Honda Civic Type R Sees Big Gains on the Dyno After ECU Flash
Civic Type R turbo engine showcases that the old formula for horsepower still works: dial up boost, foot down, enjoy.
For anyone who’s been around the import scene a while, Vivid Racing is no unfamiliar name. They’ve shown up in many of the major current, and dearly departed, magazines. This time we came across a dyno video they put together on the FK8 Honda Civic Type R. Sometimes dyno run videos leave us with questions, especially with unbelievable results after a single run. Vivid Racing does their best to dispel the naysayers up front by doing a trio of runs stock as a baseline. Then, they flash the ECU and do another trio of pulls. After some fancy footage they present the results.
We’ll cut right to the chase and note that power gains are impressive: 50 lb-ft of torque and 57 hp at the wheels. You heard right. Sure, they threw “crank” numbers in the video description, but those are just for impressing hipsters at meets. Stock the Type R threw down 233 whp and 257 lb-ft of torque. Honda markets it as 306 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque, for the record. With the VR Tuned ECU flash, the Civic makes 290 whp and 350 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. Boost is up to a peak of 27 psi but runs an average of 25 psi.
Out on the street, the result is about what you’d expect: wheelspin and more turbo noises. The Type R pulls hard, which is apparent even in the back-to-back dyno pulls. We knew the gains would be impressive when it was that noticeable. For a grand, that’s not too bad! Notably, as with most ECU flashes, the process is reversible.
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