The seller of my engine also offered to reprogram the ECM. I bought an '04 GTO drive line w/ 6m. This will be going in a '89 truck and want the minimum I need to have a drivable vehicle.

The basics are deleting VATS, the after cat' o2 sensors, fuel take evap, getting it programmed for my gear ratio and tire size. What else should I be asking for? Is there a good list of "if you do this, it will run like it should" to the ECM?

Thanks

 

What else are you NOT using from the new engine for your swap ?..ie.. EGR, AIR, AC? then have him disable those.

E-Fans temp could be set lower to match a lower T-Stat.

If he has done Tunes before, He might have some basic tune's that would change/modify the Timing and Fuel table for a basic performance Tune, but a dyno tune would be the best in the end.

 

Would gear ratio and tire size programming be something I would need to worry w/ if I'm using a 6m?

 

for speedo and tech purposes, yes. i'm sure there are more reasons too that someone will add in

 

Hmm, planned to pull the signal straight from the VSS to my VDO speedo... if the ECM doesn't have a speed limiter what other use would it have for knowing the correct speed?

 

Yes you should have the correct calibration for your VSS, the pcm uses it for a lot of things including turning off you fans, when you reach a certain speed.

 

Will one of the programmers like EFI-live or LS1edit do what the "programmers" do when you send your ecm away?

The guy said $250 and I've seen people say ~$90 for them to do it. What are they using to delete VATs, emissions and setting fan activation temps?

 

yes, they do. if you can find a local tuner that tunes with a program like hptuners or the others you listed, then they will be able to do anything you want to your pcm.