Hey guys, I'm tired of trying to figure out who to get to fine tune my car everybody wants high prices.
I bought a laptop off of a boardmember along with tunercats program and datamaster. just ordered my cable it should all be in this week.
My question is does anybody have a copy of instruction manuals or a place I could go to to learn how to use this software, I want to get into it pretty good and tune a few other cars when I get it all figured out.

I have a madz28 tune now on my 383 and it runs great but rich at idle and a little surge due to tcc lockup to early at 40mph.

If anyone could help me with learning it would be greatly appreciated thanks,

 

I just posted some info in this thread
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=468999
TC has some pretty good documentation in their HELP files, at least for the beginner.
DM just takes some playing around with to start understanding what everything is.
Do you have any experience with a scan tool and the indicators/data they display?
If not, then first get the DM all hooked up, go for a ride around and record some data, then come back and analyze it, and if there are terms on their you do not know what they are, just search this forum/board or http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/
For some reason, the 3rd gen board has alot more advanced chip burning and PCM knowledge than 4th gen boards as far as audience/participation.
I learned most of my skill when I had a TPI motor, all the same stuff for the most part, 4th Gens have a ton more tables though to confuse you more....the main ones you will adjust are Main Spark, and PE/WOT fueling, and MAF for the idle situation.

 

yea I've used tech 1 and 2 and snap on scan tools Im familiar with all the parameters and voltages but is this going to be anything like that or is it all jiberish #'s and such? I'll check into the 2 links you posted thanks alot!

 

No, DataMaster is a very nice product, has extremely fast sample rates and can display any information that is input to the PCM, very easy to understand and can graph any of the values you want by double clicking the label on the graph and changing it from a drop down of values to display in the graph.
I also like the "Other" views you can open up during the scanning, like the "Histogram" which shows you a chart, rpm vs MAF and color codes the chart showing you the rich/lean/and perfect mix plots on the chart..and the Spark Knock window you can have open at the same time so its very big so you can't miss it if you're getting knock.
I usually have a total of 4 windows open while recording, the two just mentioned are the 2 optional ones, the other 2 are mandatory (main graph/chart and the "Start/Stop" window.
You'll love it, its a million times better than a hand held scanner.

 

sounds sweet I cant wait to try it out. Is the datamaster software limited to certain cars though or can I try it on different types and years of cars? I'm pretty sure the tunercats is only for 94-95 lt1 so guess I'm stuck there, but I could probably make a few $ if the datamaster will read different types of cars info and trouble codes. I got a buddy that usually gets $20 just to hook his snap on up to a car. It'd be sweet to use this for my benefit in a few ways. thanks again

 

Unfortunately no, the DM is specific for the PCM, in the LT1 case for 94-95 its the $EE def....same as Tunercat, if you don't already have it, you'll need the $EE definition file, $20 from TC.
Seems like the cost for DM for other cars are about $75-$90 each, but I could be wrong.
Also, make sure if you are "Buying" the software as part of the laptop purchase that you get all of the registration info of both TC and DM.
You'll need that in order to get free updated version of the software and the already purchased def files....for instance, I just received a new version of the $EE file for TC that they just published in July...my last version was 2 years old and now there are about a dozen more tables in the software that comtrol the PCM.
For DM, if you have the install CD, you'll still need the original registration in case your PC craps out and you have to load it on another PC, it requires you to send in an Authorization code and the seller will send back a validation code which will activate the software..otherwise you can only record 20 times with it.

 

that all sounds a little confusing, I'll see what I get with it I guess and go from there my luck I wont have any of the id #'s your talking about and have to get new stuff. The guy said with the tunercats I could tune as many cars as I want with it I dont know if he has the upgrade with it to tune for heads cams and such though but like you said its only $20 so thats not too bad. I printed off the instruction manual from tunercats 62 pages, wow it all looks pretty confusing but I'm sure I'll understand it more when I actually get in there and look at it. thanks,

 

well I got the laptop today, it just has the cats and the datamaster loaded into it. I got the datamaster to open and can see the table dont know how to use it at all I'm sure it has to be hooked to the car to really do anything in there. It is the EE version you talked about.
the cats I cant get to do much I click on it and it comes up with the white cats screen then I cant get anything to open, when you select open with it has a tuner file when you select it, it just tries downloading the program again?? I'm confused.

 

With TC, make sure you have the $EE PCM selected under the PCM menu.
Then in order to do anything else, you need a data file (.bin) to work with. In order to get that, you need to hook up the cables from the serial port to the ALDL under the dash. Then I think you have to select a Comm Port in TC, can't remember the menu name thats under...
Then select Tools, and then "Read PCM" and follow the directions....
It will download the PCM .bin file from you cars computer, then once its done downloading, select "File" then "Save As" to save the bin file.
Then you can then open it and then select "Tables"....and get busy changing things
Alway save the altered file under a different name than the original...so if you screw something up you have the original to reflash back in.

Once the changes have been made, with cables all hooked up, selct "Tools" then "Program PCM"...
I always make sure the fan relays are pulled out when programming because the fan will kick on during the comms linking and if your battery is low or you get a significant drop in voltage by something being on it will abort the process and usualy render your PCM usless...in that case you must take it apart and desolder the 2 flash chips and then reflash them in a hardware chip burner....the chips are so tiny you probably can't solder them back in......so I sent mine off to Ion or Andrew Mateii, AKM Cables and had them socketed so you can just pull them out and push them in when this happens....but if your battery is fine, you should be able to do this 100's of times and not have a problem..... I always have a spare PCM on hand in case this ever happens so I'm not down with a broke PCM.

For the TC manuals, go here http://www.tunercat.com/tnr_desc/do_tc.html and select "Tuner" on the left hand side.

 

man thanks alot you've been a great help with all of this. I just had in my head for some reason there was a way to go in and look at his previous tunes without having the laptop hooked to the car. But oh well, I still haven't got my cable yet so I'm anxiously waiting. Plus its been raining here for a week so I cant get the car out of the garage anyways. I guess the best thing for me to do is figure out how to use the datamaster and try to make some recordings with it to see where I'm at. I know I'm rich at idle but not sure where I'm at throughout the rest of the rpms. I have a little bit of drivablility issues between 1100 and 2000 rpms but I think thats all just cam related at low rpms. Then I want to get my tcc moved up to at least 50mph cause it drives me nuts when it kicks in at 40 and starts lugging. thanks again,

 

If the previous owner left his .bin files on the PC you can open them up and look at them. Search on the pc for .bin extension files they should be 128k in size, then you can open them with TC.

With a bigger cam, what I experienced was the BLMs would go all over the place so I had to go thru the MAF tables and readjust them at various rpms and MAF GMS readings to get the BLMs to level out. They would be rich when you'd just enter a fuel cell, and be very lean by the time you exit that cell, so the BLMs were never balanced or even throughout the MAF GMS readings for that single cell....that leads to a slight lug feeling because its not adjusted fast enough when you enter that cell...usally this was right off idle.
Probably need a looser torque convertor to better match your cam for low end.

 

still haven't got my cable for some reason gettin upset. I'll try to check into that stuff I think I'll print this thread out for reference. My stall is around 3400 so as soon as I hit it its there so the low rpms aren't real important with my car. thanks,