Some of us have to be OBD2 compatible for inspection. Which is why I use the 0411 Express van based setup.
I was faced with the same problem with my 97 Express. The 96 and 97 PCMs can only be tuned with Jet DST or Tunercats. Tom aka Haulin@$$ was fairly local and had helped me years ago with his Tunercats setup to get a decent tune in a spare black box. Once I was ready to mod beyond that PCMs capability as it was flashed, I 0411 swapped. There is really not much to choose from if you want a good tune. I have since acquired Tunercats OBD2 and have full flashing abilities with it. But it does not offer datalogging. Have to use generic OBD2 datalogging. I use OBDLink software for that.
For emissions reasons the Astro van owner friend of mine wanted to retain EGR. We made an adapter plate to install the 4.3s linear EGR onto the LT1 manifold, wired it up and enabled it. EGR worked like it worked in the Express van and the emissions monitor was "Ready" after the tuning was 100% complete.
The other LT1 swap I did was into a 1995 TBI truck. Used the GM performance carb intake manifold and a TBI adapter with a 454 TBI above it. That boosted torque for the heavy truck without giving up horsepower. Also allowed us to keep the 1 year only 4L60E. It also allowed us to use a rear distributor and bypass the malfunctioning optispark on the donor engine.
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