Rdriver

Has any one put an 02 ECU on their 00-01? I have heard that the 02 has a better fuel curve. On the Dyno, what are the gains with a VAFC on the 00-01 vs. the 02?
Thanks

Sideways

We are still waiting for this one.

Hyper-X

I have no facts (based on personal experience) to backup my claims, only a few bits from reading other posts.

It would seem that the MY00-01 runs a more conservative ignition timing map than the MY02. I recall someone mentioning how the 00-01 ECU's retard timing a lot... perhaps to prevent damage from owners accidently putting in non-premium fuel.

As my own experience goes with advancing and retarding ignition timing on old distributors... if you unnecessarily retard timing, you lose power across the entire rpm band. The goal is to advance timing as far as possible without risking knocking/pinging and overheating.

The MY02 ECU's are said to have better ignition curves. This could explain why the 02 models tend to dyno a bit higher than the previous ones. From what I've seen on a few charts, the OEM ECU tends to setup a rich A/F ratio which may be around 12:1, give or take a few. I believe this goes for either the MY00-01 to the MY02. In order to squeeze out a little more power throughout the entire power curve, a VAFC unit would help to lean out the A/F ratio which results in power gains.

Sideways

I know of one now,

Tenblade?

joe_s2k

I can also attest to the MY00 running a more conservative ignition timing map. During a dyno session, we noticed the TIME versus RPM on my car was actually slower than the other MY02' S2000's. The power output was fairly close to the top end of the group, but it just took longer to VTEC. Unfortunately, I was the only MY00 at this dyno session.

Anybody have any ideas on this?

Hyper-X

Say hello to the second person who's done this besides Tenblade. I just don't have .44 gears like he does.

There's another thread that has Tenblade's impressions on the mod. I've also posted some of my thoughts which are no longer theories and are from 1st hand experience.

tenblade2001

yup....me and hyper are the only ones. It was worth every cent. IMO, you could do this, and get near as good results as using a VAFC (with the exception that you can't change vtec engagement point). I had a VAFC prior to doing this and have since sold it. I got everything I wanted from the ECU swap.

HondaManR

crazy! how much do 02/03 ecu's go for?


~Raymond

tenblade2001

about 400 for ECU plus install and programing= 600ish
VAFC, harness, dyno/tune= 500ish
Headaches you save by not having to remove when going to dealer= priceless

Hyper-X

The goal I wanted to accomplish was to gain more ignition timing with the new ECU which can't be accomplished with the previous MY00-01 ECU's, even with the VAFC.

I've long since witnessed the gains of adding in more ignition timing (of course to a certain point) in my older cars so I knew there'd be benefits to my current ride as well.

There's a few to have MY00-01 ECU + VAFC and MY02-03 ECU + VAFC and from what I hear, older ECU's gain more from VAFC tuning than the latter. Perhaps because the newer ECU already produces a little more power to begin with, I don't know for sure.

Tenblade is right, there's noticeable differences between both ECU's, even if you're stock. (which makes sense since the ECU is OEM) Not everyone is going to have a chance to drive their car with different ECU's back to back.

An alternative would be to get someone with an S2k with a newer ECU, buy him/her lunch, and ask them if you could take the car around for a casual drive. Even without hitting VTEC, you'll notice the difference.
Take notice of your shift points. Allow the driver of the newer car to drive your older MY00-01 to get his/her comments.