ya i drive alot of steet now. but im moving soon. so im sure ill be using alot more high way so hopefully i get more mpg. do you remember the link for the chip? cuz everyone i talked to said you cant replace the chip cuz its sottered on so we have to ship it in to get the chip reset and stuff..

 

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...hip&category0= pick your favorite 02, it's not an ECU chip that's a whole nother can of worms but these aren't too bad.

 

it's not great for the car to trick its sensors with a universal capacitor-type "chip". My V-AFC also tricks the ECU, but is dyno-tuned and is set up for my car only. Yes, they may add a few HP at peak and make the shifts slam, but at what cost? Shortening the life of the engine and tranny?!? If you plan to keep the car for only a few years, go ahead, but if you want it to not have any problems, get something better.

And if you expect the car to ACTUALLY be faster, good luck. More than 3-4 HP peak gain, not likely. Reduction in MPG, very likely.

 

i'm talking about something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda...spagenameZWDVW
not some o2 sensor type stuff

 

Ok, that's a little better than the capacitors, but you're still tricking the car into thinking that the air is colder and denser than it really is. It's still going to cost you MPG because the IAT signals were already optimized for emissions and efficiency. The emissions will be a bit worse also, but IDK if that matters to you. 35 HP is a joke! I'd discredit any company that makes these kind of claims.

All in all, this trick might make you a little bit faster, but not as much as a piggy-back ECU with a dyno-tune.

 

ive gone through this debate with friends and on this board countless times. I was under the impression that the stock ecu was perfect for the accord. Or is it the type of thing where the more mods you have the better the PB ECU will preform?

 

That's it!!! The ECU is set up well for stock components, but when you open up the airflow, the air charge can keep more momentum thereby increasing volumetric efficiency a bit. This is why bolt-ons help performance. Also, if you change the spark timing via advance/retard, you change the burn characteristics of the air/fuel charge. All of these factors play into the fine tuning of the A/F mixture. Changes on the V-AFC are in 1% increments (which I think become even smaller due to the stock ECU trying to adapt to the piggy-back system). I'll look after work, but I think my largest adjustment is -7%. The other half of the controller, the V, is set up for exactly how I want VTEC to engage .... this really changes how the car feels to drive.

My VTEC engages at 3200 rpm, disengages when rpm's drop to 2800, setpoints are overridden whenever I floor it past 65% throttle and when the intake pressure hits -0.7 psi (steep hills mostly). In addition to the dyno tune, this makes my car much more responsive to spirited driving.

 

As far as I know, 5th gen 4 bangers are about .5 sec faster in 0-60 and about a whole sec in 1/4 mile. I was surprised when I found that out myself. I own a 97 accord LX.4cyl Manual. At first when I bought it, I just looked it as a car to get me around. Then, I found out its potential. One perfect day, I was on a moderatly straight road and I thought "lets see what this thing can do." So i shifted down and pressed the gas. OMG I was so surprised and happy. Its acceleration was far faster than the camry thatI previously owned.The great howl sound was amazing. So I quickly bought a apc air intake and a exhaust kit. I am in love with my car and I dont ever want to let it go. But I know time to part with it is coming soon as the car has 167,000 miles.

 

Honda heartbeats ring out 4 cylinders at a time, anything else is just there to raise the sticker price. 167k doesn't mean its almost time to swap cars...just maybe swap engines. You can keep the car you love, and it'll be even more fun to drive (and cheaper than even the best of trade-ins for another decent ride).

 

LOL ..... that may be a little true if I didn't buy it used to knock down the depreciation, but I can ROAST most 4 bangers that don't have forced induction.

As for tuning ...... I'm looking into getting a '96 Prelude SH for my next project.