Well I'm jumping in,just bought a cheap laptop on e bay,was looking at the Willem programmers,can anyone direct me to the correct programmer for my 85 w/auto trans.I do not know which chip is in the car ,or even if it is stock,fans come on @209* so it may not be a stock chip,or someone changed the sensor.I have done a search and have a couple questions,I see there is different chips#,s for the 85?if so can I use any of them or does the # have to match what is in the car?I would like to start off with a different chip so I can keep my stock chip for a backup.Any help with the correct willem programmer and chip or other advise would be a great help to me.thanks in advance.

 

Check out my post... Rons85 put a lot of good information on there about what he uses to program his 85.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1891476

I'm pretty positive the 85 uses a 2732a eprom.

 

Yup - read thru the sticky at the top of the Scan & Tune page - most of your questions will be answered there.

The '85, assuming it's still the OEM -6870 computer, uses a bare 27x32 prom chip. The x is a letter (a,b,c etc.) indicating the version/revision of the chip.

Don't worry too much about it - any 27x32 will be interchangeable, all it really concerns is the voltage you in Theory ought to be using to write a file to the chip. In Reality it doesn't really matter..

If you do a Google (or probably Wikipedia) search on 27x32 PROM you ought to find a link with more information about the chip than Anyone would ever need.

BTW - I (way back when I was starting with this stuff) bought a cheap Willem PROM programmer off That auction site. Never did figure out how to make it work - I gave up and bought the Xtronics unit. I forget now exactly what it was that stumped me with the Willem, but it's in the stash of "extra" computer parts (I have a collection..), just in case I ever want it for something...

Also BTW - the only reason to have an older laptop for these games is to have a machine with a serial port. Not necessary these days with seemingly Everything connecting USB. The Willem and Xtronics programmers connect with a Parallel (printer) port, which most new laptops still provide.. if not there are USB-to-Parallel adapters out there. In addition to That, most of the "older" software for datalogging ran under DOS, not windows. You needed to be able to boot the machine in DOS (probably booting from a floppy disk) to use them. Nothing these days requires that - nothing you would be likely to download and use at least.

That said, none of this stuff requires a lot of computing power - you are after all interfacing with a 23 year old piece of electronics, not exactly leading edge today. The PROM chip is a whopping 4k of memory...

 

You know, the thing that always amazes me is that the hardware is still going strong at 20+ years of age. I work in the IT field, albeit the software side, but I still know a thing or two about the hardware side... I've had more issues with IBM motherboards dying in servers than I've ever had with the ECM. I know the server is obviously running with more uptime and doing "more work" in theory, but come one... that ECM doesn't even have a fan. Pretty impressive.

 

I may have already screwed up,my lap top has Windows 98,does anyone know if I can use this operating system??Thanks

 

yeah i use win98se im just starting too but that will work

 

thanks it will be a couple weeks before I have every thing I need,then I will post more,I am planing on buying 1 of the books recommended on here,but I will still need help for sure.My mods are Iron Bowtie ph.3 heads 186 cc intake runner, 64 cc, 2.02 valves,Stock 85 block,Comp cam XFI Flat tappet cam .520 int. .515 ex. Dur @.050 224 / 231 ,113 lobe sep.LT1 intake conversion,stock LT1 injectors,areomotive AFPR,Descreened MAF,Shorty headers,no cats ,lt1 mufflers,no egr,gut air pump,stock auto trans, 3.07 rear gear. Any advise fill free to comment or send me a PM. take care.