Dark_Sub_Rosa

00-01 models run richer than the 02+ models anyway so most likely im gonna say its just the normal buildup from excessive fuel.

pantyraider

I mean its black dust, and its only at the back of the car ie on the back bumper, and trunk lid. Anyway, I'm not worrying about it, just wondering if other people had the same thing. There is an 03 S2000 that parks next to me at work and I noticed that it's always clean! Bear in mind I just washed my car last week. No biggie, maybe I should get a VAFC and tune it a bit...

RazorV3

running too lean = detonation = bye bye engine

Dark_Sub_Rosa

yea lean is bad but you can lean out the 00-01 cars with a VAFC very easily and safely at least on the high throttle side where most of the black is most likely coming from when he is 50%+ throttle and still be safe. Just like using an 02-03 ECU in a 00-01 with way way more options

Elistan

Could be combustion by-products, could by tire dusting, could be dirt and grime on the roads. For me, it's always the third. My black ends up looking grey if I don't keep up with washes, especially if it rains. Has it been raining in CA recently?

wing

I have a SPA yellow '01 same thing here. Basically it seems like the dust gathers on the trunk lid and rear bumper. MY car is garage kept and only really driven on nice days. I wash it once a week, but that back bumper gets dirty fast, it's just dust, don't worry about it.

wanabe

normal...
i dust the rear of my car at least a couple times a week-
just put new tires on the car and am getting more dust than normal, so my guess is that it is a combination of dust/soot from the airflow over the car, some exhaust, and stuff coming off of the tires.

Y2K1S2K

you cannot increase timing on the older ecus with vafc though...someone correct me if im wrong. timing makes a significant difference right? thats the main reason why 02-03 ecus are better?

Russ

The car runs rich from the factory...even my '02. In fact, my plugs
were quite fouled when I inspected them (due to a horribly low
dyno pull and constant soot on the bumper) and voila! Following an eManage install and 16 dyno pulls
en route to a complete tune, I went from a 185.9 hp (done in 76-degree temps)
to 215.5 hp (done in 96-degree temps). Needless to say, the car is
measurably quicker now. The shop that did the tune said it was one of the more
impressive eManage results they had seen but bear in mind, my car was running like crap prior to the install. You won't find too many 30hp eManage cases on normally aspirated engines unless the thing is horribly out of tune.
Best advice? Check yer plugs.
On another note, the Greddy eManage does manipulate timing but in many cases,
the results aren't impressive. Frank (South Florida Performance, one of the premier
Honda tuners in the US) worked to find the right combo of timing and air/fuel ratios
on my particular car but it just seemed to respond best when we kept the timing
close to stock parameters and worked the a/f ratios. Pre-Greddy, the air fuel #
for my 185.9 hp run went to 10:1 at 3K rpm and stayed there right through VTEC....ugh! Very rich). On the final dyno and eManage tune (pull 16) from around 3K on, the air/fuel is a straight line all the way to redline. 12:1 if memory serves me.