Naturally asperated vs SC

Having owned and/or driven numerous 3800 Series II cars, I find the naturally asperated cars are peppier, and have more lively throttle response than the SC cars. You really have to put your foot into a SC engine to get it to "wake up". I guess it must be because when not employing the SC, the engine has less compression and less horsepower and torque until you have that boost from the SC. Just driving around town I find the SC cars a bit sluggish compared to the non SC 3800 Series II cars.

Removing the third gear lock up and raising the shift points more then my tuners standard tune made a huge difference with part throttle acceleration. It takes very little effort for my car to start rolling, there is no lugging in any gears and it's more in the powerband now if I push it. The car now moves well for almost 4,000 lbs lol, just my take.

Yes, I am looking for a good place to buy a properly tuned ECM. Any suggestions? There are no used ECMs in the junkyards for my 1996 Riv. So I would have to buy one outright or return mine as a core.

Intenseracing.com can do an exchange. Their website will explain everything. If you want I could give you my order number and have John tune your car the same way I did, you will be very pleased or he could dial it in however you like.

Thank you. I will look into it. I may take you up on copying your tune.

I have felt the same way as skatterbrane, my 02 Regal accelerated quickly & easily, & I can tell the Riv has more HP but you have to "convince" it.

Carguy, If you don't mind sharing I may want that number too.
Thanks,
Jbird

carguy8888 wrote:

Intenseracing.com can do an exchange. Their website will explain everything. If you want I could give you my order number and have John tune your car the same way I did, you will be very pleased or he could dial it in however you like.

carguy, our 96's have the 4t60, will they tune the same as yours?

I forgot the 96 is obd 1, that might be an issue, email him.

1996 is OBD II. 1995 is either OBD I or OBD 1.5.

skatterbrane wrote:

1996 is OBD II.  1995 is either OBD I or OBD 1.5.

Right, we are OBDII,
Carguy I was referring to transmission type, we have the 4t60, 97 and up went to HD 4t65.
I wasn't sure if your code would be the same/work with the different transmissions.

Trans type should not matter. The HP Tuners software will give him the same shift points and lock up chart. Plus he will do a bunch of other stuff. Here is my order number if you guys want. It is not a race car lol, but much improved.
Order #: 36170
Date: 11/21/2020 22:38:15

Intenseracing.com did mine also amazing difference just touch the gas at say 35-40 in a instant back in 2nd gear and boost  i did a 3.5 pully plog 3" down pipe  Send him your computer he will tune it and  got it back in a few days no start up problems

Thanks for sharing guys, I plan to look into getting this done!

Jbird

Intense Racing cannot do 1996 OBDII on V6 cars. He just emailed me.

skatterbrane wrote:

Intense Racing cannot do 1996 OBDII on V6 cars. He just emailed me.

let down!

That sucks major difference

You may get the same answer but you could try ZZP.

carguy8888 wrote:

You may get the same answer but you could try ZZP.

ZZP: "We do not offer anything for any 96 or older cars, 97+ only. Some '96 cars can run a 1997 pcm core and their car function correctly email Tim@ZZPerformance.com for more details."

I have emailed him about this I'll share what he has to say.

Jbird

I haven't made a write-up or anything but the supercharger delay as it were, can definitely be mitigated, Basically you just change one of the vac hoses to make the bypass valve stay closed at idle/light load cruise instead of sitting in bypass until you press the gas. The cost is primarily gas mileage. I have my car setup to do work either way on a button.

Besides that, it'd be tune like everyone says and there is a small difference in final drive gearing and even cam phase that promotes peppiness in the non-supercharged engines.

I really think the bypass mod alone cures throttle response quite nicely though

turtleman wrote:

I haven't made a write-up or anything but the supercharger delay as it were, can definitely be mitigated, Basically you just change one of the vac hoses to make the bypass valve stay closed at idle/light load cruise instead of sitting in bypass until you press the gas. The cost is primarily gas mileage. I have my car setup to do work either way on a button.

Besides that, it'd be tune like everyone says and there is a small difference in final drive gearing and even cam phase that promotes peppiness in the non-supercharged engines.

I really think the bypass mod alone cures throttle response quite nicely though

Sounds like you made an ECO switch, a write up would be cool!

ZZP states this on their site:
We do not offer anything for any 96 or older cars, 97+ only. Some '96 cars can run a 1997 pcm core and their car function correctly email Tim@ZZPerformance.com for more details.

His email response was this:
"If you buy a PCM from a verified 97 Riviera and when you install it, it runs and drives correctly, I can tune the 97 core."

So I will be looking for a 97 PCM, if anyone has one..
Thanks,
Jbird

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