engine upgrading

-alright, im not very knowledgable about car engines. so i was wondering if someone could confirm something i heard.
-what was told to me was that no matter what i do to the engine (new intake manifold, new headers, cold air intake, turbocharger, whatever) it wouldnt do anything whatsoever if i didnt get a new chip for my car, and have it programmed to adjust my fuel/air ratio. so if this needs to be done, i have no clue what to do. do i buy the chip first or after i get all the upgrades? and how do i adjust the fuel/air mix ratio? can i just take my car somewhere for them to do this for me?
-i have no clue about this subject, so any help would be very much appreciated

The only reason why you would need to get your car tuned is if you had either turbo, supercharger, or new cams. For all the bolt on stuff its not going to help you much to get it tuned, sure it would be nice but its not going to make any more of a difference than if you got your car tuned stock. Just blow all your money on what you want then decide what kind of engine managment you need when your planning on a big mod like turbo or new cams.

so even if i dont get it tuned with all the bolt ons, it will still perform better and everything?

yep, bolt away till your blue in the face. But with bolt ons your not gonna get a ton of hp out of it. But when your engine is breathing better and you get a good suspension set up youll have so much more fun.

thanks i appreciate your help

the basic intake, header, exhaust doenst need to be tuned. pretty much anything else should be tuned

i would get an adjustable fuel pressure regulator for it while doing the bolt-ons. cars with map sensors (honda comes to mind) can't adjust as well as a maf system. anyways get an adjustable fuel pressure reg. and a fuel pressure gagues go to drag strip and increase the pressure about 3-4 pounds a run until your trap speed falls (showing that you have lost power) this will help out your air /fuel ratio during your bolt-on stages later

Take it from me, a chipped ecu can make all the difference. I just bought a chipped P72 ecu for my GSR and it pulls twice as good. And that's without my vtec working. But any day now I should be getting my new vtec solenoid and then I'll be doing real good. Just buy one already chipped and sell your old one. Unless you know somebody that can chip it for you for a reasonable price.

as said before you can add all those things and feel power but tuning your chip to perfect will help to sweeze extra power out of your car. with some cars, like giant diesels, a new ECU will net you 200hp but will hondas or smalling cars, it will only get you a few extra ponies.

I was going to put a skunk2 cam in my d16y8. I was also going to get there ecu and wire harness to go with it but some poeple say i need need valvues and springs, others say it will be fine. I cant really get a straight answer

depends on what stage cam you do...either or i recommend you do at least springs, Stage 1 doesn't need them, but around 7600 the valves will start to float, Stage 2 will need them because the cam is a little more agressive, and rpm ranges are a little wider, but with that mod u will deff. need a good IM,Exhaust system,Clutch,Fuel System, and most of all an ecu that can handle adding in the extra fuel you'll need for the extra air you'll be pulling in

okay well i have an injen intake megan reacing header,high flow cat, greddy catback and aem pulleys but i dont have an aftermarket clutch or fuel system and i was going wtih a stage one cam

the clutch might hold up, i tore mine apart though, thought about an intake manifold? it'll go nice w/ the cam

Yea i was going to get one and put it on at the same time. What about the fuel system like a pressure regulator and fuel rail or what? I dont want to kill my gas millage too bad because i drive a pretty good distance everyday.