Apex1.0

From my research I would guess the VAFC, right? I am just confirming.

I am tracking my MY00 and would like to broaden the power band a little and get a little more power. My mods are K&N with cold air snorkel, TP with UK exhaust MOD.

So what is the cheapest way to get this done, if VAFC, which one, what are the differences? Would you get the harness?

H22toF20

I've spent loads of time researching, reading efi books and have dabbled at it. With that being said I would never use a vafc. Its like using a band aid for a cut that needs stitches. Dont cheap out on engine management. Engines are complex and need something that can tune them fully, not something that tricks the OEM ecu. Vafc's for the most part can only remove fuel and inadvertently add timing at the same time(plus lower the vtec transition).

Apex1.0

My car is pretty much stock and with the OEM tune it runs great.

For track racing only I am looking to get on the second cam sooner, maybe 5200. Also, if I am giving up some WOT power because its running rich (which 00-01s are known for), then I would like to lean it out safely.

ECMs are complex, which is why I want to tune it as little as possible. If I am affecting only those parameters, will there be unintended consequences?

flanders

I would suggest the Greddy emanage ultimate, costs a bit more than VAFC but much more useful.

Apex1.0

What about the learning curve? I am looking for a simple solution.

flanders

Well installation is pretty easy if you get a pnp harness.
Are you planing to tune it yourself?
The software might be confusing to start with and you might need to study some guides for a couple of hours.
There are a lot of things you can do with it but since it's a piggyback it wont affect the stock ecu at all until you really make any changes to the maps.
I got similar mods like you and only made some changes to the fuel map and lowered vtec to 4k, it made great midrange gains.
Wouldn't been able to do the same thing with a VAFC since you can't really ad any fuel with that.

benes2k

for lowering vtec and slightly changing fuel maps, get a AFC NEO. Do not get the VAFC II as it does not have the correct adjusments to properly tune your car. for NA it should do just fine. $300-400

Emanage ultimate seems to be better than the NEO as far as capabilities but for NA it wont make much of a difference. this tuning unit can be used for mild forced induction applications though, I wouldnt not recommend that on the neo. The downfall of this unit seems to be lack of tuner knowledge out there and the car fighting the emanage changing the tunes. $400-600

AEM EMS- with all the features and the ease of this unit to be pulled and returned back to stock I would suggest this option. You will net the highest HP gain and the best drivability with this unit. It also is capable to no end, handling any kind of power level, any kind of fuel you want to use, etc... for $800-1000 it is more expensive but its a one and done option.

dan_uk

I had a vafc it works good with the stock exhaust size but when you go to 70mm exhaust you don't realy need it.

[attachment=62226:dyno_70mm.jpg]

The lowest line is stock with a cat I think, the green run is with a testpipe stock exhaust and a VAFC tuning. The other run is with a 70mm exhaust/testpipe, the vafc was still in but wasn't realy correcting anything because the car was in the right AFR's just with the exhaust on its own. I think I had a K&N drop-in filter and everything else stock.

The exhaust makes great power and once get to that point you realy need a full standalone to pickup midrange. This is all based off my experience with a a 03 f20c engine

s2000Junky

The Neo with pnp harness is the easiest, best bang for the buck option to reach your goal.

The only real difference in tuning features the Neo offers over the vafc2 is the ability to control the new lowered vtec engagement point with not only rpm but throttle position. Thats an important and worthy feature to have, but the only reason why I recommend it over the vafc2.

Emange ult which is what I chose to run my 450whp FI system, will give you all the features of a Aem EMS more or less, wile retaining obd2 and some factory ecu cel and fundamental functions which I personally like. But the harness and set up of the unit out of the box ( unless used and someone has already done the work) is not strait forward and will be challenging to find support for it tuning wise. For that reason I don't recommend it as a first choice, and I also find a full Kpro or AEM is hardly worth the cost on a simple bolt on N/A set up, when the neo will give you roughly 90% of any benefit you will see form the set up but at less then have the cost, certainly if you perform the street/dyno tune, which with the neo interface at your finger tips, id hope so. Very easy.

As a previous user of the vafc back in the day, no there is no negative side effects of using one, assuming your not cutting too much fuel and running an unsafe afr. Lowering vtec and building a more refined fuel curve are good things. There isn't enough fuel correction typically needed to run risk of advancing timing beyond what the stock ecu parameters already work within at that rpm I have found.

s2000Junky

Your experience was disingenuous due to your tuners inexperience i can only assume. Sure a good aftermarket exhaust will increase flow and in turn naturally lean out the afr negating the benefit/necessity to do so via vafc or any engine management. However looking at the huge spike from what appears to be 5-6k rpm, using the vafc to lower your vtec down to 5k would have yielded you a lot of mid range power, smoothing that power curve completely. You left about 15whp in the midrange with your set up simply becuase you or your tuner chose to ignore the vtec engagement point.