Conveniently, its in my home town, so I will be able to go pick it up later today, but I have a few concerns...
How important is it for the VIN on the ECU to match the VIN of the car? It, of course, is set-up for his VIN, but he told me the local dealership was the one who set his VIN up... is this possible? I'm afraid they'll just reset it. He actually bought it off someone on SaabCentral Classifieds, and he's selling it because they're getting rid of the car and wanted it back close to stock. He also has a 3.5 Fuel Reg I will be picking up.
I suppose if I have any issues I can send it to GS and have them reflash it with the software I need/my VIN.
Also, can someone please send me the link to some ECU Install Instructions. I know i've seen them pop up somewhere, just not sure where.
I'm very weary about this upgrade, seeing as it has so much importance in the car. I don't want to hurt anything, so any tips, advice, or words of "DON"T DO THAT" are greatly appreciated.
You will need to take to the stealer or an saab indy to have the unit married to your car's info (i.e., vin, model, year, all that crap).
Remember you will need to drive to the dealer with your original still installed to to do this. You may or may not be able to pull the old ecu and swap at the garage...depends if the mechanic is cool or not. Two torx screws hold it in place - only one is necessary upon reinstall.
Also, don't for get to install your 3.5bar fpr. Note: the vacuum hose probably should be replaced at this point due to deterioration.
3" exhaust isn't required, though exhaust is recommended. 2.5" would give the best gains for my application, seeing as i don't plan on going past stage 4
i do however, have the 3" Downpipe Version 2, which includes a 3" intermediate pipe, covering about half of the turbo-back system. Yes there is some restriction beyond that point, but I think I'll be ok until I can afford the exhaust
Yea, I got the sw link to put in any vin number and get the immobilization code, car specs and wher it was made, etc.
If you give me the vin of a car, I can get the immobilization code and I could also program it in the firmware of the ecu so it would run in you're car.
Hey did you get the ECU installed yet? I'm glad I was able to "pass the torch," so to speak, of the fastest Saab in town haha.
I drove to the dealership with my glovebox out and had a socket to take the bolt holding the ECU in out. its probably a 7 or 8mm. just be careful pulling the cable off the ECU because that seems like a pretty brittle plastic. I didn't need any other VIN when getting installed, so you should be fine as well. I THINK it came off a 2001, so a perfect match for your car! Worked fine on my '99
Nick, I did open up the box and notice it is definitely programmed via BDM. I always wondered if the major tuners used the same methods or not; and if they had to solder 10 pins to a costly piece of circuitry!! Unfortunately I had no means of actually reading it to compare to stock maps I was hoping to get a head start so when I get back into a Viggen I could go for something higher than that, but I needed money and just had to get rid of it. I'm going to assume the T7Suite maps that come with it should suffice for that, though!
andrew,
haha... yes, pass the torch i saw that on ebay and saw the location and knew it was yours. sorry you had to sell the car, thats a bummer
haven't installed it yet, the service dept at the dealer wasn't open on saturday/sunday, so i'm going to make an appointment this week to see if they can do it. hope they don't charge me it should be really easy for them seeing as i have it in a box on hand, rather than plugged into the car.
really?
i guess i was confused then... i was under the impression they had to remove the ECU to do any tuning. but you're saying it has to actually be plugged in to the car to make changes via Tech II? i didn't know they needed to use OBD, i assumed they could plug right into the ECU...makes sense though. in that case i can see them charging me
Put parts on car.. Regulator etc. Get ecu read but not out
Drive to dealer, easy no long WOT pulls.
They can plug new ecu in and contact TWICE and PROGRAM immobilizer. That is all. IF car no start just unplug and replug trionic otherwise they can clear t7 codes. Sometimes has immob failure code in t7 during programming.
Takes 15 min max. But a very expensive tool so who knows how much they charge. Just make sure they know all that has to be done is in twice.. Nothing in t7.
I worked late last week to get the flanges machined so he could tackle them today. They will be trickling out 1 or 2 a day early this week.
With more fuel press it will just run a little rich.. Not a horrible thing but as you drive it more it makes a mess with the fuel trims and transient enrichment.
Just make sure you make an appointment, or at the very least, make sure they know you are coming in for a ten minute max, purely Tech-II job. Have everything ready to go.. then a tech will just have you unplug the stock ECU and plug back in the Nordic box and they will hook the Tech-II up through the OBD-II port under the steering wheel and change the immobiliser codes so everything matched up with TWICE. Good to go. It may die the first time you try to start ot or even idle funny for a second. Don't worry.. just rev it a little(not like high revs, just keeo the motor going; this happened when I had the stock ECU put in and the FPR was still in). The car will adapt/initialize and be good to go!
You are seriously going to be amazed. We still need to meet up.. maybe I'll bring a Vig-Vert and we can have a get together. There is another '99 in town.. my friend got one after liking mine so much. So another Lightning Blue coupe is likely Brian. He wants to tune but is going to save his money since I redused to straight up give him my Nordic box. I need to ride in your car though.. should be a little quicker than mine with your inlet pipe and should be able to hold longer since I never installed my larger intercooler. by the way my number is 616 334 9747 if ya ever need to get ahold of me. Might be home this next weekend but otherwise I'm here in East Lansing.
yeah... I have been trying to call the dealer all afternoon to set up an appointment, but they're not answering/calling me back.
I'm down for a saab meet sometime... i'll be back in GR this weekend if you do happen to be around. I'll give you a call and we'll figure something out.
Thanks again to everyone for all the help... I can't wait to get this thing in action
you're keeping that interior nice and clean, right? haha your car has one of the nicest interiors I've seen. Besides brand new ones, it'd have to go to your car and a 2000 my Dad bought for parts. 90K miles but the interior is like BRAND NEW. It would NOT suprise me if they were replacement parts inside there.
yeah, i'm taking good care of it :wink: i keep the car really clean, and every month i detail it and put some of that mcguires leather cleaner and conditioner on the seats.
your dad showed me that parts car, and wow is the interior clean! its kind of funny comparing the inside (perfect), to the outside (stripped) and you're right... those could be replacements.
Hey Elmo, is that a 2000 parts-Viggen you have?? I could use a driver side upper seat cover. The Black Leather is busted. Anyways, have fun with the stg3 tune. Mine exposed all the little things that need to be addressed on a hi mileage Vig when you tune it. IC, fuel reg, bpc, bad evap lines, clutch soon , MORE violent torque steer (OK I like this one). Let me know how the intake pipe turns out.
Go to Auto Zone and get some vacuum line. It will be possibly a little thicker, but just make sure the inside diameter fits. I did this when I installed my FPR because the hose was so brittle. Might as well do other vacuum lines while down there, too.
good idea... i needed a project for the weekend anyway. anyone know what the inside diameter is?
oh, btw... i have an appointment set up tomorrow at the dealership to have the ECU taken care of. I'll let you all know how it goes
EDIT: nvm... i did some searching and found out the smaller vacuum lines are 3.5 mm; bigger ones are 6mm. would you guys recommend silicone or stainless? i'll check autozone after work.
Very good idea to replace the lines. On my '02 with just under 50K some of the lines were pretty chalky and hard. Don't miss the short one to the FPR. Nick sells some nice silicone....I'd recommend silicone as it will outlast others and we all know how important vacuum is to boost!!!
Have you done the PCV#6? My clutch started to slip right after I installed my ecu : ( With the new clutch I can now have that beautiful torque steer on the highway......
replaced most of the vacuum lines this afternoon. did some test runs, and they seem to be holding up so far they feel soft though, like they might collapse. but thats probably just me comparing old to new.
could not get to the one going to the FPR... couldn't even get to the FPR to swap that out. i might just have the dealership do it tomorrow to save me the effort
If I find a decent logo I could get you some. I need a fair sized logo so I can vectorize it. Also, the FPR IS a complete hassle. its easiest to take the delivery pipe off from the throttle body or better yet, completely detach it. It is much harder to get in than it is to take out since it is such a tight fit. I would recommend using channel locks of something that can get a wide range, wide & evenly applied pressure in there.
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