duyfash0

i have a 99 civic hatch. i have a b20 vtec and i was wondering if it hurts for me not to tune my car. i have all the basic upgrades. dc sport header. aem intake. tanabe exhaust. skunk2 manifold. skunk 2 cam and cam gears. type r transmission. if im running with a stock ecu, would it be a big difference if i chip and tune my ecu? bank took a big hit due to school so i wasnt planning on tuning. does it hurt my car not to tune it?

pvt_awol

LOL...

what ECU are you using in the first place? If you say a stock P28, then I say, yes, you HAVE to tune it.


if you say something like p30, I say, you don't. But you're losing out on some ponies.

98civdx

your not getting the true power with out a tune, but you could run for a little while without it, just dont try and race it or anything,

pvt_awol

^

o'rly? even if it's an ecu from say.... a CX hatchback? Hmmmm...... maybe want to rethink that answer.

earlylocks

i say get 'er tuned, you do want the best out of her dont you?

turbojdmhatch

word, you left out the most important part OP, what ecu are you running, even if you are running a p30 or p28 or hell even a chipped ecu you should take it to a professional tuner and have them work out the maps, even if its just a street tune you will prolly notice a decent size difference in power

jdm_Jim

unless you want to run lean and destroy your rings after a month or 2 go ahead. but i would suggest getting a tune asap. 500 bucks is worth it imo.

98civdx

i dont need to rethink anything,
i said hes not getting the full potental from his parts! which he isnt, he never said what ecu he is runing so how the hell are we supposed to know, im not a mind reader...

op we need to know what ecu your runing.

CivicSpoon

Yes, you DO need to get your car tuned. Not only to get the most power out of your parts, but for reliability. Regardless of what ECU you're using, it's not set up for your build. Either you're running an ECU for the head, which isn't set up for a 2.0L, or it's for the short block, which isn't set up for the VTEC head. Not to mention all the other parts you have added to it; specifically the aftermarket cams. I understand the budget thing, but it doesn't have to be too expensive. For an engine management system, you can just get your ECU chipped, and have the tuner use a free program. There's really no reason to go all out an buy something like Hondata or AEM EMS. The price of the tune will be the most money, but you get what you pay for, you've got to pay to play, do it right or don't do it at all... yadda yadda yadda.

unusual71

YES
no matter what you will always see gains with a tune.
a tune is critical if you have anything that isn't stock.
unless of course you just have an exhaust and you want your car to sound like ****.

Vindicator9000

What everybody else said. I'd say that if you were running a non-frankenstein OEM swap with the correct ECU and a few bolt-ons, then no.

However.

Honda never made a stock B20V. Hence, Honda never made an ECU suitable to run a B20V. Hence, you need a tune for any B20V. I don't know what ECU you could possibly run it on and get it to run decent.

WTH is it running on now? GSR ECU? P28? LS? Any CELs? Is vtec working?