I finally received my new heads and now I've pretty much got all the major parts to finally get the car back together now. It's just a matter of setting the time aside to install the new cam and everything else to get the car going. I'm thinking it's probably a good time to begin to learn about burning my PROMs now as well. Tim's (Traxion) article on PROM burning is awesome....I'm just curious if there is one main PROM burner that people recommend over others? Tim's got 3 brands listed so I'm wondering the limitations (pros/cons) of one vs. the other? Also is there a particular programming software package that people recommend as well?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions...I'll be spending alot of time in this forum from now on and learning from the masters....I'm looking forward to it.

- Joel

PS - Also since I've got a 1992 Z I can use the EEPROM chips and won't need a UV light prom eraser....any suggestions on how many EEPROMS I should buy?

 

Most here use the Xtronics Pocket programmer 2 for burning ($150). I use the SPEP II from Futurlec ($80) found here http://www.futurlec.com/EPROMProg.shtml even though it dosen't list them, it will program the 29 series chips.
Ater those 2 things get more complicated (jumper settings on boards) and more expensive.

For editing bin files I'd say its almost a 50/50 split between Winbin (free) and Tunercat ($100 for prog and $20 per ecu definition file).

For the number of chips, you really shouldn't need more than 2

 

I use two pocket programmers, one on the laptop and one in the house. Pocket Programmer II will do all the chips I've run into, but it takes more then a 486. I've run Pocket Programmers for at least 5 years and only killed one.

I get chips 4-5 at a time, cause, every once in a while I brain fade and kill em, thur some dumb act.

ALWAYS remember to keep one *untouched* so that in case of an EMP you can drive home <g>.

 

Thanks for the suggestions...I just placed my order for a PP2 and the adapter and 2 chips from Craig Moates.
I've been reading alot of the info on the Dyi site....I hope I don't get too overwhelmed when it come time to burn.

- Joel

PS - Are there any good (affordable) software packages out there to for a laptop to plug into the diag port to monitor the car to aid in burning? I'd love to get a Scantool...but can't shell out the 3K for one.

 

How about a free prog? http://moates.net/gmecm/index.html Works great on older cheap laptops too.

 

WOW that's excellent! Thank you for the link!

- Joel

 

Also look on that same site for the schematics for building the cable to hook the laptop to the car's ALDL. The 2 transistor cable is all you should need (works fine for me) and costs about $8 in parts from radioshack.

 

Dont use winbin there is a much better FREE program!

Download it here https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=164388

If you like burning PROMs you can spend 70+20$ on tunercat later......

 

I'd love to see a manual or instructions on how to use the Moates software.

Doesn't seem to be a lot of documentation out there on usage.