I have the standard upgrades on my B16A (i/h/e) and would like to get the car tuned. Unfortunately I do not have the funds to buy a Hondata s300, and I know that this would be the best way to have the car tuned.

In the interim, do you think it would be worth buying one of these pre-tuned ECU's?

 

There is alot of debate about the pre-tunes. Of coarse everyone is going to say that a "real" tune is ideal for "your" motor, and people like to bash the idea of having a chip sent to you with a tune on it. I have known people in the same situation as you that just didnt have the money to get a nice tune done. They never had issues w/ a pre tune. However, Im not telling you to do it though.
I usually save money and set it aside for a tune...
Then get the bolts ons and such.
Just my opinion

 

What kind of "pre-tune" are we talking about here? Some are ok, some are a complete scam.

 

Thanks for the replies. Here's what I was looking at today:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/P28-P30-P72-...7f0c2b&vxp=mtr

I'm also looking into ones that are socketed for the s300 so that I have flexibility to add one in the future.

 

just wait until you have enough for hondata or any other ems. it's not like the mods you have will make the engine go boom tomorrow.

 

With that said, should I buy a new unit altogether with the s300? Something like this: http://www.phearable.net/shoppingcar...ages-p-39.html

Or what would be the best path for that?

 

Are you planning on tuning yourself, or having it professionally tuned? If you're planning on tuning yourself, pick up a chipped P28, and go with Chrome. It's free, and relatively easy to use. If you're having it professionally done, call a few tuners in your area, see what software they support, and how much they charge for different types of software. For small projects like this, I'm a huge proponent of Chrome.

 

Right now I am planning on tuning myself.

And with a chipped P28, you can tune yourself with Chrome? I was under the impression that you still required an interface in order to use the software. When purchasing one of these ECU's, will I need a proprietary cable to hook it up to my laptop? Or is this standard USB?

 

You don't "need" a S300. There are plenty of other quality systems you can use.


With just simple bolt ons, get the tune when you can. It's reccomend to tune it, however, the stock ecu is fine for the time being.

 

honestly i don't think you need a tune for your mods.

 

It is also a project car, so I wanted to learn how to tune as well. That was the other reason for doing this.

 

An EMS is not needed for standard bolt-ons. If I were you I would just get a reliable basemap burned to a chip from Phearable.

 

Don't spend money on an S300 system. Download Chrome. Use the money that you didn't spend on an S300, and buy a Moates Ostrich, a chip burner, a block steth, and a good wideband O2 sensor. Use the Ostrich to dial in a good tune, burn that tune to a chip, and install it in your ECU. That'll let you learn how to tune without wasting a shitload of chips. The block steth and wideband will let you tune safely.

 

I'll have to do some reading on your suggestions jbpnoman, thank you for that.

And grumblemarc - a reliable basemap would just be like a "default" setup for an ECU then correct?

 

No, Phearable has tuned numerous cars in-house, and uses copies of those tunes for basemaps. Your setups is SO common that they probably have an optimized basemap for you, that you can run on solidly. If all you want is more power, a basemap from Phearable would do just fine for you. If you absolutely want to learn how to tune (and you're definitely at a good place to learn, mods-wise), go the route I mentioned.

 

What about getting one from Phearable with a common basemap as you specified. Then experimenting with the route that you mentioned in burning my own chips and such.

 

i run a chiped P72 as it has support for a Factory Knock sensor (this Helps with tuning)

when i started messing with tuning all i got was a burn1 chip burner, Hulog Datalogger, 512 chips (honda normaly only uses the first 256 of the 512), a dual Prog Chip switch and a wideband guage.

i burned a stock map to the upper rang of the 6 chips i had and then started tuning the lower address this alowed me to drive the car on a Stock map and with the flick of a switch swap over to a tuned chip it took some time playing with it for figure out What all i had to tweak to get some of the running problems i had been having cleaned out but it was well worth it. also if you buy the good eprom chips the burn1 can erase then but most ppl and even some shops i have seen get the cheaper prom's that can only be written once. unless you have a UV chip eraser (i do) .

for faster tuning and on the fly adjustments get the RPT. it saves A LOT of time and your not swapping out chips all day.

 

Also completely doable, but you would have to buy a chip reader as well for that.

 

if he gets a chip burnner they also read the chips as well.
it will dump the prom into a bin file he can then open in crome.

this unit will read and burn your chips
http://www.xenocron.com/burn2-usb-chip-burner-p-88.html
get this it's a great place to start
http://www.xenocron.com/diyer-intro-...age-p-238.html

 

Thanks a lot for all the input guys. I appreciate it.

 

There is no debating among enthusiast.

Its Crome, or Crome pro.
Common mistake, Chrome is shinny

I personally think its better to buy universal burners like a TOP853, they still support and update their software. its cheap, like 50$ shipped. If you want to learn how to tune your Honda on a serious budget, start here : http://www.d-series.org/forums/diy-f...e-freelog.html

may i not forget- F*U* Hondata. you guys dont seem to relize this company has stopped partial development of grassroots. stop F*&*^ing giving them your money.

 

Ive used crome in the past, its simple to use and everything for it is fairly cheap...
personally I prefer the s300 it offers way more features and you dont have to keep burning chips, you can update straight from your lap top... for me it was worth every penny..