I can see by reading the message boards aftermarket chips are of not much use. I gather burning a chip means to program it. Who does this ? What will it cost and what info is needed? This must be a spiecal skill.

 

89blackbird, There are a number of members that burn their own chips, but unless they have your car, they can't optimize it. That's the problem with aftermarket "cookie-cutter" chips. The PROM board has excellent people and info on burning chips. You have to be willing to learn, though. I wouldn't go there asking for someone to do it for you.

Good luck...

 

If you wish to learn how to burn your own eprom, then definitely go to the DIY Prom Board. But if you are looking for to find someone to burn you an eprom, you are wasting your time.

First, there is NO WAY they are going to be able to optimze it for you. With some of the more reputable firms like Ed Wright at www.fastchips.com they will put some effort to make you a good eprom, but it will still not be optimal. But for the amount of money you will pay for the custom prom, you could burn yourself one cheaper.

As for getting "a cheap deal" from someone seeing your post, well "Buyer Beware". I wish they'd left that link up about the "trials and tribulations" someone had with getting some person (also that posts on this board) to burn them an eprom. They were not happy and wanted their money back.

You get what you pay for and if you want to get a "cheap eprom" you are going to be sadly disappointed and your basically throwing your money away.

PS: I this post looks like an "eprom request" which would have been locked and/or deleted on the DIY Prom Board. It sounds mean, but we do it for your own protection. Right now, you have set yourself up for every "wanna be" custom eprom writer to do you a "cheap eprom", which will most likely not be very good. That is why I lock/delete those posts because I don't want another situation where someone gets somebody to burn them an eprom, it doesn't work, and then a big fight starts with you trying to get your money cheerfully refunded. As I said, you get what you pay for, if you are not willing to do it yourself.

 

thanks for the replies. I will admit I am lost with this whole prom thing and figured a regular guy could not do this sorry about being on the wrong board.I will go over there to e-prom board and look around. Not to look totally stupid what does e-prom stand for?

 

Yes, a "regular guy" can burn eproms. In fact, the "mechanics" of burning an eprom (provided you have the proper equipment and in good working order) is extremely simple.

It's the "tuning" thats important. How do you learn how to "tune"? Lots of reading, lots of testing. There will be "skills" that you will need to learn (like how to analyze the output from a scan tool) but that comes in time. The more you play with it, the more it starts to make sense.

"Tuming" a car for performance is basically the same whether its a carb, DFI or eprom/ECM - just the method you go about it that differes. If the car needs more fuel, then you need to add it - it doesn't matter what you got - you just have to learn how to do it based on what you have (carb, DFI or eprom/ECM). The trick is learning "when" you need to change the fuel. In this respect, it is actually EASIER for eprom/ECM and for many DFI. The "toughest" is carb since you don't have electronic aides (other than MAYBE a WB O2 sensor on a chassis dyno).

Spark is pretty easy - more spark generally means more power (unless you start to detonate). The trick there is to try and give yourself as much spark without inducing "ping". Though there are exceptions when sometimes an engine actually performs better at a lower spark advance, even though you could increase the spark advance even more and still not detonate. Again, a chassis dyno can help there, along with doing actual "time trials" at the track.

Sometimes I think they should have a "Tuning" Board since there is a lot more "similarities" in tuning an engine between carb, DFI or eprom/ECM than "dissimilariteis". As I said before, its only the way you tune that's different.

 

Oh, by the way, eprom means "eraseable programmable read only memory".

ROM - read only memory can only be read. Nothing else. These "chips" are manufactured this way. Not used much anymore.

PROM - programmable read only memory. These are like ROM except they come "blank" and can be programmed once.

EPROM - eraseabel programmable read only memory. These are like PROMs, except they can be erased (unsually with a UV light) and reprogrammed a number of times (about 25-50 times for the eproms our cars use).

EEPROM/Flash Prom - There is actually a "technical difference" between EEPROM and Flash Prom, but it has to do with the way they erased/written and to the "regular guys" they seem the same. These are "electrically eraseable programmable read only memory". These can be erased electrically rather than by a UV light. They also can be erased very much quicker (seconds vs 15-60 minutes for an eprom and they take longer as they are used). Also, eeproms can be rewritten thousands of times instead of 25-50 times for an eprom.

None can be used as "RAM" though eeproms are getting much closer and some can actually be "modified" by the ECM - however you wouldn't want to use them like"RAM" as they do have a finite life and are not designed to be constantly "used" like RAM.

 

OK I am starting to get.I will keep reading the posts. thanks

 

Good. Definitely try and read as many of the posts as you can on the DIY Prom Board. Initially, it will seem like Greek. But after awhile the terminology will start to make sense. Also, go to www.tunercat.com to download a version of their software with a sample TDF (for truck TBI systems). Yes, it's not the EXACT one you want, but it will give you an idea of what can be changed.

Also, if you talk nicely to TunerCat, they will often toss you a copy of the proper TDF for your ECM and then just look around www.diy-efi.org to get some bins.