I need huge help with QH/ Binary Editor

I realize that there's lots of threads in the search function, but I couldn't find anything that comprehensively dealt with this.....people seem to have one issue or a bunch. I've gone on BE's help/ walkthrough, but I'm extremely frustrated right now, because I'm coming from an SCT Livewire on my Mustang which is plug, play, tune, go. It literally takes 10 minutes to set up, and perhaps I naively thought that this would be as easy. Dave has been great with working with me, but he's busy (rightfully so), and I don't want to bombard him with all the questions that I need answered, and I need as much help for a noob who wants to get in, drive and be done with this frustrating stuff, and hopefully by the end of this weekend, so I need the quickest help possible.

Hopefully there is someone else (or multiple people) that were as baffled as I was going into this and can relate. I'm generally adept at computer stuff and technical stuff, but I think that there's something with the QH, mixed with the BE and strategy this and that GURE/ A9L etc, where it's like trying to almost decode a bunch of different languages. Moates and BE and everything is top notch technology for the OBD1 platform, but it's still very difficult for me to figure out what is going on. I really appreciate the information on this site, in general.

I've installed the QH chip on my SC, and it is working correctly, because it is reading it and connecting. So that's step one. I had did the Ford read function to take a copy of the stock tune before I had started the car, and it looks as though it had worked (though it asked for something like "eg: A9L"), so I don't even know if I had saved it under the right BEB information. Honestly, this is a foreign language to me. I'm not sure if I was sent a strategy file with the BE/ QH, either. I had accidentally clicked on the mode 1 factory, and had got it back to mode 2, but I don't know if I had deleted or changed anything in the process.....and likely have. I do know that on BE's help/ walkthrough, they say to go into program files on your computer, under the Binary Editor, and then look for a "def" file. There isn't any "def" folder, and I looked under the other folders to see if there was anything that was mislabelled, and it still wasn't in there.

Okay, I think that I'm on the right track. I had gone to EEC Analyzer/ BE's site, and found this page:

http://www.eecanalyzer.net/strategies

Based on what I've concluded from Googling "X1A2 strategy", it appears that Decipha (on another board, and also here) had said that the X1A2 ECU/ catch code is a GSALI. At the EEC Analyzer strategy download page, it has the X1A2.bin stock calibration, and "GSALI read only Derek.cry" file. Is this acceptable to use?

Just to make sure the ECU is still functional (and that it didn't somehow get shorted with static or whatnot), if the ECU is done, will the car not read anything from the Quarterhorse? I can't get any of the PID's or scalars up at engine off key on, and the car won't turn over. Battery is reading 12 volts, I had double checked everything after I had installed my cam and heads.

The cry file you need to pay for to use. If you haven't paid for it you won't be able to do much.

That being said you need to go into BE and load the definition file first which is the GSALI. then you load a BIN file or what you read off the EEC.

I doubt you fried the EEC. I'm not good at explaining stuff especially when I don't have BE up in front of me.

If you haven't bought the cry file then you need to go to the register tab and get your machine code to send to dave so he can send you a key after you pay him.

If you haven't already read this forum you should. Whether you are looking for help from Dave or not, this post will provide at least an outline of what you need to do.

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?134899-Helpful-tuning-files

1FSTBIRD:
IIRC, that message you are seeing (with the "E.G. A9L") is just so BE can write some kind of descriptor into the .BEB file.

While I was tuning my 5.0 V8 vs your 3.8SC engine, I suspect you will find my thread going over my experiences with BE+QH from TCCOA to be useful:
http://forums.tccoa.com/12-eec-tuni...underbird-5-0-tuning-quarterhorse-basics.html

I just updated it; some sections (like my internal debate about using the stock tbird ECU vs switching to a mustang ECU) you can ignore.

-g

That's great--S4Gunn, that's a pretty comprehensive writeup on tuning information and whatnot!

1FSTBRD said:

That's great--S4Gunn, that's a pretty comprehensive writeup on tuning information and whatnot!

Click to expand...

Glad I could help. When I first started working with QH, I didn't find a super clear walkthrough of what I could do with QH and how exactly to piece together a solution; I just knew the broad strokes -- that QH would allow me to tweak some of the scalar variables (like the rev limiter) to better suit my needs (keeping my V8 alive for 10+ hrs on the track.)

From what I can see, the biggest challenge you'll find with tuning will be in partial throttle conditions if your engine is significantly modded beyond stock form (bigger SC, significant displacement increase, or god forbid a turbo).

Even with my mods (bored 20 over, GT40 heads, e303 cam, and GT40 intake), I know my car was perfectly driveable under stock conditions -- even if it probably runs slightly leaner b/c of the increased airflow. For me, the only real "performance tweaks" I made were to the WOT throttle table. Since my my ability to datalog under WOT conditions is pretty limited (I can't exactly take it on the hwy). This may be different for you.

If your current setup is significantly different from stock, you'll need to spend a lot more time working on partial throttle conditions to limit surging and bogging. While I suspect that the cheapest dyno tuners purely focus on WOT (to show you they made MOAH POWAH for your $$$), I expect that a quality dyno tuner would also focus on the partial throttle conditions -- something you should also do.

Of course, if this is just a quarter mile car, who cares?
-g

S4Gunn, I have lots of mods (ported heads with three angle valve job, aftermarket Comp cam, ported late model blower, etc etc). I had experienced surging and idling/ bogging issues with my Mustang after I did the cam and heads last month. I raised the idle by 200 rpm (both drive and neutral), but it's fine now. I suspect that I will have the same issue with the T-Bird.

Everything's a little clearer now. I've found that the learning curve with the BH/ QH is far steeper than with an SCT tuner, but the yield and overall payoff is greater. I'd found Decipha's information to be really good, too.