor changes you are talking about you might be ok - most paramaters will be in the same places, but it depends what you want to change.

[darky82]

Thanks mate
I will have a play around when my cable arrives and see how I go

[Wade]

I’d try to get my hands on another standard pcm. It would be good to still pull the tune that’s currently in it up, but if you got another standard pcm and it bricks, at least you’ve still got the old one ready to go back in. Also I’d advise against using the factory gts tune unless your actually running a mild cam, and even then I still wouldn’t use it, as there’s better out there if mafless is what your after. The factory mafless tunes were in limp mode and lost there high octane tables, with the check engine light literally just turned off via the tune. Custom o/s will at least let you keep both high/low maps for added safety. I’m sure I’ve shared the custom o/s for our ls1’s and the xdf on here many times. But unfortunately you’d to find a way for logging.

[darky82]

I have a tuner locked PCM in the car at the moment and I was going to use the original factory PCM from the car to write a bin to that one as I'm planing to get a higher ratio diff installed soon and need pretty much what's on that tuner locked PCM on the factory one as I don't really have the knowledge to start from scratch.
But I was willing to learn if I had too.
I have had some previous knowledge with a 5L VS and a R33 skyline but that was not so hard with software that's supports logging and AF input.
I know it sound stupid just to throw yourself in the deep end like that but I'm not willing to keep forking out money everytime I make a change to something.
I will have a look and see if I can find the bin on here cheers
What is everyone using to log with LS1s?
So there is nothing open source?

[Wade]

As long as you’ve got a spare pcm. I found using the old ls flash tool which is different to pcm hammer, so can’t comment on that, but once I come across tuner locked pcms or pcm’s running custom o/s, trying to revert back to original o/s ect was a sure way to brick them. Thankfully I’ve got efi live for anything out of the norm which works like a charm. Even with fuelling I’d still be happy with not logging as fuel generally is rpm dependent not as much load. Obviously anything with a cam or forced you’d want to use logging. The 285kw tunes are really good. Depending on if it’s auto or manual. Manuals had all the torque management or what ever it’s called turned off, so the auto tunes benefit from copying that over. Burst knock is turned on with the ls1’s as well which makes a huge difference just from turning that off. Depends on really what your after or the level at which your tuning for with these. Either way there actually in joy able and really easy to work with. And so easy to make good power with. Easy to tune for that ghost cam if that’s what your after with the over and under speed idle ignition timing or even the snap crackle and pops via dfco. The manual 285kw had that built in from factory so easy to compare. But I guess ghost cams and snap crackles will just make you blend in with the current generation . Really wish we had the ls pcms in the v6’s along with real time

[antus]

going back to stock is no problem with pcmhammer, so long as you can unlock it, you can do a clone write of a good bin file to replace the serial number and all tunerlock data, and the seed/key pair, the matching factory OS and Cal and get it back to normal.

[Wade]

That’s good to know. I use to go around to all the wreckers and buy every ls1 pcm they had. I’d always end up with at least one bricked pcm.