Thread: 3800 SC III swap... What do I need to salvage?

Someone wrote this on the Fiero forums. What can you guys tell me about it?

Regarding the series III it can be a tricky installation. We avoided it by going with a late series II PCM and converting to a cable operated TB with an LS1 MAF sensor.
Two different ETC systems aree used today. One is "torque follower" (the current version of ETC) the other is pedal follower that is an earlier version. The 3800SC series III is torque follower and very sensitive to the slightest engine modifications. Therefore new engine calibrations must be done for a Torque based ETC to work properly. Modifying the engines exhaust, or adding accesories to increase power changes the relationship between engine power and and throttle position. Torque based ETC systems often recognise extra power as a fault and will trigger "limp home" mode if the change is larger than about 5%. Also transmisson controls also affect torque output so again be prepared for a more complex PCM reprogramming if you chose to go drive by wire. It's been done before but it is harder than a series II swap.

I will be doing a power steering delete (Fieros don't have power steering), new exhaust and cold air intake... that's probably 10+% more power... would trigger the "limp home" mode. Plus, I'm not using the Grand Prix's transmission. Should I just screw it and do the Series II conversion (what's up with the MAF?)?

Originally Posted by Rolling Thunder

Someone wrote this on the Fiero forums. What can you guys tell me about it?



I will be doing a power steering delete (Fieros don't have power steering), new exhaust and cold air intake... that's probably 10+% more power... would trigger the "limp home" mode. Plus, I'm not using the Grand Prix's transmission. Should I just screw it and do the Series II conversion (what's up with the MAF?)?

Do a series II swap. That is the 97-03 stuff I was talking about. Just swap over EVERYTHING (compleate engine wiring harness ect) from any 97-03 gtp and be done with it. With this you will be using the throttle body that is dependant upon a cable for movement. You will have to do nothing to the MAF. It will be bennefictial if you do some tuning to the MAF if you get a cold air intake becuase they can change the trims becuase of the Colder air. It should still run fine without it.

The maf is located in the TB of all 97-03 model 3800 engines.


Regarding the ls1 TB they were talking about- You can actually modify a LS1 TB to work on our cars. I will find the link on how to do this in a second.