Hello everyone,
I recently volunteered to get a bin and XDF repository set up for the LS based engines that use the P01/P59 PCM. At this point in time I've gotten the basic structure down and am looking to populate and test my organization structure.
The goal of it is to get the newbies to OEM tuning a good start with one place to get all the files they need and as such it has a very basic structure that anyone who's googled LS tuning would be able to use. This complicates things the more files there are so I'm looking for more files to stretch this structure to the breaking point so I can further improve upon the structure. I hope to make it public either this week or sometime in January, but will be internally improving upon it until then.

If you have any stock bins that you wouldn't mind sharing please share them with me by sending them to boredtruckowner@gmail.
Also I'm looking for non-stock bins, so if you have any of those that you wouldn't mind sharing send them my way with a list of supporting mods, these are intended to be used as references only so someone who did a cam swap would be able to get up and running but would still need to tune etc.

The other thing I'm looking for is basically beginners mistakes and to dispell some of the misinformation that's out there, this isn't a top priority right now but something I'd like to get together. Basically condensing the stickies from around the web into one place so that someone new to the OEM world can get a better understanding of how it all works.
Paul

 

Hello,

Are you also interested in BINs from custom operating systems from others such as HP Tuners or EFI Live? Have you gathered those already posted at GearHead EFI and PCMHacking.net? I got my one good "universal donor" P59 BIN (out of a 2004 SSR Chevy truck) and its mated XDF at Gearhead (credit to "LRT", many thanks!!) and it seems to all be working well within Tuner Pro RT. With the PCM cover removed, I can see that my P59 has the IAC integrated circuit on the board for drive-by-cable throttle operation and that Chevy SSR truck BIN has just about every vehicle programming option in the known engine swap software universe prior to about 2007. However, it can't help you with the later E38 boxes.

You can do just about anything with this combination with the possible exception of extreme forced induction but I have zero direct experience here with blowers and turbos. As for the best P59 PCM's that have the built in IAC chip on the board, look for the following hardware numbers when you venture to the junk yards: 12575502,12589161 12570558, 12583659. Stick with vehicles from about 2002 up through 2007 for best hunting success on these and I've paid $38 or less for all of mine. Pay attention to the hardware numbers on the PCM sticker, not the service numbers.

I'm still a little murky on the differences between BINS and CALS - calibrations. My efforts so far have led me to do complete writes of complete BINs. I've never done a segment swap or the writing of a CAL.

Rick

 

Thanks for setting this up! People are always asking where to find XDFs and I hate telling them to use Google. This will be really really useful.

Adding custom operating systems from the likes of HPTuners and EFI Live seems like a really bad idea. It would invite legal action from those companies, and lawsuits are not fun.

But if there is anyone out there who wants to create an open-source 2-bar or 3-bar version of a GM OS, that would be fantastic. I don't have a forced-induction LS car so I won't be doing that work myself, but have put some hours into disassembling the OS from my C5Z. That would provide a head start for anyone who has IDA Pro and wants to do some hacking on any of GM's P01 or P59 operating systems.

 

I have added all the bins from gearhead-efi, still working on adding the ones from PCMhacking, I think at this point I have around 60 bins and 4 XDFs for the P01 and just under 60 bins and 1 XDF for the P59.

I can get something setup for the EFILive and HPTuners guys, I don't currently have anything setup for them as I was trying to keep it all open source compatible. As far as I am aware, HPTuners and EFILive will both open modified bins but once they're imported as bins you cant export them as a bins, which guys like me lose out on.
Im also a bit murky on all the different hardware ids and calibrations, most of my experience is with standalones the likes of motec and PE3 and I'm just now starting to get into OEM for a little fun with my truck.
I've got a list of model years and hardware IDs that GM equipped with DBC capable P59s listed on the repo, sometime soon I'm going to try to collect all that information into one file so someone can just scroll and look, but again, not my top priority just yet.
Paul

 

Hello Paul,

I also later thought that gathering copies of custom operating system files might be a bad idea for legal reasons. But my question is how will you be able to tell a BIN copy of a custom OS from a BIN creation built by Tuner Pro RT. LS Droid outputs everything as a BIN regardless of its birth origin being GM, HP Tuners or EFI Live, etc.

Given my very limited few months experience in all of this, the only trend (two instances, not much of a trend) that I can somewhat see is that custom operating systems begin with the number "9". This might be right or wrong and I could be totally off my rocker with this idea.

Rick

 

Hate to throw a monkey wrench in here but a couple of obvious questions:
How does one know a given xdf is reading all that it should?
I have collected 17 xdf files for 8 OS and 2 COS for the P01 - I'm sure some of them may just be renamed - how does one know? Unless I missed something TPv5 only lets one compare bin files. I believe they have all come from gearhead-EFI at different times and threads.
-Bob

 

If the XDF files are in regular text form, you can compare them with text-comparison tools like WinMerge or Meld. For XDFs that aren't in text form, I don't think there's anything you can do.

There are different versions of some XDFs, and it will probably take some time and effort to sort out which are more complete, merge the good stuff, etc.

 

The legality of it is definitely a concern, and one of the main reasons why it hasn't been added. Theres a huge collection of stock bins downloaded using one of the commercial tools but I'd need express permission from them to make them available. It would be awesome if the commercial guys created an open repository with a bunch of canned tunes for different mods, but that is highly unlikely. You are correct that you would be able to read and save the bin from a PCM programmed with the commercial tools (assuming it is not locked) but those will most likely use one of the custom OSs that they have developed. Without access to their editing software, you would only get gibberish because the XDF would point to incorrect places for values.
-

 

Ah yes, the XDF to gibberish thought with a custom OS. See, I told you that my experience is very limited here but learning is still occuring.

Rick

 

Bin files are a byte-for-byte copy of the flash chip in the PCM. All of the data that we tune with Tuner Pro is in a particular range of bytes, and the operating system is in a different range.

So if you compare the operating system byte range of an unknown bin file against the operating system byte range of a bunch of known files (GM, HP Tuners, EFI Live) the unknown operating system would match one of the known files, and that would tell you whether it was a stock GM operating system or one that was modified by HP Tuners or EFI Live.

Or, it might be simpler to just compare the operating system IDs... I suspect that the custom operating systems have IDs that are different from GM's operating systems, but I don't actually know that for sure. The IDs are stored at the same offset in all files (hex 504, decimal 1284).

 

I had a nosey over on the fit forum for some xdf's, but it seemed to confuse me more than it helped.

eg...ecu number/OS number.

Why are some people listing maybe 5 or 6 definitions for this same ecu OS ?

 

It might just be the same XDF, or just ones that each person has added to. Easiest thing to do is check for discrepancies between XDFs, if you have access to the text version you can easily compare them and add the features of one to another and conglomerate them all into one ultimate XDF. Send them my way and I can take a look and see what I see.

 

As an example, OS # 12587603 here in the first 2-7 posts, there are like 7-8 instances of that OS, for different vehicles. So would they all be the same, or are they different ? I don't need it, just using it as an example.

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...rPro-Bin-Files

 

Ahh, I misunderstood, you were asking about different bins not XDFs. They're separated that way because the configuration from car to car and year to year will be different. The OS is the same but the features enabled or the tables are configured for different options, 4L60 vs 4L80, intakes, emissions, etc. You can flash any OS assuming it matches your PCM type, but then you'll have to basically build a tune to match your configuration, or you could find a similar configuration and just make the fine adjustments to get it running the way you want.

 

Hey all,
The bin and XDF repo is nearing completion, sometime this week I'll be pushing the final version and making it public. That being said, I'm looking for a name that would make it easy to find, ita currently named "LS Based Engine Bin And XDF Repository" but if you have any recommendations 9n a better name please PM me.

I'm also looking for someone to help get the wiki setup, at the moment it's the extreme basics, but I'd love to get something more in depth for those with moderate experience, if you wouldn't mind being a part of that I'd love to hear from you.

The repo is currently at 100 BINs and 6 XDFs, if you have a stock or modified bin that you wouldn't mind sharing send em my way and I'll get them added before the "launch".

After it goes up I'm looking for feedback to further improve it, at this point it organization makes sense to me but that might be the case for everyone.
Thanks Everyone,
Paul

 

We're up and running! You can find the repository by following this link. https://github.com/BoredTruckOwner/L...ine_Repository
I'll be working on improving the repo as I find free time and will slowly work on getting all the help pages setup.
Paul

 

Looks great! Thank you for putting the time into this!!

Scott

 

A couple of things you may want to consider....
1)The author of each XDF should be credited or you should at least provide a link to the source/thread where the XDF was posted, this was what started a **** show 2 years ago any why several people stopped developing XDF's.

2) Do not mix bin file's for different PCM types. You have P04 bins mixed in and they are NOT compatible with the P01 or P59 despite being the same file size.

3)I know you have a warning about file use but I would suggest you at least check over each bin you post to make sure they look reasonably correct if the file is suspected to be altered from a stock bin file. There are a number of files on Gearhead-EFI that will not run a stock engine because the tables have been altered drastically. Any file that looks like it has been segment swapped should be double checked that everything was done correctly and any values outside of the segment that are relative to the segment are correct. I don't recall the fine name but I just helped an Ls Droid user that flashed one of the files for a P01 that had clearly had the transmission segment swapped but the speedometer segment was not swapped and none of the values in the Speedometer segment had been updated to reflected the change in the transmission type. The 4l60/80 use a 40 ppm speed output signal where a manual trans generally uses a 17 ppm signal. The transmission output shaft rev/mile counter was also not correct. The user had no way of knowing this was a custom file someone had made and that these values were incorrect. They had assumed they were using a stock file.

4)Credit the source of information being posted/shared. A lot of people have no issue freely sharing information that may have taken a great deal of time to come up with and most don't even think about recognition for what they are sharing when they provide the information. However when they see someone else sharing their information and not giving credit to the original author or even suggesting that someone else may have created it...that's generally about the time people stop sharing. You may not think that reposting information is the same as taking credit for it....but go back and look at your source. The only way people get credit for information they give out is when they originally posted it under a given screen name. When you repost information with out specifically giving credit to the original author your effectively taking credit for the information your self since your now posting it the same way the original author did. In a perfect world you'd think can't we all just get along things like this wouldn't be an issue, but I can tell you from past experience it does make a difference to a lot of people.

5) This would only pertain to the P59 files and specifically for 2003, it would be advisable to either separate the Intel flash chip files from the AMD flash chip files or manually verify if the file is compatible with both computers by flashing it on one of each. It would probably also be a good idea to note what service number pcm's for 2003 are Intel based and what PCM's are AMD based since currently the PCM Hammer is not compatible with the Intel 1mb PCM's and your Repo seems to be targeted at PCM Hammer users.

 

Intel P59 support was added in PCM Hammer release 10. It only supports calibration flashing for P59s for now though, with either flash chip. Full OS replacement isn't working yet.

Linking back to the source of each XDF, to provide credit and attribution, would be nice, I agree.

 

I'm all for giving credit to the authors of the XDFs, the ones currently available to the public are the ones that were floating around on the internet, I do not have a way of finding who made them, but if you know who the author is or if the author would like to contact me for credit, I'd love to add it.

How would one check for the P04 bins? The bins posted are all from gearhead-efi and didn't really have any way to identify PCM other than OS and even that doesn't have much info out so I sorted by file size.

I would love to check the XDFs and bins and make sure they all work but I don't have any PCMs to test with. I'm currently sitting on some P01 XDF's courtesy of BBPanel, that will be in an experimental folder that the community can test, but at the moment, I'm limited to testing on my AMD P59 in my daily. That being said, as far as I am aware all the bins provided are stock bins pulled from a working vehicle, but again, I have no way of knowing. I've only worked with standalone ECM's up to this point so all this is quite new to me.

Almost all the information provided was written from memory, just things I've collected over the last few months of reading threads in various places. Eventually, I want to go through it all and make it much more cohesive and be source backed versus just from memory. If there's anything specific, again, let me know.

For the Intel vs AMD, the bins provided did not have any service ID's so I cannot separate them without knowing how to identify the chip manufacturer. The repo is heavily targeted towards the beginner so rather than specifying service IDs I believe it would be easier to just tag on Intel in the naming convention and in the readme specify which service numbers have an intel chip.
The LSDroid quick start guide is a WIP, currently have screenshots of how to flash OS+CAL, and calibration only. I had the folder in the repo but ended up removing it before the public release so I could continue working on it in the background. Unfortunately, my phone decided to update to Android 10 so I can't continue working on the guide.

All in all, this is still a WIP, there will be changes coming, but I released it just to get it in the public eye and get ideas on how it can be improved.