I am looking to start tuning my engine, which is a B16a2. For that matter i will be using a P28 VTEC chipped ecu, and after much reading i decided to go with the Ostrich+HuLog and Crome alternative, not sure if this is the ideal bet but it seems to be the safest one, instead of going with a Demon2+Neptune, or Demon2+Crome.
Honestly I am still deciding whatever this is the best way to go, and i decided to use Crome so I can easily burn the chip if needed (provided a burner) and use the hardware in another car, or just for the sake that Ostrich is a bit more stable than Demon (apparently).

Anyhow, I am looking for advice:

1. Whats the best/trusted place to buy the P28 chipped ecu with a decent quality harness?
   - Looking for it to have knock sensor and normal goodies, this is a must...
   - I am considering HAmotorsport but from what I read on their website they pretty much rebuild the whole ecu and even the case with who knows what?
   
2. Is there any reason I should go with the Demon2 hardware (250usd) instead of the Ostrich2+HuLog (200usd) when using Crome?

Thanks for the feedback

 

If you want to run the OEM knock sensor, you'll need a chipped P30, P61, P72 or PR3. The P28 does NOT have knock board.

 

Thanks for the info, i heard it is possible to add it? Is that true? or just fake information?
Not sure if there is any benefit of going with a P72, this is going to be used on a B16 engine and for what i see no one uses them (the P72), so there has to be a reason....

 

OEM knock sensor is only good for a stock engine and even then, most people who rely on knock detection for tuning or dailys run det cans or a 3rd party solution like knocksense

 

Get rid of the OEM knock sensor available on the board-enabled ECUS. Use a det can instead of it.
Any harness will work fine and any good ebay p28 will work fine too. I use ebay's p28s and harnesses without any problems.

Why are you thinking about it's the safest way? For sure it's the cheapest way. Tune it with crome, then switch to Neptune RTP or S300, you will get a more confortable software to tune and some interesting features.

 

Masterl1nk, 7rrivera7, thanks for that feedback!!!

Honestly after digging a little further I think i am going straight to Demon2 with Neptune (well, i can use Crome with Demon2 i guess as well)
But I will go and get a Demon2+P28 instead Ostrich/HuLog solution, its a bit more expensive but its new hardware and a all in one solution, that will give me more options in a near future.

Regarding software, The only drawback I see going with Neptune is that i cannot easily burn the chip after everything is done and remove the demon2, but we will see that later when time comes...

Now the only remaining question is if it will worth or not spend another 100usd extra and go directly to a P72 instead of a P28.

 

For the RTP solution (demon2) you aren't able to burn a chip but burn the tune on the demon. You need a Neptune's tuner license to burn chips.

Just grab the p28!

 

Yeah, i guess I will do that, just go for the p28
For Neptune i didnt check but I assume that someone would sell the service, right?
As in send you the map i tuned and burn it for me on a chip, for whatever that (reasonable) cost is.
So, in any case that i have to remove the demon from the ecu i can do it ????

 

You might be able to find a NepTune dealer who would be willing to burn your tune to a chip for a nominal fee but I've never heard of anyone doing it that way. If you don't mind asking, what's the preoccupation with wanting to use it in multiple cars? Do you have multiple cars or are you planning on getting into tuning as a side business or something?

 

Neither of that, I don't need to tune/use it on multiple cars, even less I am planning into getting to tune, I know nothing about that, hehehe. But having the option to burn the chip and remove the hardware is a plus, that way you can at least give it to a friend so he can play with.
Plus (and correct me if wrong) it also sounds safer, you dont relly on the Neptune hardware failing on you.

 

Non RTP Neptune works equals to a Crome tune, the Neptune bin is burned onto a eeprom memory.

If you are looking for a solution that you can tune and then you can burn, removing the hardware tool, grab an Ostrich 2 emulator, a EEPROM burner like the GQ-3x or similar and build a datalogger cable using a usb ttl module or a Nokia data cable. Then you can tune your car using Crome

 

Reliability is pretty high with the Demon boards these days. There may have been some batches early on that had issues, but I'm willing to bet that most of that was user error or abuse. I had one fail a couple of years ago, but it was a used board and I didn't know the history of it. It's also a forum-based product, so every rare instance of a failure is broadcast to the entire community of users... I wouldn't worry about it. Unplugging your ecu repeatedly and installing/uninstalling components will most definitely compromise reliability, on the other hand... Worn out/damaged pins, overcycled connectors, static shock from improperly handling PC boards (many of which are 20 years old), etc.

I like having the option of pulling a log whenever I want or making a quick change here and there... Fuel blends change for the season, you have a new idea you want to try out, whatever. That ability is lost if you go to a chip. That's my $.02 on that topic, I think the cons of jumping back and forth far outweigh the pros.

 

Thanks a lot of the feedback spAdam and Masterl1nk, this is all very helpfull. As said earlier I'm new to all this so the idea is just this, look for advice.
You bring up very good points and most likely i will choose neptune over ostrich.

To be honest (but I don't want to change topic of my own thread) Ostrich was discarded already and I am debating whatever i should go with Neptune or spend an extra 100 and go with Hondata s300. But once again that will change this topic slightly so i dont want to focus on that.

 

I like and tune both Neptune RTP and S300, but I prefer S300 over Neptune RTP. Just because S300 has some cool addons like the coil pack retrofit to run COP ignition

 

They are about the same. There are some things I like about Hondata that I don't like about NepTune and vice-versa. The Hondata add-ons are cool, but by the time you start dumping money into those you quickly start approaching the cost of a proper EMS like AEM Infinity... If I'm going to spend $1000+ I'd rather not have to still deal with 10Hz logging, no knock control, etc.