I just wanted to take a moment to share some info I have come across.

First off, I dont know how many of you are moded SC Montes, but there is one very big problem with these things as I keep finding, and its KR.

I have read a ton of posts on these boards in relation to KR and countless attempts to correct the problem, but time and time again a lot of guys are falling short.

For instance, on my 04 Monte, I have a 3.5" Pulley, 3"-2.5" Exhaust, 4" CAI, Autolite 104s. With this current setup, I was seeing 2-5* of KR in first, and as much as 7* in third and fourth. These numbers were roughly at 9-10lbs of boost.

Some have jumped to the conclusion that our knock sensors are more "sensitive," but after going through HP tuners this weekend, I have found quite a bit out about our cars. First off, anything about 6-7lbs of boost, the car really starts to lean out in stock trim (inducing KR), and the high octante timing tabels have a very large amount of timing once boost is applied (also inducing KR). Finally, toque management is much more aggressive on these vehicles than say a 2002 grand prix (if you compare stock bins).

Last night I was able to eliminate ALL of the KR @ 30* outside. IAT was at 41, and coolant temp was 182. I was able to run the car repeatedly on the tune while only seeing about 1-1.5* blips here and there (as apposed to my constant 7* through 2nd gear).

I guess what I am getting at, is if you have a SC Monte, dont bother purchasing a ZZP/ Intesne pre-tuned PCM and expecting your KR to go away, because it most likely wont work. I even tried loading the settings from a ZZP Bin file into my car which did a whole lot of nothing. KR only went down about 1-2*, and my torque management was gone. With line pressure set conservativley it was causing the trans to slip in 1-2 shift.

If your gunna drop a pulley size on these cars, your best bet is to purchase a tuner, or have someone use a bin file that works. After running into the issues I have, and reading other members posts of similar KR with similar setups, I have come to the conclusion that general pulley rules and writeups dont seem to apply to the montes. If your going down even to a 3.5, be ready to tune.

 

So....how much are you charging for your bin file, I'd like to purchase. lol.

Good to know although not good to hear. I planned on dropping to a 3.5 this summer but now I'm not sure that I want to take my car to instense for the canned grand prix tune they will surely give me. Which tuner are you using?

 

I'm running a 3.4" pulley with the canned ZZP PCM 1.0 tune. We have tried twice now to tune it, but my car REFUSES to be tuned. I believe it has to do with the Onstar and the aftermarket stereo and the Onstar module. Tim at ZZPerformance is VERY frustrated with my Monte! I don't know what to do. The only way he can access the PCM is by removing it from the car. The next time we try it, I'm going to unplug the Onstar and see if that helps any. I'm planning on putting a cam in this summer.
I want to buy the HP tuner for this car and LadyT's Solstice GXP, but I'm frustrated with how the HPTuner is reacting with my car, and the lack of completeness of the tuning available for the Solstice. Anyone else have any problem with the HPTuners?