I was wondering what the best ecu would be for a 98 civic ex auto. I've heard of plenty of people doing D16y8 swaps and their computers making their VTEC kick in strong and pull like crazy. However these were with manual cars. I would like to know if I can swap an ecu out in my 98 ex auto for one that will make the vtec kick in harder, or if there is a special chip I can install.

Thanks

 

Your 1998 Civic EX already has a D16Y8 (unless you live in Canada).

Your stock ECU is the best ECU for your car.

 

Probably possible but it has its glitches, for one you need an ecu to work your tranny and then you need a separate ecu to work your engine. Both of those require sensors that both share. Think about it from there.

 

The best you can do is have it tuned, but without modifications there will not be a whole lot of improvement. Even 'soft' airflow mods dont do much. With a Honda v6 you can add near 100 horsepower with flow mods and a tune, your civic ain't like dat doe.

 

I know I have the d16y8 engine. I've just heard of ppl with 5 spds swapping ecus on their swaps and it making the vtec kick in harder. This is the first auto Honda I've ever driven. It's my girls and I want to do some little things to improve power but nothing major to where she feels uncomfortable driving it because of the speed. It's her first car.

 

People are full of **** then. Plain and simple. Keep it stock and let "your girl" enjoy a RELIABLE car rather than let her ignorant temporary boyfriend destroy it for her. It is an automatic D-series, it will never have too much power where she will fear it. Let her learn to drive before she is granted power that she is missing.

 

Lmao swap ecu to make vtec kick "harder" is a load of ****. Unless you have really wild cams with huge vtec lobes and near stock primary lobes vtec shpuldnt kick "hard". A hard vtec kick with near stock cams is a sign that its not tuned properly and that either the tune is bad or the vtec engagment is wrong

 

You can use the P2T ecu and vtec will feel like it kicks in harder because you're losing power on the entire low cam map. If you actually want to make more power instead of feeling your vtec, save up around $400 and get it professionally tuned on a Greddy EManage or a VAFCII with an IAT resistor hack.