guys tuned with Flashpro - how low your VTEC point is set?

currently my tuner advised for 5600 rpm point. even 5500 didn't look perfect for him.

i have intake and full exhaust system upgraded and on US AP2s they go as low as 3500 rpm with similar mods.

but our cars might be different - so let's see what's your expirience about this.

obviously i'm talking about 2006-2009 cars. but eralier cars' owners with aftermarket ECUs aslo welcomed t chime in

 

If you have a decat/HFC you can go lower since this is what restricts the benefits of a lowered vtec point contary to popular belief its not the manifold.

But all cars are different with configurations, not on a flashpro but with I/H/E+decat mine was set at 5100rpm - which i found to be the optimum point.

 

yep mines not that much lower than stock.

Often the tuner will do runs with and without vtec and plot the two lines on the same graph. No point putting the change over to vtec any lower than before the high lift cams make more power, ie the lines on the graph cross.

I'll use this as an excuse to post a piccy of my graph. This is not the most recent, this predates the J's exhaust manifold but he didn't need to drop vtec with that installed.

 

My car was professionally tuned on flashpro and VTEC point was set at 5700rpm.
The tuner told me he had tried it from 4k up and that was the best point for it to engage

 

Sorry to thread hijack. I know it's not the same but is there any point in a VTEC controller for the earlier ones that don't use DBW? Something like the APEXi VAFC2?

I know they used to be popular on civics etc years ago but I've not looked into these before as I had K-Pro on my EP3.

 

Yes i ran one for a while, gave a good increase.

I was going to refrain from posting as its been discussed before but...

Cons:
-----
The inadvertently advance ignition timing when you lean out - not ideal we your running even leaning, just lean out until you find knock (torque drop, monitor etc)
Only works in WOT not partial throttle which adjustments are just learn over - but not learnt over in WOT.
Manual change over of cam for vtec engagement.
Cannot alter ignition timing adjustment.
Limited fuelling adjustment points.
The biggest problem is en-richening the mixture, you can only get away with a tiny bit of en-richening say .1

Pros:
-----
Cheap.
They do work and give power even on a stock car but around 7whp, more with bolt on's ever more - i gained around 25BHP @ crank.
Easy to fit/remove with a PnP harness.
Nice display etc, esp map sensor readings.
Can adjust vtec engagement but see above.
Quick and easy to tune.

Overall i was happy with mine with the cheap price used its an effective tuning device, but limited and you wont get the full potential power wise.

When i went F/I i had to ditch it and went with a GEMU which is a much better piggyback (halfway house between standalone a piggyback)

That more or less sums it up.

 

at least 10 cars were Maze tuned - so more input please

 

Many of the Mase tuned cars are boosted and have a Vtec engagement point between 3-4000 revs. Mine was set at 3250 before Mase added the condition that it only engages if I am in positve boost.

 

One thing to consider when talking about the best VTEC engagement is whether the ECU supports a VTEC window. Basically, if you can't tune VTEC engagement to be load dependent, then you have to set it much higher. For example, the VAFC's will engage VTEC at whatever RPM you target even if you are at light throttle, but a FlashPro will allow you to set VTEC to engage at 3500 RPMs at full throttle, or much higher at lighter throttle levels.

Another thing to consider is that early VTEC engagement can create big gains down low, small gains or even losses in the midrange, then big gains in the upper RPMs. If you have an OEM cat and OEM style exhaust (with a big canister resinator), then engaging VTEC at 3500 RPMs will cause a double hump in the torque curve with a big dip at around 5K RPMs. If you have a test pipe or HFC, that dip gets smaller, and if you get a straight pipe exhaust, the dip goes away. It's a resonance thing, and has little to do with the engine displacement.

 

BTW, I think it might be common for tuners to mistake the 5K dip as being the RPM where gains from VTEC begin, and don't realize that it's just the 2nd RPM where gains begin.