$200 budget power mods ?

[woody80z28]

I got the Autoprom (APU1) to datalog/read/burn/emulate but you can get the datalog cable & burner cheaper separate.

Thirdgen.org is by far the best place to go for OBD1 tuning theory/how-to. They have a "DIY PROM" section dedicated just to tuning. I've just started on my truck, but I did some work on the Beretta last year. Chris on this board seems very knowledgeable.

 

[vipergtrdj]

I got the Autoprom (APU1) to datalog/read/burn/emulate but you can get the datalog cable & burner cheaper separate.

Thirdgen.org is by far the best place to go for OBD1 tuning theory/how-to. They have a "DIY PROM" section dedicated just to tuning. I've just started on my truck, but I did some work on the Beretta last year. Chris on this board seems very knowledgeable.

ok Thanks. I will check it out - I think I am gonna go for custom tuning, and see how well I can do with tuning myself. I had a standalone ECU for my 2001 Subaru Impreza, but thats a whole different ball game I think. It was OBD2 and all electronics. Not sure how similar tuning will be.

I did drive the truck 150miles today and it ran great, at around 60miles the service engine light came on but then it went off after shuting the truck off and never came back on the rest of the trip. Will the code still be stored in the ecu ?

 

[woody80z28]

The code should be stored for a while.

 

[Chris]

Yea, it'll be stored for 50 key cycles.

Tuning isn't that difficult honestly. There's not much to screw up. You can find your stock .bin file floating around on teh interwebs fairly easily and TunerPro is mind-numbingly simple to datalog and check out what's going on in real time with. With a stock TBI setup you won't see much of a difference in power, but you can definitely improve the drivability. I've put everything back to stock on my heap, and corrected the spark tables for E10/E15 blends along with patching in an O/L lean cruise table and it runs damn near perfectly. Before it always had a bit of a lean bog on acceleration from time to time and that annoyed me to no end, especially with the miles I drive.

 

[vipergtrdj]

Yea, it'll be stored for 50 key cycles.

Tuning isn't that difficult honestly. There's not much to screw up. You can find your stock .bin file floating around on teh interwebs fairly easily and TunerPro is mind-numbingly simple to datalog and check out what's going on in real time with. With a stock TBI setup you won't see much of a difference in power, but you can definitely improve the drivability. I've put everything back to stock on my heap, and corrected the spark tables for E10/E15 blends along with patching in an O/L lean cruise table and it runs damn near perfectly. Before it always had a bit of a lean bog on acceleration from time to time and that annoyed me to no end, especially with the miles I drive.

Hmm ok. I went and pulled the codes from mine and its reading code 12 which is normal. So I do not know what the light was on for yesterday. I have only started the truck up twice since the light came back on.

As for the tuning - I read somewhere that switchign to the vortec heads would increase power a good amount, would that be recommended before getting all the stuff for tuning?

Is this cable what I need paired with the Tunerpro software to datalog the ecu and tune it?
http://www.moates.net/aldu1-and-cabl1-xtremealdl-and-newcabl1-combo-p-127.html?cPath=64

 

[Chris]

That's up to you. With vortec heads you'll also need an intake, GM makes a Vortec > TBI intake specifically for that but it's expensive. You can use a carb intake with an adapter, but you'll need to figure out an EGR provision. You'd really need more fuel to take advantage of the better flowing heads, so you're into modding the throttle body at that point. It gets expensive for minimal gains. That's up to you though.

Sometimes the MIL just comes on for no apparent reason. I've seen it and I have no clue what caused it. Rare but it happens. Bear in mind for all of this you're not going to have a fire breathing monster of an engine. At most you're looking at 200hp to the wheels with Vortec heads and a good tune. The TBI heads aren't as bad as they're made out to be, when they're used in the rev range they're designed for. Anything over 4000rpm is where you'll see an advantage with Vortec heads over the 193 TBI castings. You won't notice much of anything in daily driving.

 

[vipergtrdj]

That's up to you. With vortec heads you'll also need an intake, GM makes a Vortec > TBI intake specifically for that but it's expensive. You can use a carb intake with an adapter, but you'll need to figure out an EGR provision. You'd really need more fuel to take advantage of the better flowing heads, so you're into modding the throttle body at that point. It gets expensive for minimal gains. That's up to you though.

Sometimes the MIL just comes on for no apparent reason. I've seen it and I have no clue what caused it. Rare but it happens. Bear in mind for all of this you're not going to have a fire breathing monster of an engine. At most you're looking at 200hp to the wheels with Vortec heads and a good tune. The TBI heads aren't as bad as they're made out to be, when they're used in the rev range they're designed for. Anything over 4000rpm is where you'll see an advantage with Vortec heads over the 193 TBI castings. You won't notice much of anything in daily driving.

Hmmm so the stock TBI heads are good for 200horsepower huh?
I am looking for a little more power, around 200 sounds good to me. Just want something a little more to give it a little more pep. I just got back from another 80mile drive (all highway), and at approx 70-75mph it was around 2000-2500 rpms in overdrive. I just looked up my Vin# and appears I have 3.73 gears so I am going to check out the other sections of the forum for alittle better highway gearing.

 

[woody80z28]

I got my cable here for cheaper: http://www.aldlcable.com/

With the cable you can datalog, and then you'll need a burner, like a Moates BURN1 and a couple rewritable chips.

I'm a big believer in Vortec heads. I'm confident I'll be well over 200whp with my setup, but I also changed pistons & cam.

I'd stay with 3.73s with a 4L60E. And with your headers & exhaust you're already on the right track.

 

[vipergtrdj]

I got my cable here for cheaper: http://www.aldlcable.com/

With the cable you can datalog, and then you'll need a burner, like a Moates BURN1 and a couple rewritable chips.

I'm a big believer in Vortec heads. I'm confident I'll be well over 200whp with my setup, but I also changed pistons & cam.

I'd stay with 3.73s with a 4L60E. And with your headers & exhaust you're already on the right track.

Thanks for that link. I think I will place my order for one tomorrow. How do I figure out what chip I need? or am I able to burn over the stock chip?

Also - 3.73gears are ok for highway driving? If so then I guess I just need to slow it down a hair while on the highway lol.

 

[woody80z28]

Thanks for that link. I think I will place my order for one tomorrow. How do I figure out what chip I need? or am I able to burn over the stock chip?

Also - 3.73gears are ok for highway driving? If so then I guess I just need to slow it down a hair while on the highway lol.

A 4L60E doesnt have a ton of gear, so going with numerically lower gears will put more stress on it...especially if you want to haul something. Highway mileage does drop a little with steeper gears, but city driving generally does not, and sometimes actually increases.

The stock chip is not easily rewritable. Moates sells 27SF512 chips for $5/ea and it's cake. You'll need a G1 adapter to run one. Also cheap.