Hey all,

I recently installed a new PCM into my 5.3L Monte SS. Awesome. I have tried HP tuners, Diablo Tuner, and nothing has impressed me as much as this new PCM.

I ended up with an "Overkill" PCM by Will at Overkill Motors. It does everything I wanted. No rev limiter, no speed limiter, transmission shift points, etc...

When running WOT in "D" mode, It shifts at 6,000 redline everytime. 1st is about 85k, 2nd is 165k, and 3rd burries the needle at over 220km/h.

What I want to know, is what are our engines capable of? In "1", "2", and "3", i'm able to tell it when to shift... I've brought it up to about 6500RPM in 1st gear, which is about 100k. The car seems to love it... then you slam it into 2nd, and don't shift into 3rd until about 180k (again, about 6500rpm).

I don't want to blow my car up... but pushing that redline to the limit is addicting. haha... so am I safe at 6500? Should I be backing off a bit and sticking to the factory redline of 6000?

Thanks for your input!

 

I'm not a follower of the 'remove the rev limiter' line of thinking. If you were to accidently hit neutral or something in the drive train were to break the engine can rev uncontrolled. I've seen more than one engine grenade due to overrevving. As far as shift points go, I prefer to have the shift occur within a couple hundred rpm above the peak of the torque curve. That way I have strong, consistent pulls every time. Besides, there's no need in working the engine any harder than you have to.

 

If you want to keep going up to 6500 rpm safely you will probably need rockers and new valve springs.

If Will tuned your car to 6k shift points, I am going to go ahead and say that that is the limit on a stock valve.

If you don't want to blow your car up, stop manually shifting it. The reason you get a tune is so you can just leave it in gear and it will respond how it is supposed to.

 

hate when that happens^^^^ posted at the same time.

6500 is high with the factory valve springs. i wouldnt push it harder than 6200 if that. i dont know what the power curve on the car looks like, but im going to assume with the ls4 intake/cam its probably running out of steam up there. now put a ls6 intake, a real cam, and some good valve springs in that car, and itll be a night and day difference. if thats out of the budget ls1 intake, valve springs, and some higher ratio rockers.