I have an 03 and was thinking about buying a Apexi VAFC but wanted to know if anyone had one and if it helped out any.

 

Personally,
Previous postings have indicated that with a stock S, you will not see that much gains. The stock ECU for the 02 and up are different compared to the 01 and down.
I would suspect however that you would require some kind of tuning capability if you plan to do some kind of mods to your car......
A good person to ask is UL, I believe if you do a search under his name , you will kindda find your answer...
Good luck.
Beroz

 

You probably won't see as large of a gain with an '03 as you would with an '00, but I think it is still a good investment. I also think you will see better gains from a stock setup than you would with other NA mods (I/H/E). I'm not saying your peak HP would be greater, just the gain. You might be able to gain 6 HP at X RPM with just the V-AFC, but if you already have I/H/E you may only gain 4 HP at that same RPM by adding the V-AFC.

 

I have really looked into this since I have an 01, moded, and was constantly getting pulled on by stock 02s. The ECU on the 02 and up are very well tuned for the car. I was debating between buying an new ECU vs VAFC or both and went with the VAFC only. I got 14hp at the rear wheels with this. The most my tuner has seen with and 02 and up, and he's done a few, is 5-6. I'd say its worth it, but not a priority....IMO.

 

Anyone know how the VAFC effects your warranty?

 

I wouldn't say it affects it, I would say it would Kill it. Anything connected to the ECU is an automatic void. Just get a harness, and if something goes wrong, just unconnect it and be on your way.

BTW, I got 9 RWHP on my '02 with my VAFC. Also smooths out the entire powerband.

 

Anyone familiar with unichip? They're coming out with a harness for the s2k.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ugotmade
[B]

I wouldn't say it affects it, I would say it would Kill it.

 

With a harness you cut into the harness rather than the stock harness. That way you can remove it and everything will be stock like.

 

I got about 15 rwhp on DynoJet after a dynotuning session.... worth it in my opinion if you can't afford a new ecu...