CIVICSPENCE

Hi! I have wanted to for a while to take the time to invest more energy into my car, so I took a class at a local college and have now installed the basic, I/H/E on my car, tuned it all up and now I was hoping to do more. I have an integra GSR (2000) completely stock, except for what I mentioned and was curious about something specific...I got a hold of a few parts and was going to install them, but had a question about my ecu and tuning for maximum efficiency...I have CTR cams, and ITR valve springs (intake, I thought I would just move my GSR intake springs over to the exhaust side), skunk2 cam gears, usdm itr pistons and a fpr. This setup, will do a bunch of things, including increase my CR. I don't want to change from the stock redline, just want to keep it the same. My question is...do I need a modified ECU to handle these changes or will my ecu adjust to all the settings and simply use vafc controller and go to a dyno tuning facility? I don't really want to screw around with my cars computer, would just rather piggyback, is this possible? Also, what do you think of my internals setup? Just looking for a nice increase in power, nothing too extreme, just to compliment my quaife LSD I also am installing, thanks!

Snoopy

a vafc can be used to get the job done. but something like hondata or uberdata will give you more control over more parameters. a vafc will only allow you to change vtec x-over and make fuel adjustments. while a hondata lets you play with fuel, ignition, vtec, rev limits, and a bunch of other stuff.

qtiger

I know you said you don't want to adjust your rev limit, but I would. Just nudge it up a couple hundred RPMs to match the ITR's limit, it'll sit nicely with the cams.


Would also suggest adding a Skunk2 intake manifold since you're going to be pulling the engine out anyway. It'll play nice with your new setup. And you'll get rid of that god awful GSR manifold. I hate that thing.


As the snoop said, a vafc CAN handle what you're planning, but you'll be pushing its limits and would be served much better by something along the lines of Hondata.

CIVICSPENCE

sorry, when you say hondata, do you mean a reflashed ecu or something like an s200? because I am really looking for alternatives to altering my ecu. thank you

qtiger

Can I ask why you want to avoid altering your ECU? They just slap a reprogrammable chip where your existing fuel maps are, it will still start, idle, run, etc like OEM.

CIVICSPENCE

oh, hmmmmm, I have tried to research it a bunch, I got the impression, you had to switch to an OBD I ECU and all that jazz...I looked at the hondata website, and being fairly new to the game, I didn't really understand, how do they know what you car needs and how to tune it? Do I just take it to a dealer? Thank you for your responses

Snoopy

yes you will need to convert to obd1 to use hondata and many other systems. any hondata dealer with a dyno should be able to tune it for you.

EH339

If you really want to understand ECU tuning, go to www.pgmfi.org and start by reading their threads.

My bf tunes cars with their Crome software. He starts with burning a base map on the chip, factoring the car's performance mods. Then he hooks up his wideband O2 sensor and laptop, and proceeds to street tune the car based on the air to fuel ratios at the various rpms and gears. The dyno is the last stop, if desired. It's all very cool to watch, but not everyone gets the big picture.

Your should really find someone from the www.pgmfi.org board that is local to you to tune your car imo.

I like the Crome software as it is openware and is actively under constant development. You can have features like the check engine light be a shiftlight and program in full throttle launch. It's a good group of people over in that forum.

CIVICSPENCE

Thank you very much, thats awesome!

Eclypz

Hondata Stage unit works with OBD-0. It's unsupported now, though.