Midrange can be greatly improved by and ecu tune, whether it be on the cheap with a VAFC, or balls out with an AEM EMS. Lowering VTEC engagement and leaning out (safely) your AFR's will help ALOT.

 

so with just bolt ons, should i go vafc or ems? unless boss gives me $5.00/hour raise, the S will not be FI. would ems be overkill?

 

EMS is overkill unless you decide you want to take it to that next level. A VAFC will produce very nice gains for the cost, and it's relatively cheap to tune. An AEM is an expensive piece, and is quite pricey to tune, as well.
I've not heard of 1 single user yet that regretted going with the VAFC. I've also heard great results from the greddy emanage ultimate. Ultimately, it's up to you, and what your future plans are for your car. I went with the AEM because I knew that I was going to be running individual throttle bodies, and that requires much more than just a piggyback ecu to extract it's full potential.

 

unless a turbo kit drops into my lap, the bolt ons will be all that is going on the car.
now to start the reshearch into vafc's.....

thanks for all your help.

 

not a problem. Good luck, and let us know what you decide and what your results are.

 

Yeah good luck, I know I said it before (as did wildcardtrd) but if you're going this route a Greddy E-Manage Ulitmate will make better gains and be much safer for your car -- it's a little more pricey, but still relatively cheap -- that's what I would go with if I was doing a build like yours.