00 Rooster

probably a stupid question but is there any way to remove the pcm without removing the wheel?

Jims2001

It would be next to imposable.

rebelheart

That would take a whole lot of work for a pretty simple job done through the wheel well.

dgrant3830

Can't imagine why you would want to remove the PCM unless the car is dead?

bumble-z

??Wouldn't you need to remove the pcm to send out or hand carry
for a pcm tune???
That is what I did last year. I had taken it out before going on vacation
to NJ & stopped by ECS in Cream Ridge, NJ & had them reprogram it.
Brought it back home & reinstalled.


Yes I pulled the wheel off first.

00 Rooster

thanks guys
It was a long shot but my car is on my driveway under 2' of snow and my jack isn't low enough to get under the car. I was hoping not to have to start it to take the pcm out. (I have to move the car to be able to get a jack under it)
back to the drawing board...

00 Rooster

bumble z is right. I want to get it tuned now...since I can't drive it anyway. then, when I get my headers on in early spring, it will be ready to drive

Jims2001

I had a retune after headers, what a difference. Make sure to tell them your doing headers.

00 Rooster

that is great to hear! the tune for headers will be in the car before the headers order isn't important since I can't drive it right now anyway

dougbfresh

If you find a dyno-tuner locally, you won't have to remove it. Put the other mods on and have the care tuned with all your mods together.

DOUG @ ECS

Definitely a lot harder if your not removing the tire.

Dale002

Yes,but you still have to jack the car to get it from underneath.
You may be able to get it from the top,but you will have to remove the battery and battery tray at minimum. There is a bunch of wires and vacuum hose to screw up if your not careful. It's much easier to start,move your car and remove the tire.

dgrant3830

My view is my own and everyone has their own opinion. If I was going to have my car tuned, I would have it done as a whole car, on a dyno rather than chancing trying to get it close by a mail-order tune. Yes, they will work so you might very well get a decent tune out of it, but frankly, the tuner needs the data inputs from the performance, to get the tune right. Now reading up on ChuckCow's information with his new tuning device, if I read correctly, he's extracting information from the car by scanning it, then flashes a tune update to the scanner and sends it back to you. That's cool with me...the data is there for the professional tuner too see. Otherwise, I see lots of ads on the auction site for power chips for "our" cars which most of us know are totally bogus therefore sending our PCM out for an update without knowing the data inputs, no way would I do this. Sure, shift points, redlines, fuel cutoffs can all be done via mail order but no two engines and drivetrains perform exactly the same so no one tune will work for all cars. Just my opinion.

00 Rooster

closest dyno tuner is 3.5 hours away and will charge me $750. just not worth it. tuning just isn't as popular here as it is in places where you guys can drive your cars the majority of the year. boohoo for me

Doug. hoping to get it out this week!

appreciate the option. I think I will try to get that tire off. who knows maybe I'll feel better if I start her up I will try to get you a pic of all the snow on my baby tonight...pretty sad sight

00 Rooster

I agree about the dyno tune but for the sake of a few hp (that I won't feel in my street car) its not worth spending 5 times the amount (see my post above). besides, I am talking to ECS...this is hardly a "powerchip" from ebay. I like Chucks product as well and spoke with them but for me at this point with only headers, Doug @ecs has the right product for me.
this is just my opinion too

Dale002

I understand, I've lived in northern Jersey and Minnesota.

Dale002

Would it make sense to do the mod on you car first,run it,then send the pcm to do a mail tune.
This way they would know so info on your current condition.
I don't see sending my pcm in the mail for a tune when I can get a Dyno done for $400.

dgrant3830

As I see it, each car is different from any other car and yes, a proper dyno tune may only make a couple of HP more but then again, it could identify other issues present that need to be resolved that a mail-order tune certainly isn't going to find. The tune comes out too lean and start burning valves or slightly too rich and you destroy the cats. Any number of possible things can happen when a tuner doesn't have the car in front of them and they could end up costing a whole lot more in the long run. Mail-order tunes are just fine for some things and I have no issue, but there is a limit.

00 Rooster

I got the pcm out I took a few pics of the process. If you are weak of heart about how your vette is treated, please look away I would feel really bad if I wasn't doing this in the quest to go faster this is my Canadian version of being a red neck









btw, be careful removing the actual pcm. I managed to break the base bracket. according to CF, the parts are cheap so that makes me feel better.

bumble-z

Wow! That makes me shiver, just looking at that picture.
They don't have garages in Canada, A?.