Thread: 3.1 Tuner

Both HPTuners and DHP PowrTuner are able to tune 3.1 GP's, since they were part of the initial wave of cars looked at by them as they got started.

As far as "is it worth it"? Not really, unless it's your hobby vehicle you want to squeeze a little more from. Since the 90's, a big wave of modders threw everything they had at the 60deg V6 engines, and the gains were never too impressive. It may be the fault of the engine design being unable to support increased power reliably, despite estimates that the geometry "should" out-rev and outperform our 90deg V6's being pushed over 2-3x stock power levels.

For your personal needs, do what you need to for keeping your car as nice as you want. There's still a dedicated community for that family of engines, as there is for 3800's, but both are shadows of their early 2000's glory.

Ya, not sure if it was always an option in the first few years (via access purchase, similar to HPT credits), but is definitely in the final database update, if you swap that .dbf into your DHP folder.

Here's a look at it in the Access List with the .dbf open in ADOedit (one of many old programs my much more savvy buddy in MI used to dissect these things):
Sorry if Photobucket is screwy...

Ok awesome. Now is this something I would have to buy, and then pay a shop to properly tune? I’m not looking to do anything that will hurt the longevity of things, as it is my daily and I’ll have it for at least another 3 years (and it just hit 100k miles on the clock). Just wanted to squeeze a little more power out of it.

Honestly, for the very minimal gain you'd see (5-10hp, if any), I wouldn't chase this path with a $200-500 tuner that requires months to learn. The 3.1 version of the GP is best used as a fairly good mpg driver, and that will be negatively affected as you add much more than 1-2 items for minimal gains at hundreds of dollars each.

There's a good UNYCGP crew I used to meet with in the WNY region, and Mike "mguzzo" here is one of the main members up there, if you want to see who is available with a tuner in the area to try.

If it were 10-12yrs ago, and I was still heading down from Rome to Chemung and Owego with our Modified every other week, it'd be a different story. Good luck with the car, regardless of what you do.

I appreciate the insight and knowledge. With being my reliable daily, and not wanting to throw a bunch of money into something that wasn’t meant to produce lots of power, I think I’ll pass on any modding. If I had a SC 3.8, it would be a different story. Maybe in a year or so when I acquire a 2014 impala limited with the 3.9, I’ll get the bug to spend some to mod it.

Originally Posted by Hpiracr28

Maybe in a year or so when I acquire a 2014 impala limited with the 3.9, I’ll get the bug to spend some to mod it.

Same basic engine design as the 3.1... don't plan on it.

What is it with GM engines that prevents them from creating decent power? I mean I know the 3.1 in my GP is just a boring pushrod engine, but with the 3.9 being double the power output and DOHC, what makes it not worth tossing any mods to?

Originally Posted by Hpiracr28

What is it with GM engines that prevents them from creating decent power? I mean I know the 3.1 in my GP is just a boring pushrod engine, but with the 3.9 being double the power output and DOHC, what makes it not worth tossing any mods to?

My mistake, I was thinking of the 3.9 60deg (LZ9) engine like my parent's 2009 Impala had, which ended ~2010.

The 3.6 DOHC (LFX) is common in most newer GM cars as just over a 300hp setup. I haven't heard good things about them in the modding world, yet, but I'm sure many are trying, since they're in the V6 Camaro and other sporty platforms. I'd keep an ear out for how those last with any tweaks, and know it's going to be a technical nightmare to deal with any engine/trans issues on things made in the CAN bus era (phased-in from 2004-2008 and mandated on everything new since then).

Yeah sorry, I meant the 3.6 V6 in the Impala, not 3.9. I was thinking of at least a modified or aftermarket exhaust for it.

Just saw that they also made a TT version (LF3) for the 2014+ Cadillac CTS/XTS Vsport rated up to 420hp/430tq. Don't know what kind of internal changes the made, but seems like they trust it to go at least that far from the factory.
GM 3.6 Liter Twin Turbo V6 LF3 Engine Info, Power, Specs, Wiki | GM Authority

The GNX guys would probably get ticked about this quote, "The LF3 is the most powerful V6 ever from General Motors."

when I was living in Albuquerque, I was driving on the freeway, and I hear this awful sound, it was a Camaro. had to have been a V-6 because no V-8 would sound that bad.