chipped ecu vs stock

[crabby760]

i have a 97 civic ex with the stock d16y8 motor i have intake/header/exhaust rite now i just got a p28 chipped mugen ecu vtec 5800 rpm redline 9,000 and the skunk 2 adapter for obd2 to obd1 would it be best to run the stock ecu or should u run the chipped one? someone let me know

IS IT WORTH IT WILL IT EVEN MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?

[Prelude707]

From what I heard, those chips suck. I would say convert to OBI just use a stock ECU. One of the main benefits of OBI is that you no longer have to worry about the ECU resetting your mods.

[whtteg]

ECU chips are a complete waste of time and money period! Unless you have the maps programed buy a programer on a dyno with a wideband O2 sensor. Otherwise they are complete crap and can even cause damage to your motor.

[civickiller]

yeah it can cause damage but it depends on the company who makes it, i mean a generic company chip sucks but if it is a true mugen chip then it should be good. jsut run premium gas and just put it in a see if it makes power

[whtteg]

Originally Posted by civickiller

yeah it can cause damage but it depends on the company who makes it, i mean a generic company chip sucks but if it is a true mugen chip then it should be good. jsut run premium gas and just put it in a see if it makes power

That is the wrong way to go about it and that is also completly wrong. Every motor even two motor that were built at the same plant on the same day by the same tech will respond differently to settings. Also everybody does not have the same exact amount of flow in and out of the engine as the engine used to program the chip. Also everybody does not live in the same area ( elevation) as the car that was used to progran the chip etc etc.

Bottom line ECU chips= waste of money, time and a big disapointment!
Now ECU tuning is well worth the money if you have more than just bolt-ons, but you have to get someone who is using a dyno, wideband O2 sensor and knows what they are doing. Also this is almost always require something like Hondata so that they don't have to keep burning chips and installing them after every adjustment to the settings they make.

[civickiller]

no, you think about it, yeah it advances timing and add more fuel, but mugen isnt gonna make a program that blows up your engine. a program they make is a universal program that takes into account the different enviornments you will encounter. the chip is like a stock ecu chip, its universal meaning its not making maximum power but it is making alittle more power.

now a chip wont make max power, you will need a program like hondata to achieve maximum power but the chip will still give you a few horses just not as much as having it tuned with hondata or whatevers.

there is also a sensor in a stock ecu that measure elevation and adds fuel according.

and your point about every motor being different, do they make ecus specific to evey motor or are ecu's all the same and can be swapped to different motors. like i was saying, the chip doesnt make max power but it does increase it alittle

[whtteg]

Originally Posted by civickiller

no, you think about it, yeah it advances timing and add more fuel, but mugen isnt gonna make a program that blows up your engine. a program they make is a universal program that takes into account the different enviornments you will encounter. the chip is like a stock ecu chip, its universal meaning its not making maximum power but it is making alittle more power.

now a chip wont make max power, you will need a program like hondata to achieve maximum power but the chip will still give you a few horses just not as much as having it tuned with hondata or whatevers.

there is also a sensor in a stock ecu that measure elevation and adds fuel according.

and your point about every motor being different, do they make ecus specific to evey motor or are ecu's all the same and can be swapped to different motors. like i was saying, the chip doesnt make max power but it does increase it alittle

I am sorry but you are just simply wrong. Any chip that is "universal" will not do anything for your car except bring the possibility for damage. Advancing the timing is a bunch of B.S. It will do nothing for you either, if you advance the timing, then the bottom end power will slightly increase (maybe 1hp, if that) but your top end power will suffer. If you really want to run more advanced timing then just get a timing light and advance the timing by adjusting the distributor. Also another thing about ECU chips that a lot of people don't realize is that they dump more fuel into the motor, now if the motor does not need the extra fuel then you are going to loose hp. Also how does a manufacture in this case from another country going to know how much extra fuel your particular motor is going to need? They aren't! You can loose a decent amount of hp and tq by adding a chip. The only way to do it is like I said before with a dyno, wideband O2 and a program that allows you to adjust the fuel and ignition maps. A little change can result in a decent amount of hp gain or loss. Call any reputable shop in your area that does dyno
tuning and ask to talk to the guy who does the actual tuning and remapping of ecus and ask him about a "universal" chip, see what he says.

Also " and your point about every motor being different, do they make ecus specific to evey motor or are ecu's all the same and can be swapped to different motors. like i was saying, the chip doesnt make max power but it does increase it alittle"

About this, they have a safe amount of variation so that nothing can be damaged, but then when you add an "universal" chip you will be blindly removing that "safe zone" if you will.

[Miataracer]

whtteg is right on this one... you can't just throw a chip in and be ready to go like that

[civickiller]

then how come my friends car made more power with a bullfrog chip he added ?

[whtteg]

Originally Posted by civickiller

then how come my friends car made more power with a bullfrog chip he added ?

Got some before and after dyno sheets you can post up?

[civickiller]

nope all i know was the fastest he ever got that car to go was 17 flat, after he got the bullfrog chip he went 16.8. now dont tell me it was a fluke because he has done over 30 runs before and he did about 10 when he got the chip so the results were repeated and not a fluke.

i have deduced that since he went .2 sec faster he has made power somewhere in his powerband