1997 ECM Swap for 1996 Beretta's

[3X00-Modified]

Yes this is true, there is a 1997 ECM that will plug and play with our setups and allow us to USE HP Tuners, or just gain more table support if your a DHP user.

In the 1996 Beretta bin for DHP, there are some tables that are miss mapped, or don't have the proper multipliers so the values are weird, Also the 96 ECM's were first generation OBDII so they were only a 256k file. The 1997 or 058 (last three digits of service NO) ECM will plug right in and fit the ECM bracket and that will give you the ability to tune if you want to buy a HP Tuner, OR it will just open up some more table support through DHP.

I swapped over to the 1997 ECM once I got my cam setup in my old red car and found that the ECM provided a better smoother idle and a better starting base since I was using a Venture bin file which is a factory large port 3400 install. This gives you a head start on tuning if you've swapped in a 3400.

As far as HP Tuner support goes, this option allows you to find an ECM from a 1997 Monte Carlo and install that and then you can purchase HPTuners and have a supported ECM to tune. Unfortunately with HP Tuners you need to find that EXACT application ECM to get the program to recognize what your working with. With DHP you can grab ANY 058 ECM and flash it with either a 1997 Monte file OR a 1997 Venture file. I think DHP supports the same 1997 Monte file that HP Tuners supports so if you have a friend with a DHP unit, he can prep any 058 ECM to hopefully work with your HP Tuner. (I have not tested this so don't quote me on this)

Things I've noticed you need to change to make this work...

First things first is the transmission shift tables, You should really inspect them and make sure that they will provide a proper part throttle shift point and not mess anything up with your application, You also need to check the WOT shift points and make sure your not going to short shift. There is also a Drive sprocket ratio setting you need to check. IIRC the Venture's are set to 1 or 1:1 ratio, a Beretta is a 1.12:1 trans to engine ratio stock so you will have to change this to read 1.12, This will prevent a code of Transmission component slip from coming up.

I also have a list of DTC's for each bin 1996 Beretta and 1997 Venture so I could compare and see which ones were present in which file, and which ones were enabled or disabled so I wouldn't end up with some oddball codes for no reason.

I've attached the PDF I created of the compared 1997 Venture and 1996 Beretta file to show what changes I made via DHP. HP Tuners would be the same, but the DTC Enabled section is equivalent to unchecking or checking off the SES Light box.

I'll expand upon this more later.