sorry to sound like a cheap *** here but just don't want to spend money on this project right now but still don't want to do a poor job.

So i just bought an eg civic hatch with a 1.8 ls vtec motor.
It is currently running on a "chipped" p28 ecu, whatever that means.
it has b16 pistons on it and running this russian roulette ecu has me worried. Needs to be tuned.


I'm just looking for the cheapest way to get this thing tuned well. I called a local shop and they wanted $600 to install hondata s300 on my ecu and then $150 an hour for dyno time. I really don't care about launch control or data logging or anything like that. I own 2 race cars so not building another one, this is my daily driver.

This is much more than I have budgeted just to get my car tuned. I've been looking for a cheap ecu with hondata already but can't seem to find one.
Searched and also not finding much about the cost of the other ways to tune these cars.

can anyone let me know what the cheapest way to get my car tuned is but still have it done well? how much is it to setup this ecu for chrome or uberdata or any of the other ones?


what would you do? use chrome instead? just baby the car around for a few months till I have extra money to get it tuned on s300? your recommendations are appreciated.

 

you dont need hondata. does that shop have chrome? since your ecu is socketed already they can just tune it and burn you the chip. thats the cheapest.

 

You could also get a Moates Demon for $250 and DIY tune on Crome, although you'll get a better tune from a pro.

 

yeah, I'm relatively new to honda's so will be having a pro tune it for sure. seems like none of the shops around me use chrome though not sure if it is because chrome just sucks or they don't kick down shops well for using their stuff?

anyone care to recommend a shop in northern CA that can burn me a chip on chrome then? If I could just pay for dyno time that would be PERFECT

 

if u are in Northen CA PLEASE CONTACT PARRIS ENGINE DYNAMICS ALREADY, HE IS PROBABLY THE CHEAPEST U CAN GET IN CA and he does a hella fine job tuning, he does hondata s100/s300, Crome Pro/Gold ect ect blah blah blah.......... his work is flawless and very honest IMO!!!!

 

good to know man, I called redzone and I called Hybrid works, Hybrid said he'd throw in the chrome for free then charge me $150 an hour for tuning and $200 for a street tune, leaning towards redzone.

Redzone said they'd chip my ecu for $80 if it's not already setup for chrome and then dyno time is $180 an hour. said a stock setup like this should take less than 1.5 hours. they also said adjustable cam gears on a ls vtec with stock gsr cams is a waste of time.