Have any of you guys done chip tuning on your hondas? If so, where, for how much and what are the gains?

 

there are no perfomance chips that will work for a honda, they are gimmicks. they sell some fake mugen chip on ebay for like $30, those are complete crap.what you need is something like a apexi VAFC or SAFC that you can adjust fuel at certain rpms and enagage VTEC(if you have it) to get the best power and this should be done on a dyno. you can also go with hondata, but for just bolt-ons that's a little much.

 

*cough*bs*cough*

Chipping does work although you want to be sure of who is chipping your ECU and that the A/F curves are correct for your particular engine build and that the VTEC point for your particular build is at a proper RPM range.

There are limitations to what a chip can and will do but for the most part they are effective when programmed properly. I would however stay away from ebay chips all together.

 

Yes...stay away from ebay chips. Those are nothing but crap. Chipping for hondas in our experience...and from our client's as well...has proven to be very very effective when done CORRECTLY. Most chips like skunk2, mugen, spoon, etc...are plug, play, and pray (that they run your car correctly).

VAFCs, piggybacks, and other little boxes that trick signals going into the ECU have their drawbacks too. Personally I'd go for a well tuned chip than hook up a VAFC in my car. Yes these still give you HP when tuned correctly, but tricking the ECU will have negative effects. The ECU is a pretty smart piece.

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At it again huh sleeper....


They can work if you have the right tuning tools and tailor the maps to meet your car's exact requirements...

That's all a Hondata system is basically...an overpriced chipped ECU with overly expensive options... you can also almost exactly mimic what a Hondata system does by using freeware and a few tuning tools... like a wideband O2 and controller, some freeware datalogging and a dyno... but street-tuning with DL and a wideband can be more effective than dyno tuning results...I've had really good luck with it...
Dyno plots look impressive on paper (or the net) but can leave something to be desired on the street sometimes...

But generic ebay (or any chippers generic tune for that matter) chips/maps cannot be expected to get all the possible potential out of your setup...and can sometimes hurt... Like the generic Skunk/Mugen chips often just peg your A/F waaaay to far on the rich side and kill your mileage something fierce...I know this from firsthand experience...
it's really a car and engine setup specific thing that can net some decnt power but I know of no one that got it right on the first try...It's almost a trial and error type of thing that is all in the details... and sometimes a very minor change in a very small area of the fuel or timing map can pick up some power...

So you should enlist the help of someone who has some experience in the area. if you really want to pursue it seriously..someone who has the know how and the tools to get it right...

 

in defense to my first post....i don't think chips for an f22 with just bolt-ons would be worth the cost. what is the cost of what you guys are reccomending and what would be his hp gain??? also judging by his question he is looking into more of a simple pre programmed ecu swap type thing like what you would find on ebay, not some type of ecu tuning that would envolve a dyno or data logging. so given all that i still stand behind what i said.


zigenballs...you constant trashing of what i say is getting rather childish and annoying. it was cool before, but it's rather tiring now. honestly o i don't care about n/a f series, it's a waste of time and money and i will never change my mind on that issue. f series are best for turbos or as paper weights.

 

Well... I don't remember saying anything about an N/A F22... and frankly I could care less what you think about the subject... your opinion is not one I hold in high regard because:

my man complaint with you is that you are always commenting on things you have little to no experience with and your info is either half right or outright wrong a good portion of the time...

At best it only makes you look bad and like you are attempting to come off as knowing more than you really do.... and at worst someone is going to listen to the BS that comes from you and either break something or spend alot of money on somethings they don't really need...

 

Knock it off guys.

Anywayz to answer the original question; chips are ALL about Tuning. Without pretty much all the basic bolt-ons, etc, I wouldnt bother with a chip; Id get things like an intake, header, pullies, etc first.

If you are expceting gains like on turbo cars(A4, Jetta, Golf) forget it. Those cars get huge gains from chips that raise their boost levels. Cars like ours dont get those kinds of gains.

 

yes that's part of my point to. some people think that a honda would respond to a simple cheap plug in chip upgrade much like a turbo car would.

 

Most of what you have stated in your posts here are only about 1/2 right so why don't you lay off people TRYING to help. I know nothing of this history but personal attacks against members is against our Term of Service.

Tuning is key to any performance setup and each engine needs a customized tune so a generic map will have widely vartying results. a VAFC would be much better for mild setups and a Hondata is even better and hardly overpriced for the features it offers that an ECU with a custom program alone could never do.