Background, car is a 1987 firebird that I had a 521 BBF swapped into it and it was a real beast and head turner at the shows. But wanted something alittle more mellower for the street without sacrificing too much power. I picked up a 5.3LS from a 99 silverado with 150K miles. Im throwing it in as is with just the Fbody oil pan swap and LS6 valve springs. Pulling the valve covers showed that the engine looked pretty clean, same when looking through the bottom end with the pan off, still cross hatching on the cyl walls. My car also has a fully built 2004R with lots of CK performance goodies and I run a 2400stall 10" billet converter with lockup. Since the trans is fully mechanical it all uses a TV cable so the ECM will not be doing any trans running. THe motor is a all stock 5.3LS with Fbody oil pan, LS6 valve springs, OEM coils and truck intake with cable TB. I swapped in some 72lb bosch injectors from FIC and mounted some LS1 aftermarket fuel rails to the truck intake.

Now The motor is all stock basically but I just received my torqstorm centrifical supercharger the other day and man is that thing purdy! I should be at about 10-11psi boost max. I have the OEM ECM and harness that I have gone through and slimmed down and added an IAT sensor in the intake. I have the parts to convert to Standalone for the battery and switched 12v hookups.

So before I continue to dump my very limited time into the harness Im considering all options for tuning. I have limited knowledge of tuning with a 383 HSR I did 5 years ago on the stock ECM with moates stuff. So consider myself a newb again lol. I don't mind going with a new setup but budget is tight!

I was planning to go with HPT tuners pro and reuse the OEM ECM since Im all stock minus the boost. Holley systems are just too DAMN expensive. Terminator looked good at $1500 but as soon as I called holley they said boost and Meth requires dominator ECM and then all said and done prob like $3500 so… no thanks.

Guess My options are:
HPT
EFI live
Microsquirt

I think I'm leaning towards HPT pro since i can data log. But for around that price you could go microsquirt but id have to start from scratch.

 

EFILIVE has data logging, too.

 

If you go with a tuner off the stock PCM you will be up & running smoothly relatively easy. I did the same thing as you with a 5.3 turbo in a blazer. I went with HPT because I just seemed to gravitate to the appearance. I have used DFI, EPEC, & played with Motec systems on start from scratch tunes & I can tell you having a starting reference point is nice.

On the 5.3 I didn't run it in SD 2bar. Basically I changed injector size, bumped the idle, richened WOT A/F, some transient fuel & spark tables, did some MAF/VE tuning & drove it for 6yrs. Never did anything beyond that but change the oil. Using the stock cam really makes it easy. It will obviously limit your power capability but if you want the best plug & play start/run drivability, it is a very viable option.

 

Yea I think im stuck on the OEM stuff only because the base tune is basically spot on since I haven't changed anything but injectors and boost.

What is the cost of the EFI Live with data logging?

 

Sounds like exactly what Im hoping for. I deleted the MAF only because I heard boosting it can be an issue with air flow across the sensor and maxing out the MAF pretty easily. I prefer MAF as its easier to tune and makes compensations for wider range of driving conditions.

But I think Im going to go with the 2bar setup. I dont want more than 10-11psi and even then I think its too much and would rather want 8psi but I dont want to pay to ship the unit back to the manufacture to swap a pulley/pay for a new one. Replacing it myself will void the warranty and they use a heated/press fit style pulley with retaining bolt.

I plan to convert to 2bar SD, transfer all the date and have to figure out the MAP/VE tables from the MAF setup, change injector sizing etc and limit timing with boost. Then I have to factor in the METH injection which will run off a boost/vacuum hobb switch which I'll prob inject after 3psi or something.

My reading on the net suggests HPT being a better system so I'm leaning towards it. My issue will be that I never leave anything alone so down the line will prob be a custom boost cam and some head work with a complete refresh with some upgrades like forged pistons etc. I literally didnt do anything so this one is all stock from the bearings to the rings.

 

I have found belt centrifugals to be a bit harder to tune vs a turbo for a couple reasons.

I haven't found the limits to a stock truck MAF & I have seen 62lb/min. That was 16psi with a 70mm on a stock 5.3.

 

what have you found difficult about the centrifugals? My understanding is the airflow /stream through the MAF, same with turbos. But that Superchargers are more consistent/predicable in the turning process as they are relative to RPM/Load

Hmm thats interesting. From what Ive read they max out around 10psi. Since I figured I was at the brink it would be easier to delete it and relocate the IAT into the intake and start with the SD 2 bar base OP system. I would hate to waste 2 credits on the MAF operating system just to switch to SD.

 

While boost is linear, the compressor efficiency isn't. When dealing with fuel calculations you also need a broad picture of the losses. Both systems create losses but in different ways. A turbo has a pressure curve on the turbine Maps that give certain pressures at certain load & air mass. That is a load related response. You can easily tune MAP fueling & timing to persuade the turbo to do what you want. I have just found fine tuning is easier here.

If the compressor side is set up right you will jump into a good efficiency range quickly. Then you can tune to that part of the island & work down. But the range for when you aren't under (add:heavy) load, at various RPM's, aren't impacted the same way. That makes it easy to tune off (add:WOT) throttle because the fueling & ignition tables are closer to an NA motor.

I believe the guy has the log with the 62lb/min reading, I would have to ask him to make sure, if you want to see it. He was running E85. It was spitting out what %/Lambda was supposed to be, pretty close anyway.