Hi guys, I'm considering switching my 88 GTA to a FiTech standalone system. A combination of not being able to get the car perfectly dialed in, making the car more easily tunable, being able to data log easier, and not wanting to deal with burning chips makes it appealing to me. I'm looking at FiTech specifically because the 38350 kit looks to be plug and play with TPI engine.

But with that said, I'm wondering for anyone that has done this, can you share your experience? Lessons learned? Recommendations? Was it as easy as it seems? Would you do it again? Etc.

Thanks all.

 

I pulled an L31 / 4L60E combo out of a '99 GMC and used the FiTech Ultimate TPI w/ Trans Control to put it in another truck. I've been driving it for a year now and it's a good budget system. My motor is stock except for the TPI part and the tune it came with was close enough to let me drive it in all conditions immediately. I think I could crispen up the tip in if I were to tune it, but it's done a good job on its own for my simple application. It will not be totally plug and play for you, because it's a Speed Density setup and '88 cars were MAF. Also there's a handful of wires that get spliced into your chassis harness and there's also all the gauge work so you will not avoid the factory service manual.

The software is a let down and they recommend making changes via the handheld, so you'll be doing your tuning by taking datalogs (which is easy), analyzing the .csv, and inputting your stuff in the little screen. It works, it's basic, not as cool or robust as the Holley offerings but it is very convenient that it's set up to work with all stock equipment out of the box. Do everything exactly as they say and it'll work. The install instructions are good, the tuning guide is half-baked. Their youtube channel has some good tutorials.

I had one bad connector on my harness, one of the wires in the CTS connector would push out every time I tried to connect it. I spliced in the OEM connector I had from the donor and it was fine. Otherwise the whole product worked like they said EXCEPT I couldn't get tach output from the ecm for whatever reason and I also tried tech support. They say the tech support is better now. I got the signal straight off the coil instead so I didn't care to investigate too far into it.

Everybody says don't use the CTS in the box, so I reused the factory one. I used the MAP sensor out of the box (Walker) and it was fine.

It's ideal for cheap swaps where you don't have the harness or ECM, or if you are also swapping in a 4L60E / 4L80E. I probably wouldn't put one on a big money build, but they can handle boost and will do single stage nitrous timing retard (at the expense of A/C) so you could if you wanted to.

There's a pretty long thread on here about the 38350 which I recommend reading as well.

 

Thanks for the thorough feedback man. It puts things into perspective. I'm not keen on splicing the factory harness, and the gauge connections (I would hate to not have the digital dash) and MAF to MAP conversion does put me off a bit. Not entirely, but it gives me some pause because one thing turns into the next and before I know it, I've gotten myself way in over my head lol.

From your post it looks like they give you a MAP sensor? If so, that's pretty cool. Would you recommend it over the factory ECM?

Also, I've read that long thread you mentioned, it's very useful, but I figured there are probably guys that did the swap and never bothered to post their experience so I figured I'd ask specifically.

 

Don't forget it also doesn't do EGR, AIR, or 9th injector functionality, so in addition to removing the MAF and finding a place for the MAP to go (or finding a SD plenum), you'll be hotrodding a little bit. I don't think the gauges in these cars have anything to do with the ECM but you'll have to identify everything to separate them from the engine harness. Oh, you'll also lose cruise control unless you have a way to split the VSS signal.

I would be hesitant to delete a working factory setup in a nice car like a GTA just because you could spend the same time learning how to use the emulator and other old school ways of getting it done. Also for the price of the unit, you could simply buy a tune from TunedPerformance, and that would be cheaper and the least amount of work.

Get it if you don't mind chopping up your car a bit, are into tuning and want to really learn how it works, and are willing to do it all yourself because most pro tuners won't touch FiTech stuff. It was perfect for my truck and I have no regrets for that build, and I also am not putting one in my car. If that makes sense.