PCM for Less tune?

I have a stock lt1 and was curious if anybody has gotten a tune from these guys? Is it worth it? What kind of gains? Is there a different route?

best bang for your buck,.

does anybody still run a stock tune still???

phantom 309 wrote:

does anybody still run a stock tune still???

(sheepishly) yes, on the Caprice wagon with the 2.56 rear end.  On the RMW I have had the tune for 7 or 8 years from PCM for Less.  I'd like to get a 2.93 rear end for the Caprice and then have it done.

Tom

Their Tune turns our cars from Grampas Wagons to fun cars!
They tuned all my wagons so far.

I did a snotload of tuning a few years ago and learned the ins and outs. Tuning right takes a lot of time so the mail order tunes for stock cars are indeed a lot of bang for the buck.

My car's TCC never worked right after I bought an aftermarket tune. I put a stock tune back in it and then tweaked from there. I mainly tuned the transmission tables. I think I added 2 degrees timing to most of the spark tables and tuned the MAF and that was it.

Just got my pcm back from PCM for Less and what a difference. Its like a different car.

How so? What do you notice most? Any other modifications? TIA....Andy

I don't have any mods done. Only thing I have done is eliminate the baseball plate and make my own intake tube out of the 3" elbows. Throttle repsonse is much better. Downshifts and upshifts are much quicker. It seems to just get up and go with little effort.

What are your rear gears?

stock 2:93. Tow pkg gears.

My '96 Roady still has the stock PCM. Never been touched. I'd like to have mine done, if only to have my fans come on at a lower temp. I am curious what is considered a "performance" tune on these.

81X11 wrote:

My '96 Roady still has the stock PCM.   Never been touched.   I'd like to have mine done, if only to have my fans come on at a lower temp.   I am curious what is considered a "performance" tune on these.

Mike I thought you got your wagon tune awhile ago . Don't you have a thread looking for a tuner in your area ?

agreed. I've been satisfied with the work from Alex at pcmperformance. I recently tried Solomon. I like that he gives you the chance to send in datalogs and will tweak your tune 3 times. You'd need more sophisticated cables to do that on your 96. That being said, Alex has done little tweaks for me for free in the past as well.

You can get all sorts of tunes, including an mpg tune. You check off what you want on the order form. Generally you'll have modified shift tables, changes in timing, tweaks to the maf table if you're running different intakes. You can also optimize mpg by tweaking certain tables, namely deceleration fuel cutoff and TC lockup parameters. Tell the guy how you like to drive and they should figure it out.

Specify if you want to run premium or regular. They can squeeze out about 7hp more from a 91octane tune. There's no ethanol-free 87 anywhere near where I live (not even sure it still exists in Canada) so I go for 91 octane tunes and run ethanol free premium. The price difference is pretty much offset by the mpg bump.

on a 96, I recommend you disable the rear O2s in the tune as well. Definitely invest in a tune ASAP!

Gerome wrote:

81X11 wrote:

My '96 Roady still has the stock PCM.   Never been touched.   I'd like to have mine done, if only to have my fans come on at a lower temp.   I am curious what is considered a "performance" tune on these.

Mike I thought you got your wagon tune awhile ago . Don't you have a thread looking for a tuner in your area ?

Never found anyone local. In traffic I just turn on the a/c because I don't like the temp gauge going WAY up before the fans kick on.

-Mike

jasonlachapelle wrote:

agreed.  I've been satisfied with the work from Alex at pcmperformance.  I recently tried Solomon.     I like that he gives you the chance to send in datalogs and will tweak your tune 3 times.  You'd need more sophisticated cables to do that on your 96.  That being said, Alex has done little tweaks for me for free in the past as well.

You can get all sorts of tunes, including an mpg tune.  You check off what you want on the order form.   Generally you'll have modified shift tables, changes in timing, tweaks to the maf table if you're running different intakes.  You can also optimize mpg by tweaking certain tables, namely deceleration fuel cutoff and TC lockup parameters.  Tell the guy how you like to drive and they should figure it out.

Specify if you want to run premium or regular.  They can squeeze out about 7hp more from a 91octane tune.  There's no ethanol-free 87 anywhere near where I live (not even sure it still exists in Canada) so I go for 91 octane tunes and run ethanol free premium.  The price difference is pretty much offset by the mpg bump.

on a 96, I recommend you disable the rear O2s in the tune as well.   Definitely invest in a tune ASAP!

Thanks for the info! Much Appreciated!

LT1PCM Tuning is Solomon's service (http://www.lt1pcmtuning.com/). I had the performance tune done on my 1996 Caprice. It perked up significantly. At the highest level you will have to switch to 91 octane fuel and you won't necessarily pick up more mpg. But smiles per mile definitely increase. You can get milder tunes from Solomon that generally do increase mpg, reportedly (reviews from customers) without a noticeable decrease in performance. He offers free tweaking after tuning, and turn-around times are only a few days.