they said it might work for my application while hypertech said i'd need custom burn for $400. the perf. resource off the shelf chip is $210. mods in sig.

------------------
86 305 TPI
700R4
3:42 axle
4 wheel disc
-Summit cam .442" lift
-Summit chain/roller
-Summit tranny cooler
-WORLD S/R Torquer 305 heads
-High Volume oil pump
-Hypertech Airfoil
-SLP 1 5/8" headers
-Flowmaster 80 series c/b
-Taylor Spiro-Pro 8mm
-Bosch plat. plugs
-K&N Air filters
-Trans-Go shift kit
-Removed AIR
-160 Thermostat
-T/B coolant Bypass

soon... 125 shot

 

For those prices you could buy all the stuff to do your own, and have a chip that works correctly for your car.
Big difference from just works to working correctly.

 

First any thing "off the shelf" such as Performance Resourse is proposing tend to do very little.

And, when you get into a heavily modded engine; so far I am not impressed with the results. There's a few guys on this Board (89Vette/Jason) who tried that, and ultimately found burning his own chip gave the best results.

I also have a buddy that I am helping on his 383 MAF Miniram, AFR 195 Competition head, etc that previously tried "custom proms" from others when his engine was "only" a 350 and found making his own gave better results.

There are SO many things in the eprom that most people are unaware, including these custom prom writers. I have yet to see any custom prom adjust the IAC Learn Temps when the eprom is suppose to be designed for a cooler T-stat. And, often, some changes to some tables (e.g. VE on SD cars) can require tweaking with Pump Shot or various Cold Starting Tables for smoothness of operation; even on a stock engine.

Without actually working on your car to tweak the eprom for some unique nuances of your engine (and all engines have a few). And this is NOT a 1/2 day job, a couple drives around the block and off you go on your merry way. This is fine for a small item like adjusting the fans on/off temp or disabling the EGR. But for anything that will increase performance and not hurt driveability, emissions or fuel economy - it requires a lot of time and testing, testing and more testing.

This is why many of us, especially if we are trying things no one else has tried (yet) end up doing HUNDREDS (THOUSANDS in Bruce's case). And even if the change has been made by a lot of people and it is a common tweak, you still may have to re-burn it a dozen time to get it "just right".

Bruce (Grumpy) also has been telling EVERYONE that stock GM heads only require a small amount of timing to get max performance and the typical 36* of timing that we all see in those car magazines is hog-wash. Bruce is so right.

The GM stock heads are very funny, a couple of degrees + or - can make the difference between optimal performance, being slow as a dog and detonating like crazy. The GM Stock heads seem to have a "sweet spot" around 26-28* (on my ironhead L98). This is EFFECTIVE spark btw, AFTER factoring in the knock retard encountered and removed from your timing.

A couple degrees less, and my engine REALLY feels like a dog. A couple degrees extra, and I detonate. On your car or somebody that has a similar setup to my car, he may find his "sweet spot" varies a few degrees more; but that is an important "few degrees".

Bruce and I use this analogy so often because it is so true. Have you EVER owned a car or a motorcylce with a carbed engine? If you were to replace the car with an aftermarket, would you expect to adjust things or just bolt it onto the manifold without so much as adjusting anything and expect it to perform optimally?

I recall so many guys in the 70s where a couple of them would have virtually identical cars and one would ALWAYS be faster than the other. The difference was usually one of the guys worked extensively on his jetting of the carb and the spark curve on his distributor. THIS is TUNING, not changing plugs, wires etc...that is a TUNEUP.

I still remember the time a guy had a 68 Firebird 400 and we were stunned to find out that the rumor that GM had made the carb only open 3/4s @ WOT was true. Pontiac did this because the GTO was their flagship and didn't want the lighter Firebirds beating them.

Save your money, buy the equipment and read all the posts that have been made earlier. It will greatly help you on your path to tuning eproms and realize how easy it is and that you can obtain far better results doing it yourself.

Also, I recommend showing your e-mail so guys can talk to you "behind the scenes". I recall your earlier posts and if someone is in your local area AND you have the equipment and wanting to learn, many of us will "tag up" with you to help you with the learning curve. I do this ALL THE TIME in my area. The only people I don't, are those that don't have the equipment because they are looking for a "cheap solution".

And a "cheap solution" generally does not give you the results you are seeking as no one (except yourself) is going to spend ALL the time and effort that goes into the "fine" tuning. When I visit with these guys on the Coast, my time is more to get them pointed in the right direction, burn a couple of eproms to see that they are headed in the right direction and then they take over to "fine tune" and get the results they want.

 

thanks for the words of advice,
I would buy the hardware to burn chips, but I'm kinda reluctant to paying 200 for something I have no idea about, you know what I mean? I wish someone around here really knew what they were doing to get me going in the right direction. It wasn't that I was looking for a cheap solution, I wanted the right solution which seems to be having it custom burnt with the car being right there. I just thought that maybe someone had the parts sitting around and I could rent their hardware. I imagine that once my chip is burnt, I won't be adding anything more to the 305. I'll sell it in a year or so for a 4th gen which requires totally different programming. Anyway, you sound like you have extensive knowledge in this area. I know nothing about fuel and spark curves. I'm the type that can do a brake job in 10 minutes, a 3rd gen fuel pump in an hour, pull the engine in 15 minutes. I bust my *** , but when it comes to programming a computer... i'm in the clouds. if you could tell me exactly what to buy and where, i'll get it.

------------------
86 305 TPI
700R4
3:42 axle
4 wheel disc
-Summit cam .442" lift
-Summit chain/roller
-Summit tranny cooler
-WORLD S/R Torquer 305 heads w/ LT1 springs
-High pressure oil pump
-Hypertech Airfoil
-SLP 1 5/8" headers
-CatCo cat.
-Flowmaster 80 series c/b
-Taylor Spiro-Pro 8mm
-Bosch Plat. plugs "hot"
-Indexed plugs
-K&N Air filters
-Trans-Go shift kit
-Removed AIR
-180 Thermostat
-T/B coolant Bypass
-All sensors replaced
-Custom Ram-Air
-Poly motor mounts

soon...
125 shot, slp runners, perf. chip, ported plenum

 

Did you read the prom burning introduction at the top of the page? Thats where I started too. Take it a little at a time; you'll get it don't worry. Also you can add my name to the above-tried a "custom" chip and then burned my own. First tried a place that said they would dyno tune it. 3 weeks and much BS and still ran like crap; then a "mail order" based on my mods(extensive) and after 3 different chips from them, gave up on that idea. NOW I'm happy with the way it runs; of course still got a ways to go for perfect.....

------------------
86 406

 

In the scheme of things 200 really ain't that much. You'll spend that easily for one prom that someone is just guessing at. Dependign on how much work you put into it, you might make that back in just gas mileage.

Ya there is a steep learner curve, but just reading the archives here, has a ton of answers.

No different then changing jets or advance springs, except you don't get your hands dirty.