Just ordered HP Tuners. I've never done computer tuning, so hopefully I won't screw things up too much.

There are currently 3 LS vehicles in the home "fleet", with another in the works (comes with 8 GM credits), so it seems to make sense to do this. Mainly what drove it now is I'm getting different gears in the LS1/T56 car, so it didn't make much sense to keep paying someone to do these things. Wouldn't bother me if I got a few other things straightened out as well (like that on-throttle exhaust pop after decelerating with the LS1/4L60E car), but I'm not going to assume big things before I even load it on the laptop.

 

best of luck with the new adventure. I played around with tuning when I had my GTP, but never really got too far. With that many vehicles in the lot, well worth the cost.

 

I considered just getting a handheld that would be able to change common parameters like gears, tire size, injector size, shift points, etc. But, you don't save much doing that.

This way I'll be able to save the current tune (which worked great at sea level last year), and see how far I can get without the dyno. My son has paid for a dyno tune twice now with his LS/S10, and the results are a bit disappointing.

 

any questions you would like answered? as long as you take your time and such, youlll find its actually easier than you think. the pita comes wit idle tuning.

one of the main things is to log the right parameters. ill make up a list in a bit for ya.

if you want to really learn the ins and outs.. i would suggest reading here: http://redhardsupra.blogspot.com/200...ss-models.html not just that write up. there is tons of info that will help in the long run.

also check out HP Tuners' forum.

the decel pop is from the Decel Fuel Cutoff.

 

hopefully it wasnt a power enrichment table raping..

also, do not rely on dyno readings. rely on track numbers

you also did the right thing of dumping the idea of a handheld. those things suck.

 

hp tuners also has a great user support forum... it is broken into different segments, ie gen 3 vs gen 4 type controls so it helps get you reading about things that are relevant to the controller you are working on

a key thing is to familiarize yourself with the parameter listings and get your mind set of thinking how the ECM is thinking about your engine in different operating modes

also there is actually quite a bit of good material available depending on how deep you want to go

this is an excellent reference set of books for example-

http://www.thetuningschool.com/train...learn-at-home/

like anything else, you will find there are multiple ways of doing things and once you become familiar with items you may choose to do some things a little different than an "expert" but some other things are pretty much cut and dry on good vs bad ways of doing it

greg banish also has a couple good books that give general information to get you thinking about the control theory... summit sells them

 

Hah! I don't even know enough yet to know what questions to ASK!
Hmmm, the stick car doesn't do that. I assumed it was gears or injector size or something with the automatic car.

We are only allowed to have the laptop in the car data recording during test runs. Not allowed during eliminations. So, we'll see how that goes.

Appreciate the input. Like I said, this is all new to me.

 

youll be happy to know that the hp tuners box can do black box logging and not require a lap top.

wait til u get to the physics models that crap still gives me a headache

 

I guess I should be more specific - data logging is not allowed in any form during eliminations.

"Stand back. I'm going to try science."

 

with the tuning suites like HP and EFILIVE you cant go wrong. creating the VE tables are big time savers! I really haven't messed with HP I know some people who use it locally with great results a few are running the COS for boost.

did you get a wideband to go with it?

 

I have an LM1 that I used in the '57 when it was carb'd, before it went down. I've see tidbits of references to it on HP's forum, haven't looked into in detail yet. Figured I'd better learn to crawl before I tried to run...

 

i know, im just saying you will like it, thats all.



yea, basically.. the airmass models are difficult but when you get to the parabolic VE and GMVE and such... it gets interesting

 

also make sure you email hp tuners support with your serial number when you get it to get the latest 2.23 beta as there have been lots of updates since the official 2.22 release that comes in the box... all updates will be accessed from their web site when you log in, but they have to enable it to give you a link for the beta

 

Saw a buddy using it to tune his cobalt. Looked... challenging. Lol let me know how easy/hard it really is. May be interested in trying it out. I do need to remove some crap like the abs, other codes, and blah blah blah blah!

 

take your time and you will be fine.. its also a good way to learn how the ecu actually controls the engine

 

My son (my resident geek) & I loaded the program and drivers on the laptop last night. Didn't try any downloading, as I was concentrating on getting one of the cars running. I'll have to look at it some more before trying to actually reprogram.

The LS1/4L60E car runs fairly well now, but I doubt it has the correct injector size, for instance (I was told it was a Canadian 2000 Camaro load). The shift points are weird, which I've worked around by shifting manually - 1-2 is at 5500, 2-3 at 6500 if I let it shift it; but if I shift manually, 2-3 occurs 500 RPMs after I move the shifter, regardless of the RPMs when I actually shift. So, at the track, I've been shifting 1-2 at 6500, and 2-3 at 6000, which means the actually shifts are at 6500 (except at sea level, when I have to shift 1-2 at 6300 RPMs or it hits the 6800 rev limiter before it actually shifts). In street driving, though, shifting is fine.

The LS1/T56 car, like I mentioned, needs immediate work for the gear change. Also, the rev limiter is set at 6000 RPMs (was set by the seller for warranty purposes), so I'd like to move that up (the taller gears will probably make it hit the rev limiter with the tires I'm running now - the old gears had me going through the traps at 5500-5700, new gears 6100-6300).

Oh, one other small detail - I don't have the OBDII connector hooked up on the LS1/4L60E car yet - one of those details that didn't get done in the scramble to get the swap finished before the end of the season back in '10.

 

Okay, the box had 2.23 beta, not an "official" 2.22 release. The website appears to have 2.22 as the current build.

The warning window that pops up when I open the window cautions you about using a beta version...

 

Well, I couldn't use the 2.22 version because it wouldn't recognize my product code. So, I just reloaded the 2.23 beta.

And, now I've done my first flash. On the LS1/T56 car. I saved the original program, then changed the gear ratio and rev limiter. Took it for a short drive, the changes seem to have taken effect (although I didn't test the rev limiter - not enough road...).

I've got bigger fish to fry in the near future, but I'm planning on doing more little things like fan on/off temps.

 

also 2.23 is the general version for the beta release as it has been updated constantly over the past couple of years... i would suggest emailing support at hp tuners and download the latest beta

since i believe you are using an LS1 computer there may not be much change, but they do fix a lot of bug report issues in the scanner, etc and make a lot of other improvements so it is best to be running off the latest beta

 

I will do that. Thanks.

Yes, I am using factory computers for both cars. The stick car works pretty well as is, just needed to do the gear ratio change for now.

The 4L60E car is the one that needs more help, but I don't even have the OBDII connector installed yet. Hope to get to that soon (as well as installing a Dakota Digital instrumentation cluster). Took it to the track for the first time in 2012 last night, running in two classes; 4 time trials, then ran a 13.124 on a 13.12 dial (but with a .013 redlight ), and a 13.090 on a 13.09 dial but was tree'd by .034. So, nice ETs, but killed at the tree.

 

how goes the tuning?

 

Nothing new, I'm afraid. I've been spending what little time I have installing a different torque arm on the LS1/T56 car. Since I don't have the OBDII connector installed on the LS1/4L60E car yet, I haven't even been able to do any datalogging. And, we've been rained out at the track as well. After Memorial Day, perhaps.

I was going to create a track file and street file for the LS1/T56 car for the different tire diameters, but nothing else major planned yet.

 

a guy on tech makes twin chip (switchable) ecms if you get tired of going back and forth

 

Just as quick to flash the PCM (maybe quicker). Takes less than a minute if you already have the file.