94 Firebird 3.4L OBD1 swap

[Firehawk94]

I have been thinking about this swap. I think ForcedFirebird would like to chime in on this one I want to venture into the world of tuning as a hobby, but I know it cant be done easily with the OBD 1.5 crap. My car has the 4L60E which makes the swap even more difficult and I was just simply wondering if it could be done. Please voice your thoughts

[Mars]

Well you can likely get a manual valve body and shift it with a ratchet shifter. TCC should still work with OBD1 if you get the VSS dialed in.

I am doing just this, but I want to get a 1993 or older with the non-electric trans, likely a third gen as well.

As far as the rest, get a early 90's J-body harness and make a new one to fit your engine bay. Pretty easy swap I'd say.

Good luck.

[Firehawk94]

Ok thanks for the info! What tuning software should I use? Or an even better question, what software do you guys recommend?

The transmission is the only thing that I am really worried about with this swap. I dont want to have to swap a perfectly good 4L60E for a 4L60 and if this swap requires this I will have to ditch these ideas. I hope it wont come down to this because I am very eager to start tuning. I havent tuned a vehicle in my lifetime thus far and I would like to add it to the "things ive done" list if you know what I mean. And plus I absolutely love the feeling of adjusting parameters to My liking and not the factory's.

[Mars]

Tunerpro RT

You can get 1 bar and 2 bar files and stuff from here in teh D/L section.

[Firehawk94]

Ok thanks! Ill start some research on this software and see where it takes me.

[robertisaar]

there are MANY ways you could go about this.

you could even keep your stock tranny running if you leave just the bare essentials connected to the factory PCM so that it will shift/increase line pressure like its supposed to.

[Firehawk94]

there are MANY ways you could go about this.

you could even keep your stock tranny running if you leave just the bare essentials connected to the factory PCM so that it will shift/increase line pressure like its supposed to.

Hmmm really?? That is really interesting and I can see the feasibility to this approach. So I could use an early 90s Jbody harness and basically fabricate it up to work on my 3.4, run it on an OBD1 computer (Ill ask about the ECM in a second) while leaving the original ECM in the car to run the 4L60E? And then of course tune away with Tunerpro RT.

Here is the ECM question: What ECM should I use?

And for the sake of argument what other options do I have?

[robertisaar]

ECM: either a 1227727 or 1227730. if you grabbed a harness from a j-car, it would be set up for a 7730 already.

other options:

5 speed swap

non-e tranny swap

TCI Trans controller

homebrew hardware to run the PC solenoid while running on DF code for the shift solenoids. that would require a 16149396 PCM, but it would allow you to customize your shiftpoints/TCC lock very easily.

there might be more options, including running the ECM from a SC3.8 since they also had pressure control solenoids. that's a MAF system though.

any other ideas?

EDIT: john mentioned that someone did swap a valvebody and essentially made it a non-e tranny... unfortunately he didn't have a lot of info on it, but ask if that seems alright to you.

[Firehawk94]

I noticed that you specialize in OBD 1 conversions....congrats. So I can come to you when I have questions!! haha Maybe you could provide a harness and ecm to me? At your discretion of course.

Option 1 and 2 are definetly out of the question for me, but I am intrigued by the TCI trans controller. Would that be a better route to go rather than keeping the stock ecm in place?

[robertisaar]

did you read the EDIT?

and the TCI: i believe they are listed at WOT-Tech, not cheap, but it would work with factory smoothness... i don't know much about it other than that though.

i'm hesitant on providing a harness since the last time john was mentioned in a thread and i came along and basically stole the show..... i'd rather not do that again.

i'll give info and advice on it though.

[pocket-rocket]

Option 1 and 2 are definetly out of the question for me,

Awwww, come on! 5 speeds are more fun!

[IsaacHayes]

The '9396 swap would be perfect if someone can come up with a line pressure controller that would work off of possibly a 2nd MAP and supply the right signal to the solenoid.. Is it a solenoid that is PWM controlled or more of a stepper motor????

But if stock shift points are fine then a piggy back setup would work.

[robertisaar]

reading through the DS files, it reports changes in amperage...

and it is refered to as a "force motor"

[Firehawk94]

did you read the EDIT?

and the TCI: i believe they are listed at WOT-Tech, not cheap, but it would work with factory smoothness... i don't know much about it other than that though.

i'm hesitant on providing a harness since the last time john was mentioned in a thread and i came along and basically stole the show..... i'd rather not do that again.

i'll give info and advice on it though.

You must have posted the edit after I posted, because I didnt see that before. Thats understandable about the harness, no harm no foul. If John has a harness and ECM I would be glad to do business with him. Now, if he would just come into this thread! haha

[robertisaar]

You must have posted the edit after I posted, because I didnt see that before. Thats understandable about the harness, no harm no foul. If John has a harness and ECM I would be glad to do business with him. Now, if he would just come into this thread! haha

brad did impliment a new feature... its not advertised on the main page (yet), it allows you to start up a chat with someone even if they are not in your friends list. might want to try that out and contact john that way.

EDIT: click on someone's screen name and then click "chat with me" to get it working...