Okay, I know a lot of you are just going to come here and flame me for even asking, so bear with me. I'm in the "gathering materials" phase of doing a d16y8 mini-me swap on my d16a6 CRX HF. I have the head, new water pump and timing belt (and will be buying new gaskets soon!) so the only thing I need right now is a way to wire VTEC.

I am considering a $40 VTEC Controller kit on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VTEC-...ht_3442wt_1026

Now, I *know* this isn't a permanent solution at ALL. I am 100% going to make the switch to OBD1 and get a VTEC ECU so I can do the wiring the right way. BUT I am a college student so money and time are resources that I just don't have, so that is going to wait for awhile. (My car needs a new paintjob and that comes first because I unfortunately live in the rust belt) I am wondering if anyone has any experience with or knows anyone who has used one of these cheapo internet VTEC switches. I assume they are just a cleaner way of doing the RPM Shift Light method of going VTEC but I could be wrong.

 

why spend $40 on that when you can wait a bit longer and buy a P28?

 

so you'd rather pay twice? That college student line is played out man. How about not starting the project until all the pieces are gathered. It's ridiculous to half *** it now and spend more money later to fix it.

 

All the controller is doing is take the RPM Signal from your ECU or distributor whatever it wires to, and switches on a 12v constant when the set engagement comes up, However i wouldn't set it any lower than 4500-4800.

If you want it buy it, it's your car...
I would tell you to go OBD1 but i personally use a VAFC-II to engage VTEC and run a chipped ECU, but i also will be converting to OBD1 sooner or later.

 

Well, I just want to get it up and running. It might be a long time until I go about doing the ODB1 swap so I figure I might as well get it working any way I can right now.

Honestly, I have purchased eBay parts in the past (4-2-1 header and high-flow cat) and after a few months they are still performing great with no issues at all. I think a lot of the eBay stuff just has a bad rap because people who haven't used them rip on them without any real knowledge or facts to back it up. I'm not saying that the eBay parts are "as good or better than" the high end name brand stuff, but from my experience they work great if you are on a budget. I just wanted to know if anyone has used one of these before.

 

Truth be told, there may be some eBay parts on there that may actually be made by the same manufacturer as high-end makers.

Greddy, HKS, Tein, and a couple of other reputable high-end performance companies make some of their **** in Taiwan.

 

There is a big difference between a header and rigging up your car to engage VTEC. What about the timing and fuel needs needed to operate VTEC safely?

You could potentially ruin a perfectly good project because you want to rush into it. Take the advice of many people on here who have done that before and have ****ed up motors and thrown money down the drain. Wait until you have the cash and leave a good running car alone.

 

if your gunna wire it in sooner or later use the money that you would of spent on the controller and save it until you find a good deal on a p28. thats what i did with my swap when i was a laid off college student

 

depending on ur location u can find a p28 anywhere from 60-140 bucks...just take ur time and do it right...and get an obd1 jumper harness and dizzy jumper, 4 wire o2 and your good to go

 

or you can get a p06, super cheap and easy to find...then convert it to vtec go here....www.pgmfi.org if u know ur way around wiring and soldering..

 

just because your motor have VTAK doesn't mean you HAVE to wire if you want it up and running that badly just get it started without hitting VTAK yo!

 

Tein products are not made in Taiwan. I know for a fact that they are made in Japan.

 

try here...http://www.xenocron.com/chipping-c-2...d6ba85800af17a

 

Thanks for all of the information guys, I will look around and see what kind of parts I can find in my area.

 

!!!!!!!!!WARNING U R GONNA GET FLAMED SOON!!!!!!!!!!
u still didnt answer this question ?? u want to feel the v-tec power sssoooooo bad that u r willin to sacrafice ur motor ??? stop and think about how stupid ur question is... yea it will work but u dont need it to make ur motor run so save ur money and do it right... if u get flamed dont say u were not warned cause u were givin good advice allready.....

 

look in the marketplace and in the ef for sale thred for the obd1 parts u need to do it right....good luck

 

Hey there you can do that and it will be just FINE. Nothing will happen to the motor. Do it. I run my car off the vtec switch on the dyno and track and no problems so go ahead. Then when you are ready finish up the rest....maybe get a fuel pressure regulator.

You will not harm the motor





I edited this post and originally was going to say "u" will not harm the motor....but then I realized some idiot would respond its "you" not "u"

 

off topic, but both of your sig links are dead.

are you adrian?

 

I know the links are dead but I can't bring myself to remove them or change my avatar lol

I'm not adrian but if you want to contact adrian
https://honda-tech.com/forums/members/eg6ajk-3959/

 

oh that's right. yeah he's had that SN forever...

 

89civicdx, thanks for the useful advice. I may be a novice at this stuff but I'm not stupid enough to believe that running a VTEC controller is going to blow my engine. In almost every single mini-me write up I have ever read there is usually a section about VTEC controllers and/or 1 wire VTEC mods. I just really wanted to know if anyone had heard anything about that particular type of controller or knew someone who used one but I should have known that most people on these forums value uninformed opinion over fact.

In all honesty I will probably just buy one as it is the cheapest way to do it and then later if I really feel the need to spend the extra money and do it the "right" way I will. It's not like I can't even still use the controller in a different way anyhow so I wouldn't be out much if and when I go ODB1 with a new ECU.

 

Your right. They are made in P.I., Indonesia, tiawan and

CHINA!!

http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/prod...uspension.html


It is okay. Even Skunk2 has tons of stuff made out there. It is the way of the world now.

 

I was on this astro van forum today trying to find out why under the hood of my van is smelling like antifreeze.....they were sooo nice on there lol. Almost all used smilies too and weren't rude to each other...it was nice This place was never like that.....its kinda scary lol.

 

one wire vtec mods, if my memory serves me correctly, are for non-vtec ecus that have been modified (including timing and fueling tables) to activate vtec.

the benefit of vtec is the bigger cam lobes allow longer duration and higher lift, which means more air. if you don't compensate more air with more fuel, you have a lean condition...lean conditions make things hot. if that hot lean condition sees timing that is not adjusted for such a lean condition, then you have detonation...

it won't show itself right away, but detonation kills engines. fact.

i don't see the point of having vtec without the associated timing and fuel maps. just because the solenoid is activated doesn't mean success.

i would simply drive it without the vtec wired until you can get a p28 or at the bare BARE minimum a vafc, which you can street tune with a wide band a/f monitor.

 

Thank you for the informative post.

I have done research on some types of one wire Vtec mods and I could chip my PM6 ECU and wire my Vtec to where the Air Condition switch and control *everything* with turboedit. This would let me have the correct maps for everything and also tune for the best performance. Have you heard anything about that?