i just recenlty bought a 97 z34. my first car was a eagle talon tsi awd and my second was a nissan pickup both were 5spd. i always wanted a monte carlo especially the late 80s SS. when my truck crapped out i saw a z34 on a used lot so i picked it up. its my first automatic car and was wondering what is overdrive for. i just used it for the first time the other day and i saw that i cruised at lower rpms, is it just for better gas milage or sumtin? do i have just as much power or is it just for cruising? sorry i know this is a funny question but i dont know much about automatics. thanks guys

 

Yeah, it is for better gas mileage. I dont know of any other reason it would be used for but maybe someone else here does. As far as power, no you dont have as much. When you floor it it should shift down to get you the power.

 

Hmm I have a question regarding this

So If I want maximum power when coming off of a stoplight or something, should I shift from D to 3? Can you still go fairly fast in 3? How about 2 or something. Also does anyone know the max speeds in the low gears (1,2,3)?

 

If you wanna go fast you need to start in one and slip shift up as you go (but as with a manual watch your redline cuz it will come up quick). Also I think Chevy has a skip shift deal where once you stop(this is if you leave it in OD, not the shifting deal I was talking about earlier) it shifts to first but then it shifts to 4th to save gas. If you wanna race it you need to get a shift kit to get rid of that or reprogram the cpu so that it doesnt do that.

 

In newer Monte's, the slip shifting is protected electronically. If you go to shift manually but forget to shift, the tranny will shift for you when you get too close to the redline, even though the shifter is still in the last position. I know, I've tried it. Even when shifting from 2nd to 3rd, it still won't shift until it has reached optimum rpm. I could shift and wait even a few seconds before the car would actually shift. This monte is all about self-preservasion!!

 

Ahh. Sux

Guess you have to get the pcm reprogrammed then.

 

seems so.

 

do they sell shift kits for the 97 z34. i looked but i couldnt find anything. i heard somewhere that thrasher has one but its for the 4t65e and i have the 4t60e right.

 

Here is a list of kits for GMs from transgo

http://www.transgo.com/sk_generalmtrs.php