Oh he knows why and kicking himself over it. He also has a 5spd 3.4 Z34 and said that the auto was too slow comapared to it. It just sucks when tinkering with something ends in destruction.

I've driven a few cars with the lesser engines, namely a 3.4/3400 and a 3100 i believe. Very slow compared to the 3800 in my heavier bonneville. But they weren't well maintained cars, and i'm a huge torque guy.... Although that 3.4 DOHC can be nice for some things, they shoulda gotten like a getrag 5 spd for it or something to hold all the RPMs and power.

I was at Berettafest in Wilwaukee a few weeks ago and two Z34 Lumina'* from FFP showed up and one of them had the 3.4 DOHC with a 5-speed manual...made me smile!

Anyway, as for gearing...I believe it went like this:

SE = 3.06
SSE = 2.97
SSEi = 2.84

Don't hold me to those specs though.

So the SE has the best gear ratio of any of the Bonnevilles by that? Well i know it'* an RPO code, so maybe you can get it however you want (when ordering of course)

I agree, the DOHC should have never been put behind a auto. Shove it behind a 284 and raise the redline to 7200 and by god you got a different car. And yep, it is the HD version.

I've driven the 3400, 3100, and 3800 and none of them got my interest, they all felt lacking. What can I say, I am in love with the DOHC powerband.

You can really open up the HP of the 3800 with a little work. A new Intake and a new exaust give it a lot more breathing room and more HP, but it can take away torque, especially in a non ram air, N/A engine.

Bonnie Boi, how did you find out for sure you have a 3.06? Curious.

i got all my RPO'* and cross referenced them to the main list here, not all of mine were there, but i did learn some stuff out about my car. I got the gm sport exaust, and purple pearl paint... Although my car was never used in winter, after the first snow fall, but they have an engine block heater... Meh

Hey Guys,

I'm the one that Brian has been posting for (thanks Brian!). Do you guys have the RPO codes for the diff ratios? If you know for sure that your car has a given ratio, can you find out what the RPO for that ratio is. I know there would be a big difference between a 3.4 DOHC with the stock 3.43 and one with the god awful 2.84. I don’t thin the damn thing would even move! Also, is the different final drive ratio just a matter of the differential? Are the chain ratios the same for all the fd ratios? Thanks for the help guys!