swapping 3500 into 2000 GA needs a tune?

[Wallace]

I have a line on a 2000 GA that needs an engine. I have a 04' 3500 out of an Uplander in my shop on the stand. It is missing the fuel rails but I have the injectors and pigtails. If I use the 3400 UIM, rails, and injectors will I need to modify the tune to run the car? Not really interested in all out performance just a budget driver. I sent you guys an email about buying the necessary parts. Any info appreciated. Thanks.

[SappySE107]

I shot you an email with the links and information I have on the swap. You should tune the car for optimal performance, regardless of stock, swap, or modified. We do not have a shelf tune for a 3400 PCM running a 3500, and won't until we get that far with the test vehicle.

[boomofdoom88]

I put a 3500 into my 2000 GrandAm a year ago. I beleive there are just too many variables to get a good "shelf" tune. If you want your fuel trims to be as close to zero as possible, you'll have to tune the engine once its installed. Something as simple as a change in your intake will skew your maf calibration off. Money being no object buy HPTuners from Wot-tech, you wont be dissapointed. I'm no expert but if you need, I'll share my configs and tune with you.

[Wallace]

Unfortunately I am poor at the moment. How did the car run without the tune? If I somehow did magically come up with money for the HPTuners is it easy to work with? I'm a decent wrench but I sure aint no tuner.

[SappySE107]

It isn't 100% user friendly out of the box, but with the config file we have on the site (i can email it as well), tuning is pretty straight forward. We offer support to everyone that buys the setup from us, and the community also helps when they can We have unlimited V6 credits for cars, so we can write and send files through email, and you can send us datalogs to make modifications from.

[boomofdoom88]

Unfortunately I am poor at the moment. How did the car run without the tune? If I somehow did magically come up with money for the HPTuners is it easy to work with? I'm a decent wrench but I sure aint no tuner.

If I remember right, it was about 10% too rich with 28 lb/hr fuel flow using the 3400 uim and throttle body. It wasn't enough to throw a warning light tho. With lack of tuning, I guess a person could just run a scanner and adjust their fuel flow to get their fuel trims closer. This is assuming you install an adjustable fpr which is costly on its own.