I hope my title does not sound like I have answers. Its the complete opposite. I have no idea what to do. If you are thinking "use the search option" its kinda like those information overload commercials that bing.com was using. I have found so much information, and yet so much of that information was either useless, or contradictory. If you don't want to bother with my questions, please just give me a rundown of ECUS and Chipping.

What I am looking for is a simple rundown of ECU's and Chipping. So as background right now I have a 95 h22 swap in my 91 CRX. I have Intake, Headers, and Exhaust. From what I have gathered those performance parts will do very little without a chipped ecu and a tune. This is why I would like to do so. So here are the questions im looking at.

1. Can I keep my p13 (unchipped) and safely run a turbo? Would it work if it was chipped?

2. Since im running the stock p13, will it even work to put in a chip? by that I mean will I see any gains, and will it blow up my ecu? haha. I wrote to one company that sells simply chips for a good deal (and will set it up to my settings), and I guess they got frustrated and stoped writing me back.

3. What is a reasonable horsepower/ torque gain from a chip (lets say the s300 and also the smaller time company) with my current mods? How much more (horsepower and torque) would it be to have a skunk2 manifold +pherable throattle body? (found a good deal on here for $79.) I know I know I keep hearing people say "its hard to say because...." just throw out a ballpark for me

4. I have found p28s that is cleaned and chipped (or equalivent) with the s300 already installed (for around 600), and the company will set it up with the base map with current mods. Would I see significant gains with this as opposed to a local type shop (still reputable) that makes chips? Is it user-friendly enough for a newb to figure out? When I throw on the turbo would it be easy to adjust?

5. I plan on doing forced induction in a year or two, so whats the best road as far as a new ecu and chip?

Please feel free to answer any questions listed or just give me the rundown of ECUS and Chipping!

 

I suggest you review http://www.phearable.net/tech/efibeginnerguide.html if you have not already done so.

1. No, you cant have the car tuned on the p13 for a turbo setup
2. You can use a stock p13 with an intake, header & exhaust on an h22
3. It all depends on what basemap the engine computer is running on & what you are comparing it to.
4. A hondata equipped ecu and a chipped ecu will do the same thing. The difference is that the hondata ecu can be tuned using hondata software by a tuner. A standard socketed/chipped ecu can also be tuned using other software & a chip burner however not all tuners tune chipped ecus. Some only tune hondata s300 ecus etc.
5. You should first figure out who will be tuning the car, what software they like to tune on & make your choice from there.

 

Thanks for the good link. I feel more informed now. So it sounds like I have the obd1 because its the 95 p13. So can I get my p13 chipped now? The difference as I understand it is that with chipping as long as I have obd1 it can be chipped, but to run software with say neptune or s300, I would need a p28? When I want to do the tuning later with forced induction I should switch over to a p28 so that way I can run it with the s300 or neptune. Am I getting this right?

Another thing I wanted to ask, with the chip that I will likely be getting from you guys, Do I need a tuner? I figured it came with a basemap set up for my car so that way I wouldn't need one right?

 

p13 ecus can be chipped but the modifications/software available is very limited.
To run neptune or hondata you would need a compatible ecu like a p28 or p72 etc.
Concerning a basemap, you won't need to have the car tuned for a stock h22 with bolt-ons, but you should most definitely tune the car when you turbo charge it.