My 1991 S-10 is powered by a .30 over 1989 TPI 350. Truck is standard cab, short box, 4X4 with a 5 speed. When I originally bought the engine the 89 Iroc it came out of ran great but had a 3 foot inclusion on the passenger side which totalled it. Car had 98K on it so am pretty certain the .030 engine that came out was relatively lower mileage. Paid $400 for the complete engine and computer.

I bought it to replace the 88 305 TPI that I had originally installed but was worn out.

Sent back my piggyback EEPROM to TPIParts.net and they reprogrammed it for the 350. Problem is the truck will not idle properly. It idles really rough at around 550 rpm and the engine I had before with the 305 tune ran fine just lacked power.

Today I decided I was going to start learning how to program my own EEPROMs and bought a Moates APU1 programmer off of ebay for $200 BIN.

I will probably need a little help and advice along the way since I have a brand new ZZ4 engine in the garage, a full Edelbrock TPI setup with ported plenum in the basement, and finally a 58mm TPIS throttle body and BBK adjustable FPR in the closet. Lord knows I will need help with that tune when I do finally decide to install that motor and it's corresponding components.

I need someone to tell me that everything is going to be alright..... someone to tell me that it is easier than it looks..... Cause I keep reading things like $e6 and $s7 and it is kinda freaking me out. The only benefit I have to offer is the fact that I can wrap my mind around almost anything and I learn very quickly...... just need someone to help me with the steps.

I am wondering if maybe the chip I received from TPIParts.net was not programmed correctly.

 

51 people have read the first post........ and not one little itty bitty word of encouragement......... now I am really worried....... can anyone say $200 doorstop..?

 

Yea, easy enough: "$200 doorstop.."

Now that is out of your system, you need to start reading. Hit the Tuning Guide Book Sticky up top. Read through the '7165 ECM section. Sooner or later your eyes will either start to bleed, or you will take a break before that occurs.

Then later the next day pick up where you dropped off.

Do you know how many times we (TGO DIY_PROM board members) have typed the same thing over and over again? Time to use the search along with reading the stickies.

Who cares? Not anyone here as this is the DIY PROM tuning board.

Start with a stock BIN, STOCK, STOCK. Then tune from there.

The other thing is, you didn't mention which L98 engine this is. The y-body and f-body '89 L98's are different. And require a different starting point.

Meh, less then 2 hours between posts and you are expecting us to hold your hand...

RBob.

 

As far as I know, the IROC Camaro is an F-Body....... so it would be an F-Body L98......... Meh, less than 2 hours between posts and I am waiting for someone who can read my entire post........ obviously you are not the help I am looking for...... Thanks anyways...

 

It's been almost 10 years since I did any tuning, but I too am resurrecting my 89 Formula
TPI. I switched over to the 730 (MAP) ECM because of the MAF limitations, so I had to learn both bins. I need to dig out all my old equipment - eraser, burner, Tunercat programmer, etc.
What are you running - the 730 or 165 ecm? I did a lot of work on both types in the past, now it's time to see what I remember.
My engine is a ZZ4 block bored .30 over with a 383 stroker kit, L98 aluminum heads with 1.6 roller rockers and pocketed dual springs. I am running an Accel Super Ram intake, LTR's, a 58 MM TB and 24# injectors. Somewhere around I have the bins for both ECM's, and both ran very well, if a bit rich.
Good luck!

 

I did read the 165 tuning sticky.... the thing that is missing is what tuning program to use, there are no step by step instructions...... all I read was a bunch of pi$$ing up a rope by Grumpy and some other guy. Not the thing to read for a newbie to this process. I have a better idea..... can someone refer me to a book on this subject? Something I can read that was published by 1 person....... not 30 people chiming in whenever they want offering advice that may be counterproductive?

I am a big fan of the manuals that come with Legos, straightforward and to the point. I read the sticky for the DIY Prom Burning, and read the section for the 165 ECM....... I got absolutely nothing out of it except more questions.....

 

I am running the 165 ECM.

 

your not stating what you want too know ? what equiptment to get ? ow too tune lv8 tables ? mask ?

I consider bruce a guru in gm diy efi

 

I am looking for a starting point. From what I was able to understand from the 165 sticky is I need to start with proper .bin file. I just bought my programmer today and it won't be here for a week or so. I am just asking for some help as to where I should start. The only thing I am interested in at the moment is making this 1989 TPI 355 Idle correctly. I drive this truck back and forth to work everyday, it never stalls, it runs really good on the highway, has tons of power in the low to midrange...... but idles like it has some monster cam in it and it is really annoying. I love this truck, when I get in it every morning it fells like you are putting on a condom...... it just wraps itself around you. Which is why I have (reluctantly saying) over 10k wrapped up in it when you include the ZZ4 engine and all of the other stuff I mentioned before. Eventually I wil switch over to MAP as opposed to MAF, but at the moment I want this engine to run properly and am asking for some knowledge.

 

here is some starter .bins if your unsure what your tune is based off of. corvettes have aluminum heads and more timing.

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...Information-6E

 

Thanks, that is a good starting point for me and I bookmarked the page.

P.S I have no idea what tune I am running...... I am running a chip on an adapter that was provided by TPIParts.net. I told them what the engine came out of, and specified a couple of changes to the stock tune. I am running a 180 degree thermostat so I asked for fans on at 200 off at 186, rev limiter set at 5800, speed limiter at 110 (it is a little truck) egr active, vats disable, air disable..... I think thats it.

 

in this is just a in drive look at the desired idle speed vs coolant temp.

 

What?

 

it is a table at 0x52E

 

The only table I know at the moment is the table in my dining room. I appreciate you piping up and offering something to my post.......... but I am a toddler as far as this is concernerd. My 5 year old daughter learned how to tie her shoes....... because I showed her how to to it about 50 times. When you say "Table",....... I think of the place I eat my supper. Newbie here...... as far as programming is concerned..... been a mechanic over half my life.

 

http://www.tunerpro.net/

http://www.tunerpro.net/downloadBinDefs.htm

 

You have no idea how wrong you are!

 

Well you have to look at it from my point of veiw, I am not interested in taking advice from someone who doesn't follow thier own advice. Told me to read the stickies, and than said it depends on if it was a Y-body or F-body. I said the engine came out of an Iroc Camaro.... Which is an F-body. Obviously he didn't read my entire post, and pretty much everything he said was sarcastic from the get go. I did read alot of the stickies, my programmer won't be here till thursday, but wanted to get a jump start on the lingo and hopefully "Buddy Up" with someone who would be able to help me through the first couple of steps.

And on a side note...... How is a newer member of this forum "really" supposed to become a true member if everyone tells him/her to "read the stickies"? As a member of PWCToday.com, I never do that to new members..... I make them feel comfortable by answering any question that comes across no matter how many times I have answered it. After they get more comfortable they keep coming back and start to learn the way around the site better.

If I didn't want to be a contributing member of this forum I never would have joined. I am just looking for someone to spread some knowledge to me, I will pay that back by spreading that knowledge to others after I am comfortable, or direct them to another member who maybe able to answer their question better.

C'mon....... Give a guy a break...... or any other newbie for that matter.

 

I'll throw you a bone.

Loose the attitude, no one here has to help you and at this point not sure anyone will. You've already blown off the most respected person on this board after he told you how to get started. Because it was not what you wanted to here in the alotted time you allow?

If your that impatient then hire a tuner. THis is not something you can do overnight...

You really owe RBob an apoligy to start! If it weren't for him we would not have most of the information in or that has lead to stickies.

The reason everyone will tell you to read stickies is so you can ask informed questions that we can understand and answer. Most people here have spent years getting up to speed. If you don't have that kind of time you may be better off paying a tuner.

If you think your going to learn this and push a few buttons and see results or a good tune today? Forget it, hire a tuner.

The stickies here are a long history lesson, much of the info is in depth and more then you'll ever understand to start. But after you get going it all falls into place as the years progress.

Maybe a starter tutorial will help? I did this awile ago so NEWBIES can get up to speed to understand the stickies easier.
http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...is-a-must-read

 

If an appology to RBob will help straighten this out, then I do offer a sincere appology to RBob. What RBob was telling me to do was what I had already done though..... I did read the stickies, suffered a little temporary blindness, and couldn't remember how to blink for a little while..... that being said, I don't want to hire a tuner, this is something I am going to learn how to do. I am loking for a part time trainer, someone I can count on for good information. The stickies are cool and all........ when they stay on subject, many of them sway of topic because 1-2-3 seperate people are arguing/debating about something. They can be difficult to read......

 

I do have to appologize once again, after further reading I can certainly understand your remarks concerning my first few posts...... I am ready to start learning, and have started by really reading the stickies. I read a bunch of the new to prom burning sticky, and was able to download and install my fist bin to a chip. I am running Tuner Pro RT and was wondering what is an XDF file? I did a search but their was no clear definition in the posts that I read...... just what others had done with their XDF files.

My second question is about definition files..... the new to prom buning sticky was reccomending some very old programs and was wondering what was more modern, (not sure if the sticky has been updated, or maybe that is all that is available right now).
Third question, what does the flame mean which is attached to this thread.... have seen it on other threads but the meaning of it escapes me.

Thanks for any help that is offered....

 

And I also want to offer that I was completely ignorant and impatient in my first few posts.

I am just hoping I haven't been sidelined...... I am asking for a tiny bit of info at this point..... and with that tiny bit of info I am going to do ALOT more research.

Thanks, Jared

 

you don't state what definition you are going to be using. 86 $32, 87-88 $32B, 89 $6e the xdf is the hack of the definition. Most people are using tunerpro but tuner cat has updated there tdf definitions over the years

 

I am running Tuner Pro RT, but when I click on the "Select XDF" Tab, nothing shows up..... other than a file that contains "Sounds" that is where my confusion starts......

And I will be starting with the $6e

 

you select the xdf then load your .bin to edit

 

did you download $6e xdf ?

http://www.tunerpro.net/downloadBinDefs.htm

 

Closed the bin, clicked on XDF, then select XDF, still nothing.....

 

How do I download it, when I click on it it automatically opens a text page. I tried right click save as to a file, went searching for it with Tuner Pro, was not there.....

 

the last time I did the right click save as and put it into a file folder. Then select open xdf and choose that path. The xdf is also on mark's site.

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...Information-6E

 

Found the site, found the XDF, when I click on it though nothing happens......

 

Was able to open the XDF in Tuner Pro that was previously downloaded, I had to restart Tuner Pro and look for it again..... Time to do some looking around and some more learning..... Thanks for your help to get me this far, it seems as you may be the only one willing.....

 

are you using nortons or have any blockers on your browser ?

 

No blockers, just had to reopen Tuner Pro to see the file that was downloaded from tunerpro.net, got the XDF open now..... am actually looking through it now..... Thanks again...... I am sure I will have more questions later.....

 

ok, we charge bye the question here. lol

 

Got Paypal......... LOL.

Wow, after going through the bin..... Just Wow...... I will keep learning though.... I am sure......

 

Just so you know, I found the Coolant Vs Temp table.... my idle was 550 because that is what it was set for with an AT, but I have an NV3500 5 speed. I modified the table so I will have a 750 RPM Idle after warm up..... Baby steps........

 

baby steps, I got paypal lol

 

 

Thanks for the help guys, tuning will have to wait till earlier next week. Thursday morning, went out and started the truck to let it warm up, left about 10 min later, stopped a 76 2 miles from my house, filled the tank, grabbed 2 Rockstars, truck wouldn't start...... had to drive the Dodge to work. Towed it home after work, no spark. Went through the TPI Troubleshooting checklist, and it says 'Basic HEI problem", with no solution or further description. Assuming the distributor is not sending a reference signal to the ECM so am grabing a distributor at Pull-a-Part tomorrow, hopefully will be back on the road by the middle of the day..

 

Do your best to get one with a GM ignition module...

RBob.

 

Rather than pull an entire distributor I just went ahead and grabbed 2 GM ignition modules, both out of Astro Vans with TBI 4.3s. Swapped out the chinese module that was in my distributor and still nothing. Checked for 12 volts at an injector, had it, and had a blinking light while cranking so I knew there was a reference signal. 12 volts to the MSD Blaster coil as well but still no spark. Ran back to Pick-n-Pull and grabbed a GM coil out of one of the Astro vans, installed it and it started right up.

The MSD coil isn't even that old and probably has less than 10k miles on it.

Anyhow, truck runs again albeit with a stock ignition system (unhooked my MSD 6A as well). Time to start playing with the tune.

 

Finally!!! After dealing with TunerProRT, not being able to datalog no matter what I tried, I finally gave up and bought another ECM off fleabay. Low and behold, I can actually datalog now.

Curious as to some of the readings I was getting. At idle my O2 would drop down to 0.00, the BLM was around 110-118, TPS 0.59, when I would quick rev the knock count started going up........ I still think this thing is running way to lean.

 

Mind if I hitch a ride? I "Once upon a time" began the process of trying to learn prom programming/tuning. Made a few changes and was just getting my feet wet. Then life happened (and I suffered a FATAL HARD DRIVE CRASH) and here I am back at the beginning... The back and forth is daunting and reading the posts over the years and months, things change. I managed to add fuel at idle/starting up and my car would fire up almost instantly... However I was using the prom to try and fix a condition that "was not" tuning related.

The car would not start hot... Anyway after throwing parts and sensors at it found out the multi-tec injectors were the REAL problem.

Anyway I bought some Bosch Type III and was off to the races, until the wife drove the car home and it smelled of raw fuel!! The double o-ring to make the injector fit design just isn't going to cut it!!

So whats my point!! I need to relearn everything as I want to use the holley stealth ram, new cam, headers, head that I would like to buy (SLLLOOOWWWLY)

The only tuners in my neck of the woods would be the dumby in front of this monitor!!

OH and here is a good one... I didn't know the TPI motor fall flat above 4500 RPM (didn't research) so I thought "I know I will throw some taller gearing in" well now I have no choice but to try and make it work...



Best of luck (I with be watching) (Now how do I subscribe to this thread??)