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Custom Tuning a Pathfinder ECU, the Project begins.


Nefarious
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So after an intense final year of college I am finally finished with my diploma and I have time to get back into this project. Made quite a bit of progress on it now and I'm just waiting for my new wideband and flash EPROMs to arrive in the mail to begin testing in the truck.

 

I will currently be using my new 92 pathfinder socketted ECU with a new reprogrammed eeprom chip with optimized fuel and timing maps and support for an N60 maf from a maxima to get started. Wideband with logging output will be installed in the truck and the last task will be to convert the pathy to use consult for direct logging and map tracing which may involve switching to a maxima ecu.

 

 

 

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Heres the stock 1995 pathfinder eprom chip. This has the newest version of the fuel and timing maps for the vg30e that I could find and definitely has some refinements over earlier vg30e tunes that ive seen from pathfinders and other vg30e equipped vehicles that ive seen. I had to extract the binary file from this eprom and then map out my own addressing file based on other vg30e tunes that I found along with some lucky guesses and ended up with a complete TunerPro data set to work with.

(The tape on top is to protect the chips data from being erased since the stock eproms are actually UV eraseable and sunlight can cause corruption)

 

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The hardware that I'm using to read and write eproms.

 

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Socketted 95 Pathfinder ECU for testing.

 

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Shot of the fully mapped and addressed Pathfinder tune after making some changes to run the N60 maf as well as optimize fuel and timing maps, utilizing TunerPro software.

 

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Edited by Nefarious
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Here's the new rig that this is all going into. Grad present from my other half. 1992 Path SE fully loaded with sunroof (finally!), tire carrier, 4 wheel discs, LSD, snorkel, etc.. best of all it has an immaculate frame with very little body rust. Came with a 4" trailmaster suspension lift, will be adding the 3+3 lift from my old red 93 and swapping over the VG33E swap at the same time.

 

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Here's the mass air flow sensor that I'll be using, came from a early 90s maxima.

 

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and here is my custom modified VG33E throttle body machined to accept the VG30E tps and throttle shaft. In the process of figuring out the lines and idle control to convert the VG33E upper intake manifold to work in a WD21 chassis as well.

 

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Tested the TPS sensor output resistance after mounting and it is exactly within spec as per FSM. Should work great!

 

The throttle body/intake manifold from a VG33E is not a required part of this process by any means but I had a couple lying around and I'll be running a VG33E block/heads in the truck soon enough so i thought I would see if I could make it all work at the same time to get the most performance possible.

 

 

Edited by Nefarious
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Nice work, and that's a fine acquisition from your other half! I look forward to hearing how the new chip works out, congrats on the final year also!

 

Thanks for the kind words. its nice to be finished and back to work, finally have some time for projects again!

 

Will most definitely keep updated with progress as the last few parts arrive and the in-vehicle testing begins!

Edited by Nefarious
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  • 4 weeks later...

Well my new flash eproms finally arrived from overseas. These will replace the factory uv erasable eproms and are much easier to work with once properly setup. Getting them setup on the other hand took some real patience but after a good 8 hours of tweaking hardware and software settings I finally got the new chips functioning properly!

 

So far I have burned the factory 1995 pathfinder tune on to the chip and then verified the chip carries the tune successfully. Next step is testing out the socketted ecu in the truck with the factory tune. Once everything proves to function properly, I will then begin applying the changes i have made to enhance the tune and add support for the N60 maf.

 

Making some real progress now..

 

20140911_160010_zps0b9e3aaa.jpg

Edited by Nefarious
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This sounds pretty awesome! Nice work so far. I'm an EET, shoulda went EE. It's been so long since I messed with programming chips f I wouldn't know what I was doing, especially on the Pathy.

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Oh right on man. Technologist?? What industry do you work in?

 

I'm atechnologist myself specializing in industrial automation, but currently I am working in building automation systems. :)

Worked for Intel for 10 years repairing equipment that made the computer chips. Got layed off a few years ago. Now I manage all the military movements for New Mexico. Talk about a career change. Edited by Kafike
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Worked for Intel for 10 years repairing equipment that made the computer chips. Got layed off a few years ago. Now I manage all the military movements for New Mexico. Talk about a career change.

oh that's a definite career change but sounds interesting for sure!

 

And adamzan; yes those are snes controllers :) just finished fixing the power supply to get the old beast running again. I am also a major fan of retro video games. Snes, n64, early Playstation, so good.....lol.

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Question about the MAF. What needs to be done to have the motor work with a bigger MAF, not plug and play? Was just talking to my buddy about a bigger MAF on his Mustang (to go with his other upgrades). I have a VG33 sitting in the garage I haven't had time to mess with. I'm thinking of having my buddies shop swap it for me along with the VG30E cams and Mr. 510's adaptor.

Edited by Kafike
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That would be the way to go. I didn't use Mr 510 adapter myself for my truck but I did for my girlfriends pathy and it made the swap go a lot quicker.

 

vg33e swap , intake/headers/exhaust and vg30e cams was the best thing I ever did to this truck and really woke it up but I know there's more to be had...especially after my thezstore re ground camshafts show up!

 

To run the n60 maf, you must run a Socketted ecu (28 pin, DIP socket ) with a custom programmed eprom with the VQ table for the maf of choice programmed into it. The maf values just tell the ecu how much air is entering the engine and can be run with an otherwise stock tune to keep your emissions the same for smog checks if you have that where you live. Where I live has zero smog laws at all, so I plan to add more aggressive fuel and timing tables as well as the n60 maf myself. ?

Edited by Nefarious
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No smog checks here at all. I never really thought, or looked into, about the MAF in our Pathys. I'm not gonna go as in depth as you are. Just swap like I said earlier. Will be very interesting to see what you can do with the reprogramming and all :) . What about the MAF from the VG33 in the Pathy?

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That would work just fine as long as you can track down a VQ table for one. I just plan to use the n60 maf as it has ample flow space and a much better more modern maf design with the suspended center element. They are also dirt cheap where I live!

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And adamzan; yes those are snes controllers :) just finished fixing the power supply to get the old beast running again. I am also a major fan of retro video games. Snes, n64, early Playstation, so good.....lol.

 

Damn, why do we have to live on opposite sides of the country :(

 

Sry for the thread jack.

 

I also noticed you're running windows vista, you should upgrade to 7 (being an IT guy I noticed, hehe).

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Damn, why do we have to live on opposite sides of the country :(

 

Sry for the thread jack.

 

 

 

I also noticed you're running windows vista, you should upgrade to 7 (being an IT guy I noticed, hehe).

 

I know right? Well see the problem is you live in the wrong end of the country! You gotta move over here to the land of beautiful ocean beaches, forests, lakes, weather and lots and lots of trails! ?

 

haha no problem! I'm actually running Vista only on my purposely old desktop. Its an old pentium 4 box tbat i use to play old windows games (like system shock 2 that wont run on newer computers) and run my eprom programmer. The eprom programmer that I use was last updated in 200, lol. Keep in mind these chips are VERY old technology by today's standards so getting the old programmers to work with new computers can be a pain. It also has to have a dedicated parallel port with true LPT1 communication in order to function and none of my new computers even have parallel port! Hahaha.

 

I actually run windows 7 on my laptop and 8.1 on my transformer t100 and I agree 7 is where it's at!! I like it more than prior and later versions.

Edited by Nefarious
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Well just wanted to give a little update.... it works!!!! So freaking stoked right now, a year or so of part time planning, research, learning, acquiring parts and patience has finally paid off. So far the truck is running on a custom programmed flash eprom with the stock 1995 pathfinder tune. Next step will be to implement some fuel and timing changes and swap to the n60 maf! ???

 

Today is a good day!

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haha no problem! I'm actually running Vista only on my purposely old desktop. Its an old pentium 4 box tbat i use to play old windows games (like system shock 2 that wont run on newer computers) and run my eprom programmer. The eprom programmer that I use was last updated in 200, lol. Keep in mind these chips are VERY old technology by today's standards so getting the old programmers to work with new computers can be a pain. It also has to have a dedicated parallel port with true LPT1 communication in order to function and none of my new computers even have parallel port! Hahaha.

 

I hear that! I still have systems with IDE ports for similar reasons.

 

Well just wanted to give a little update.... it works!!!! So freaking stoked right now, a year or so of part time planning, research, learning, acquiring parts and patience has finally paid off. So far the truck is running on a custom programmed flash eprom with the stock 1995 pathfinder tune. Next step will be to implement some fuel and timing changes and swap to the n60 maf! ???

 

Today is a good day!

 

Nice work! Thanks for posting this thread, it has been a good one to follow! :beer:

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No problem! It's been a fun one and really rewarding when it all works out!

 

I'll keep posted once the wideband o2 arrives and I finish my knock sensor monitor circuit for data logging, then the real fun begins to see what we can get extra on this motor while still keeping it completely safe and healthy and avoiding detonation entirely. It's a little easier when I live at sea level and in a mild climate with no smog requirements, its the ideal power making conditions! haha..... cause. . Moh powah is moh bettah!

Edited by Nefarious
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Excellent thread!! I'm subscribed! Possibly addicted?! I was thinking of doing a GM 5.3 swap later, but, keep us posted, this might change that.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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So far so good! Even with the slight changes I've made so far, the gf pathy can make it up hills in 4th gear at 50km/h without any bogging that she used to have to shift down to third for! And we have only added a small bit of timing on the timing tables thus far and the engine is still pig rich under load (like all pathy are for some reason). Waiting for the second wideband o2 to show up and her new exhaust to go in before we continue to push the tune. I'm also working on a custom piece of electronics to have full time knock monitoring with a knock light.

 

Lots of fun things in the works! I'll keep posted for sure!

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