I am confused on which route to go with tuning for my OBD2 LT1.

I am trying to keep the car on the road being my county is a emissions county. I am most certain i cannot get the car inspected with anything other than my OBD2 interface since this will be the route to get past emissions.

My dillema is what to choose for actual tuning of the vehicle aside from passing emissions. Should I go with a OBD 1 conversion, or fast EFI? Or should I stick it out with the OBD2?

I noticed the scanning/log programs for OBD2 leave alot to desire. I am wondering if the MXscan will be sufficient for using with Jet/tunercats for OBD2.Also I have a buddy that wants to go 1/2 on the software for his 98LS1, so this would reduce the cost of the program. ( It states that this will work for his also)

I will most likely get dyno tuned somehow, but want to be able to do some of this for myself, as the LT1 tuning scene is dying around me. My setup will have a cam that has a decent amount of overlap, and I really want to have the tools to improve on the part throttle tuning of the vehicle if I can.

I am looking for opinions. Thanks!

 

Have you thought about using your OBD2 PCM just to pass emissions (with the stock tune if possible), and swap in an OBD1 PCM and knock sensor and use Tunercats?

 

Yeah I have thought about that. I am weighing out the cost/use differences between obd1 vs obd2. My buddy will 1/2 the cost of tunercat obd2 which works for LS1 also. I am thinking obd 1 has a better scanning program for diagnostics?

I am going to be running a 383 LE3/LE4 BTW.

 

I faced the same dilema (97 Formula, radical forged 355, turbo). After a lot of research, I decided to go the OBDI route. You don't have to change out the knock sensor, you just have to solder a resistor in the OBDI PCM. https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/sho...=OBD1+pcm+swap
This will allow you to swap the PCMs easily.
The cost for me will be as follows:
PCM ~$50
cable ~$60-90
Tunercat & definition file ~$90
The scanner depends on which one you choose. Freescan is well, free. Datamaster lists for $120, but does have a trial version which allows a limited number of uses (20 IIRC).
I have been using LT1Edit for programming (which sux on several levels) and Autotap for scanning (which crashes far too easily and has not been updated for years).
However, I don't live in an emissions state, and I have not yet made the swap (just got the PCMs this week). Plus, I want to run in 2 bar Speed Density mode, and there is a great sticky thread in here on how to do it.
The only thing you will find is that integrating your wideband into the scanner for either OBDI or OBDII is not simple. It can be done, but it is basically a pita. But it is still easier for Datamaster (which apparently allows custom PIDs) than Autotap (which does not allow custom PIDs). Not sure on MXScan, but a quick glance did not make it obvious.
Since you have a solution for programming (wish I had Tunercat, now called Jet) you just need a scanner. I found a used copy of USB Autotap, which had the enhanced parameters, which you will need, for a decent price. I have not tried MXscan, so I can't really comment on it, except it does appear to have fairly current support for our car on Moates forum.
Best of luck.