Help me understand computer options

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payneinthe

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My swap is a drop-out 6.1l with TR6060. It came with a full wiring harness, PCM and gas pedal.

What are the options? Is there anything I can do with the harness and/or PCM that came with my drop-out or should that go on e-bay for some burnt out LX to use?

What's the main difference between Hotwire, Holley, FAST, etc? Are some more able to be tuned than others? Are some easier to get a basic tune going?
 
What year drop out. Hotwire uses factory ECM. There is also magasquirt. Some setups are for carburetor. Mostly depends on transmission choices and intake setup. OEM is turn on and drive but not sure with your trans.
 
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PM Dragger40 I think he is using that same setup. He has nice pics on the t56 thread.
 
I ended up going with the Holley Dominator setup because I want to upgrade to a Pro-Charger in the future. I found the Dominator will do about anything you want to do but it's pricey by the time you buy all the harnesses you need. If you want to stick with stock 425 horse, I'd just run the factory computer. You will have alot of extra wiring to figure out what to do with and I'm not the guy that knows ANYTHING about it! LOL
 
payneinthe said:
Thanks! How's that pneumonia treating you?
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I made it back to work but I feel like I have junk in my chest that just won't break loose. I personally don't think it was pneumonia but it was definitely THE CRUD!
I was able to get a little work done on the Demon this weekend... with any luck I'll be driving this thing in a month or two!
Did you still want me to try to get a measurement off of that crossmember? I'm not sure it would help you because we won't be running the same frontend or motor mounts.
 
Don't worry about it. I'll get the suspension and mock everything up and go from there. I'm pretty sure the crossmember American Powertrain sells won't help me.

I definitely don't plan to keep this thing stock... for long. Can a factory PCM w/ the diablosport tuner handle any power adders? This is why I started this thread... none of this stuff makes any sense to me.

I get pneumonia a lot. Definitely one of my least favorite things about Christmas break. Glad you're on the mend.
 
payneinthe said:
I definitely don't plan to keep this thing stock... for long. Can a factory PCM w/ the diablosport tuner handle any power adders? This is why I started this thread... none of this stuff makes any sense to me.
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I'm not sure what the limits are on the other tuners but I know that the Holley Dominator will allow you to do absolutely anything so I just went with it for the possibilities.
I think you have more options because you are running a standard which means you don't have to control the transmission. With some ECMs, you have to you a cable style throttle body. I would look at each ECM available and see what you have to make them work. They might cost you more than you think by the time you add this and that.
Somebody should really do a spreadsheet for all the ECMs and show what you have to have for each one and what each one is capable of!
I did alot of research before I decided to go with the Holley but I've pretty well forgot what they all do now....
Sorry, I'm not much help in this department.
 
A spreadsheet would be great, but I'm afraid it'd be so far above my head like every thread here I've read that it probably wouldn't help me. So far, options seem to include:

Factory based
Hotwire
Modern Muscle
A2speed/B&G - seems to be the only one that might be able to make use of my factory harness/PCM

Custom
FAST XFI
Holley Dominator
Hemitronix - Chevy based
lxmodguy (MS3 based?) not sure if this ever materialized

MS3 based
EFIsource MS3 gold box

Some of these seem to require cable-operated throttle bodies

Did I miss any? Does anyone want to fill me in on the pros/cons of these?
 
I think I'm leaning toward hotwire. Total cost will be about $1800:

Harness: $1050
Reflash ECU: $250
Diablosport tuner: $500

The MS3 gold box is about the same amount once you buy a throttle body. The others are all at least $1k more expensive.
 
Correct me? You mentioned "not keeping it stock for long" Will the hotwire setup allow you to "allow" for engine changes? You have to pay to reflash each time? And how far can that go?

If you are considering MS3, what is "gold" that some of the other stuff of theirs "is not." That is, hardware, software, that can be integrated to "build" to gold level? That might be a savings.

If a hemi project ever materializes, I'm considering MS3 over Holley

I'd have to find it, a member here did a Hemi/ A body/ MS setup that turned out nice
 
The reflash is just to remove the stock encryption. After that, I can use the diablosport to tune it, but realistically I'll take it to Westech and have them tune it on the dyno

The "gold box" is mostly just nicer packaging, including a pre-built wiring harness.
 
I think @Riddler might be using the hotwire setup. Maybe he can answer some of the other questions. I, too, am curious if there are limits to the tuning capabilities of the stock ECU+hotwire+diablosport setup.
 
payneinthe said:
The reflash is just to remove the stock encryption. After that, I can use the diablosport to tune it, but realistically I'll take it to Westech and have them tune it on the dyno

The "gold box" is mostly just nicer packaging, including a pre-built wiring harness.
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Thanks. Can the diablo stuff handle "fairly wild" combos? Or does it have limits? I have no experience there.
 
payneinthe said:
I think @Riddler might be using the hotwire setup. Maybe he can answer some of the other questions. I, too, am curious if there are limits to the tuning capabilities of the stock ECU+hotwire+diablosport setup.
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I'm not using diablosport. I've chosen to use HP Tuners for my build and it really can do everything. The shop I use has HP Tuners for GM and bought the Hemi key and has been getting good use of it. Once my car is on the road I'll be saving up to supercharge it.

Riddler
 
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