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98pcm to 01pcm

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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 02:42 PM
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Default 98pcm to 01pcm

I am thinking about converting my 98 car to 99+ pcm....

My question is this..since my friend with an 01 car is willing to help me tune with his HP tuners and 01 cars is all he has credits for right now...do I need to buy specifically an 01 pcm for it to work in this case, or can I buy any 99+ pcm and make it work with his 01 credits? Thanks
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 03:48 PM
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you can buy any 99-02 pcm, but you must flash it as a 2001 vin number using TIS or another tuning software, HPT will require you to license the stock vin number, and then the 2001 vin number if you try pulling say a 2000 pickup pcm, and flashing a 2001 camaro file in it.

I would just contact a vendor like wait4me and purchase a used pcm with a 2001 vin/OS already installed.

Oh, and you need to change functions not available in HPtuners to get the fuel gauge to work on you 98 car with a 99-02 pcm installed.

Ryan
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 04:45 PM
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What exactly is it that the 98 PCM won't do for you?
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 09:12 PM
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Originally Posted by 2xLS1
What exactly is it that the 98 PCM won't do for you?
Oh nothing yet. But long term I plan to take this car well past bolt ons and cam. I'd like to go turbo etc... so I'd like to get the 98pcm out of the equation. I've heard very few people say to keep the 98pcm. Do you think there are some pros to keeping it? Or are you just pointing out that I dont need a 99+ this point?
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 09:28 PM
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HPTuner's has a 2bar SD custom OS for boosted applications for the 98.
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 09:39 PM
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I'd like to go turbo etc
.....................
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 10:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Frost
HPTuner's has a 2bar SD custom OS for boosted applications for the 98.
So do you think it unnecessary to do the swap really?

I mean, for now the progression will simply be Bolt Ons, and agressive H/C ...and hopefully long term it will get boost

Im just turned away from spending time or money with the 98pcm due to no RTT capabilities. LOTS more down time right? Waiting for changes to be made?

Im open to all suggestions though. Certainly new to the tuning part of things.
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 10:02 PM
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I personally like the 99+ better because of realtime tuning of a select few of tables that makes the tuning process alot quicker. I'll prob be doing the swap on my 98 TA pretty soon. You will have to contact HPT to customize the OS with a Chevy Cargo Van fuel sending unit if I'm not mistaken??? At least this is what I've heard anyways.
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 10:04 PM
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Originally Posted by LS1Silverado05
So do you think it unnecessary to do the swap really?

I mean, for now the progression will simply be Bolt Ons, and agressive H/C ...and hopefully long term it will get boost

Im just turned away from spending time or money with the 98pcm due to no RTT capabilities. LOTS more down time right? Waiting for changes to be made?

Im open to all suggestions though. Certainly new to the tuning part of things.
With the 2bar OS you'll be limited to around 15psi of boost and that nearly doubles with the 99+ pcm where it has 3bar support. I personally like the newer ECU's better because of all the extra parameters to adjust on.
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 10:06 PM
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Originally Posted by LSxPwrDZ
I personally like the 99+ better because of realtime tuning of a select few of tables that makes the tuning process alot quicker. I'll prob be doing the swap on my 98 TA pretty soon. You will have to contact HPT to customize the OS with a Chevy Cargo Van fuel sending unit if I'm not mistaken??? At least this is what I've heard anyways.
I think im *** out with HPT in that dept. Seems from what I read that efilive is the only way to get the fuel segment taken care of.

That leads me to my next question....what exactly is the problem that makes the fuel gauge not work? Is there a way around it? Can a person swap a cluster or sending unit etc in order to make it work with a 99+ pcm in a 98 car?...I assume there is some piece of hardware that can be changed out to 99+ spec so that the 99pcm wont have any issues reading it etc? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Last edited by LS1Silverado05; Feb 19, 2009 at 10:44 PM.
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 06:42 AM
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Originally Posted by LSxPwrDZ
With the 2bar OS you'll be limited to around 15psi of boost and that nearly doubles with the 99+ pcm where it has 3bar support. I personally like the newer ECU's better because of all the extra parameters to adjust on.
It's not a limit, it's the end of the VE. You can run 19psi if you want, you just tune the last row (210kpa) for max boost. You may end up being just a shade rich from 15psi till you get to 19, but when the turbo is coming up like that you won't notice it at all.
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 10:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Frost
It's not a limit, it's the end of the VE. You can run 19psi if you want, you just tune the last row (210kpa) for max boost. You may end up being just a shade rich from 15psi till you get to 19, but when the turbo is coming up like that you won't notice it at all.
So it seems that you certainly dont think its a "must do" swap...even for serious power cars?... I mean hey thats encouraging. I dont really WANT to do the swap...but I had disposed myself to the fact that my 98pcm was crap in comparison...
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 11:08 AM
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It depends on the application. If the car has a huge *** cam, then I'd favor a later PCM. Turbo cars can make/run crazy numbers on baby cams though.
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 01:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Frost
It depends on the application. If the car has a huge *** cam, then I'd favor a later PCM. Turbo cars can make/run crazy numbers on baby cams though.
Well my last car ran a 231/237 592/603 111.5... I loved it but want to go smaller.... say your run of the mill 224/224 type cam with some Ported LS6s and eventually a decent turbo set-up. That type combo sound perfectly workable on a 98pcm? Thanks for the input...
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 11:32 PM
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Originally Posted by LS1Silverado05
I think im *** out with HPT in that dept. Seems from what I read that efilive is the only way to get the fuel segment taken care of.

That leads me to my next question....what exactly is the problem that makes the fuel gauge not work? Is there a way around it? Can a person swap a cluster or sending unit etc in order to make it work with a 99+ pcm in a 98 car?...I assume there is some piece of hardware that can be changed out to 99+ spec so that the 99pcm wont have any issues reading it etc? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Without stirring up any unecessary bickering, I swapped the cluster and sending unit on my 98 a long time ago for the RTT capabilities. I did this prior to EFI Live's ability to swap software segments at a user level existed.

There are 35 wires behind the 98 cluster. The 99+up only has 17. You will have to delete some and add a serial data wire for the newer cluster to work.

Many knowledgeable folks have responded in this thread with very plausible strategies to get you to your ultimate goal. Hopefully all of this information will help you decide which way is best for you.
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Old Feb 21, 2009 | 07:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Doc
Without stirring up any unecessary bickering, I swapped the cluster and sending unit on my 98 a long time ago for the RTT capabilities. I did this prior to EFI Live's ability to swap software segments at a user level existed.

There are 35 wires behind the 98 cluster. The 99+up only has 17. You will have to delete some and add a serial data wire for the newer cluster to work.

Many knowledgeable folks have responded in this thread with very plausible strategies to get you to your ultimate goal. Hopefully all of this information will help you decide which way is best for you.
Yes I agree, and appreciate everyones input. So how does the 98pcm react to large shots of nitrous? Ok to a certain HP I assume?
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Old Mar 11, 2009 | 11:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Doc
I did this prior to EFI Live's ability to swap software segments at a user level existed.

There are 35 wires behind the 98 cluster. The 99+up only has 17. You will have to delete some and add a serial data wire for the newer cluster to work.
Is this info available without having to get the info from GM? I cant seem to find it anywhere. I am stuck with no fuel gage. And to the OP, sorry for the highjack.
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Old Mar 11, 2009 | 01:38 PM
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I changed mine. It wasn't very hard at all and only took around 4 hours
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Old Mar 11, 2009 | 08:47 PM
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Originally Posted by 8tsixt
Is this info available without having to get the info from GM? I cant seem to find it anywhere. I am stuck with no fuel gage. And to the OP, sorry for the highjack.
For claification, are you wanting the cluster swap info?
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Old Mar 12, 2009 | 02:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Doc
For claification, are you wanting the cluster swap info?
Yes, I already didthe ecm swap but have no access to pin information for the clusters. any info would be greatly appreciated.
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