I am interested in burning e-proms and I was wondering if I should get a laptop or a scan tool. What are some of the things that you guys recommend. And how much better is a laptop than a scan tool? Thanks

 

Defintely a laptop. A scan tool wont tell you much.... and will have no data capture abilities. Plus you can do so much more with a laptop Like... burn flash eproms at the track! Hehe

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92 Z28 5.7
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Trick Flow 23° heads, Comp Cams XR270HR-10 cam, Accel intake base + ported TPI,
TES headers, Flowmaster catback, MSD ignition, #24 SVO injectors, 1LE aluminum driveshaft.

Click here to see pics of my car.
Check out our car club Truspeed
Check out the Bin Archive for all your .bin needs

 

How much will a decent laptop program run..... ball park figures

 

Pocket Programmer /w/ software: $120
486 Laptop: $100
ALDL Scan Cable: $10 (build your own, for God's sake!)
ALDL Software: $0, repeat, $0
Tuning Software: $0 for WinBin, or whatever for Tunercat
Voltage Inverter for Laptop: $30
Being able to hear what your car has to say and tell it what to do: $Priceless.

Being a DIY kinda guy instead of a Joe-Blow buy-it-off-the-shelf idiot: $Beyond Priceless.

 

Blade and others, my scan tool (MPSI Pro-Link 2000 or something like that) does have the ability to capture data. It works fine for 1/4-mile drag-racing or checking things out while cruising (by capturing every 5th frame where it isn't critical to see every frame of data).

Craig, tell me more about the free ALDL software. I had done some research last year into this, but never got past that stage. It sure would be nice to use an el cheapo laptop to graph data instead of scrolling through the numbers and writing them down or trying to remember them.

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Greg Westphal
'87 IROC 305TPI/A4

 

Craig, looks like we have another taker of your software "capturing" data. ie to an Excel spreadsheet!?!?!??? Please help us!!! I will gladly pay you for a cable, BTW...

 

OK, the software is at:

http://members.tripod.com/moatesenheimer/gmecm

Read the documentation file e6-doc.txt, then download the software. The hardware is at:

http://www.geocities.com/steve3034/cables.html

Just let Steve Ruse know what you're going to use it on (year-make-model & ECM. This guy is making cables for Andrew Mattei now.

-Craig

[This message has been edited by Craig Moates (edited March 20, 2001).]

 

Thanks, Craig. I'll work on it this weekend and see what I can do.

 

does this software allow you to view the captured data real time? does diacom? Is it benificial to view the data real time or do you mostly record a run and then review it later?

I guess something is better than nothing, and since researching this software, it sounds great and will help me get started (when i upgrade my ecm and engine).


James

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1985 Z-28 305 TPI
221,000+ mi., Original Eng.

 

Will craigs software work with the cable that you build yourself with a 12v power supply?

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1991 Z28 305 5spd 1LE, TES headers, dual cats, 3 Chamber flowmaster, Comp cams .488/.495 212/218 the usual street racer with a stock chip.
Gained 20HP by porting and polishing my EGR passage.