you can run it with a stock ecu with no problems. It's always better to tune if you want to get the best out of your mods in general, but you will see good gains without tuning as well.

 

No, you don't. You don't need it if you're FI either. What does need to happen is people not driving like morons. Also, the gears have to be installed by someone well-versed in the art/science. This almost always excludes a Honda tech. I'd be inclined to go to a shop that does high-powered RWD cars such as those that work on domestics for the install of gears.

I disagree with ShocK on needing "JDM" gears, too. I will speak only of my experience, but know others that have never had one problem with their diffs. I've had my AP1 housing, 4.57's since March '04. I started out NA, and then shortly thereafter started my FI journey. 310 rwhp in Sept '04. 372 rwhp in summer '05. 398 rwhp in early '06. I've been NA(2.5L) since Oct '06 at ~245 rwhp. I have many track days and autox's. Still on that same crappy, non-reinforced, AP1 housing with the same crappy Richmond gears.

Gears are a great choice dollar-wise when trying to increase acceleration. The longevity of said setup depends greatly, not on the parts, but the install and driver.


PS. I probably should have listed torque specs vs. hp, but I cannot remember them with any certainty. I believe torque on the sc'er upgrades was around 220 lbs-ft and is about 185 lbs-ft. currently.

 

I have a js header for sale...

 

I wasn't conveying you need JDM gears I just prefer the higher quality of J's parts. My uncle is an old school guy thats drag raced for longer than I've been alive, he told me Richmond's quality wasn't the best and they were always noisy even in his days, so I steered clear of them, who cares about the price. My diff was WAY quieter than stock. Do you need reinforcement, if you talk to J's and AJ racing, with an AP2 diff you'll be ok on an NA car, I'm still weary about going to the drag strip. But it would be kind of stupid to spend $1k on gears and not protect them if your using an AP1 housing. I have an AP2 without reinforcement, I did put stronger bolts in the caps. I like to drag just for fun, I want to be able to launch at 7k and chirp 3rd without popping my caps or stretching the bolts. Better safe than sorry when you have that much time and investment. I have never put a diff together, not much art/science to it, just measurements like everything else, anybody can put a diff together with a manual laying in front of them, very similar to a Ford 9".

Skip I'm curious if you have been to the drag strip, I guess I'm a guy that likes to drive like a moron, quick shifting is fun to me, I don't want to go to the track or autox or dragstrip and have to granny shift all the time and worry about breaking. There are two sides to every story, from all the research I've done there are a LOT more high hp people with broken diffs than without them.

 

^^ Read that lol. I cant say that I have any technical proof saying you need it but like I said, even if you get the cheap gears and spend $500 plus whatever on install, do you want to protect your investment? Because when it pops everything is trash usually, except the housing, break the caps and toss the whole thing unless you want to pay $1k for a custom cap or something radical. I did research diffs before I bought anything, I found a couple of places that said the AP2 diff was stronger, they changed the casting process and supposedly its 40% stronger than the old AP1 process. It was also in Honda news.

 

J's FTW!

 

 

My Ti Amuse header and Ti R1000 =