White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

Hey all,
I have a 98 car. I was looking to swap in a 99+ pcm. I searched last night and came up with little information. The reasoning behind this swap is the added tuning capabilities available with the newer PCM.

1. If I source a 99+ pcm and main harness, is the swap plug and play?

2. Is a 01-02 pcm better than the 99-00? Or is the PCM the same with a different BIN flashed?

3. Will I have to do anything else besides the pcm/main harness and tune?

Thanks in advance

Eurospec2

iTrader: (2)

1. No, you have to rewire both connectors, but you do not have to cut any wires, so in a sense it is somewhat "plug and play"

2. 99-03 LS V8 PCM's are all the same hardware, Trucks, F-Bodys and Vettes all use the same PCM.

4. It takes some creative tuning to make your fuel guage work, and to use your 98 VIN. Can only be accomplished with EFI Live. (Fuel guage issues only apply to f-body, the vette works just fine)

The only real drawback, if its an f-body there is no way to keep your traction control system if your car is so equipped.

Here is a write-up we did to give you a basic idea of what needs to be done.

http://www.efialchemy.com/db/02to97pcm/02to97PCM.html

White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

Wow. Looks fun. I guess I need to sit down and weigh the benefits of going through this. I have been reading that the 98's are not as desireable for tuning but can be tuned well to a degree.

Doc

iTrader: (9)

It really depends on what your goals are for the vehicle.

White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

I'm looking to make in the 800rwhp range with some form of forced induction

Doc

iTrader: (9)

Well then, the stock 1bar Map sensor and MAF are not going to be capable of reading that kind of airflow. You are going to need to employ a custom operating system on the stock pcm or run an aftermarket ecu.

EFI Live is the only option for your 98 Fbody to run a 99+up factory style pcm with custom software that you can tune realtime with a Moates Road Runner.

playtoy_18

Waking the dead...
I need to swap an 0411 pcm in a 98 F-body.
TCS doesn't matter.
Checked out your site,it came up while searching.
I knew the swap could be done,just didn't know how many wires needed swapped.Sure didn't realize it was all of them.
I'm familiar with the 0411 black box swap(i'm on PPE) but what your website didn't have was a pinout chart.
I've got an excellent excel file that shows the pinouts and corresponding pinout location for the black box swap and wondering if something similar had been made for this one.
I can do it from the diagrams,I just don't want all the issues that needed worked out doing it that way initially with the black box.

"4. It takes some creative tuning to make your fuel guage work, and to use your 98 VIN. Can only be accomplished with EFI Live. "
What tuning would be affected for the fuel guage and why can only EFI Live be used? Does this mean only EFI live can fix the guage or only EFI live can flash the VIN?
Also,you can tune realtime with Moates and TCII,you don't get custom op systems though.
Sorry for all the questions,thanks for any help.

slow

iTrader: (7)

go to efilive.com and search for a document by chipsbyal, it works good, I did the swap on my 98, but swapped back since I am going to sell the car.


Ryan

Doc

iTrader: (9)

Hello,
The relative difficulty of the swap is directly related to your experience / desire to bring it about. There are plenty of factory manual references of the 98 / 99+up connector pinouts published on various internet forums. If you have the time and where-with-all, I would suggest sitting down with the connector pinouts and "doing the Lord's work."

Same same as far as setting up the software. This is not a subject I will spoonfeed. All reasonable, intelligent questions will be entertained on a case by case basis.

EFI Alchemy does offer the pinswap / pcm reprograming for 500 shipped to your door ( in the lower states; Alaska, Hawaii and over seas call for shipping).

playtoy_18

"If you have the time and where-with-all, I would suggest sitting down with the connector pinouts and "doing the Lord's work."

That's how I was intending to do it,was just hoping to get a heads up.
Difficulty isn't a problem,i'm a factory trained tech with plenty of experience. As I said,I was involved with the black box swap project.
Thanks anyway,wasn't looking to buy,just for advice.
Thought your site was a how-to type site,not a vendor site.

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

From what I have heard, the '02's were a little better cause some of the Tables have more values..

ryansm1

iTrader: (8)

ChipsByAl wrote up a document that contained all the pins you need to swap. You'll need to swap fuel segments from the 0411 PCM and then use the parameters from the 98 to get the gauge to read correctly.

http://www.chipsbyal.com/convert98/

playtoy_18

That's what I was looking for ryan,thanks.
I can get the files no problem if I don't have them already,jsut need to hack them together.
The pinout list will allow me to double check my progress.
mucho appreciated.

oange ss

iTrader: (50)

i rewired a 98 harness for 99+ pcm, i have a pinout file somewhere if you want to see it.

White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

I'm not too concerned with the whole pinning process.

My question now is.....

1. Is this process worthwhile? Do you gain that much more tuning ability by changing the PCM?

2. Once the PCM is in, how do you change the VIN, etc?

playtoy_18

Orange,send it to me if you would-you can never have too much info.
IIRC,I'm the one that you sent your PCM too for programming in yours
Aren't you from little rock or conway somewhere?

White,The newew PCM has faster processing and more tables etc..
I'm looking into it for a friend.
A local dyno shop built a turbo LS1 that I helped with the programming with.
A friend bought the car after a wreck and is putting the motor/turbo setup in his 98.
We want to use the newer PCM,it will also give me the option of useing a roadrunner RT when tuning if I want too.

As for the VIN-it shouldn't be much of an issue. I'm not sure about HPtuners but my TCII will ask for a VIN confirmation before I program and gives me an option to change it.
I've had to force the programming before when I change the VIN but it's never been an issue and I don't foresee it on this one as an issue.

There is no issue you can't overcome once you find a solution,finding the solution is usually the only real issue.
Thanks for all you guys' help,I foresee it going smoothly.

oange ss

iTrader: (50)

need an email addy...now that i think about it I believe you did ...Florida

playtoy_18

Sorry,I think mail order tuning is a crock but I have done more than a few file swaps for people just needing help-I forget who's who or where.
@yahoo.com will work Orange-much appreciated bro.

oange ss

iTrader: (50)

sent...

98Camarod

iTrader: (43)

Cant the same thing be acheived with a custom OS for the 98's and a different map sensor?