I would skip 96 and 97. Besides having the slower pcm and different wiring, they also had the cracking heads. You'd never ntoice it until you started modding to the moon. It'* a concern though.

So I'd say my opinion the years to go with would be 98, 99 or 02, 03.

what do you mean by "slower PCM"?

I have had many scantools and now own a couple tuning programs/boxes. The 96 files in the pcm'* are 256K in size, the 97+ is 512K, so there'* less programming in 96. I digress away from your actual question though.

When watching the scanner 96 and 97 info is slower responding and moving then 98+. Say watching the O2 toggling. 98+ moves well, 96/97 seem lethargic. Someone on clubgp did a writeup of the actual differences, can't remember where I dumped the link.

*wonders if dan feels a lil slow in the pcm* hehe j/k

so i am assuming that pre-96'* are even slower? does a slower PCM translate to worse performance? is that why a 94+, running OBD 1.5 is better than pre 94'* using OBD1?

The slower PCM actually has nothing to do with car performance once a tune is written. A tune is a tune, and the 96-97 simply refresh their information more slowly. If you're using Windows, go to task manager. Go to the Performance tab and then click
View > Update Speed > (High, Normal, Low).
You're not speeding up or slowing down the computer. It just changes the update interval. The difference is that the 96 works the same as the 99, engine-wise, but the refresh rate of the PCM to the tuner is slower. It is supposed that the newer PCMs can detect knock and account for it much sooner, and I believe that. But that'* about all.

GM'* switch to the 94/95 PCM didn't do much of anything. Those were years when GM was figuring out where to go next with the wiring. You know, how to make it arbitrarily more complicated.