Newbie to diagnostics/tuning

[MNwe4]

Hey guys, just wanna say I love how much support this forum offers! To quickly get to the point I have a fair amount of upgrades on my 87we4. I have all the necessary gauges: boost, fuel press., a/f wideband, oil press, and temp. However, I do not have any sort of diagnostic or tuning equipment. I see scanmasters are widely popular and powerlogger and fast xfi pop up alot. What direction do you recommend I go in?

A few things to note: I am running the MAF translator and have a custom chip that I believe was burned with a program called TunerCat. Fuzzy on those details now, but am looking forward to tuning myself down the road. Also, the knock sensor is original. Do those usually shoot craps or are they pretty reliable? Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[TurboDave]

Hey guys, just wanna say I love how much support this forum offers! To quickly get to the point I have a fair amount of upgrades on my 87we4. I have all the necessary gauges: boost, fuel press., a/f wideband, oil press, and temp. However, I do not have any sort of diagnostic or tuning equipment. I see scanmasters are widely popular and powerlogger and fast xfi pop up alot. What direction do you recommend I go in?

A few things to note: I am running the MAF translator and have a custom chip that I believe was burned with a program called TunerCat. Fuzzy on those details now, but am looking forward to tuning myself down the road. Also, the knock sensor is original. Do those usually shoot craps or are they pretty reliable? Thanks in advance for the help!

First a quick note on the difference between scan tools and engine management systems.

Scan tools are just that, it's a diagnostic device that can monitor various functions in the powertrain.
Scanmaster is the most popular because of it's easy hookup, and it monitors so many different functions.
Power Logger is a far more powerful scan tool that attaches directly to the ECM's address and data port and can display virtually everyfunction you can imagine and at VERY high data rates (but requires a laptop).

Engine manage systems are many, like XFI, Bigstuff3, Fast, etc. etc. but these systems actually take the place of the stock ECM.
There are piggy back units like the Translator Pro which replaces some funtions of the ECM while retaining it, and allowing you to run mafless.
You have the most common type piggyback system in the basic translator. It just allows the use of the chevy maf in a buick.

You'll also want to investagate other chip options, as it sounds like you've got a home grown variety of unknown pedigree.

The best chip for your present Translator would be Full Throttle's "Extender" chip.

You'll get tons of answers on your post.

In a nutshell,

Scanmaster to start
Powerlogger as you learn more (power logger and scanmaster in combo can read your wideband directly without an additional gauge)

 

[MNwe4]

Thanks for the good info. I knew scan tools and tuning equipment were different, but I'm new to both. Didn't know which ones did what. Just trying to learn as much as I can. I'll be getting a Scanmaster for sure then. I'll probably stay away from the Fast and Big Stuff sort of thing for a few years at least.

 

[MNwe4]

Anybody know about the reliability of the knock sensor? Is there a way to check it? If I'm hooking up a new scanmaster I want to be sure it's getting the correct signals.

 

[TurboDave]

The knock sensor is a very reliable part, assuming the connection is good and it hasn't been under/over torqued (14lb/ft).