Well today I attempted to swap my stock 87' TPI PROM out of the ECM for a custom burned one for my soon to be future 350 Vortec motor, to make sure it(they) work ok. Well removing one is much harder than I thought and I damaged the pins...the car won't start now due to the damaged chip.

So where do I go from here? I will junkyard hunt tommorow, I guess to look for other 165 ECM's but not sure what else. Do any other chips interchange? How do you properly remove the PROM's?

Any help appreciated!

 

The '165 has a MEMCAL. The PROM is soldered to this. If you wanted to remove the MEMCAL there are tabs on each end of the connector. Pressing the tabs will eject the MEMCAL. Now, if you trying to replace just the PROM this is a little more difficult, sometimes.

Would need to unsolder the current PROM and solder in a socket.

The way to go with MEMCALs is to get an adpator. It plugs in place of th MEMCAL and then the MEMCAL plugs into it. There is then a socket for another PROM. Only place I know to get the adaptor is www.moates.net.

RBob.

 

Thanks for the information. I ordered a Moates adapter for my custom burned PROMs for my Vortec 350 which is soon to go in....

Now I have a new question, I am in need of just getting a good CALPAK to get my car running again fine and came across a guy selling one out of a 86' TPI car, the CALPAK is untouched. Assuming its out of an automatic car, this should be fine with my motor? I can't see any real differences in 86' to 87' besides the peanut roller cam added in 87....besides the centerbolt issue which is not relevant. Any ideas? The car is slightly modified at the moment, has 3.42's and nice Hooker headers/catback exhaust with a L98 cam, thats about it. I think the 86' CALPAK will work fine but curious what you ECM/PROM experts think....thanks again!

Oh yea, the broadcast code is: 3236

Another thing, if I did get a PROM from a manual car, what exactly would happen? Would it be driveable? Back when I did my TPI conversion I remember hearing of why but it seems like quite some time ago(couple years now).

 

There is no CALPACK in a '165 or '730 TPI ECM, only a MEMCAL.
You'd find a CALPACK in a C3 ECM, like in the TBI cars.
(see RBob's sticky post in this forum if you're confused as to the difference).

So, if it's actually a CALPACK the guy is selling, it's useless to you.

If you actually meant MEMCAL instead of CALPACK, it sounds close enough to run, as long as the transmission type matches. And from the PROM ID you posted, it does (3236 corresponds to AUM BCC, 5.0L LB9 TPI Auto). However, it's best to have the closest possible match to your engine, and a new MEMCAL from GM costs less than $50, so I wouldn't pay too much for something that's not quite right.

Quote:

Another thing, if I did get a PROM from a manual car, what exactly would happen? Would it be driveable? Back when I did my TPI conversion I remember hearing of why but it seems like quite some time ago(couple years now).

I'd strongly suggest you not try to run a manual cal on an automatic car. TCC lockup would go haywire, and the throttle follower stuff is different enough you'd potentially have problems with stalling.

Alternatively, if you get yourself some PROM burning equipment, or know someone who does, then it doesn't really matter exactly what MEMCAL you have (as long as it's a '165 TPI V8) since you can load it with whatever calibration you want.

Also a downside to the '86 calibration is that it's probably $32 code, rather than the '87-88 $32B, which means that it'll only send ALDL data at a very slow rate, about 1 frame per second. The later TPI code datalogs about 10X faster than that, which is a big advantage when using a scantool for tuning.