ECM hardware swap.

[V6Buicks]

Hey guys. I have a fun one.

My 2002 Camaro (turbo 3800) currently has its knock sensors disabled. Despite using E85 and an a2a intercooler, my dyno tuner was unable to get rid of KR. Since then, I learned that my PCM hardware is inferior in terms of knock sensing. My idea was to buy a known superior 3800 hardware number (ending in 7440), transfer my tune from the old ECM to the new one and see if I can enable my knock sensors without issues again. Swapping tunes hasn't come easy though...

I bought the ECM on ebay, and when I read it on DHP it showed up as coming from a '00 Century. I tried putting the tune and OS from my old ECM onto the Century ECM, but DHP never supported my OSID. The best I was able to do was switch the OSID of the Century ECM to one from a '99 Camaro.

How critical is it that the OSID matches perfectly in HPT? If I buy credits for my '00 Century/'99 Camaro bastard computer, will I be able to toss my '02 tune straight into it? Doesn't HP automatically update ECMs to the latest OS? Thanks!

[tunerpro]

This isn't going to work, unfortunately. The OS that runs on the ECM MUST match the ECM hardware, and the calibration portion of it (all of the tables you modify, etc.) must match the OS.

[V6Buicks]

This isn't going to work, unfortunately. The OS that runs on the ECM MUST match the ECM hardware, and the calibration portion of it (all of the tables you modify, etc.) must match the OS.

I think I follow you. Are you saying that even if I got credits for my new ECM hardware, I'd have to completely retune it from scratch?

[tunerpro]

Yes. But then you have the issue of getting a workable OE calibration to start from. I'm assuming the 7440 PCM is from a newer model vehicle which isn't a Camaro?