I have a question for you prom-burners. I have a 1983 Berlinetta, in very nice condition. This car was garaged it's whole life, interior is almost perfect. A few years back when it belonged to my father, the trans went out. I suggested a neat project would be to transplant the drivetrain from a wrecked 85 IROC into the 83. We did this, and it ran very well- high 14's with just headers and mininal porting. Dad then decided he no longer needed the car and sold it to me.

A friend had a cheap 1974 350 laying around, so I rebuilt it and pulled the 305, transplanting all relevant parts over. Mistake. It never ran quite as well as the 305, smokes badly (dist was retarded during break in) leaks oil terribly, throws codes like a 2 y.o. having fits - bad engine. I have built several before and after; no problems.

So here I sit, yanking the 350 and planning what to do (305 was sold). I am still runnning the stock chip, and feel it needs to go away. Injectors will be changed to 24# units. But my question to you guys is learning to burn PROM's worth it? Aside from the equipment cost- was it worth the learning curve, or do you wish you just bought a PR or ADS unit and let it go at that?

 

I can tell u one thing, start building something more than a warmed over car(headers, exhaust free air mods) and step into cyl heads , big cams, and major porting and u can tell anyone in the world your specs for your engine and i can promise u if u keep your eyes and ears open here that within a mth or so your car willl be driving better than anything u could have bought.. Been there done that and im a newbie at getting serious with burning , not even my first yr under my wing yet and ive made a hotcammed tpi run like all heck(not perfect yet) and the mileage from work and home is equal to my almost 100% stock 91 GTA with a lot more kick in the pants :-)

If u want it bad enuff its worth it :-)
later
Jeremy

 

This is my winter/foul weather ride, so reliability and driveability is important. I already have one hot rod in the Pontiac, so I won't be sinking any big bux into the Camaro's drivetrain, unless I find a nice T-5 or Tremec (currently auto).

 

Learn to burn I spend 400.00 for a custom chip for a 85 Iroc the first two burns wouldnot run the car over 2500 rpm the third ran the car best time 13.70 after much reading I order tunercat and a pocket programmer and a eraser and mannnnnnnnnny burns later I got the Iroc to go 12.90 and this is with a 870 ecm and I know there is some more left I have been at this for at least a year. The reason for the custom chip was my Irocs 305 was replaced by a 400. I also have a 85 vette with alot of free mods it has a off the self chip it runs ok (13.90) but runs abit rich going to have to touch that one up that one cost 165.00. The first chip the Iroc saw with the 305 cost 195.00. LEARN TO BURN it is better for the car and the wallet.

 

Anothe issue is the 1985 computer- will this pose insurmountable problems with any software while the engine is running?

 

I am using the 870 in my Iroc with the newest 1f file and it works for me a little more work to tune with than 165or730 but I have been able to improve the performance in the Iroc. If I do decide to upgrade I would use the 730 because you can lose the MAF and the burn module or relays and cold start injector and there seems to me to be alot of support for the 730. Just in my opinion.

 

If this question is directed towards a scanner being hooked up while you are driving and then having the engine run in a different mode of operation, then I can see what you are getting at.

Some ECMs can be read with a scanner as if a scanner isn't connected at all (the 730 is an example of this...where the ECM doesn't go into any certain ALDL or field service modes).

For the 870, Diacom doesn't have what was called a 'normal' mode. I scan my 730 in normal mode all the time. This is what I was referring to when the ECM is not trying to set itself into a certain diagnostic mode.

It's worth looking into. If you are brewing your own cable, then I think the answer lies into what resistor you place between the A and B terminals of the ALDL connector.