How to convert drive by wire
Rent me! per hour
Joined: 03-22-07
Posts: 24,161
Likes: 20
From: Still fixing others mistakes.
step one. get a stand alone
step two. rewire the entire car.
step three. ????
step four. PROFIT!
if you think im kidding, you're seriously not ready to commit to this huge task.
step two. rewire the entire car.
step three. ????
step four. PROFIT!
if you think im kidding, you're seriously not ready to commit to this huge task.
agreed. the PCM not seeing the throttle by wire voltages would throw it into limp mode, and theres no way around that other than a stand alone system
Senior Member
Joined: 02-03-08
Posts: 3,454
Likes: 1
From: Port Perry Ontario
not possible there are no tb of a suitable size for starters (neck down and LS1 F body cable drive from 98? give me a break.) Area is right. Next question...
actualy there are lots of throttle bodies that could work, you dont just have to use a gm throttle body. my old 2.8 cavalier with fiero intake had a 60mm jeep 4.0l throttle body. my friends 3400 cavalier has a 65mm ford 5.0 throttle body. none of them bolted on, but with some injecuity they work fine.
if your running a stock pcm just keep the drive by wire, its not as bad as you might think. however if you plan on seriously upgrading the motor id look to something stand alone. if your on a budget you can do a megasquirt system for around $400.
if your running a stock pcm just keep the drive by wire, its not as bad as you might think. however if you plan on seriously upgrading the motor id look to something stand alone. if your on a budget you can do a megasquirt system for around $400.
Rent me! per hour
Joined: 03-22-07
Posts: 24,161
Likes: 20
From: Still fixing others mistakes.
actualy there are lots of throttle bodies that could work, you dont just have to use a gm throttle body. my old 2.8 cavalier with fiero intake had a 60mm jeep 4.0l throttle body. my friends 3400 cavalier has a 65mm ford 5.0 throttle body. none of them bolted on, but with some injecuity they work fine.
if your running a stock pcm just keep the drive by wire, its not as bad as you might think. however if you plan on seriously upgrading the motor id look to something stand alone. if your on a budget you can do a megasquirt system for around $400.
if your running a stock pcm just keep the drive by wire, its not as bad as you might think. however if you plan on seriously upgrading the motor id look to something stand alone. if your on a budget you can do a megasquirt system for around $400.
the stock ecm MUST use the drive by wire tb from the lsj, or an ls4 to work right. if it is not used the car will not run on the stock ecm/bcm setup. it will throw itself into limp mode and shut itself down. the stock tb can not be set off to the side and a throttle cable system used. airflow is checked against other parts of the map itself in the ecm.
if the stock ecm must be used and you want a throttle cable. you have to re-write the entire em coding to do this. still want to do it? good luck.
you can run a standalone on the lsj. you have to figure out what you want to do as a trigger. either crank trigger with say a 12 to 1 setup, or use an msd dizzy to get the trigger for the spark. you can setup an aem system to batch fire the injectors if you so desire. or you can custom make a crank pick up to do sequential injection.
if you rreeeaaallly want to do the stock ecm, which i advise against in your quest. the pedal the potentiometers come separately. there are two in the black box attached to the throttle pedal itself. also need to wire in certain things from the bcm to work with it as well.
in short. it will be cheaper to go full standalone than to run the stock lsj ecm/bcm.
hopefully this clears the smoke and mirrors **** you have seen already on this topic.
Senior Member
Joined: 06-03-07
Posts: 14,142
Likes: 71
From: NY
nope. doesn't work like that. the leading and trailing voltages of the throttle body come into play big time here. 0-5v, then 5-0v. this is where it gets fun. i spent the better part of a week digging into this via my connections that i have gathered through my time here. valuable to say the least.
the stock ecm MUST use the drive by wire tb from the lsj, or an ls4 to work right. if it is not used the car will not run on the stock ecm/bcm setup. it will throw itself into limp mode and shut itself down. the stock tb can not be set off to the side and a throttle cable system used. airflow is checked against other parts of the map itself in the ecm.
if the stock ecm must be used and you want a throttle cable. you have to re-write the entire em coding to do this. still want to do it? good luck.
you can run a standalone on the lsj. you have to figure out what you want to do as a trigger. either crank trigger with say a 12 to 1 setup, or use an msd dizzy to get the trigger for the spark. you can setup an aem system to batch fire the injectors if you so desire. or you can custom make a crank pick up to do sequential injection.
if you rreeeaaallly want to do the stock ecm, which i advise against in your quest. the pedal the potentiometers come separately. there are two in the black box attached to the throttle pedal itself. also need to wire in certain things from the bcm to work with it as well.
in short. it will be cheaper to go full standalone than to run the stock lsj ecm/bcm.
hopefully this clears the smoke and mirrors **** you have seen already on this topic.
the stock ecm MUST use the drive by wire tb from the lsj, or an ls4 to work right. if it is not used the car will not run on the stock ecm/bcm setup. it will throw itself into limp mode and shut itself down. the stock tb can not be set off to the side and a throttle cable system used. airflow is checked against other parts of the map itself in the ecm.
if the stock ecm must be used and you want a throttle cable. you have to re-write the entire em coding to do this. still want to do it? good luck.
you can run a standalone on the lsj. you have to figure out what you want to do as a trigger. either crank trigger with say a 12 to 1 setup, or use an msd dizzy to get the trigger for the spark. you can setup an aem system to batch fire the injectors if you so desire. or you can custom make a crank pick up to do sequential injection.
if you rreeeaaallly want to do the stock ecm, which i advise against in your quest. the pedal the potentiometers come separately. there are two in the black box attached to the throttle pedal itself. also need to wire in certain things from the bcm to work with it as well.
in short. it will be cheaper to go full standalone than to run the stock lsj ecm/bcm.
hopefully this clears the smoke and mirrors **** you have seen already on this topic.
Thread Starter
New Member
Joined: 11-09-08
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: ashland,ky
I decided to run the drive by wire. I am going to mount the pedal assembly in a water proof box and run a cable from my foot pedal to it. Now just figuring out how to fuel the beast is my next obstacle.
Senior Member
Joined: 06-03-07
Posts: 14,142
Likes: 71
From: NY
Senior Member
Joined: 05-20-06
Posts: 6,910
Likes: 6
From: Phoenix, AZ
It wouldn't be easy. The only way it could work is if the voltage from the throttle position sensor were the same. In that case you would have to use a throttlebody that had a throttle position sensor attached (5v). Here is where some of the problems come in. Most Cabled throttle bodys will open 100%, a lot of drive by wire TBs don't. So although 0v may mean closed, 5v could mean a number of things.
In addition to that you have to rescale the value for the thottle body because I guarantee you that whatever you end up using will have a different diameter than stock.
You would also have to disable any and all codes related to the throttle body, throttle position correlation, etc. Completely disable them from reporting errors, instead of just turning the lights off.
And after that you can begin your trial and error. Or start all over from scratch.
