First some background, then the questions. I've tuned a couple of my own cars and my buddies over the last few years,and helped out with a couple of swaps here and there. Everything that I have worked on that required a fair amount of work was all Gen3 411 PCM with HPTuners 2 or 3 bar OS. All have been pretty easy to get going. The only Gen 4 stuff I have worked on was my 05 C6 with an E40, and that was a basic bolt on car. I have zero experience with the E38 and E67 based systems. In the not so distant future, I am going to be building another swap car for a daily driver, likely a 9C1 Caprice or Impala clone. I will be building the motor from scratch so crank reluctor type is my choice, and I will be running a 4L80e, no VVT for me either and car will be boosted so I will have to run a COS with a 2 or 3 bar speed density tune. I would like to have DBW, but am not married to it, as the car in question is cable driven already and would be trivial to go cable. My question is what will I be missing if I stick with the Gen 3 computers? It seems like the ECM and TCM are now separate devices, and things seem a lot more complicated. Is there anything about the control strategies that should make the think harder about using an E38 setup?

 

I would use a GenIII. The GenIV is overkill for project cars, IMO. They are a lot more complicated to do the same thing, mainly because GM has to have more elaborate ways to meet emissions and make power, IMO. Not necessary for you, just need to control A/F and timing....

 

That's kind of what I figured, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

 

Gen 3 is easier, ecspecially with the 80E trans.