Kindof still a newb to the LT1 scene, will be sporting an Lt1 and 6 speed in my '88 in a couple months. just wondering of what options do I have to go about tuning this bad boy...what kind of tuining software is out there for the Lt1's?

 

LT1 edit is, from what I hear, the best tuning software for LT1s.

 

It all depends on what year computer you are using!
93 uses chips that are replaceable
94-95 Non California cars are OBD-I and can be tuned by tunercat and LT1 Edit
96-97 and some 95 California cars are OBD-II and they only have LT1 Edit available at this time, that I am aware of but I have been out of the tuning setion for a while, check into that section for more detailed info!

 

It's cheaper and easier to send it to www.madz28.com and have them do it for you

 

its a '94 car so it would be obd-1....anyone have any good luck with the tunercats? I've heard of LT1 edit before but I don't know anyone personally who has used it before. Like I said this is all new to me, but can't wait till this thing is finished

 

A mail order tune is a best guess, that's it. Not near as good as a dyno tune.

If you're using a '94 or '95 PCM, check out www.tunercat.com. Their software is dirt cheap and easy to use.

 

I used tunercat to tune my car, it is pretty easy to use and there is a good tuning section on this board to find out where to start and what needs to be changed! Good luck with it, you will learn a lot as you go, thats what I did!

 

How exactly does a 'mail order tune' work? Does the tuner send you the .bin file via email and you have to flash the PCM yourself? If this is te case, I take it you have to have an editing program whether it's TunerCat or LT1 Edit, and an interface cable.

And the other way is just to send the actual PCM to a tuner, correct?

I would really like to learn to tune my PCM myself so I can properly dyno tune it, what is the best way to get started? What I plan on doing is having a professional tuner make me a file to my specs, but then I can fine tune it on the dyno.

 

yes you are correct those are to 2 most common ways of mail order tuning, mailing the pcm in or getting an emailed .bin or .lt1 file...

The reason the email tunes are so inexpensive is because there is no real overhead with them, mail charges, rigs to power the PCM on to flash it, and stuff like that! Yes you will need to buy a cable, and that is a good investment to monitoring the stats of the engine also.. You don't need a full version of tunercat or LT1 edit to flash the PCM, all you need is a flash utility that in most cases are supplied by the tuner.

I started by getting a copy of tunercat and looking at the tables and learning what they all did, the web is a good source for finding this info... Then when I knew what the different tables did I started playing with it, I would find files online from different combinations and reading those tables I pulled out what I thought would work well for me. Until you get good and have done it for a while it is all trial and error. I remeber testing out how to modify the shift Rpm's one time and when I took the car out to test it it didn't shift out of First gear! I was soo scared that I messed something up, then I remebered I kept all of the previous test tunes, so I just went back and reloaded the previous tune and everything was fine.. Like I said trial and error, just get something to log what the car is doing or you might get into trouble quick! Oh and don't change something and jump right into WOT testing! Unless you know what you did isn't going to kill the motor..

Search the web for freescan, that is free software that can be used to scan the car and also give a log of what is going on.

 

I really appreciate all the info you gave me to get started in the right direction. What do you mean by 'log' what the car is doing? Is it like real time statis of the PCM while you are driving the car? I'm not too clear on that part.

 

i was happy with my pcm4less tune. Dyno tuning is better though

 

Yes, there are different software products that you can use, hook the laptop to the ALDL port under the dash and start "logging" and it will create a file, usually excel or .csv that you can read a determine what is going on inside the motor/tune, some actually give you a realtime dash board type display too. I believe Tunercat even sells real logging/viewing software, but I haven't used that... Yes when you read up on these things you will see people refering to logging their runs, and then sending those logs to their tuner to fine tune the mail order tune! That is why I like pcmforless's unlimited retunes! You load the tune compile a few logs and send it to Bryan, and he looks them over and sends another tune to you!

 

I got tunercat for my 91 LT1. I love it. I tune it myself and can do it whenever I want. Plus it's cheap so if I need to get it pro tuned in a case like cam/heads, I won't feel bad about paying someone else to do it. Tunercat is right at 90 bucks as opposed to LT1 edit(which was 500 when I was looking at it).

 

I could NEVER be able to tune my own car...damn.

 

I also use tunercat. Its simple enough to use as long as you know what to adjust. But then again thats all part of the learning process. But there in an inexhuastable amount of help here