Jack_in_the_Box

As of late i've gonna on a spending frenzy. sold my comptech exhaust in favor of the lighter and more responsive single t1r 63, bought the j's replica header from private label and revamped my stock airbox to mimic the spoon set up. with these bolt ons and my 63mm test pipe and 4.77s, my car is a blast to drive but now i'm in the middle of deciding on tuning it. i've had both a VAFCI and II but never got around to install them due to one reason or another (and i didnt really have much to tune to begin with). Now my friend has a AFC Neo for sale for dirt cheap and it got the tunning bug in my head again. Since i only have minor bolt ons, i wouldnt mind the NEO system. i'm not making crazy power or tuning a major factoring system like ITBs or FI so i can live with not buyin EMU or AEM. but the real question is, should i even bother? by lowering vtec and smoothing out the power band i know i'll gain some useable power but every thread ive read ends up turning into a flame war so i figured it'd be best to ask my local community for some advice\opinions. thanks in advance.

01S2KBROSNAN

i myself is thinking the same thing i have the VAFC.. have had it for months and it just sits mounted in my car just not hooked up ( i need a P&P harness for it and to get it tuned b/c i am not cutting intot the ECU... i am def going ot be watching this thread.


Does anyone know where to get a harness cheap and know about how much to tune a VAFC?

not tryin to crap on your thread JACK IN THE BOX.. i am def righ twith you on this one

ECale3

VAFCII is shit imo. It is known to throw CEL's too (not everyone has this problem, but it happens). Mine threw CEL's every couple months randomly.

On top of that OBD will learn and override it in partial throttle situations anyway, so you can really only tune for WOT.

Me personally, I would go with a hondata or AEM for the flexibility. Maybe the e-manage ultimate (I have no experience with this one so I can't say much about it)

//steve\\

I've got a friend that does some tuning that is looking more into the e-manage ultimate to let me know what he thinks as to whether it would be a good option. It still wouldn't be cheap buying new but plenty of people have used it successfully on boosted cars which I feel like it is far more important to have tuned right than n/a.

nightcrawler7188

if you're going to tune you might as well get a header first. also add as many other little tidbits before the tune to make the most of the tuning session. pcv valves, valve adjustment, clean your map sensor, etc. i'd also suggest adding a Science of Speed big bore throttle body, it's a great mod you will feel the difference from. it's about $250 and you said you're on a spending spree basically you should do EVERY thing you possibly can before the tune so that you get the most gains for what you'll spend on the tune.

i've been running a Neo in parallel with the comptech FPR for my sc setup for about 2 years now. zero problems whatsoever. no random CELs or anything. i don't have the harness, socal cut in to my stock ECU harness to install it. took him about 20 minutes and everything works flawlessly. the extra cost of the harness really isn't worth it, imo. if i want to take it out, it's not like i can't remove it and have the car still work perfectly in its stock form. i also used to have a VAFCII. no problems with that either. for a while i thought it was the cause of my knock sensor malfunction CEL, but it turns out that the knock sensor was actually physically broken for some reason.

hope this helps!

Jack_in_the_Box

Thanks Rashad. I already have the header installed. I'm just debating if I should spend a couple extra hundred to maximize what little I have.

nightcrawler7188

ahhh did not see that you posted you had the header. but yes there is still the little stuff i think you should do before the tune.

Jack_in_the_Box

Yeah. I'm just shooting for 215whp. I'll be happy with that.

FF2Skip

I agree with E.Coli with one exception: leave it alone.

My experience has led me to this conclusion. Everyone's will be different. The question is, "Why do you need the number 215?" Bragging rights? Been there. That was my reason for trying to get to 400 at the wheels. I've had a VAFC and AEM EMS. I like stock, but understand younger owners(in terms of ownership) going through the phases.

saggy311

stock is the way to go, unless u doing camshafts and larger throttle body and other engine mods to really squeeze every hp out of it IMO.