PCM / Chip Upgrade?

okay, gotcha.

Cold air is good because it's dense which allows more into the engine, but a warmer running engine will produce more power. Therefore, if you can get your motor to run reliably at a higher temperature you will get higher hp gains (ie adiabatic). Heat is energy, and loss of heat is loss of energy.

I don't know if I'd go that far. Cold air is good, but hot engines are not, especially not in the case of our supercharged engines.

Our engines will not make more power when hot, because of knock. I know they used to say the more heat you could keep inside the engine (referring to the NA type), the more power you could make, so it makes more sense to use cast iron parts rather than aluminum. But I read about a test done a couple years ago where they compared a couple cast iron V-8s, swapping out the block and heads from iron to aluminum, and the result was the engines made the exact same power. However, the aluminum engines are much lighter, and they radiate heat much more efficiently, so they run cooler - these are key advantages in racing, and in any performance car, really. The reasons you see cast iron stay around so long is long-term durability, and manufacturing costs. There are probably other reasons, but making power is not one of them. Aluminum engines make just as much power without trapping in the heat, and they are lighter, cooler running = better all around.

For the supercharged 3800, it's all about flow of air molecules in, through, and out of the engine (good breathing, boost, and keeping the air cool), and also keeping knock in check. This means heat is bad, always. You want to engine to get warm so that it works most efficiently, but above 180ºF you won't get any extra power from increased combustion temps. If an L67 used aluminum block and heads, you would likely see more power from it. So as a rule, keep intake air temps as cool as possible, or intercool. Keep engine and transmission temps as close to 180ºF as possible. Modify for better breathing. Doing these things will help your engine live longer, make more power, and perform better overall.

More on engine air flow: https://rivperformance.editboard.com/series-ii-engine-transmission-f4/why-is-air-flow-important-t194.htm

I figured it was crap.