Retired so it's time to learn something

[2seater]

I have many interests but all things mechanical, or related to it, fascinate me. I have had a '90 Buick Reatta for over twenty years which has been my ongoing project. It has been my experimental baby, off and on, almost since I bought it. I have a homemade flowbench and pretty much learn via the empirical method. I have had chips done for me over the years but have never really delved into the details of learning to do my own. Unfortunately I guess I sort of picked an orphan vehicle, with an ECM that isn't very popular (1228253?), an engine that is an in-between design and the onboard electronics that talk to each other so a stand alone ECM will lose much of the cars functionality. Keeps my old brain workin' though :)
Best regards to all,
Hal

[1project2many]

Welcome, Hal

Sounds like you'd fit right in around this place. Reatta's are cool little cars and we don't see many of them around in the northease any more.

I believe I have two or three of those '8253s out in the barn along with the old on board CRT and BCM which Buick sold in their Riv's. I had dreams years ago of making that system talk with a 7730 or another ecm on a V8 but life kept happening and the project got moved further and further out of sight. I think there is a definition file out there if you decide to learn to do the programming yourself.

Feel free to post questions or project pictures and notes. And welcome to gearhead-efi!

[2seater]

Thanks for taking me in :)) Yes, the late '80's-early '90's Riv's and Reatta's are related under the skin, and many parts interchange. You can even bolt the front clip of a Riv on a Reatta, (Riveatta), not sure about the reverse. I did find the files I needed on this site thanks to some guidance on the TunerPro subforum. This place is terrific. I have a pretty battered '89 that all works but was purchased as a different sort of project for a few hundred $$$. My '90 is summer only so still has no rust issues even here in WI. The '89, not so much. My imaginary project, and the beauty of fwd, is it is all packaged as a unit and should be right at home in place of the non-existent backseat, at least I think so. Funny how retired guys all say they wonder how they had time to work; they are so right. Oh yeah, the '90 has two engines, one stock and one that is more compression, and both are turbocharged (homemade), with two different iterations, hence the need to learn a bit of tuning. Is there a part of this site appropriate for a mechanical type of question dealing with knock and internal engine components?
H