3.8/automatic Ecu Swap...

[Salemetro]

At the risk of bringing up something that has probably been covered before (maybe not, I've been looking for the answer here), I have a question:

Has anyone here swapped an ECU from a 1998 or newer 3.8 f-fody into a 1996 3.8 f-body?

I have been talking with DHP, and they tell me that the best ecu for my 1996 turbo 3.8 conversion is the 1998 or newer 16236757 unit. Apparently, the 1997 Supercharged Bonneville ecu would "work", and I have one of those too, but it has known issues (according to DHP) with Knock-retard problems. The tech told me that the 16236757 is the best unit in an ideal situation. The 1996 Firebird 3.8 ecu looks nearly identical to the 1997 Bonneville ecu (as far as wiring pinout), but the 1998 ecu is VERY different. I'm not sure exactly what needs to be used/not used in my car.

So....any info here? C'mon people, and help a frustrated guy get his car MOOVIN!
Thanks.

[philly rs]

damn man, the best i can do is tell u i swapped out my 96 pcm with a 97 pcm for tune capability and it worked perfect...i guess the 96 ones couldnt be tuned i cant remember what the issue was with it..as for a 98 i dont really know

[Salemetro]

Thanks for the info...it gives me some hope.

According to DHP, the 96 CAN now be tuned with their programmer, but the memory of the ecu is only something like 256kb for the 1996 ECU...so it has much less features than the 97-up ECUs. The 97 ECUs (according to them) are "hit and miss" as far as the knock-retard problems go, but share the same layout as the 1996. The 98-up ECUs are a totally different layout, but perform the best.

Just out of curiosity, what ECU part number are you using? What was it out of? Did the car run fairly decent PRIOR to any tuning? Also, if you ran in to any setup problems, what were they? Thanks for your help.

[philly rs]

im not sure of the part number i still have it at home after i wrecked the rs i pulled it out, it has a great tune on it. but it came out of a 97 f body... the problem was the 96 pcm couldnt be tunes at all, and after we put the new engine back in and was spraying it, along with the heads, cam and all the goodies it ran like ass.... the speedo was waaaaay off, none of the intraments worked correctly if i remember right. but wehad a feeling that was gonna happen so me and my buddy ordered 2 97 pcm's. got to us 1 day after we finished the swap and saw nothing was working lol..so we swaped it, then tuned the piss out of it...did a dyno tune and a drivability tune afterwards. car ran so damn good! maybe later on 2night if i remember ill look at the pcm and ill give u the number

[Salemetro]

Dude, that would be most excellent of you! If you have the time, please do let me know.
Thanks again.

[2.2 Straight six]

Yeah, a custom chip or custom tune is infinitely better for performance than a stocker.

most stockers can't be flashed and rewritten, i guess the '97s can.

best option is to do like Philly and get it on a dyno and have it tuned, then get a road tune done. then you'll have it as close to perfect as possible.

[Salemetro]

Popped in a unit from a 97 Firebird tonight. It runs very well. Now, i just have to get the tuner(have not decided yet between DHP, or HPTuners). It's just nice to know that it was indeed a "plug and play" deal. I just made sure that the ECU was from a non-supercharged vehicle with a 3.8 and auto trans...that way it was as close to my vehicle as possible, not requiring an immediate tune to run worth a crap. I hooked up my scanner, and wholy crap!!....there are a TON more options in this unit than the 96 ecu!! Appartently, the s/c boneville ecu that I have in the shop is the SAME part number as the n/a 97 Firebird....but I'm guessing a different tune in it. I just needed something to run "out of the box" for now....and bird ECU fit's the bill! Apparently, the 97 ECU was widely used on various sized 97-only gm V6 vehicles. A rare, one-year-shot kinda deal.

Anyway, I'm happy the ECU swap went so easy. Now, just curious what tuner is the preferred one for this setup? DHP? HPTuners?

Philly....what worked best for you?

Thanks. Things are looking better now

[Savage Messiah]

If you browse around fullthrottlev6.com, all the turbo guys (afaik) and most others strongly prefer HPTuners

[kingkevin8]

Would I be able to put the 97 ecu in a 95 regal, and have the same results?