okay i've been searching and searching because i figured this might be a common question. but i can't find any information on this specifically.
1996 civic ex. d16y8 i'm buying a obd2b to obd1 jumper harness because i will eventually be going turbo and it's one thing i'd like to get out of the way.
in my searching for this specific question i have found out a good amount of information among other things. just a note to you people who go straight to posting a question.
okay so the only mods i have at the moment are cold air intake, header, test pipe, muffler. basically i wanna know if it's okay to go ahead and get a fancy ecu that has neptune RTP, hondata s300, or something of that sort. or perhaps i should just get a stock ecu because there's no point in tuning a motor with only i/h/e? http://www.hamotorsports.com/socketedp28.html this? so does this ecu allow for it to be programmed later for neptune, hondata, etc? "along with a pre-installed low profile ZIF socket for quick and easy chip changes." it says. so that does mean it's ready to be programmed with this http://www.hamotorsports.com/demon-neptune-package.html ?
i've read tuning can improve MPG, you can change when VTEC engages, shift light, and neptune rtp has this thing where you have to do a gas, brake, clutch combination before starting the car. which are all things i would like.
so hopefully someone can steer me in the right direction here! thank you very much.

 

i would not bother tuning with bolt ons.

 

okay. so what should i get for an ecu then? should i get a virgin p28 and use that? or should i get that socketed/chipped ecu in that link i posted? because eventually i will need to get it tuned when it's boosted

 

I would get a stock P28 and use that until you figure out your turbo and tuning situation. There is no sense in spending the money to get it tuned with your mods when you could save the money and use it for something else.

 

All of the above.

 

alright. i'm just going to get the jumper harness and find a virgin p28.

 

Technically...anytime you make a change to your engine without tuning you're not getting as much out of it as you possibly can but...your gains would be minimalistic so don't waste your money

 

go for it!

if you're going to learn tuning, might as well be on a stock motor that'll be near impossible to blow up.

 

p72 i believe is one of the best stock ecus to go with if i am not mistaken

 

p28/p72 same diff pretty much haha

 

Not sure why you would want to do this, but reasoning tells me is that it is a "cheap" mod so do it. DON'T! I have the same setup as you but boosted, and the ECU was my last decision but read up on it. There are many ways to control a turbo setup on a civic, don't just do it to do it, especially at the point your at. I would just keep on saving and once you build your kit then make a decision.

 

nope. just trying to save myself some time/money/hassle by buying what i need now instead of later. but i guess i'll just find a stock virgin p28 and use that..

 

There's really no point in switching to OBD1 until you have the parts to actually require a tune. It's great that you're trying to plan ahead and get parts you'll be needing, but just put them in your closet until you'll actually benefit from installing them. If a tune isn't needed, all OBD1 does is make your car more difficult to diagnose.

 

but your not saving time/money/hassle.

either way your going to need it. but the ECU and tuning will be the last part of the turbo build. buying it and trying to tune early is pointless.

I dont know why you post this thread, then dont listen to the advice. if you were set on doing this from the beginning, then why come on here and waste everyones time.

 

Nope?? I could have sworn you came here asking for advice, no? You can do whatever you want, but its a bad illogical decision. 100% of those on here that went boost, decided which engine management to use after they thought about which turbo, injectors, etc they wanted to get. Hell you can use a piggy back system for what you have but it is still a waste. Once you purchased everything needed for boost then decide on the ECU. I use an ODBI for my setup and even after I question if I made the best decision and I have no issues with my car..lol

 

a stock p28 isn't gonna work anyways, base timing on the obd2 d series is 12 degrees vs 16 on obd1 so it's gonna be worse than the stock ecu.

leave it alone.

 

Agreed!! I had a 93 Si and I still have a 98 ex. Just for the fun of it I got a obd2a-obd1 jumper harness and plugged up the virgin p28 and my car ran like a pile of crap. Wait until you need the tune, until then the stock ecu is the best.

 

If you know what turbo setup you'll end up installing you can get a chipped ECU from someplace like phearable.net and simply shelve it until the turbo is ready to install. By then you can have already talked to a local tuner and they will be able to recommend the EMS that you should use-usually whatever it is they are most familiar with.

 

 

Once you do that then you can look at which chip to purchase. I went to these guys for the chip and tune

http://www.xenocron.com/

They are a bit high on the tune, but they know there $hit. Spend the money and do it right.

EDIT: I should also mention tuning is not easy as this link is brief on what is involved. Let the pro's handle it

http://www.xenocron.com/install/CromeGuide.htm

 

+1

cheap
reliable
fast

^
Pick 2 and the 3rd is what its not.

Crome is not the tuning software you should be looking at. plagued with bugs still.. but its free, so you get what u pay for.

 

It's also no longer being developed. So any of those bugs will still be there for a long long while.

 

What bugs? My car runs fine, maybe a bit rich as I decelerate and hit 3,000 rpms. Backfires, but have not really had it back for a re-tune as something might be wrong or not. Curious what your findings are.

 

http://www.tamparacing.com/forums/ho...-solution.html
Granted this was back in '07.

 

im not going to threadjack..

but if your happy with it, thats all that matters..

after i went neptune, my crome issues disappeared