Mystery Chips - Cant have just one!

[lnkncontiverto]

I picked up a used ECM the other day and it came with 5 older chips. According to the seller, one is a street chip (red label reads "super chip") for stock turbo, injectors. One for 36 lb inj and a TE-51. The other three are a mystery.

Two have alpha-numeric codes on the underside - are these related to the program within?

One has an ATR sticker on top and reads:

HP138_A_
STRIP CHIP
Copywrite 1993

My question is how do I find out what these chips are programmed for?

Thanks,
Taylor

[turbojd]

I wouldn't even use those old school chips, too much timing in them for todays gas. Plus a modern burned chip such as Turbo Tweak, your car will run much better and idle better than those old chips.

[lnkncontiverto]

It would be an improvement over a stock chip, as it is at least 5 years newer?

[turbojd]

You are much better off getting a modern chip burned for your specific combo, those chips listed have alot of timing in them, wouldn't want to see you pop a headgasket!!

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by lnkncontiverto

It would be an improvement over a stock chip, as it is at least 5 years newer?

like others have said NO... BUT if ya want to give it a whirl what the hell.. just report back

[Electrajim]

Although your chips have writting on them, you'll never know whats actually programmed on them.

It's in your better intrest to get a modern chip made for your current combination, especially if you plan on doing any upgrades.

ElectraJim

[Steve Wood]

and being five years newer is a very relative matter as chips were very crude in those days...good way to blow a head gasket and learn a lesson the hard way

[lnkncontiverto]

Thanks for the insight. I will probably just wait on the chip until I have the wallet to do some other upgrades.

BTW, forgive my ignorance, but is there a significant difference between a stock chip and a new chip for stock inj, turbo, 93 oct?

[Steve Wood]

yes....timing will be different, plus modern chips like the Extenders and Tuirbotweaks have a lot of programability built into them so the chip can be tailored to your conditions.

Drivability and performance will be considerably better assuming everything else is in proper working order. Biggest concern I would have is the condition of the injectors...stock are now 20+ years old and the performance is probably questionable.

[lnkncontiverto]

My car is a 33k mile original that was well cared for. I would hope that the injectors are in somewhat decent shape, but I had planned to swap them for some larger capacity ones in the not-so-distant future.

What tool is necessary for tweaking the turbotweak or extenders?

I really do appreciate the info.

[turbojd]

Just because the car has 33k miles on it doesn't mean that the (stock) injectors are up to the task, no matter how you look at it they have been sitting in the intake for 20+ years. If you go with the Turbo Tweak chip give Eric a call or go to his website and tell him your cars combination, (injector size,turbo size, any headwork done etc...) and when you get it just pop it in the car right out of the box and you will be amazed at the difference in all around performance and idle quality.

[Steve Wood]

Originally Posted by lnkncontiverto

My car is a 33k mile original that was well cared for. I would hope that the injectors are in somewhat decent shape, but I had planned to swap them for some larger capacity ones in the not-so-distant future.

What tool is necessary for tweaking the turbotweak or extenders?

I really do appreciate the info.

Mechanically/electrically...they may not be badly worn, but, they are surely gummed up, and, at a minimum, need a properly cleaning and flow testing.

With regard to tuning,, one needs at least a Scanmaster. It is a monitor that allows one to see what is going on with a single parameter at a frame rate of once each 1.4 seconds but it does not allow recording. As far as I am concerned, it is of more benefit of serving as a detonation guard as it reports timing retard at all times....and, timing retard is the ecm response to perceived detonation.

It does provide all the info required to program the chips.

For serious tuning, the PowerLogger is a necessity in my opinion as it allows the simultaneous display on a laptop of all parameters and can record/replay long lengths of data so one can sit back and examine a run at some 20 frames per second of data. This is invaluable for both tuning and troubleshooting as one can see what event triggers problems, etc., or, the effect of changing fueling, timing, etc has on detonation, A/F, etc.

It also feeds data to the Scanmaster at a higher data rate making it more sensitive to events. The SM's normal display rate of one frame of data each 1.4 seconds is pretty coarse on a fast car whereas it is stepped up to 5 per second when receiving its data feed from the Powerlogger.

The great thing about Powerlogger is that it allows one to take input from other sources such as a wideband O2, EGT, boost, etc. and display them in sequence with the standard ecm data. Makes tuning much better/precise.

For a newcomer, the danger is in being overwhelmed with data

At the beginning, a Scanmaster, a fuel pressure gauge, and an analog boost gauge plus a cd copy of the shop manual are probably a good starting point. Not to mention some study to understand how these cars work and what the terminology means.

With a car with as few miles as yours, the spring cleaning article on gnttype.org is a good starting point. My site has a lot of info on it as well, and a read of the Basics section may help you understand how to adjust things as well as how to avoid some of the myths that continue to exist among those that don't really understand some of the workings.

[lnkncontiverto]

Where do I find a copy of the shop manual? I have had an eye out for a while, but havent come across one yet?

Once again, I am very grateful for all of the advice. I am buried in info on these cars, its just going to take me time to get to know where to find what I need.

BTW Steve, I did get to read through the majority of your site, and it has been very helpful. Thank you.

[turbojd]

I think there is a cd out with the Buick shop manual on it, but I forgot where I read this, Steve will know where to get this!!

[Steve Wood]

Here you go

Factory TR Service Manual