mrvedit

Before I get "kicked out" for asking such a basic question, let me give my background. First, I mostly hang out in the Transmission section, answering 4L60E questions every day. I have a heavily modified LS2 swapped into an '81 Camaro and am very comfortable with HP Tuners - I have experimented with nearly every table and change something every week. My profession is computers and my other hobby is electronics.

Now my basic question - I have a friend with a '97 Corvette that he wants to hot-rod a bit. He currently has a cat-back exhaust, EGR removed and would consider headers and removing the cats. (In Michigan we have no emission testing. Yeah.) I am willing to spend a little time changing the tune, but don't want to spend many hours logging and modifying/smoothing the VE and MAF tables as I have done with my own car. So the question is - what minimal changes and tuning will give us the most bang for our buck and time? Lets say a budget of $500 and $1000. (Please don't suggest a converter - I'm not keen to swap a converter on a Vette; we are looking for HP, not lower ETs.) A cam swap is more than we want to do now (although I have done several myself).

Also, are there any tunes that improve performance on a stock '97 Vette? I couldn't find many '97 tunes in the HP Tuners repository. Or recommended changes to the timing or other tables if emissions are not an issue? If later model tunes work better, I know a '99+ tune won't load into a '97 PCM, but I could hand-enter the relevant tables.

Thank you for any suggestions and I apologize for such a basic question.

Ted.

Pacer Racer

iTrader: (6)

Isn't a 97 Corvette still a LT1 motor?

LSX Power Tuning

iTrader: (4)

No, its the first year of the ls1.

Pacer Racer

iTrader: (6)

Thanks, you learn something new all the time.
You never seem to hear them mentioned, do they use the same pcm as the 98's?

mrvedit

Don't think so, according to my PCM wiring diagrams, 1997-2005 Corvettes all have the PCM pinout; so I think even the 1997 is more like a 1999. The Camaro 1998 PCM is the one-year old-ball.

I thought this was going to be a simple question; perhaps not.
Heck, I could swap to a 2002 PCM if people think that would make a big improvement. (I have tuned both '98 and '02 PCMs.)

LSX Power Tuning

iTrader: (4)

97's & 98's use the same pcm's 99-04 c5's use ls1b pcms. 99-02 are the 512k pcms and 03-04 have the 1meg pcm.

2xLS1

iTrader: (25)

They look identical but are actually different service #s You can mix and match the 97-98 PCMs and 97-98 files in either one.

LSX Power Tuning

iTrader: (4)

Thats why I said they are the same, because you can flash them to either one. Just like 99-02 pcm's, there are different service numbers but you can interchange the pcm's also.I didnt want to post up about service numbers to make it even more confusing.