1992 K2500 5.7L TBI to Vortec Swap

Hey everyone,
I have recently swapped over the vortec heads to my tbi engine (plus intake) and came across some issues and concerns. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I found the bin file for the BRDW(G30) tune but it comes with a 4L60e parameters and I am currently running a 4L80e in my truck. I saw somewhere that I can possibly do a segment swap to enable this bin to work for my setup, but I am not sure how to do that. Will someone be willing to do the segment swap for me or explain the easiest way to do it? Also, since the head swap, I have developed a knock which sounds like a detonation knock because it is very random, is this due to the setup without the tune? Very frustrating after spending so much time doing the swap to hear that loud knock noise lol. I did remove the belt and it is still there, but it is very very random. Any help is greatly appreciated!

George

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

A segment swap is used on OBDII calibrations but that that technique is not usually applied to OBDI calibrations due to the way the calibrations are arranged. You should probably use copy and paste to insert the spark and fuel values from BDRW into your calibration.

Vortec heads typically like less spark advance so if you are still using the swirl port spark tables it's possible they are too far advanced and causing noise. It's not likely but it's possible.

Thanks 1project2many(story of my life btw lol), When I load the BRDW.bin into TunerPro, it comes up with 0 values. When I open the bin in the hex editor, there are a lot of "0" values before it actually starts seeing data. So as removed all of the "0"'s so that the first binary(7E) starts on offset 00 which at that point I was able to see data in TunerPro. I'm not sure if it is correct data, but it's data lol. I apologize for my ignorance, I am very new to this.

There's nothing to apologize for. If the file was read from a chip that has greater storage capacity than calibration needs, the beginning of the file is padded (filled) with useless data. Once the padding is removed you can read the file normally.

Thanks! What is throwing me off is that the values for the BRDW in TunerPro show some sort of crazy looking values. For example, Spark Timeout vs Coolant Temp, the numbers look really really high to me. So I'm not sure if this thing is decoding it correctly. Image attachedAttachment 14335Attachment 14336

No, that's definitely not right. There's some garbage found a way into the file you attached.

Try this one. It's taken from the file which also has source code.

Edit: This post contains the same BRDW file, with padding, that you are using along with a disassembly of the calibration. If you open the disassembly (ends with .src) in notepad or wordpad you can look at the first few bytes of the original calibration.

Code:

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L4000  FDB  6395  ; EPROM ID
                                        ;
L4002  FDB  $FFFF  ; PLATFORM ID WD 1
L4004  FDB  $FFFF  ; PLATFORM ID WD 2
                                        ;
L4006  FDB  $14CE  ; CHECKSUM
L4008  FCB  $63    ; EPROM ID BYTE

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This tells you that (1) The actual file starts at $4000, and that (2) the checksum and eprom ID AKA Mask ID byte together are 14CE 63.

If you open the padded file in a hex editor you can find the same bytes. Look at the attached picture to see the checksum and mask ID circled, the arrow pointing to the cursor placed at the beginning of the original file, and the red circle in the lower left corner showing the address of the beginning of the file as $4000. Cool, eh?

That looks better lol. but going into the target idle rpm vs coolant(in gear), it shows that the target rpm is 200 which is probably not right either. I think this whole file is kind of messed up lol.

What are you using to view the file? If you are not using a definition file made for $63 then you might see some errors. The disassembly has desired idle rpm vs park/neutral tables. Depending on the table the values range from 525 to 800 rpm.

I guess I'm using the wrong XDF file. I am using 99.xdf. Is there somewhere I can get the $63 XDF?

I do not know of a source for $63 xdf. A quick search reveals many people asking for a definition, and although every piece of the puzzle exists to make one, no one seems to have done it. I do see a note on thirdgen that the $0D file may work so if you're feeling brave you might want to load that one up and see what happens.

If you get excited you should note the disassembly I previously linked gives everything needed to correctly view the data and to make a new xdf or to modify an existing xdf.

This is a modified $0D file. The only modifications so far are changes to titles of paramaters and categories from "0D" to "63." Most of what I've looked at lines up with $0D. Please lmk if you see anything that doesn't look correct.

Thanks for sharing that, I really appreciate it. I opened it up with the modified BRDW bin and it's pretty close. It still has some stuff that looks kinda weird like open and closed spark tables reaching 85 degrees lol but it has given me a start. If I can find a way to import the spark tables and fuel maps to the AXRJ (4.10 gear ratio and 4L80e) bin, that would pretty much get me to where I am functional. From what I read online, the BRDW was a TBI setup with Vortec heads in export vehicles but unfortunately came with 4L60e. Are you able to read the tables/fuel maps correctly for the BRDW? If so, if maybe you can screen shot them or send a spreadsheet, I would greatly appreciate it?

All of the information you are looking for is in the disassembly. Really.

I will try to correct the definition file tonight. I can't read or view correct spark and fuel values until the definition is correct. If you notice any other values that don't look right please update this thread.

Awesome! Thanks again for your help. I really appreciate it!

Something was messed up with the BRDW file you had. I have edited post 6 and attached a good file. Please lmk if it looks better.

Cool I'll try it in the morning and let you know how it goes. Thanks again man for the help!

Man that looks a lot better! You're the man. Now I just need to figure out a way to modify the transmission stuff to reflect the 4L80e. I might open the AXRJ bin and copy and paste everything that I can. There is a 5.7L 4L80e bin that should work for my setup. This gives me a place to start and I REALLY Appreciate it. I was trying to figure out how to create my own XDF file and it looks like it takes a lot lol. You definitely put some time into this and it shows. What would you suggest? Modify your bin to try to reflect 4L80e or just try to modify the bin that I have for my setup?

Thanks again. I populated your table for both Main fuel and spark so let me know what you think. I don't know where the open throttle is in the $85 Mask, but this should get me started right?

Quote:

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What would you suggest? Modify your bin to try to reflect 4L80e or just try to modify the bin that I have for my setup?

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I suggest you modify your file to work with the Vortec heads.