PCM Performance Differences

New 7/05/05

That is kind of what I thought regarding power, but the only thing that has remained curious to me is that the only part that has stayed constant over the life of my car was the AWL1 that I had in the firewall. The Original engine was a '97 that was swapped to a crate "96 then when the piston burned I switched it to a "99 bottom end that Kirk gave me. All three configurations ran about the same but nowhere close to what James Aldrich's car ran like or like Chuck's new one which are both AWL2's. Just thought I was onto something.

By the way, I never had problems with the Bosch Platinums I ran in my SHO though of course they haven't been in there since adding the Vortech. And as for the coils, well I think they are really a PIA. Though when I finally did have one fail completely and I replaced it I could certainly tell a difference from even before it finally threw out the code.

Carter Fuji

Now with driving my old TR and then driving this car, I can say that there is a considerable amount of power difference. I have driven other SHO's with the AWL1 pcm and this one is the first with the AWL2. This is the strongest one that I have driven stock for stock, unless you count the K&N panel filter and Hooker Areo Chambers, as far as I know. Now with this being said I agree with Carter that there is something different in the programming between the 2, I also agree with Eric that some motors are just stronger than others. I pulled the PCM today and there was no chip in it, it could be flashed but on a wild whim I would think that the previous owner of the car that if flashed the PCM would have welded the cams which are not. I personally don't think in this time and age that if you are going to modify a car that you don't look on the internet and find a place like this. I do have to put axles in before I take it to the dyno for some test between the 2 PCM codes and see if in fact that there is a considerable amount of difference between the 2. It will be sometime next month before I can do this, but I will post up all my findings. I will also get a programmer from Doug for the AWL2 and do some different test with it then flash it back to stock. Then burn a chip for the AWL1 and try some different things with that computer. Not saying I can do any better than him but if you have the resources to do the test why not try to see what can come out when you have a wideband hooked up to check and adjust the A/F. If you have any other things that could be tested on the dyno let me know and I will see if I can get it done.

Chuck

FWIW, I am of the absolute, firm belief that the initial break-in by the first owner is the key as to whether a Gen 3 is a dog or a “runner”. This has been shown with a few Gen 3s from initial buyers (mine and Jim Heaton, as two examples), and all of my new cars since the late ‘70s have been stronger runners than the average similar model. This is when I started the “drive it like you stole it” from the day they left the dealership.

Same holds true for my current Subaru. I am getting some disbelief that it turned the times that it did.

Ron Porter

I'm on the fence of this AWL1 being different power wise from the AWL2. Some of you may remember, this past Christmas i had a slight mishap with a saw and my wiring harness. Well among miscellaneous fuses and the ABS control module, I also fried the stock PCM on my 97, which was an AWL1, well I replaced it with an AWL2 I got from Kirk. Car drove exactly the same as it did before I changed anything. Just thought id throw that out there to help with anyone's theory.

Adam Phillips

I subscribe to the Ron Porter theory of how the engine was broke in is how it will run.

Paul

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