LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

What to tune with?

Old Feb 14, 2011 | 10:40 PM
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Default What to tune with?

I have a 95 trans am that im planning cam, headers, gear, throttle body, trans, and other bolt ons. i need to tune it once im done. i wanna also be able to tweak shift points etc. what is the best software to use? i dont think hp tuners works on obd1
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Old Feb 14, 2011 | 10:41 PM
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www.pcmforless.com

I'm going to assume you have no experience tuning, so it's best at this point to leave it to the pros.
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Old Feb 14, 2011 | 10:51 PM
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Get yourself Tunercat and Datamaster if it is your intent to do your own tuning. Even if you are payig a professional tuner to help it is nice to make subtle tweaks to suit your driving habits and Datamaster anyone with a modified car should have something like it.

Once you have this stuff you can just email programming back and forth with a professional instead of shipping the pcm.
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Old Feb 14, 2011 | 10:56 PM
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for the trans i have a pro helping me and i am doing the engine tune myself or taking it to someone to dyno tune it. im not ever getting a mail order tune
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Old Feb 14, 2011 | 11:28 PM
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I thinks to propely provide help for u, u have to be more specefic on your mods because u writing cam(what cam), headers (short or long), gear (what ratio). We cant really help u that way. I just left mine to someone with kinda more knowledge and give to him my specefic mods. When i get my LT and new exhaust setup i going for a new tune
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Old Feb 15, 2011 | 10:28 PM
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Im leaning towards the cc306, 2500 stall, 3.73 gears, 52mm tb, possibly thinkin about lt4 heads, 1.6 rockers, monster trans, im pretty sure i need injectors
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Old Feb 15, 2011 | 11:38 PM
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Originally Posted by 95_transam_lt1
for the trans i have a pro helping me and i am doing the engine tune myself or taking it to someone to dyno tune it. im not ever getting a mail order tune
lol Ramair ran a PCMsforless tune for a couple years and then had it dyno tuned and I think he said he picked up 10hp or so. I had one bad mail order tune but the one from Ion at http://www.madtuner.com/ is great and spot on. Bought a ALDL cable from moates.net and paid 75 bucks for my Email tune through ION and my setup is custom. Now I can use the ALDL cable to data log the car and check for problems and with the free tuning software out there I can make adjustments to what ever I need to in the PCM or just pay Ion 25 bucks and have him do it. It's Emailed to me and I load it so the PCM never has to leave the car.
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Old Feb 15, 2011 | 11:48 PM
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Originally Posted by 95_transam_lt1
Im leaning towards the cc306, 2500 stall, 3.73 gears, 52mm tb, possibly thinkin about lt4 heads, 1.6 rockers, monster trans, im pretty sure i need injectors
This sentence immediately tells me that you do not have a complete understanding of the LT1 engine to warrant being able to effectively tune your car yourself without any prior experience.

Mail-order tunes work great. Like jaycenk said, I had a PCMforless.com mail order tune for over a year and a half before I had it dyno-tuned and picked up 10HP. It was just about spot-on. Hundreds even thousands of LT1 owners run mail-order tunes because let's face it, if tuning yourself was as easy as you seem to think it is, everyone would be doing it wouldn't they? At least START with a known working mail-order tune before you go blowing it up yourself.

I openly admit I lack the ability to tune my car myself, so I had a professional do it for me. Seems to be working out well so far.
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Old Feb 16, 2011 | 02:09 AM
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Originally Posted by 95_transam_lt1
Im leaning towards the cc306, 2500 stall, 3.73 gears, 52mm tb, possibly thinkin about lt4 heads, 1.6 rockers, monster trans, im pretty sure i need injectors
When mine was tuned too it was done without the car, I just went there with my pcm. But like 95ram said better leave it to someone with more knowledge, I dont think u wanna destroy u engine trying to tune it.

And those mods looks like u are just naming some parts. just to start search more. And i see u still did not even one of those "mods" so u have a long way to go. take u'r time do it right.

Last edited by curacaoz28; Feb 16, 2011 at 02:24 AM.
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Old Feb 16, 2011 | 12:11 PM
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Not to mention the monster trans lol Open my member page and look through the threads I started about My monster trans. or just look at my sig. #3 is starting to act up now LOL I love monster transmissions.... NOT
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Old Feb 16, 2011 | 11:01 PM
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Originally Posted by curacaoz28
And those mods looks like u are just naming some parts. just to start search more. And i see u still did not even one of those "mods" so u have a long way to go. take u'r time do it right.
I kinda get what ur sayin. But this is all getting done at once. so far ive kept the car stock to keep the value (it has 14k miles) but after i got some info i decided **** it, im not gonna sell it so lets have some fun haha. Ill start a thread with exactly what im gonna do once i get my cam tomorrow.
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Old Feb 17, 2011 | 03:40 PM
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Originally Posted by jaycenk
lol Ramair ran a PCMsforless tune for a couple years and then had it dyno tuned and I think he said he picked up 10hp or so. I had one bad mail order tune but the one from Ion at http://www.madtuner.com/ is great and spot on. Bought a ALDL cable from moates.net and paid 75 bucks for my Email tune through ION and my setup is custom. Now I can use the ALDL cable to data log the car and check for problems and with the free tuning software out there I can make adjustments to what ever I need to in the PCM or just pay Ion 25 bucks and have him do it. It's Emailed to me and I load it so the PCM never has to leave the car.
Thats most likely what ill have done when i get the motor in the car is get s emailed tune file and upload it myself. I just bought a tunning laptop with cats and datamaster but i dont trust using without having a lesson working it and knowing how to use it before i start tunning myself.
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Old Feb 17, 2011 | 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted by 95_transam_lt1
Im leaning towards the cc306, 2500 stall, 3.73 gears, 52mm tb, possibly thinkin about lt4 heads, 1.6 rockers, monster trans, im pretty sure i need injectors
Did comp cams tell you a 2500 stall would be enough for that cam. That list looks like you are just throwing random parts at it and hoping to make something.
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