CFLFORMULA93

Just registered and wanted to say thank you in advance for all the tech advice/Information. Ive been researching for weeks in anticipation of getting my 'ol lt1 up and running. The car is a 1993 Firebird Formula lt1 auto. I picked it up in a trade for a chevy 1500 I rolled. From the beginning the car was a electrical nightmare ....3 starters 4 alt 2 battery gauge cluster opti dist fuel pump later found out it was a bad ignition. The dash looks like a xmas tree but shes up and running . Its tax time so ive decided to start modding the car and well see what we end up with on the other side......to be continued

hrcslam

1993 is a special year for LT1's. If you are in deep for wiring already I'd suggest converting to a 1994-1995 ECM (shouldn't be too hard really). You'd get MPFI (instead of Batch fire), which is better for tuning. Also, finding tuning programs and readers for the 1994-1995 are much cheaper and easier to find than any other year LT1 (or otherwise actually; although the 1993 does let you emulate).

Also, it'll be preached religiously, TROUBLESHOOT before you shot gun parts. Some of these parts are expensive and hard to access. The Opti is a big one, a cheap reman is no where close to being considered in the same type of ball park of reliability as a Delphi/AC Delco Unit. Usually the Opti is NOT the problem. It's in a stupid area (under the water pump) and designed in pure stupidity (high voltage arcing next to optical sensors: really GM?!). But they will do alright for a loong loong time. And, usually, they'll only need to be removed, cleaned, sealed and re-installed and work perfect again (no replacement necessary: maybe Cap and Rotor only during that time).

Don't be afraid to ask before you buy a new part (some people will attack because there are ******** here). But, it's better that than spend $400 on a new Opti when someone here could've told you it's not it.

CFLFORMULA93

Well I havent really got into the wiring per say.....it was acting like normal part failures at first with the battery and altenator. it would crank and run. my voltage would be normal but the battery would be dead the next day....so after swapping for new they would burn up and test bad. come to find out the ignition switch was bad and even with the key off it was still active power to everything. The alt was killing itself to keep up and over charging. somewhere along the line the opti went bad im assuming from all the craziness.let me say im not a mechanic especially elec and a newbie at this but enjoy working on my first fbody

Paul Bell

iTrader: (9)

Welcome to LS1tech!

Jaxem

iTrader: (3)

Good luck getting her up and running! If you haven't stumbled upon it yet, shbox.com is an awesome resource for everything on these cars.

383z

iTrader: (2)

Welcome, 93 are very special from the rest of the LT1s. We are speed density cars with a 4L60 transmission. (NO - E) Tuning will be hard to find so convert to something different.

94FBIRD

iTrader: (5)

Hello! I've been were you're at with a 70 Chevelle. It's a lot of work, but very rewarding in the end.

CFLFORMULA93

Its been suggested twice to switch over to a newer ecu....how much does it take to switch over. the goal of the car really is a street minded daily driver up to this point I was under the assumption I could get a new chip burnt and be ok. I wasnt going to dive in and try and tune myself

hrcslam

Not sure on the cost. The biggest expense will be the transmission (4L60E and it must be 94 or 95 specific depending on the ECU you get). But you should be able get the ECU and wiring cheap. With your goals find a good tuner and use your current set up. But if you decide to shoot for more a conversion should be on the list. A tune for your 93 should only be $300 or less. Conversely, to tune a 1994/1995 your self is about $70 total for the software and cables.

myltwon

iTrader: (1)

finding people to tune a lt1 in general is hard enough, make that a chipped LT1 and the difficulty is compounded.

CFLFORMULA93

well my thought was I am gonna embrace what I have and I dont have an unlimited budget to play with. I made some calls to area shops looking for a dynotune but because of the 93 system speed density factor etc either they dont wanna touch it or its $500 n up. I see alot of guys running pcmforless tunes but they dont do the 93's either however they did refer me to someone who does. im just waiting on some parts before I decide on the mail order specs for the chip I.e gear size...injector size etc..

93M6Formula

PCMforless used to do '93s till last year or so, I had one of theirs. Solomon still tunes for '93 LT1s and does an awesome job for only $115, my car runs great, no need to jump to changing complete wiring harnesses and computers. Moates.net carries everything you need to tune yourself if you wanted to learn. Not to mention, going to a '94'95 OBDI PCM isn't exactly gaining much. If you're going to go to all the work of swapping harnesses, go 24X and get rid of the LT1 tuning altogether as well as the Opti. But you don't need all that for a mild built car IMO, Solomon can tune your car very well and will even work with you on tweaking the tune if needed. WAY cheaper than a dyno tune and it does the same thing, and is sometimes better because you can send him datalogs from street driving. Tuning takes some serious knowledge and reading before you even attempt to start making your car run. Don't be afraid of mail order tunes, especially solomons, he knows what he's doing.

CFLFORMULA93

Pcmforless told me they couldnt do it where does solomon work out of or do u have contact info for him.....they referred me to pcm of nc.....new chip for 150....my 1 3/4 ss lt headers and ory pipe came in yesterday....tfs cai and inlet elbow should be here today and new tb .new plugs wires fast efi sensor kit and some dress up parts. ......anybody have a suggestion on injector size? Would like to have room to grow because cam swap is next. 30# too much for stock internals?

hrcslam

Keep your injectors stock for now IMO. You'll need a re-tune with the cam anyway. Save the cash and get those when you get the Cam.

A Dyno tune and a mail order tune are NOT the same thing. A Dyno tune usually only does PE modes (although a few places will do more than that). A mail order tune (with logs) usually does street-ability tunes (you really want both).

The best tune you can get is to take it to a shop where they keep the car for a few days and log and tune the living poo out of it, or tune it your self. Tuning your self is much cheaper but you really need to know what each sensor does and how to adjust the tables and constants for each sensor to get the engine to run right. It's not magic or voodoo, but does take time and patience to learn.

Given the mods you are looking at you CAN run the stock tune and slowly adjust one table at a time until the data logs look good, I used to data log everyday to and from work and adjust my tune at break time and before dinner.

Instead of Dyno tuning, go to the track and log some all out runs down the quarter, then use those logs to tune your PE modes. The logs on PE will not indicate AFR so you'll need a wideband O2 in the car for that.

93M6Formula

Your stock 22lbs are pushing it for cam only, you could either use '94+ 24lb injectors or 30lbs are the max I would do for cam only.

http://www.lt1pcmtuning.com/ is for Solomons tunes, his work is excellent.

hrcslam

Ahh good point on the smaller injectors for 93. I didn't catch he was camming it up now. In that case yes 30# with the cam.

93M6Formula

Lol the '93 is the bastard LT1.

CFLFORMULA93

[QUOTE=93M6Formula;18661346]Your stock 22lbs are pushing it for cam only, you could either use '94+ 24lb injectors or 30lbs are the max I would do for cam only.

http://www.lt1pcmtuning.com/ is for Solomons tunes, his work is excellent.[/QUOTE

Thank u for all the feedback so I can run stockers with just bolt ons? My thinking was that the stock 22# being 20 yrs old 160k miles they deserved to be changed but also dont wanna buy them twice so maybe ill wait till I can upgrade the valvetrain...bolt ons going on this weekend and well see hows its running

93M6Formula

[QUOTE=CFLFORMULA93;18661905]Oh yeah they are more than enough for boltons, but yes, they can get weak or plugged up over the years. I've been running my original 22s on boltons for 7 years with no issues. Now that I did a cam, I just grabbed a set of 24s from my spare '95 intake and got them flowed, they will be fine for cam only. If you want to buy something to support future goals but not be too much, 30lbs will be fine, just be sure to get a tune before running them though.

hrcslam

This. If you are doing only bolt on's you can run the stock tune (not recommended but absolutely possible) and get the stuff to tune your self. Steveo and Gary Doug on LS1LT1 can point you in the right direction for all the things you'll need, very knowledgeable guys (Gary Doug wrote "Scan9495.exe" and I think he just made it 93 capable too).

But, if you are changing injector sizes now, you WILL need to tune that table. In which case you should have everything tuned then. It's really simple to adjust for injector constants (flow rate), but to adjust for injector pulse rates and lag times you'll need that info from the manufacturer then plug it into the voltage curves. You should be able to find that information on Google by search the part number of the injectors you get and "lag time" or "dwell time" or just calling the manufacturer (they are not all the same even from the same manufacturer).