O.G.'s of the tuner world, plz shed some light on vtec controllers
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Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Feb 2011
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From: West Coast, U.S.A.
O.G.'s of the tuner world, plz shed some light on vtec controllers
im curious about vtec controllers..what ALL do they do? good for? and do they work well with a naturally aspired setup, or non turbo?
thanks to all who reply
thanks to all who reply
Former Moderator
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 16,612
Likes: 55
From: Southside ATL, GA
Re: O.G.'s of the tuner world, plz shed some light on vtec controllers
Back BEFORE every city had multiple tuners that can burn chips for various Honda ECUs (P28, P06 (with IPT motherboard), etc. etc.) VTEC controllers were a tool often utilized to better tune an engine.
I personally owned an Apex-i V-AFC back in 2002, and for what it was, it was useful at that time. Depending on exactly which model you're looking at though, they can be very limited in function.
Example:
My V-AFC was not the "II" or any subsequent versions. It was the old school, silver bodied version with the blue screen. People used them for changing the VTEC engagement and for managing fuel curves but the fuel management portion is very limited because...
A V-AFC CAN ONLY TRIM FUEL AWAY - NOT ADD FUEL!!!
This might have been changed with other brands or later Apex-i versions such as the "V-AFC II" but the original Apex-i versions would only trim fuel away.
This meant that in order to get a nice "stoich" fuel trim you'd have to add lots of fuel across the entire rpm range with a fuel pressure regulator. Once you added fuel across the board, thus making everything richer, you'd trim the fuel away at 1000rpm increments to achieve the "ideal" air/fuel (or "A/F") ratio.
So basically the first version V-AFCs were useless as a fuel tuning tool without a means of first adding fuel across the board, then trimming it away.
These days it's a pointless item.
You can do some research and find a reputable tuner that can dyno tune your vehicle, and street tune it for partial throttle tuning/mpg, and burn a chip for your set-up and install it into a compliant ECU. No hacking of wiring like a V-AFC, no worries someone can rip the V-AFC out (stealing it) and thus render your car undriveable, no mounting some gaudy display, etc. I had mine completely hidden in my glovebox, but most people WANTED the "high-tech" displays front and center on their dash, or steering column, etc. Ideally once your engine is tuned with a V-AFC you should never have to touch it again, unless you change the set-up, and desire a retune.
Cliffs:
Tuned/Chipped ECU > VTEC controller
I personally owned an Apex-i V-AFC back in 2002, and for what it was, it was useful at that time. Depending on exactly which model you're looking at though, they can be very limited in function.
Example:
My V-AFC was not the "II" or any subsequent versions. It was the old school, silver bodied version with the blue screen. People used them for changing the VTEC engagement and for managing fuel curves but the fuel management portion is very limited because...
A V-AFC CAN ONLY TRIM FUEL AWAY - NOT ADD FUEL!!!
This might have been changed with other brands or later Apex-i versions such as the "V-AFC II" but the original Apex-i versions would only trim fuel away.
This meant that in order to get a nice "stoich" fuel trim you'd have to add lots of fuel across the entire rpm range with a fuel pressure regulator. Once you added fuel across the board, thus making everything richer, you'd trim the fuel away at 1000rpm increments to achieve the "ideal" air/fuel (or "A/F") ratio.
So basically the first version V-AFCs were useless as a fuel tuning tool without a means of first adding fuel across the board, then trimming it away.
These days it's a pointless item.
You can do some research and find a reputable tuner that can dyno tune your vehicle, and street tune it for partial throttle tuning/mpg, and burn a chip for your set-up and install it into a compliant ECU. No hacking of wiring like a V-AFC, no worries someone can rip the V-AFC out (stealing it) and thus render your car undriveable, no mounting some gaudy display, etc. I had mine completely hidden in my glovebox, but most people WANTED the "high-tech" displays front and center on their dash, or steering column, etc. Ideally once your engine is tuned with a V-AFC you should never have to touch it again, unless you change the set-up, and desire a retune.
Cliffs:
Tuned/Chipped ECU > VTEC controller
Seagull Management
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 15,150
Likes: 26
From: Miramichi, NB, Canada
Re: O.G.'s of the tuner world, plz shed some light on vtec controllers
They don't even have to be an IPT board anymore Tom. You can use Denshigiken boards as well now. In other news the legend lives.
Former Moderator
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 16,612
Likes: 55
From: Southside ATL, GA
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