ECM tune for L29

[ari666]

i am wandering into new terrrortory (intentional spelling mistake) with EFI and need help before i waste money needlessly.

so i have landed a L29 454 which is efi. it is a 1996 model running a 'delphi' ecm (ecu whatever) which from what i have read is a direct swap for a yankie 5.7 ltr LS1 ECU (gotta swap the plugs but the pinout numbers are the same)

the engine itself puts out 290HP from factory, the reason that it is so pitiful is due to 1. 4500rpm rev limiter 2. restriction in the heads to improve swirl and assist low end torque 3. 19lb injectors.

i want to change those things. i will need to lift the rev limiter to a more reasonable 5000 (l29 are 4 bolt mains and good for 7000rpm with some work) grind out the 'ski-jump' in the intake ports, change to LS1 injectors 24lbs, disable the auto transmission speed output (will be running with a 2 speed powerglide till i can afford something better) and tune for a slightly larger camshaft.

now the problem i have it that i have no clue how to do that

i emailed a guy in nsw who was a efilive tuner and he said it'd be 900 bucks for a mail order tune, which sucks cos buying efilive is 900 bucks. but i have managed to locate some other tuning software for 400usd and i really wanna have a go at doing it myself.

can someone give me a reeeealy basic idea on how to go about changing those settings? even some useful links would be great. [run out of time thanks for reading]

Ari

[DLFHUB666]

This site may help, may not either. delcohacking.net • Index page

[delcowizzid]

it should still run a dizzy doesnt it if so you could run a delco and tune it easy and cheaply but the valvesprings heads and the inlet manifold will all see it nose over at 4500 anyway.even with a carb manifold swap and HEI and cam they fall on there face at around 4500 heads is where all the power is at

[ari666]

well the main archilles heel i have read about these engine is the injectors. they are enough to scrape through, but when you add a higher lift cam and a bit of head flow (plus raised rpm) they cant keep up. also they are said to be really poor injectors, prone to dripping and often needing a rebuild.

what is this delco you speak of? the units off old VK's? the valve springs and cam are gonna get changed as soon as i have the engine, am also gonna whip off the heads and 'dress them up'. have done quite a bit of reading and those two mods will allow it to easily rev to 5k. but the ecu and injectors just wont allow it.

[ari666]

nice site! thanks maties. yeah the engine has a dizzy, though i cant tell you what type, or what type of ecm its using either till it gets here.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Ummm...run something better than a Powerglide? Get it built properly and it will be the strongest auto you will find.

[delcowizzid]

any ecu from vn vp camira etc will run it and as long as it has a reluctor type dizzy its easy and cheap to do .if it has a hall effect sensor dizzy you will need to run a 304 ignition module so all bases are covered just one is slightly more expensive .all the gear to set it up for realtime tuning is availiable on delcohacking .net.

[ari666]

lol, by "better" i mean "more suitable ratio". in its current form this engine outputs some pretty healthy NM's but my ratio's are all wrong. powerglide is 1:1 final and diff is 3.08. so the plan will be to try and drop down to a 2.7 rear and a 0.7:1 transmission (700r4, 4l60, 4l60e, 4l80e etc)


also delco: although it has a dizzy im certain it has a crank angle sensor on the balancer.

[delcowizzid]

any hei/msd chev dizzy should still fit.we are running a 3.0:1 9" diff and t400 its about to be swapped out for a 3.5:1 centre to make it so we dont have to go so fast to have fun its a little dangerous useing the revs with a 3.0 diff LOL.your stock torque rating is allready above the max torque rating of a T700/4l60e trans isnt it.we have allready lunched 2 x 28 spline 9" axles .at 100kmh its not even working it just idles along using bugger all fuel all that torque it just keeps rolling along even if you hit a hill it just plods up it without even touching the gas pedal gotta love torque.choosing a stall will be the hardest part we fitted a 3000 stall for smallblock it stalls like stock 1600-1800 LOL but will still rip the brandnew 245's off the road in 3rd gear at 50kmh LOL.if you have never owned a bigblock you are in for a huge surprise

[ari666]

if you have never owned a bigblock you are in for a huge surprise

yeah cant wait. i think stock NM is 520@3200.

so if i got a bog stock dizzy i could convert to delco ecu? what other parameters will it need? it currently has MAF, TPS, O2, coolant temp and (i think) MAP and intank air temp. i know it has a knock sensor, im just not sure where just yet. and im pretty sure it has cas on the balancer, so i image i just junk that bit?

im gonna hunt that forum a bit more tonight, im at work atm and slacking off so better get back to it.

[delcowizzid]

biff the maf in the bin LOL use a vn map sensor should be able to reuse the coolant sensor IAT sensor tps etc and just leave the balancer as is but dont use it.as long as the dizzy you use has a 2 wire dizzy sensor you just use a camira ignition module that bolts onto the dizzy plenty at pick a part and use a camira loom with extra injector plugs wired in and any wires extended to the other sensors and your away laughing.will need a surge tank and pump to fill it and a pump to go from the surge to the engine.factory delco ecu's are great jayme on the forum has his 2 cylinder motorbike engine running on one :P

[ari666]

yeah actually the more i am reading delcohackers the more i like the idea. im still failing on the speed sensor issue. will the delco need a speed sensor to operate? CRS have speedo cable couplers for a couple of hundred bucks but that just adding to the list of stuff i didnt really wanna buy.

[delcowizzid]

you dont need the speed sensor but it does make them nicer to drive in the long run.theres plenty of ways to add a sensor if you want to fit one later.one hz i did i fitted a commodore speedo into the HZ dash cluster works a treat and looks like a stock hz dash still and is fully adjustable for diff gears and tyre sizes so it allways reads correct as well as sending speedo signals to the ecu.you can also use vl commodore speedo which is cable driven and has speed pulse output to ecu run off the back of it

[ari666]

so would i be able to get a V6 ecm off a Vs and reprogram that to run as an 8? from that site it seems as though the VS is the one to go for so i can use my laptop as a data logger.

also ecotec VS ecu's are 30 bucks on ebay. im sure i can find a million at the wrecker. and grab the looms at the same time.

[delcowizzid]

nah vs ecu's are shit and run maf which is also shit LOL trusty old 808 ecu from a vn is what you want and one of these delcohacking.net • View topic - FS: NVRAM ECM Conversion and one of these delcohacking.net • View topic - FS: USB Communications Boards and a laptop with USB and windows xp upwards.a chip burner comes in handy as well can be had cheep off ebay