96' TransAm LT1

i just got one of those hypertech programmers and i was jsut wondering what the "power port" thing is on the bottom of it? its a hole with a cover that says power port, then when u peel it off their is a plug thing waay up in the programmer.. but then it has the normal plug in on top of it..just wondering, thanks..o and how do you do the "power setting" or whatever it is..

Honda Hunter

That's not what he asked.

indirocz28

Yeah- a guy i know and i were at the track and he had his car set on Setting 4 of whatever programmer he was using and he was getting crappy times..

he set his car back to stock and ran like half a second faster than he did w/ the programmer..

96' TransAm LT1

well actually... my 4th and 5th gears are much much better now... i can really tell a difference in those...and a little down low, but not much... im happy with it.. like i said 4th and 5th are ALOT better...

Z28Vert19

yeah but unless your doing a roll from about 70-80 you probably wont use 4th
and 5th in a race so what gain would you get on a 1/4 mile? none. Dont mean to thrash on you but with being on this site for about 9-10 months you should have taken the advice from all of the other members and treads about this subject. Like 1996Capricemgr said, if you can...send it back and get a tune from Madz28 or PCMforless. you will see mcuh better results.

MARKTHOMASBRAND

Hi "96 TransAm LT1,
I would just like to apologise for the bad manners of some of the other members.If your'e happy with your Hypertech Programmer,then good for you!
At the very least youv'e purchased a good quality piece of kit which you can use to scan fault codes with,alter tire size settings etc.
I can understand other people's opinions and I'm sure they were only trying to help,but they could have gone a bit easier on you.
Anyway,hope you are well,best regards,Mark Brand.

Mtrhds94Z

An HPP doesn't scan DTC's..
But it can be useful for changing top speed limiter, rev limiter, A4 shift points, fan turn on temp, and for calibrating speedo for different rear end gears, tire size, etc..
Not totally useless, but the 'Power Programming' is junk..
And if you can find a used one, it isn't that bad of a deal usually,and sort of fills a gap until you really need 'tuning'...

camarodude04

the plug in at the bottem is prolly a usb plug. you plug that in to your pc and get updated programs . just seen that one on horsepower tv today lol.

96' TransAm LT1

ahhh cool..ok tks..and ya got it used..
$145... and its gonna come in handy here next week.. goin to 3.73 gears.. yea.. and tks markthomasbrand...

Severous01

with the expansion pack you can purchase seperately the ability to scan and remove DTC codes, record track cpu stuff (temps, map readings, maf readings, all that "stuff")...connect to the PC and download for later use. it's nifty...but if you're going to get that serious you may as well just purchase a port cable to usb and buy a laptop.

i had the HPP. it was good for what i needed it for. at the time i was experimenting with different tires. vette tires, viper tires...even slicks and such. changing the "gearing" to fit them was nice too. i also easily switched from a 2.73 gear set to a 3.42 and a 3.23 gear set and found which one i liked most. and with that programmer i told my ECM programmer where to put the shift points...it's not a waste because you can still sell it when you're done with it.

indirocz28

Talked to a guy at the track today who has his ECU tuned by PCM for less..

He said its like a $200 first time fee for the programming and then any time you want to update it its $50 after that..-

Tony- the guy i talked to has 2 pcm's that he sends back and forth.. He keeps a log while he is racing at the track. And from that log and weather calculations they can figure out what the car is or isnt doing - so then he sends the PCM in with that stuff and they fix it..

Tony said that everything PCM for Less has ever done for him has always been spot on..

01Z

Good information and insight. I own one for each car; bought them used and don't regret it. A mail-in tuner told me up front that the HPPs should add some numbers. My HPP II really makes a performance difference with the 160 thermostat installed. I went to larger 255 profile tires and was able to adjust / correct the speedometer for the 3% difference as well as move shift points and adjust firmness - all day long. I can switch to low or high octane at will. The newer HPP III reads / displays DTCs and clears them without an expansion pack btw. Crane and Granatelli make a better handheld for sure but they are hard to find used and more expensive new.

PCM4LESS / MADZ etc. are apparently better tunes especially if you have moved away from stock and aren't just wanting to experiment with simple parameters. Even at stock the mail in tuners can get better numbers but like any performance tune it comes at the price of premium gas only. Then it's some effort to get that changed back. I'm up for correction on this as well as adoption.

The HPP is for a car that is running right and doesn't have much in the line of mods other than CAI and a catback exhaust. People lose power with the HPP for different reasons. I gained nothing on power to one engine because it was too lean to benefit from the adjusted PE tables. In other words, regardless of the tune, my pcm was going to pull from the low octane tables. The hpp did nothing for performance under those conditions.

2¢

Injuneer

Some people need to stick to the topic. No point in telling him your opinion of the HPP if that's not what he asked. Many people have found it very useful for the functions other than the "power tuning". Not everyone wants to send their PCM off for a mail order tune for something simple like a tire diameter change, or to play around with the A4 shift settings. Maybe they want to change the fan on/off temps with the seasons..... who knows. A low $$$ USED HPP is useful.

And the slot on the bottom is only provided on the OBD-II units, and as already pointed out is for the scanner cartridge or a custom tune cartridge.

I wondered why the thread was up to two pages, and most of it had to do with comments about a triple post. After cutting all the extraneous material out of the thread, its back to reasonable size. Special thanks to MARKTHOMASBRAND for bringing a degree of civility to the thread.

Blownbird355

Actually the port he is talking about is a slot for a cartridge for extra tuning options like headers and cam.

01Z

I looked at your message and this thread again and didn't see an answer to this part of your question. Sorry for having gotten so far off track.

It's been a while since I have used my hpp but the "power setting" you are referring to comes up as a scrolling banner option shortly after the intro and vin check. It should ask something like ... enable power tuning ... or something to that effect. The thing is pretty straight forward and you can look at the options presented several times before you commit to flashing the eeprom in the pcm.

I'm going to hook the one up for my 95, which is the Plus model 345752 and try to get you a better answer after looking it over.

I ran the programmer and the option is simply "install engine power tuning". You select "Y" to accept it. Later it will ask you if you wish to adjust engine cooling. Here is where the power tuning makes a difference. If you have the 180 the tuning will not be noticeable. If you have a 160 degree thermostat and choose the 160 degree cooling option the power tuning will be installed with the most aggressive settings.

I'll guess you have already figured all of this out but here it is anyway.

good luck