In the process of the stereotypical budget d16 turbo build. Considering my options for engine Management. I'm trying to decide really if a demon and Neptune is really worth it compared to a hulog, burn 2, and chrome free. They both are able to tune for the turbo but the demon Neptune combo is $300 more and I just don't know if real time tuning is worth it for me when I'm just tryna make my car not blow up.

If I have a chip emulator I have to pull over to update my tune anyways so is it really that big of a deal to pull the chip out and burn the tune anyways? I've done the searching and I know what each one does but I haven't heard many first hand or in depth reasons on why I should chose one or the other. So I would like some person opinions on each speaking from experience.

 

Do you intend to do the engine tuning yourself ??? What experience do you have in Honda/Acura engine tuning ???

 

Demon board allows you to tune on the fly while your other method is about a PITA as it gets. Cough up the money or keep at what you're doing even though it's basically pointless.

 

Tuning myself, no experience except carburetor tuning and some basic knowledge. Pretty confident that I'll figure it out.

 

You can tune with Crome real time using an ostrich. I would suggest buying BMTUNE. I’ve tuned s300 and crome for the last ten years and just made the switch a few months ago. Bmtune can do everything that Neptune, ectune and hondata can do and more and it burns on a chip when your all done. The data logging actually works with it (I’ve never been able to get it to work with Crome) and it has capability of doing a fuel cut, ignition cut or fuel and ignition cut rev limiter. The ignition only cut sounds straight nasty on launch control.

 

But from first hand experience is an emulator worth it?

 

Also if it’s your first time tuning definitely take your time and be more conservative then you need to be to start out meaning pull 2 degrees of timing per lb of boost to start and rich afrs and gradually lean it out to ideal afrs and gradually add timing back in. I suggest you look into building a det can for tuning ignition timing. It’s a life saver and takes allot of guess work out of tuning timing.

 

every penny,
think of it this way....
Log a pull, stop, turning everything off, pull the chip, drop chip into a burner, make the changes to the maps, burn the maps, drop the chip back into the ECU, start the car and try it again. (even less fun when you discover that you screwed something up)

compared to:

Log a pull, make updates, push them to the emulator, repeat.

 

100% worth the money. When I first started tuning I did the pull chip And reburn method, as soon as I got an ostrich I felt like I was stealing people’s money because it was so much easier and faster to tune live.

 

You sold me, plus the extra features like anti theft.

 

and additional inputs on the demon to log and use as you please. (and on board logging, and the list goes on)

 

I'm on BMTune also. Using the Ostrich 2.0 and Hulog. Works awesome!

 

I can’t ever do CROME or chips again. So inefficient. Ran NepTune for a few years, switched over to S300, couldn’t be happier. The software is much better. I would say that NepTune is still good for basic setups, but there are some quirks to the software that I just couldn’t live with anymore. NepTune DOES do anti theft better though.

 

Neptune Demon board II, Capable of doing more than you'll most likely need it for and the number one thing to consider is "cost effectiveness". save some bucks go with Neptune.