Man It shift so freeking hard but the timimg goes way down, the car bogs and studders untill I let out of it.. It only does it on the 1-2 shift 2-3 is fine. Please tell me this is the dreaded TM problem.. I did the same thing to a 2000 SS and it has no problems.. Is it more typical on '01's?? The car also has the stock converter..

 

TQ management is sounds like, esp considering it is a 01 car.

 

Maybe not torque management but rather misfire
detection and gross timing pull. I think TM is
a before-the-fact deal (pull timing before &
during shift). But, misfire detection is done
by watching the crankshaft sensor and if crank
speed changes "abruptly" then it will roll back
timing, unlock the converter, etc. A super-hard
shift apply might well meet the criteria if the
converter passes the torque bump effectively.

I gather that the answer to this is to increase
misfire count needed for converter unlock and
whatever other misfire-driven self-protection
functions might be there.