After changing the factory exhaust, and intake, is it necessary to have the car tuned to the new componets? Has the fuel to air ratio been compromised because of the free flowing exhaust and the air gulping intake? I have noticed carboned up exhaust tips. I recently pulled my plugs (25,000 miles on them) and they were carboned up also. Thus my question about possibly needing the car tuned because of the exhaust and intake.

 

Nope. Without aftermarket fuel control, there's really nothing that can be tuned. The S's ECM is not flashable.

 

Can you elaborate on aftermarket fuel management?

 

The main aftermarket options fall into 2 categories: piggy-back and stand-alone.

Piggy-back units work w/ the stock ECM by modifying certain signals. VAFC and E-Manage are the two main ones used.

Stand-alone units completely replace the stock ECM. EMS is the main one used.

 

There are different types of fuels managment. You could go with a brand new ECU from a company like Spoon, Mugen, Amuse that have a pretuned ECU that usually goes along if you have completed all their mods. No tuning is requried just plug and its ready. The only draw back to this is that is costs alot since it is a "JDM" product, and the ginas arn't that great. And since they tune it to be used with their parts only...it might not work to well if you mix and match parts.

Then there is the easiest and simplist way (prolly the cheapest too) Getting a VACF, or VAFC II which lets you splice into the stock ECU and allows you to change fuel delivery and diffeent points in the RPM scale at WOT also change your VTEC cross over point to make it sooner in the RPM or later. Is tunable on a dyno with someone that knows what they are doing. This mod is alright, there are gains still with both the VAFC and VAFC II (The VAFC II gives you more points to tune, so its slightly better then the VAFC). But the setting only work under WOT, and the gains arn't as good as the stand alone. If you just got basic bolt ons, this mod would prolly be pretty good for your money since it tunes your car slightly, and you will get gains at a resonable cost. Also more people are able to tune this set up.

Then there is of course the stand alone ECU like the Hondata (Not available for the s2000 I believe), and the AEM EMS which allow you to tune the car fully and even while under actual driving condtion. This is the best fuel managment and even on stock cars youll see gains. You will need someone that can tune a AEM well (which are few). This system is pretty pricy around 1k used and a few hunred more for a new one. But if you have turbo or a full NA setup...this would be the way to go.

 

Quick question, which I think would apply to this...

If you get a stand alone like the AEM EMS, do you still retain all the functions of the stock ECU, like the immobolizer key, traction control, drive by wire system (for 2006)?

I thought about this and I wonder if it is affected and if it is affected, what could be done to retain the stock functions?

Andre