I have recently just bought an 02' Monte Carlo SS, and would like to make some reasonable power gains to wake this bad boy up; starting with a programmer. It has the non-supercharged 3800.

I have been doing some research on programmers, and can't seem to decide which one would be the most reasonably priced and efficient programmer. Hypertech, Diablo, Bully, and Superchips all have some great horse power gains, but not sure which would be most suitable. Heres kind of a list of what I'm looking for

1) Mild power increases

2) A programmer that isn't going to make me lose serious MPG.

If anyone has had some experience with programmers, it'd be great to hear from you. Thanks!

 

Hello friend, you seem to be in the same shoes I was in 4 yrs ago... As far as a good PCM their will be many suggestions here, I run the Intense medium tuned set running 93 octane, 180 degree stat and timing advance option with natural aspiration... I have found that the set-up is good and the limiter defeat is great, shifting is crisp and she revs up to 6200 rpm under load (very satisfying) and not radical... A few of my greatest add-on gains were achieved through info on this forum, U-bend delete and a high flow cat into some decent Magnaflow mufflers, she now sings and the hp pick-up is noticiable... Hope this helps...

By the way, mpg or litres/100km as I have equals (before mods 10.1/100km average) after mods (12.2/100km)... But in all honesty, I think the powerful sound of the exaust coupled with the obvious power gains have made me drive her harder... lol...

 

Don't waste your time with Hypertech. In fact you could easily end up frying your pcm and end paying $1200.00 or more. You could get a tuned pcm from ZZ Performance, Intense, pfyc.com, to name a few, AFTER you do whatever mods you have plan for your car like: U-bend delete, Cold Air Intake, HV3 for the upper intake manifold, 1.9 rockers, etc. If you are a diy type of person, you could always dish-out the $649 for an HPTuner and tune the PCM yourself. The learning curve is steep but well worth it, and you can continue to mod and tune the car without dishing $$$ out every time. HPTuner also comes with a data logger to help you see what you mods are doing.

 

I'd stay away from the hand-held tuners like diablo or hypertech.

The two most popular tuning packages (software suite plus the obd2 interface) are HPTuners and DHP PowrTuner. HPTuners is pretty pricey (you have to buy credits to unlock each car as well), but the DHP is out of production (but is open to all 3800's if you can find one used...usually going for around $300ish iirc). There is a bit of a learning curve with either one though.

Your other options are to either buy a pre-programmed pcm from one of the vendors (ZZP and overkill seem to be the most popular) or have someone local that owns a tuner do a custom tune for you.

If the tune is done correctly, you should see an increase in gas mileage instead of a decrease but you'd also be set up to run on premium gas now instead of regular.

Generally wait until you get any powertrain mods you want installed before you get a tune. More bang for your buck that way.

-Riggs.

 

"If the tune is done correctly, you should see an increase in gas mileage instead of a decrease but you'd also be set up to run on premium gas now instead of regular."

I hear ya brother, but as we all know, we don't drive Hybrids and the the sounds and hp gain of a well tuned 3800 will not be condusive to conservative driving habits... Just sayin... ...

 

What kind of power gains are expected from the pcm tunes?

 

Not much if you're bone stock. You might gain 5 or 10hp if you're completely stock, but if you've done a lot of modifications, you could gain as much as 20hp if you're NA or 50+hp if you're boosted. That's why montyss02 told you to do it AFTER. A tune is not a good first mod, but it's a great last mod.

 

Diablo does not support 2002's/v6's... only the 2006 SS 5.3L v8...