Hi guys, I am new on the forum and the tuning community.

I would like to tune my car someday and am currently trying to teach myself the nessecary knowledge and skills.



As far as I know there are three different methods to tune:

• Stock ECU tuning (mine is OBCD2B if I am correct)
• Chip tuning
• Standalone ECU

I am curious which one is best and which one is possible with my stock Honda Accord 1.6i.
At some point I would like to install a turbo, which one supports a turbo / air pressure sensor?
Could I just reflash my stock ECU with an OBD2 cable and a laptop?

Thanks in advance,

Kasper

 

I think the response you will hear on which is best is 1-cost 2-usefulness .

For example, you could probably install a Hondata, AEM or other third party aftermarket ECU, but if all you are doing is exhaust and intake, probably not worth it. Except if you are trying to learn, then it could be money well spent on education.

I will suggest, however, if you really want to get good at tuning, you start reading some of the theories of modern EFI and all the variables in different sitautions. A book I would recommend that is all about learning that theory first before actually doing a tune is this one:


Having this base knowledge will help a lot once you start to tune, because if gives you the fundamentals on what you should be watching in different configs and engines. How to deal with different cams, turbos, blowers, stokers, idle, spark, WOT, Wide Bands, etc.

To answer your question about reflashing: As far as I know if, there is no one who makes a programmer for this era car. It's just not a popular platform. Many people when they do use this platform roll it back to OBD-I and there are programmers from the previous era.

The other issue you might have is that there will be few people to converse in depth on this subject with this particular system because it's not popular. Pick a Mustang, for example, and you might have hundreds of tunes you can look at. Same with other popular platforms.

 

Thanks for the quick reply 99stockcivic,

Okay so I could get an OBD-1 ECU and socket that with a tunable chip and reflash/remap that, or I could buy an aftermarket ECU.
Can I use a turbo, and its required sensors, on both options? Or is that not possible with an OBD-1 ECU of a gen 5 Honda Accord?
And do I have to get a certain OBD-1 ECU from Honda or specifially Accord and would a civic ECU be fine too? Should it be non VTEC if I have a non VTEC engine?

I understand that it is quite rare to tune this car, but I would like to make a sleeper Accord, just like 2point2turbo. So for me the fact that there are no maps available is a good thing.

Sorry for the amount of questions, I am new to this community and have no friends with this knowlegde yet.
Thanks for the literature recommendation, I will look into that.
Have a nice evening.

 

That book will give you plenty of foundation for the understanding of programming fundamentals when tuning injected engines. I found it very informative. I'll give you my opinion on this matter, but I make no claim to expertise on programming for this particular vehicle. Personally, I would (if I had time, money and the urge to do this on this car) get the aftermarket and a two bar pressure sensor to put on a turbo so I can measure and see it clearly in the computer. This would let me bypass any limitations on sensors from this era and go with a modern management system instead. Then I could also build triggers for pulling timing based on boost, put in whatever engine I felt like (within reason) and other things.

I'll let the real experts give you the details for what you are asking as I've never done it on that platform.

You want an ECU that matches the engine more than the car if you are looking to stay with OEM computers. So lets say you pulled a Civic 1.6L engine to put in here, or a Acura 2.3L, an Audi 4.4, whatever. You want the ECU from that car then engine is comgin from to help you have the base map to start the car and work from there. So you also want to make sure it is the right engine size. For example, we have a 2.3L 4 cylinder and a 3.0 6 cyl engine, you need to make sure you pulled the ECU for the 2.3 or 3.0, not just any Honda ECU.

The VTEC/Non-VTEC is going to be another pickle you will have to decide on if you swap ECU/OBD . With the OEM computer, you will need to discover the workaround.

Again, a lot of this talk depends on budget you have and what is your motivation. If it's to learn ECU and programming, I'd get the aftermarket ECU so you have a fast system, and you will have to learn how to get all the sensors hooked up and talking. At least learning Hondata you can re-use the knowledge on other Hondas with aftermarket ECU like the Hondata.

If the talk is really to add more horsepower and build a sleeper car....I'm split because again it's another decision and how much power are you looking for and your budget. If this is simply to add a turbo and maybe 50 horses of power, then slap on the turbo and go forth. It will run, you can get a cheap turbo, and you can use a stock ECU. However, if the goal is to build a more power car than that....and on this platform (which I highly discourage it's just not a car made for this and there is no aftermarket support) then you need to decide what engine, how much power, then build up a forged engine and put on the turbo and program the car with an aftermarket ECU.

But, like I said from the beginning, this is not the platform for learning to program ECUs. If you want something popular, get a Civic, there's a TON of aftermarket support, hundreds of variations and tons of sites to help you program for those cars as well. Again, maybe you really are going to dump $20,000 and build a sleeper, or maybe you really will be happy with a 50 horse turbo added on. But only the expensive route is going to teach you ECU programming completely, because effectively you are making a new car.

Good luck.

(Disclaimer: This is my opinion, not necessarily anyone elses on here. Not looking for arguing, just presenting what I am thinking. If someone else thinks otherwise, please chime in. Since I've programmed dozens of cars, that's where my thoughts come from, popular platforms with a lot of support, especially when first starting out. If this was your third car to program, then I might be more inclined to say "Sure, try working on a platform with little aftermarket support". )

 

Thanks a lot for your responses and advice. Sorry that I didn't reply earlier, but my Gmail app stopped giving me notifications.

I do not have a budget of $10.000-$20.000 as im still a student, and thus will not do a case swap just yet. I will go the other route and install a cold air intake -> new exhaust with valves -> standalone ecu -> two bar pressure sensor -> turbo on my current 1.6i engine.
I think this will allow me to: easily entry the car mod scene, add hp relatively cheap, learn how to select and install components, and educate me on tuning an engine with a standalone ECU.

luckily I also met a guy who is currently studying to become a car mechanic, he also has a lot of knowlegde and can give me advice on components/ help me install them.
I will read your recommended book about tuning and will try to create my own basemap as I could not find any for my engine (D16B6), if you have any advice on this subject, feel free to share it.

With kind regards,

Kasper