XFI on a stock GN?

RickC

New Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2007
Yep, I sure did. My wife and I are the original owners of our 87 GN. Never did anything to it but drive it (now has 155K). Over the last 5-10 years or so the car has just run like crap. Hesitation, poor mileage, etc... My wife made it clear I better fix it right or get rid of it. Replaced everything that I thought could even slightly affect driveablity and power (fpr, fp, IAC, MAFS, injectors, radiator, water pump, ECM) to name just a few. Still ran like crap. Only thing left was an ECM upgrade. Started looking at various approaches for that. From lots of reading here I decided there were basically 2 routes irrespective of MAF/Speed Density debate. The 'translator' fool the factory ECM route and the totally aftermarket ECM route.

Obviously over my head I needed help. I studied this forum carefully looking for helpful vendors. In the Performance ECM section it looked like Cal Hartline was always jumpin in to help posters so I gave him a call.

During several conversations and emails Cal made it clear that the XFI was probably overkill for my meager goals, factory drivability and power. I decided to go with the XFI anyway because of the way Cal explained it and supported it.

It arrived with a basic tune already setup for my car. All parts needed were included. Installation was exactly as he had described it, no surprises. We setup a time and over the phone Cal walked me through startup, warmup and hotstart. Then he gave me clear instructions on how to proceed to tune it myself for driveability and encouraged me to try it myself before calling him in to do it.

Wow does it run better. I don't have much spare time so its taken me a couple months playing with it to really get to know what the tables do but I have it running better than factory now. The car is fun again! The car has never been to the track but that may change soon.

I am very happy with the support I recieved through the whole process. If you're considering an XFI you can't go wrong with Cal and Holly.
 
Wow! Thanks for the kind words! I never once thought this system was over your head. Overkill.... maybe ;) Beleive it or not, yours was one of the tougher start up programs I have done. Not very often I have to populate the EGR and Wastegate Solenoid Tables along with the TCC and AC stuff. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call. If/When you decide to modify it, let me know. I promise not to tell your wife :tongue:
 
Figured I would post an update. I finally got my FAST XFI installed on the car. As with most GN projects it started as a weekend job almost a year ago and should be done this week.
I can't say enough how simple this installation is. The Casper conversion box is awesome. I have to wire the WBO2 through the firewall and it should be ready to go. This will be on a very close to stock 48,000 mile car, (TE-44, 60s and a 3"DP) car. It does not even have a boost gauge yet! Cal has been very helpful and is definitely the place to go if you are looking to make the switch. More updates once it is running!
 
Did you update the box to the new self learning software?
 
Thanks for the update and great feedback. Please give me a call if you have any questions and definitly call me before you start the car.
 
Did you update the box to the new self learning software?

If he bought it from me in March, it probably is a 2.0 box. If it isn't, give me a call and I we can update it. Either way, the box should get reflashed, etc..
 
The 2.010 has some nice features, I really like the 02 correction inhibit delay..
 
It's a delay that you can put in the O2 correction to stop it from chasing spikes in the A/F ratio. As far as I know, this is something that only the XFI system has. There are ways to play with the tune to get similar results.
From FAST's website:
A user defined time to zero out the O2 correction. This feature can be used to keep the O2 correction from chasing false air fuel values. An example would be on a shift you could get a lean spike. This delay will not allow the ECU to add correction to this little spike which can cause the O2 correction to falsely chase this little spike.
 
It's kind of like this..GN's are 80's car's with same aged electronics,Oils have changed,Fuels have changed. You can have a chip burned, But unless your on a dyno while it's burnt, Forget the tune, you'll get a generic tune. Even with dyno tuned chip an modified ECM your car won't run high RPM's. With an XFI an one dyno trip,your car gets a tune for it's current conditions an add-ons with a "Faster" (pun intended ,heh) computer controlling it all...If your reading this an own car with factory type ECM,if your car breaks-up over 100mph an you've done all the fuel mod's,an others things to try an solve it... Add Xfi, it Won't anymore!! It'll Fly!!
 
Can't say enough about the XFI.... Been in my gn a little over a year, about 50 passes and 13,000 miles of trouble free engine performance.
Cal tuned it right after installation and haven't had to change anything since....eliminates guess work about what the hell is going on inside that V6.
 
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