Ive been reading these forms for a while and tried to understand the dyi prom, i guess my know how said forget it, no way i can figure this out. Is it possible that there is a ECU/ECM or whatever that can connect to my orignial harness (with adapters if needed) that will allow me to plug a lap to it for fine tuning....basicly a brain that allows a connection with a laptop that comes with the software, not burning my own chips.....i guess its because im getting to old to understand how to burn the chips....car is a 1989 Chevy Camaro Iroc-Z with a L98 700R 9 bolt rear, i have lots of plans for it but with gas prices sky rocketing, i cant build two engine (one for highway one for performance) so i thought if there was a way for me to just have a program to allow me to do this i can have it set with two different settings....but maybe its a dream and of course as i know for sure this world isnt that easy


PFC JMB E Co. 1/508 82D ABN DIV

 

The actuall process of burning a chip is the easy part, it's understanding whats going on inside of an engine and how the ECM process the information from the various sensors and then decides how to inject the fuel and adjust the timing that's the hard part.

You are going to have this problem with ANY FI system worth messing with. My experience with FI systems that are simplified to the point where it's very easy to tune, just don't work well and peform worse than a carb would.

 

what your talking about is out there, as far as i know, the Prominator can do it, also the Ostrich & the AutoProm both can do it. there is also the EBL for TBI cars.
i don't know much about the Prominator, it may no longer be available as i haven't seen anyone mention it in some time, if it is, some one please correct me.
the Ostrich can have a bin loaded into it & then left in the car without a laptop hooked up to it. the AutoProm needs a laptop to do it.
the AutoProm also can read & burn chips, & data log. with the Ostrich you need a chip burner, & as far as i know, a cable to data log with.

like BMmonteSS said, burning the chip is easy, with the hardware in front of you, you can learn that part in maybe 5 minutes.
tuning on the other hand is not easy to understand, the learning curve is steep. when you start doing it, it gets a little easier.

read every thing you can about the ECM your car has.
download TunerPro & the bin for your car along with the right definition files & play around with it. without running the bin on an ECM test bench or in your car, you won't know what the changes your making are doing, but it gives you an ideal of how to make changes.
you can build your own cable to data log pretty cheap. to tune, you have to be able to understand what the data from the ECM is telling you.

there are great advantages to being able to tune your own chips.
i started out around 20~22 MPG highway, on my last road trip i got 29.7 with nothing but chip tuning, & i know i can do better.
besides better fuel mileage, my car just plain runs better all around.
with chip tuning, you can build a motor that runs good & gets good MPG on the highway.

 

well i am glad that i got some one to help me out, thank you. i been wondering if i was a complete nut to even think of an idea. and Denn Shah, you milage is exactly what i would like out of my iroc with the t56 trans....of course i need to learn a few more things about the basics in tuning, like the tps and such, tell you what, other than basic hand tools, can you tell me exactly what tools i would need for tuning. like for the tps, and if there is anything else that needs volt reading that requires you to make a little twist in order for it to be tuned correctly...or is the tps the only one. to be honest i wanna build on this engine to make it better all around than stock, performance and fuel milage all at once. i dont want my car to be a poser and make great sounds but not back it up ( all talk no fight) see what im saying....thanks

 

all the basics need to be right, trying to tune with other problems would be a waste of time & will only make you frustrated.
as far as the sensor settings, they all must be good & in specifications.
the motor also needs to be right, no weak cylinders, ignition system in good condition, timing set right, good clean injectors, good fuel supply, air filter, and so on.
chip tuning goes way beyond just having all the sensors right. with chip tuning your changing the air fuel ratio & spark timing in ways that are not possible with a carburetor & vacuum distributor.
its best to start learning how to tune on a stock motor.

as far as the hardware goes, i recommend the AutoProm. its what i have & i love it, but it may not be for you.
a wide band O2 setup is also recommended but not absolutely necessary, but it does make tuning much easier.

before you buy any tuning components, read up on whats involved. like i said, there is a steep learning curve. i read almost every one of the stickies in DIY-PROM before i even bought my AutoProm, there are a lot of them i have read 3~4 times & some more than 6 times. you'll come to understand when you see some one say they have read till their eyes were bleeding.

this is a good starting point, https://www.thirdgen.org/promintro
search for other posts by TRAXION.

BMmonteSS has a great post on tuning a TBI,
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tbi/...free-tune.html

also, do a user search for someone named Grumpy, i don't think any one on this site would get upset when i say his knowledge of chip tuning was unmatched here.
there are many other people, too many to begin to name that have greatly contributed here & have made posts that are more than worth reading.