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what software is needed for tuning vs v6 ecotec..

H

harrop.senator

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Fair enough the few I spoke to had never heard of it but one. He said they hadn't touched it since the early 2000's and told me it was the reason most wouldn't touch it.

He said it was pretty archaic? Back then and didn't pass on he used to use it to tune GSR and vr4's back in the day.

We only have 2 kalmaker tuners in WA. Ones an hour n a half and don't like some of there stuff. The other one had no issues until two years ago and so many people have had dramas and he'd been the premier for it for 25 years .
 

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Most tuners won't touch Kalmaker either as it's old and antiquated but the few who do are very good by all accounts. Tuners only want to tune PCM's like the LS and Haltech because they want to sell you a product.

Up until very recently you needed an old school DOS based PC/laptop to be able to run Kalmaker.
 
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harrop.senator

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Yeah and it turns out they only want to tune ls on and LS. There was only 3 willing to do the initial tune on my l67 even with a base map and there's thirty LS tuners in Perth hahaha.
 

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Tuners only want to tune PCM's like the LS and Haltech because they want to sell you a product.
I'd say it's because the demand for Delco tunes is just not high enough compared to the money makers that are the LS and the Barra. Then there's the whole need for NVRAM and chip burners etc... just becomes to much effort (particularly for the low demand) for those who aren't specifically into tuning these particular cars, otherwise I think you'd see a lot more professional tuners on PCM Hacking or the HP Academy forums. I know remote tuning exists, but after seeing some remote results from a reputable remote tuner on a friends car, the tune was fine but it did leave something to be desired. Probably didn't help that the 5L didn't exist in the States or that the EFI V6 wasn't really a performance engine over there either.

There are pretty much no tuners that don't do Haltech and the ECUs are widely available (the LS conversions to a lesser extent, buy you can DIY), so you don't necessarily have to buy from them. The Haltech fills a need to make the car more accessible to other tuners if you have a build that really needs a dyno given how scarce Delco dyno tuners are now, or want to add features or sensors that the Delco doesn't have, particularly as the Elite supports the 4L60e.

Having said that, for a feature set that is equal (or worse depending on your angle) to an Adaptronic or a Link, $2.5k is about $1200 too much, even for a plug-in. The Platinum was an outright ripoff at the end of its life.
 
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harrop.senator

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Adaptronic are around $1500 before you pay for the custom wiring harness which is $1000-2000 and isn't as easy to tune as others.

Reason tuners love the haltech is you find the exact motor or sometime close in the settings and then do the first few runs on self tuning mode. Then lock learning out and go from there.

4k installed and tuned I was quote for link or adaptronic. Link I'd happily go , not to much adaptronic. Adaptronics user face is nowhere near as friendly as a couple of the others.

I love the adap I had in a 33 but it took three tuners no mod changes til I actually liked it. At $800 a tune it was an expensive learning experience. Highly capable ecu if you have a highly adaptronic capable tuner.
 

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Realistically the cost of setting up to tune the Delco is less than buying just the software to tune LS stuff and there is no ongoing cost to tune the delco. There just isn't as much profit in it when churning out LS tunes is so easy with a power run on a dyno for the all important bragging rights at the pub.

You got to figure if one decent tuner does learn delco there is a huge market for anything 2nd gen Commodore V8 and V6 to be tuned but most of these types of tuners will twist your arm to fit a Haltech so they can get their markup and time to add to the profit of tuning it but realistically for a bolt on ecotec it's simply not worth spending $2k+ for an aftermarket ECU to gain 30hp.
 
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harrop.senator

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I have to admit though if I didn't have the sequential spark I'd have gone the plug in platinum pro on the ute.

I still think I may get one for the senator over the kalmaker down the line. I think I got quoted $1200 for a plug in.
 

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Adaptronic are around $1500 before you pay for the custom wiring harness which is $1000-2000 and isn't as easy to tune as others.

Reason tuners love the haltech is you find the exact motor or sometime close in the settings and then do the first few runs on self tuning mode. Then lock learning out and go from there.
Adaptronic are not so difficult with the Modular series - probably worth mentioning that Haltech owns them now. Even for a plug-in, the Haltech is too much. The whole idea is that you come out cheaper than a wire-in ECU and a harness - not equal or just below, particularly as all they have to change is the plug during manufacturing. I think they'd sell a lot more and still make a healthy profit even at $1800, most Adaptronic and Link plug-ins for far more capable cars are only around $1600-$1800, guess Haltech have the Delco market cornered though. For equal cost there are ones that I'd much rather buy and wire in than Haltech.

The technology in new ECUs also makes me wonder how capable some tuners actually are sometimes.

realistically for a bolt on ecotec it's simply not worth spending $2k+ for an aftermarket ECU to gain 30hp.
Pretty much. Time and place.
 

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I think I got quoted $1200 for a plug in.
I'd hope so, seems somewhat more reasonable.

Is it just me or is the GM Elite not on Haltech's site anymore? Seems like their version of a plugin is just the Elite with an intermediate conversion harness which I guess is better in a lot of ways.
 
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harrop.senator

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I'd hope so, seems somewhat more reasonable.

Is it just me or is the GM Elite not on Haltech's site anymore? Seems like their version of a plugin is just the Elite with an intermediate conversion harness which I guess is better in a lot of ways.

Not sure but the model that plugs in for gen 2 can't do vs V6 onwards without deleting the cam sensor as they're batch fire only.
 
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