PCM Diagnostics & Tuning HP Tuners | Holley | Diablo
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Good beginner hp tuner pro tips

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Old Jan 28, 2012 | 12:11 AM
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Default Good beginner hp tuner pro tips

I'm almost finish with my build (see sig) and I recently bought the hp tuner pro.I'm also getting the ngk wideband soon. I been reading up on hp forums and other places... I really haven't found a good guide to help beginners out. Most beginners like myself go to those forums and find an over whelming amount of info. Well before I finish my build is there anything I can do to prepare myself with? Would I have to wait till I'm able to start the car up before I can get started like I installed 40lb injectors on my ls2 and there going to need scaled to my computer. I can do that without starting the vehicle? If it will start with these larger injectors. Thanks
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Old Jan 28, 2012 | 02:45 AM
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Buy this book and read it a hundred times. It will save you a lot of time and trouble:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/pcm-diagn...order-now.html
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Old Jan 28, 2012 | 07:40 AM
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www.thetuningschool.com
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Old Jan 28, 2012 | 03:14 PM
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So I'm getting a lot of pm's of people trying to get me to buy there dvd's.. would the dvd teach you how to unlock the computer? If I can get a good price on these dvd's I might buy them... I'm still half tempting to just take the car and get it dyno tuned by rpm and sell my hp tuner pro but I'm not going to give in that easy just yet
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Old Jan 28, 2012 | 03:23 PM
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No it won't tech you how to unlock a PCM. Only a few ways to do that and none are that easy.
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Old Jan 28, 2012 | 03:29 PM
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how about the book? It's a heck lot cheaper then the dvd's... Or is this just one of those trial and error things?
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Old Jan 28, 2012 | 03:30 PM
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That will not teach you how either.

Why is it locked?
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Old Jan 28, 2012 | 05:25 PM
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btw I like your sig.... I'm perm banned from rwhp... Long story
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Old Jan 29, 2012 | 07:47 AM
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The most inexpensive part of the software is purchasing the software.
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Old Jan 29, 2012 | 08:38 PM
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I'm just curious... Shops local around here said unlocking the stock computer to allow you to tune is the most expensive part.. If I was to have them dyno tune it for me
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Old Jan 29, 2012 | 08:59 PM
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You can usually buy a new PCM/ECM for the cost of unlocking it. Figuring about 1-125 for a used one.

If you have software then learn how to use it.
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Old Feb 1, 2012 | 08:54 PM
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I do have a spare stock ecm.. Yea I got the soft ware but I just wanna get a jump on the system before I receive the rest of my parts in. You can't really do anything in hp tuners pro unless you have the car started up and recording. Since my car has 40lb injectors compared to the stock 28lb I will be lucky to get it started
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Old Feb 3, 2012 | 02:36 PM
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Man I've been in this field a while and the first thing I did was find a tuning shop I trust years and years ago IE late 90's here. There are true professionals in every field. It is just way easier to hand it over to a shop with your full mod list let them have it and get it back perfect. The quickest way to fubar a bad *** fresh built project is with a tune. With that being said with enough trial error and guessing you can get it decent it just depends on what your time is worth to you and what you are willing to risk.
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Old Feb 3, 2012 | 11:46 PM
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It's not a big deal to learn HPTuners, I been reading on/off for a few months. Start simple, understand the program, how it works, and how the PCM works. Then understand basics like setting up your scanner to get the right data, and knowing what you are looking at. The actual tuning part seems the easiest out of everything once you have the right information in front of you.
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Old Feb 5, 2012 | 06:46 PM
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Absolutely, I think you've got the right attitude. I would rather pay for tools (and learn how to use them) than service any day. And you may find that once you start working on your car, you want to change something else, or add something else... Knowing how to (and being able to) tune it yourself will let you keep smoothing it out with every change. If you pay somebody else, you will have to keep paying them every time you change something, and never really understand what they're doing.
And you know what...? Sometimes you might screw up (I have!) and it actually costs you more than if you just gave it to someone else. So what? Every time that happens to me, I just consider it the cost of education - which has value and is worth paying for.
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