hi

[greencane]

Hi,
I am looking to learn about efi tuning and this seems like the right place. I have a 94 k2500 with an AT and a 2000 z28 with the 6 speed. Im an electrical engineer by day and am comfortable with software. I have also worked on and modified many carburetor cars over the years. In the long term I would like to do some mods and tuning on the camaro but that seems like quite a big leap in knowledge and $$. So I figure why not toy around with the 94 truck to learn the ropes. I have an aldl cable for the 94 and the obdlink mx for the camaro. I am also reading "designing and tuning high-performance fuel injection systems, by G. Banish" which seems to be quite good (it's actually making me realize how much there is to learn and how much can be controlled which is exciting). I briefly tried a few free or demo programs for the pc on both cars but didnt make too much progress. Any low cost pointers to get me started would be great.
Thanks,
Mike

[1project2many]

Howdy!

Greg's information is excellent. You should have a very good start on making wise choices and tuning logically after finishing his book. In the 94 truck pcm there are more variables to play with than most people ever need... then when you get really advanced you can start modifying code. Tunerpro is free to use but is well worth the registration fee. It can provide both ALDL monitoring and tuning capability. I'd also consider an emulator for near real time tuning. Burning chips works but the emulator is much faster and easier to work with.

[greencane]

Thanks for the info. I am getting started with Tunerpro RT. Seems really good. I have a couple questions to get me started.

1) how can I know I have all the exact right files (.ads, .xdf and .bin) for my exact vehicle? I used the decoder .xls file from this forum to find the ones I have now. They seem to work but I am concerned if I am off by a little but with a wrong file I will be pointed in the wrong place? Here are the files that I am using for my 1994 GMC K2500 pickup. 4WD, auto, 4L60e, 6 lug wheels so not the HD 2500, 5.7L.
A217 $0D TP4 v200.ads
Advanced $0D v200.xds
BJLH 94 C-K Truck 5.7TBI 4l60e with 3.73 or 3.42 gears.bin
What does that BJLH mean and how do I match it to my vehicle? Note I am using Tunerpro RT v4.14 if that makes any difference. Tuner pro is reporting back $0D and prom ID 0x1FC7 (8135 decimal). I am not sure if those are really coming from the ECU or these files.

2) My second question is if there is a good way to know which constants, switches and tables are actually used by my ECM and which are ignored. It seems there are quite a many of these and looking at the descriptions I would suspect half of them are not used for my vehicle.

Thanks,
Mike

[steveo]

1)
after some care and attention payed to finding the right ecm and bin and mask, even experienced tuners always verify their adx/ads aquisition data, and their xdf<->bin data for sanity.

for example if o2 millivolts are like 10 volts, or map is 120kpa at idle, or it simply wont connect, it's probably the wrong adx. or if you open the bin file and the 'timing added in power enrichment' is like 80 degrees, or it's set for 9000 pound injectors, you probably have the wrong xdf.

the point is it probably wont be a little off if you're wrong, it'll be WAY off.

2)
you'd be suprised, pretty much everything should be used or useable, with the exception of EGR parameters not being used if the EGR is disabled, or transmission parameters not working if a manual transmission bit is set. some parameters may be set out of range for some vehicle types on purpose, though, so they never get enabled.

[Woods]

Hey Mike
The latest TunerProRT version is 5.00.8519. You can download it here
http://www.tunerpro.net/downloadApp.htm

To make sure what PCM and 4 letter BCC (Broadcast Code) your vehicle currently has, pull the glove box out and check the label on the PCM. It will show PCM# and the 4 letter BCC.

I am sure it is the 16197427 PCM $0D located here

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...Information-0D

If it is use the latest .xdf file for Bin definitions: Advanced $0D TP5 v251.xdf (post #2)
For Data Acquisition use: A217 $0D TP5 v250.adx

I agree with 1project2many, I installed an Ostrich 2.0 Emulator when I started to learn to tune, and it works perfect. Nice to just connect and upload a new tune whenever I want, worth every penny.