I have a 1993 Camaro Z28 with a 383 LT4 build in it. It was taken to a dyno shop to be tuned and will be going back soon for a retune after some changes were made. My question is, since the chip was replaced so it could be tuned the first time is it now tunable by something like tunercat or a hand held tuner? I know tunercat and many other tuners say they work on 94 and up OBD1 and I know 93's are not usually covered but since the chip has now been replaced would it tune as a 1994?
If so what do you recomend for a tuner? I looked at tunercat as I have seen it discussed in the forums and it looks like something you load on your computer and connect to your diagnostic link in the car, is that correct? Would it be better to have something like that or a hand held type tuner?
I ask because I would like the ability to tune it fairly mild for on the road drivability and then wake it up when I take it to the track.

 

Chips for the 1993 must be burned/swapped. They are not flash-reprogrammable like 94 and up are (which is what Tunercat is for).

 

I noticed in another thread you indicated you paid $750 for a "tune", which included $250 for a "programmable" chip for your 93. What is that all about? Sounds outrageous.

 

Yes, well I certainly thought so but as it was the first time I have had a car tuned and put on the dyno, I took them at their word. You know alot of the story with the speed shop from my other post injuneer but the dyno was done in Bradenton (near Tampa) by Basler preformance and engineering. It was the shop I was told to take it to by the speed shop as that is the shop that apparently does all their cars even though it is about an hour and a half drive north. What I was told by the technition at Basler was the 1993's do not have a flashable chip (which I already knew) and could not be programmed so for the first time it was tuned there was a $250.00 charge to replace the chip with a fully programmable one. Then the dyno and tune was $500.00 hence the $750.00 bill. After he took out the pcm and opened it up and put in the chip he had he connected it to his computer and ran several dyno tests each time tweeking the tune until he got the best result on the dyno. He said from now on all it would cost if I made further changes and needed a re-tune was the $500.00 for the dyno and custom tune. According to him my 1993 is now a flashable tune as in the parameters can be changed on the existing chip instead of buying a tuned chip and dropping it in.

 

Let me clarify as I just re-read that and it might be confusing.

"After he took out the pcm and opened it up and put in the chip he had he connected it to his computer and ran several dyno tests each time tweeking the tune until he got the best result on the dyno."

*After he took out the pcm and opened it up and put in the chip he had, he put the pcm back in and connected the car to his computer and made several dyno runs each time tweeking the tuning until he got the best result from a dyno pull. The whole process took about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

(technically it was already on the dyno rollers and straped down and most of the wires run before he pulled out and opened the pcm so I don't know exactly when the connection to the computer was made, but that is the most precise I can make the description of what happened)

 

Most likely he installed an 'emulator' or a 'ram module kit' that bypasses the chip, this allows altering and changing the emulator memory (tuning) while it's on the dyno. After you are happy with the tune you can burn the tune to a chip and install the chip in the ECM, or leave a piggy back chip replacement on the ECM. This saves burning multiple chips in order to get things perfect. In your first post you mentioned multiple tunes for different driving conditions. It's possible to purchase (ECM/PCM) hardware (switch adapters) to allow switching between multiple programs or chips. However using emulators and maintaining multiple tunes can get complex and is usually limited to professional tuners or racing enthusiasts. Moates carries most of this equipment and is a good source of info..

 

Thanks for the info Bobdec, I greatly appreciate it. Sorry I haven't replied before now but I have had new fun things pop up on my car so I have been working on them and haven't been online much lately. I understand what you meant by the technician using an emulator and then once everything was how he wanted it burning it to a chip and you are probably right about that. I am just not yet very fluent with how things work in the auto tuning stuff. Thanks for the tip about moates I had been looking through their site and I had seen some stuff there I thought would do the trick.

I am new to tuning but have had lots of experience in working on cars and interfacing with the computers for diagnostics. I still have my old Alltest Brainmaster model 3210, I know some of you old timers might remember that scanner from the early 80's. I also have my newer scanners, the Actron ScanTool CP9110 with the different cartridges and cables for GM, ford etc. (what I use for my 93 Z-28) and my Actron CP9135 for the OBD2 (I use on my 2001 Lincoln Town Car). I know they are all entry level scanners but since I can no longer make a living at auto repair due to my disabilities, I can't really justify the cost of the higher end scanners for just personal use (at least I can't convince my wife on that one) and the ones I have get the job done for the most part.

I also figured having a background in computers wouldn't hurt. I have been a tech for Entre' computers (a local computer store back in the early to mid 90's in my area) in the past. I was a computer programmer in the late 80's working in basic and DOS and some fortran before I went into the military as well as building websites with HTML and stuff like that in the mid 90's after I was medically retired from the US Army. I still like to build desktops, higher end gaming rigs and laptops and set up local and wireless networks for myself, friends and family. I am a pretty quick study and I hope with a little help to be able to get into the programming of my car.

 

If you have a laptop you can buy an ALDL cable and then look at TTS DataMaster it's a real good program to log and analyze OBD1 LT1 engine performance their DM35xDA is what you need for a '93. If you want to actually program chips TunerCat "Tuner" with the $DA3 definition file and a prom burner (from Moates) will accomplish that. TunerCat now sells a complete kit (TunerCat, DataMaster and ALDL cable for about $250. Prio to buying anything ''Tuner' is free for 30 days but you need to buy the definition file for $20.00, 'DM35xDA' is free for first 20 logs. So for $80.00 to startup (cable and definition file) you can do some testing prior to purchasing. Looks like you have a lot more reading to do LOL...

 

Thanks bobdec, I really appreciate the information it definately got me started in the right direction. Yes you are right I do have a lot of reading and learning to do but I have never been afraid of that.

Thanks again for the help,
Jerry