Ok, I have read and re-read the FAQ here about 10 times and still can't seem to make heads or tails of it. I am planning on getting my feet wet in the world of chip burning but need some help. I "think" this is what I am going to need for my 92, can someone read over the list and let me know what I am missing?

My laptop
Pocket programmer, I-PP2 ($150)
4 chip UV eraser, D_erase ($50)
Tunercat with $DA2 definition file ($90)

I "think" that's it. I can't seem to decipher if tuner cat is a scan tool as well, or if I need one of those too. I also can't seem to find out if I need some sort of cable to connect to the car or not.

Anyone got some advice, in small, simple, easy to undertand words?

 

Good morning, Josh,

For the last couple of years the guys on Vettenet helped me out with all my mechanical and electrical questions so I'll try to pass on what I have learned and works for me.

Tunercat is a ECM edit program only although they have a program, RT tuner, that you can buy that lets you make changes to your chip while driving. I bought this but have not found it useful yet. It is not used to monitor your ECM.

You need a program to monitor your ECM like TTSdatamaster. I think it's $70 and then you'll need to buy a "definition file" specific to your year corvette for an additional $20. You'll also need a cable that goes from the RS-232 (serial) port on your laptop to the ALDL diagnostic port in your car.

As far as the chip burner/erasing stuff goes...that's how I started out because I have all the chips, burners, etc hear at work but it's still time consuming. Tom introduced me the the "Romulator" which is a cool name for an emulator (acts like a chip). You plug this box (it has a cable with a connector that is just like a eprom) into the location where your eprom goes and it takes the place of the eprom while your going through the tuning process. No repeative chip burning/erasing necessary.

You use tunercat to modify your eprom bin file and then just hook your laptop up to the romulator and download the file into the it. Once you have nailed down the chip you want to use for awhile than you can burn a chip, remove the romulator and install the chip permantly.

All this is the easy part. Understanding the various constants and tables to fiddle with seems overwhelming at first but like anything once you spend the time researching the subject and asking questions, you'll be modifing your cars performance maybe even better than the pros because you are the one monitoring the sensors and doing the mods to your ECM prom.

Others on this forum can give you advise about the other ECM monitoring programs like TTSdatamaster but this was the one that was recommended to me by Perry and I don't have any complaints about it. I've spent many months looking at the data that I've collected and experimenting with the tables all while asking questions like you have today.

Good luck, Bud, and happy tuning....it will be worth it. Beth

 

Read the intro linked to the prom board at thirdgen.org.

 

Thanks a ton guys. PCMforless.com and I are having a hard time nailing down my tune because I bought the car all ready modified and I am not 100% sure what is actually done to the car. That makes it VERY difficult to get the tune right through the mail. In the end, I will probably have to do it myself.

Thanks a bunch, that cleared some things up for me. ;)