84z28350

I been looking around the tech articles about doing PROM burning and all the gizmos to go with it. Ive got a laptop here and thats what ill be using for the whole venture.

I just picked up an 85 z28 w/305 TBI. I wanted to drop the 350 out of my 84 into it and keep the TBI in the 85 in hopes of getting some better gas mileage.

The articles blab on about EPROMS but i didnt see anything about burning EEPROMS. I also noticed a part of talking about only 88-92 TBIs, Is my 85 still able to do all this crap? Am i able to burn the OEM chip thats in the car?

And is it possible to make changes to the chip while its still in the car? between the 50+ posts i have read tonight im getting mixed results on that...

Ok i think thats enough newbie questions for the night

Fast355

iTrader: (2)

If the 85 is in fact TBI (TBI V8s started in 1988 in F-bodies) you have your work cut out for you. First you need to find out what ECM and harness has been swaped into your car. Then go from there.

I know you probably know what you are looking at but, are you sure it is a rochestor 220 TBI and not a computer controlled carb?

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

What years did teh CFI start and end? Couldve been converted to a tbi. Burning chips isnt too bad, just need a burner and an adaptor so you can use later flash stuff rather then teh UV erase chips, which are getting close to impossible to find. You also do ahve to remove the chip to reprogram it. No flash capabilities in the early 80's. Check the part number on the ecm to find out what you really have.

84z28350

Well as i havent even got the car in the driveway yet or even popped the hood, as its buried under a couple feet of snow i cant say for sure if its a TBI or cc carb. The goof im buying the car off of said its TBI but who knows.

I guess ill have to wait till the end of the week when i get it home.

BadDog

I'm a newb too, but I think I've read enough to provide some help, or at least topics for further research.

Assuming you have a TBI, find the ECM and get the ID code. There are likely several numbers on the housing, searching here will match one of them and that (knowing the ECM) gets you started.

Then go inside and look for the plug-in chip. You need to know which EPROM was used. The factory used UV erase EPROMs in most, so you either have to try to deal with that switch to EEPROM. Moats provides adapters to make that work.

For reference, I have a 1227747 ECM with a 2732A chip.

Now that you know what you're going to be working with, look for a reader/burner. The TBI article stuck at the top of this forum provides some pointers to sources of reader/burner hardware. But I also ran across Moats (http://www.moates.net) in my searches, and that is the one I decided to order. I also ordered an adapter to go to common EEPROMs and a ZIF socket to making swapping easy. Just make sure your laptop has a Serial or USB connection, depending on what the hardware you choose. You may also need a UV eraser if you decided to stick with EPROMs.

Next you need software to read and write your PROMs. There are several to be found with searching and in the "sticky" articles of this forum. I chose TunerPro RT, but TunerCat is another that looked very good. I've also used WinALDL for the last few years, but it's just a diagnostic stream reader, not a burner, and will be replaced with TunerPro.

You can also get an "emulator". Basically a box that plugs into the EPROM socket AND your laptop so that your laptop can pretend to be the PROM. That lets you make changes and test them without stopping, burning a chip, swap it in, and drive. With an emulator, you can even have someone riding shotgun and making changes on the fly with the car running. Seems it would save a LOT of time, especially for a newbie, when trying to get this stuff figured out.

So, I hope that helps. However, fair warning, this is just what has jelled from all my reading, so take it with a grain of salt, I have no practical knowledge. My programmer has not even arrived yet. This is also a test for my understanding, so if I missed something, let me know.

84z28350

So if the car turns out to be a CC carb what can be done to it tuning wise?

Ive got an 305 TBI truck sitting here i can rip the TBI system off of too.

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

I think there are a few things that can be done on a CC ECM as well, but no tuner definition files (the things that enable you to read the chip) exist for it. There is a hac but I think think thats it.

84z28350

So pretty much all i can do with it if its a CC carb setup is just be able to see what is doing via a aldl cable to my laptop. That kinda blows lol

BadDog

Or retro-fit a TBI.

84z28350

Thats what i was thinking of doing as theirs the complete TBI truck sitting here.