Beretta.net

My car..
96 z26 3100, Automatic 4 speed
3400 throttle body with 3100 linkages to adapt it.
short cold air intake and round filter.
Tires/ 205/55/16 sitting on aftermarket rims... Im keeping the gtz rims in storage though..

ECM. not sure what its from but its not a beretta... Scanner shows ECM Vin different from car and spedo is out + 10 KM, so i assume its from a car with 225 size tires example.lumina/Monte Carlo ect.

So my car seems sluggish off the hop, i can not spin the tires at all, even with ebrake on it just bogs down and slowly starts to pull the back wheels along, not a chance it will ever spin the tires.
From a stand still.. WOT it takes off fairly quickly and once it hits 3,000 rpm it just screams and wants more, even just cruising around and when i kick it down not until it hits 3,000 rpm it starts pulling really hard. example. im just cruising ... sitting at 2,000 rpm. and i slowly push the throttle to pick up some speed and gradual climb and watching the rpm soon as it hits 3,000 mark if im heavy into the throttle or gentle on it once it hits that point it feels like someone hit the nitrous button for example. seems weird..

Is that just the way they run or am i loosing some low end power for some reason ? possibly low fuel pressure ? but in upper rpm it pulls hard.

And another thing.. im sitting in park, i put my foot on the brake pull it into gear and it makes this clicking sound. i put it into reverse then to neutral it makes the clicking sound. like one solid CLICK. sounds like the engine moving and the exhaust hitting the heat shield or something that sort of sound anyways but i think its something internal in the trans... im driving around and come to a complete stop i hear the click sound, when i take off i hear the click sound. when going from reverse to neutral, neutral to drive back to neutral does it ever time. i have no clue where its coming from, but sounds like its internal. shifts fine, hauls @ss fine never had any problems with it yet. im pretty certain its not a cv shaft, that was my first thing i thought it might be but it doesnt make no noises while turning ect and rides pretty smooth and doesnt appear to make noises while moving.

One more thing.. what is the normal top speed for 2nd gear ? this seems odd that it will go as fast as it does... but no joke. i pull it down into Low 1st. take off, punch it shifts into 2nd at 60-70 Km past 5,000 rpm. i leave it in Low so thats holding it in 2nd gear, and i can hit 140 KM @6,000 rpm and its shutting down. Actual spedo is reading 150 KM but i know its off by 10 KM from the ecm change..

So is that a normal speed for 2nd gear ? my 88 5 speed will barley do that in 3rd gear going down a huge hill.. must have pretty long gears in it probably why it seems so lazy in the lower rpm.

Im just wondering if it might be possible someone has done work to this trans or not and if thats normal. im sure the strange clicking noise is not normal but aside from that.. haha.

I have put nearly 10,000 KM on this car in less then 4 weeks its been fully plated and on the road. the clicking noise i herd right from the time i got it, 1 of the lower rear control arm bushings is just starting to go and should be replaced soon but its not falling right out and far from that point. car drives like a dream it would walk all over my 88 with ease, it feels weird to drive the 88 now after being in the Z for this time, i have Z seats in the 88 and they even feel weird, they sit differently and higher just dont seem the same.

How do you know its an ecm change? If you do an OSID read I can tell you if its a monte possibly. There were more changes that would make more issues with the car if it was just swapped too. And if your always off 10KM then its the needle thats not right. Speedo calibration errors will compound as you go faster, so they start minuscule and get large when your speed increases.

You could also check the vin you see on the ECM to see what vehicle comes up.

As far as the click, sounds like a typical CV joint on its way out... when torque is applied the joint will make a very distinct pop or click noise, and its typically the outer CV making the noise.

As far as your sluggishness... these cars stock are really not a tire spinning beast... especially with the stock gear ratio, yes 2nd gear stock would travel up to 85mph... Hence the reason why some can hold L in the full 1/4 mile with a stock setup. What you have going on is probably about right. If your pump was dying you would notice more of a problem up top rather than down low, but at the same time if an ecm was swapped and its not the proper one then you could have some other tuning issues.

For the power range, yeah about 3 grand is where the torque really kicks in. Even mine has hardly ever spun a tire from a dead stop, maybe squeak once in a while. Most of us have done the hard around a corner burn, but that's not the same.. LOL

I agree with Jon on the click. Sounds like the outer CV joint is going. As for second gear, that totally is correct. I know it from experience. hehe

well i will have my friend hold his hand on the CV while i pull it in and out of gear see if he can feel the clicking. it sounds more like something internal wasnt sure if there was some common issue in these autos. Any time i had a CV go bad or start going i had terrible vibrations and clicking when turning.

Maybe the flexplate to torque converter bolts are loose ?

I just put new cv's in the 88 not long ago and in the 1st week the passenger side started clicking and vibrating again i have 1 yr replacement but havent had a chance to take it out yet.

I will grab my friends scanner again and do a Vin check and go on the compnine site and punch it in and see what comes up, it does not match the vin of the car though.. Last time i had my friends scanner i went into something for the trans, it showed trans fluid temps, line pressure, had an option to shift on demand and i was playing with that along with turning the lock up on and off and something for 2nd gear im not sure what it was or what it does.

John is 3400 ?? What exactly is done to your 3400. do you just have a cam and tune ? im trying to save up 400 bucks to get this 3400 from my cousin but will be a couple more weeks still, paying insurance for 2 cars and catching up on bills is killing me LOL. By the time i get the 3400 and put in my girlfriend will need to drive the car and ill be stuck driving the 88

Actually its a 3X00. LOL I believe he now has a 3500 coupled with performance cam, other various parts and N2O. Pretty badass.. Not to mention a slightly more performance version of a 4T60E.

Really, I thought it was a 3400 with a 3500 upper.

3500 from the block up.

But yeah, as Jon said, the stock 3100 gear ratios really hurt this car off the line. A older 3.1 car feels more peppy off the line and will chirp the tires a little

Money pit Beretta wrote:Really, I thought it was a 3400 with a 3500 upper.

3400 block, 3100 oil pan, 3400 timing cover, 3100 frozen timing chain set, Custom cam Cam 216/240@.050 dur 278/289 full duration 112/108 Center line .517/.568 lift 1.6 ratio 112LSA, 3400 head gaskets, 3500 heads, 3500 lower intake, 3500 upper intake, Clevite 77 Rod and Main bearings, Clevite HD tri-Aluminum small block 350 cam bearings, 1/2 phenolic spacers, TCE 65mm TB adapter and 65mm TB, SS headers, 96 4t60e, Raybestos Stage 1 clutch packs, hardened 4th huh, hardened reverse shell, tig'd 2nd drum, Gill Younger shift correction kit, shimmed shift accumulators, anodized shift vavles, TCC lockup fix vavle, 33/37 drive chain setup, 3.29 diff (3.69 final drive), EP limited slip differential, and then yeah all the brake stuff and axle hybrids.

3X00-Modified wrote:

Money pit Beretta wrote:Really, I thought it was a 3400 with a 3500 upper.

3400 block, 3100 oil pan, 3400 timing cover, 3100 frozen timing chain set, Custom cam Cam 216/240@.050 dur 278/289 full duration 112/108 Center line .517/.568 lift 1.6 ratio 112LSA, 3400 head gaskets, 3500 heads, 3500 lower intake, 3500 upper intake, Clevite 77 Rod and Main bearings, Clevite HD tri-Aluminum small block 350 cam bearings, 1/2 phenolic spacers, TCE 65mm TB adapter and 65mm TB, SS headers, 96 4t60e, Raybestos Stage 1 clutch packs, hardened 4th huh, hardened reverse shell, tig'd 2nd drum, Gill Younger shift correction kit, shimmed shift accumulators, anodized shift vavles, TCC lockup fix vavle, 33/37 drive chain setup, 3.29 diff (3.69 final drive), EP limited slip differential, and then yeah all the brake stuff and axle hybrids.

nom nom nom

I was right and wrong at the same time. Damn now that's a build!

thats alot of mods, i want my beretta to be as nice as yours lol. is this the fastest beretta on the forums ? it sounds badass.

Thats quite a bit over my budget to build that extreme right now, so i think ill stick with a stock 3400 bolt in and drive it. over the winter possibly yank it out and build it.

"But yeah, as Jon said, the stock 3100 gear ratios really hurt this car off the line. A older 3.1 car feels more peppy off the line and will chirp the tires a little"

My 88 3.1 5 speed will smoke the tires right off it not just a little chirp lol. the automatic is very sluggish off the line and if i had my way i would 5 speed the 96, but my girlfriend will be driving it again soon. I do like driving the 96 more then my 88 now it feels like a brand new car compared to the other one, Until i owned it, it was stock and all original. I changed the TB and intake only 2 things i changed everything else is stock and like new condition.

I am missing 1 part on the entire car.. does anyone have a center heater control knob ? it was MIA when i got the car and i pull 1 of the others off to change the setting and put back, i got a few from the scrap yard from various other cars but they wont fit.

PS. i think possibly my CV shaft might be going, so saturday ill hit up the junk yard and see what i can find . What other cars will the CV shaft work from ? my chances of finding a beretta there are slim.. do the grand am's have the same CV 96 and up ?

Money pit Beretta wrote:I was right and wrong at the same time. Damn now that's a build!

Thats actually not much... I haven't touched the bottom end... besides bearings... Oh and I left out the WOT crank scraper. I still could have custom SBC H-Beam Rods and Forged Pistons for 10:1 CR with complementing MLS headgaskets but I don't feel like spending that much money right now. Also I gotta get the damn tires to stick as it is... I don't really need MORE power. If I could equal out the torque and hp curves with a different cam I'll probably do that and sell my current one and then also try out a slightly lower stall converter since I think the one I have is a little to high... I'm always passed peak torque and sitting right on my peak HP RPM area... so I think it needs to be dialed back some so I can get off the line better.

beretta wrote:PS. i think possibly my CV shaft might be going, so saturday ill hit up the junk yard and see what i can find . What other cars will the CV shaft work from ? my chances of finding a beretta there are slim.. do the grand am's have the same CV 96 and up ?

No, just go on rock auto look up the CV for a 96 Beretta and then click on the part number, it lists every other year and vehicle it will interchange into.

Good idea on the stall, does sound a bit high.
Also to prop up my statement that is a build for a Beretta. Not many go that far or take it to the next level. Most of us just dream.
Here is one: custom stroker crank with the right timing marks for the crank sensor, but that would only work with an engine that doesn't have the front crank sensor. Oh and the dream for the money to do such a thing(rods too).
Baked my brain working in the sun this week. Forgive me.

To help with the sluggishness, i would recommend buying Seafoam or say a type of octane booster. My Z26 Beretta isn't really modded out and i can spin the tires from a dead stop at times. I think the engine cleaner helped remove any gum buildup in the pistons and so on to help the responsiveness of it. Check your timing chain too, and drive in OD. I kid you not, when my friend test drove my car, she drove it in OD and i got a lot more torque. So now, what i do when speeding, i'll start in OD to give me that quick push off, then as i'm getting up in speed i'll shift it in drive and have it push me through the to the end. But i'm sure different cars will vary because of wear and tear, but that works for me

Overdrive is just a crusing gear. I keep my auto in D unless I'm on the highway. That 3-4 shift is useless and just heats the trans up.

Shouldn't really help you off the line I would think, sounds like a damatta to me.