Used My HP Tuners For The First Time Today

[LockDoc]

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I bought a used HP Tuners 2.24 kit off of e-Bay and used it for the first time today. I downloaded the latest software & drivers and installed them on my laptop, hooked up the benchtop tuning harness I built and did it on the kitchen table. Everything worked flawlessly. I performed a "Read Entire" on the VCM from the 2001 Silverado 5.3 engine I just bought, saved the file & made a copy of it to edit. I only edited the VATS, rear 02 sensors, and emissions for now just to get a feel for how the software worked. I Saved the file and did a "Write Calibration Only" back to the VCM with no problems. I then performed another "Read Entire" and all of my changes were there. I felt pretty good for my first try at it....

Here is a picture of the benchtop harness I built and the way it was setup as I tuned it.

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[clemsonteg]

Good stuff. What's the gray box? 12v power supply?

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by clemsonteg

Good stuff. What's the gray box? 12v power supply?

Yes, Radio Shack regulated 12 volt power supply.

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[Paul Y]

Look forward to your updates as am eager to learn as much as possible about HP tuners before I commit to buy my own set up.

Please let us all know how you get on.

P.

[Heavymetl]

I've been messing with HPTuners and the factory ECM for several years now.

- Expect to be extremely frustrated at times
- Expect to feel greatly rewarded as you gain experience and figure things out.
- Wide open tuning with a wideband is easy, once you figure out and apply the correct formulas to get the wideband offset for histograms.
- Driveability, cold start, and large cam tuning are the toughest parts.

I'm ditching the factory PCM after 4 years and installing Holley on my LS swapped Camaro. Learning to tune on HpT is like training camp. It's tough, but once you figure it out everything else is a piece of cake. The Holley is caveman simple in comparison.

Good luck!

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by Paul Y

Look forward to your updates as am eager to learn as much as possible about HP tuners before I commit to buy my own set up.

Please let us all know how you get on.

P.

I don't think I can add much to what is already on the internet. It just takes a lot of reading.

This link is a good place to start:

http://www.hptuners.com/help/

The sidebar seems to be more comprehensive.

Originally Posted by Heavymetl

I've been messing with HPTuners and the factory ECM for several years now.

- Expect to be extremely frustrated at times
- Expect to feel greatly rewarded as you gain experience and figure things out.
- Wide open tuning with a wideband is easy, once you figure out and apply the correct formulas to get the wideband offset for histograms.
- Driveability, cold start, and large cam tuning are the toughest parts.

I'm ditching the factory PCM after 4 years and installing Holley on my LS swapped Camaro. Learning to tune on HpT is like training camp. It's tough, but once you figure it out everything else is a piece of cake. The Holley is caveman simple in comparison.

Good luck!

Thanks,

I'm perfectly happy with the way the stock LS engines perform so I won't be doing any in depth tuning modifications, just the necessary swap stuff. I'm not much into racing, burnouts, or any of that stuff like I was years ago. If I want to do that I have a '69 SuperBee with a 440/Auto.... or the '34 Ford Coupe with a stroked 377 SB/AX15 5speed manual....

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[tinos555]

Congrats! Hey Leon can u do unlimited "simple tune" flashing when it comes to 99-06 Vortec ECM's with that setup?
I've been sending out my ECM's but would love to start doing my own @ home, I also like the stock performance of the LS engines so its simple flashing for me such as Vats, emissions, tranny functions, tire size etc.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by tinos555

Congrats! Hey Leon can u do unlimited "simple tune" flashing when it comes to 99-06 Vortec ECM's with that setup?
I've been sending out my ECM's but would love to start doing my own @ home, I also like the stock performance of the LS engines so its simple flashing for me such as Vats, emissions, tranny functions, tire size etc.

I'm not sure about the year range but yes, you can do anything you want with it from just the simple stuff to a max all out tune. All you have to do is license the tune file you are working with (not the vehicle) and you can change it whenever you want to and re-upload it. I think the file will only work with one vehicle though, or at least only one PCM/ECM/VCM.

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[BR3W CITY]

It'll only work on one vehicle, unless you pay for credits to license others. You can buy an unlimited gen III license, but it costs much more and is designed for shops. The basic license also does not include things like CustomOS, 2,2.5,3bar map.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by BR3W CITY

It'll only work on one vehicle, unless you pay for credits to license others. You can buy an unlimited gen III license, but it costs much more and is designed for shops. The basic license also does not include things like CustomOS, 2,2.5,3bar map.

BR3W - I think those are include for free now.

[BR3W CITY]

Hmmm i gotta open up the suite and see whats up. I thought that enhanced os (livetuning etc) still cost the extra credits.

[tinos555]

So every single ECM counts as "a vehicle"? Do you guys know if Gen 3 ECM's hold a VIN #?

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by tinos555

So every single ECM counts as "a vehicle"? Do you guys know if Gen 3 ECM's hold a VIN #?

Yes & yes.

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[tinos555]

Thanks for your help and info