ARCTICMAT

I am going to pull the trigger on a LT1 here in the next 30 days or so. The goal is to have a street/strip car that I can do simple bolt on's to and have my son drive it in our local High school drags. I have found 2 cars close to me locally. One is a 94 Z28 A4 car and the other is a 97 Formula A4. I have been looking for the last couple of months and looked at some real **** boxes. I found these two the same day when looking on-line. They both are extremely clean and both have less than 70,000 miles on them. The 94 is obviously less money but my question is from a tuning point. Is the 94 really a good deal at 3000.00 less than the 97 if I need to upgrade the pcm and related items? I do not have a dyno/tuning shop close so any "tuning" would probably be a mail order deal. I am leaning towards the 94 as this will hopefully leave me more cash for other bolt on's but I am not blind to the fact of the total time/cost in the end. I would like to have a user friendly set up. I realize the 94 is OBD1 and the 97 is OBDII. I guess the main concern is the ODBI and tuning capability.

-----Side note -----
I have been really enjoying the topics on this forum and the general discussions by everybody since I have joined. I find myself logging on everyday for ideas. Great forum!

smitty2919

Coming from all OBD2 then getting my 95 Z being OBD1...much "easier" to diagnose OBD2 it seems to me. Go to any Autozone etc and they pull codes for you. I have downloaded DataMaster to serve as a diagnostic scanner and data logger plus buying a specific cable to convert the OBD1 (with OBD2 style connector) to my computers USB port.


Other than that...I have always been a believer in buying the last year of any car due to the issues being "worked out". I don't know if that applies here though. It seems there are less OBD1 LT1 tuners out there now anyways. But since you are going mail order tunes, you will already be leaving performance on the table without getting a dyno tune.

joelster

How is the inspection process done in South Dakota? Where I live OBDII cars have to get plugged in and run on a computer which complicates things a lot, especially if you start modding it.

Rocket97

iTrader: (1)

I love my 97 Z. I was curious how your inspections are also. I'm in an emissions county in Texas so obd1 cars have to be sniff tested with fume probes in the exhaust. If you plan on running a hot street car and have to get tested like that, it will be tricky to get it to pass. Mine being obd2 makes it easier. A simple-ish click or 2 on my laptop and I can make SES lights go away and the inspection machine is none the wiser when Inspection time comes around. Just my 2 cents

hrcslam

If you stick with mail order tuning obd2 is more widely supported. But LT1 tuning is becoming more rare regardless of obd 1 or 2.

However, if you have a laptop and time to learn tuning (not that hard really) the obd1 is far far cheaper. You're talking $60 for the cable, tuner pro is free, and $20 for winflash and you have unlimited tuning and diagnostics.

Some people are actually ditching the lt1 obd2 system for the efi connections 24x system ($$$$$) or retrofitting an obd1 system in for this reason.

For $3000 less I'd take the 1994. But it won't hold value like the Pontiac.

guppymech

iTrader: (7)

How is S.D. for emissions testing? In Illinois they only test OBD2 so the '94 is wide open for mods. If you need to keep the cats, headers for the '97 suck, mid tubes for the '94 are way better or of course long tubes. Tuners for the LT1 platform are getting harder to find regardless of OBD1 or 2 cars. You see some folks going to speed density tunes or switching to new GM computers and 24x ignitions. During the time I've been on this forum I've seen guys progess from stockish cars to max output LT1s with 24x then it seems some of them give up on the LT1 and swap in LSx engines. IMO get the car you like better and make the most of it.

95Maro

what sort of tuning programs are out there? I wouldn't mind tuning my 95 Z on my own.

Rocket97

iTrader: (1)

I've got the Jet tuner which used to be tunercat. I like the interface it has and its fairly simple to use once you find out where everything is. I was fortunate enough to have a professional tuner walk me around the program aand figure out the lingo. It comes with 4 credits and you can always buy more. Cable and program included

hrcslam

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links to products here so I wont. But check out TunerCats for Win Flash and a 16 pin ALDL to USB Cable. You will need a laptop and TunerPro (free just Google it). I think the best way to learn it is to immerse yourself in it. If you know how your car works and what the sensors do to make the car work tuning it is a matter of knowing what each table does with each sensor.

Google "LT1 PCM tuning tips" and read through those links. Very helpful info.

95Maro

thanks for the info guys

pancho toco loco

iTrader: (8)

total no brainer here. For a first car that will be modded for Hs drag class go with the 94. That 3k less will come in handy. First thing I'd do is go over the car and do any and all maintenance that is needed. Get a set of M/t drag radials and make some base line passes. I wouldn't worry about this obd1 obd11 debate, there are plenty of tuners out there for your car. A higher stall and 3.73's would be my first change, possible rebuild the trans pending its condition. Or if you can score a used 12 bolt. I'd work on being reliable and consistent before trying to go faster. The stall, tires and gears will put to use what's already there.

shbox

It's too easy and inexpensive to change between OBDI and II. If they are both in the same shape, the cheaper one is the better value.

ARCTICMAT

Thanks for the replies. I am currently going to look at the 94 this coming weekend. I figured the 3000.00 that we save can be put back into the car to make it safer/bullet proof. I live in good old South Dakota so there is NO inspection required you just have to have the proper **** for it to be street legal. I was figuring on building or bolting things on from the rear forward. I am a GM guy but have worked on enough of their rear ends to never want one again. Probably going to go with a MWC 9" with 3.73 gears, proper LCA's, torque arm/crossmember, sub frames and some ET streets. It will probably just be exhaust and ET streets for now but I have an idea of what I want. This is to be my project over this summer into next winter. My boy will be 15 this summer so by next summer he will be 16 so it should be ready to go--Thanks again.

93M6Formula

Are you close to Sioux Falls by chance? I believe Excessive is able to tune an LT1 but you would have to call them, they do good work on a lot of cars i've seen. I'm just south of you in Nebraska and head up to Marion, SD all the time to the track.

cnorton

iTrader: (1)

All other things being comparatively equal, the only difference that I would mention is the fact that the '94 has the earlier Optispark that is usually a little more expensive and that can cause some headaches during installation. I've done them both and I prefer the later Optispark.