Project: Vi-Pec V88

[Chris_F]

Some of you may have heard me raving on about the Vi-pec ecu's (known as Link in New Zealand). If not, let me just say they are an incredibly advanced ECU. If you don't know much about ECU's let's just say that this ECU would be capable of running a brand new V8 M3, with sequential ignition/injection and full control over the four variably timed cams. For those that know a bit about ecu's, the V88 compares very favourably to a Motec M800 yet is significantly cheaper.

Anyway, I've been working hard on getting the vi-pec v88 wired into my car for the last month.

An engineer friend of mine has helped me wire the ECU into the car using an extension harness from boomslang. We were able to keep the stock harness intact so everything is "plug and play".

Getting it to the stage took well over 20 hours. We did all the research and wiring ourselves from reading through the Honda service manual to splicing and soldering wires. We basically started from scratch.

Latest update (19/07/2009): car has been re-tuned by BPS and drives very well. Dyno results on page 5: http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthr...=112672&page=5

[Chris_F]

reserved

[enkay]

wow sounds great =D
after readin things here and there bout it, this might be the option i go in the future
cant wait to hear more

[fatboyz39]

WOW great to hear. We are currently running the baby Vi-pec V44 atm plug and play OBD1. Works well and relatively price very well against other ECU. We'll soon upgrade to V88 when we have more toys to play with :P

[Chris_F]

wow sounds great =D
after readin things here and there bout it, this might be the option i go in the future
cant wait to hear more

we might try and put together a "plug and play" harness for euro owners that are interested in running the v88.

you would still have ro run a few wires into the engine bay though. These include a ground for the vi-pec ecu to the engine block, wires for the drive by wire and wires for an aftermarket 02 sensor.

WOW great to hear. We are currently running the baby Vi-pec V44 atm plug and play OBD1. Works well and relatively price very well against other ECU. We'll soon upgrade to V88 when we have more toys to play with :P

Good stuff, so you've been pretty happy with the v44 plug and play? How does it compare to any previous ECU's you've used?

I forgot to mention that Vi-pec make plug and play ecu's for the Eg and EK civics.

[kitbkk]

subscribe!
all the best chris! cant wait for the result!

[raz05]

lookin good cant wait,
take it to QR once u finish install all ur goodies

[fatboyz39]

Good stuff, so you've been pretty happy with the v44 plug and play? How does it compare to any previous ECU's you've used?

I forgot to mention that Vi-pec make plug and play ecu's for the Eg and EK civics.

We have used Hondata S200 before going to Vi-pec. Car drives so much better with vi-pec. We have a OBD2 loom in the car so we had to run 2 conversion harness...still work great tho.

Best of luck with your project.... should be able to see good gains from it

[aaronng]

we might try and put together a "plug and play" harness for euro owners that are interested in running the v88.

you would still have ro run a few wires into the engine bay though. These include a ground for the vi-pec ecu to the engine block, wires for the drive by wire and wires for an aftermarket 02 sensor.

Nice! That would be good to have the harness available as it would make the V88 much more accessible for Euro owners. What would the pricing be like, considering the amount effort that went into the research for this harness?

[Eclipsor]

Good to hear that you got it all ready to go Chris. Can't wait to see the results.

Quick question though, why do you need to run a wire all the way to the engine block? Can't you just tap into the ground back in the harness?

[Chris_F]

Nice! That would be good to have the harness available as it would make the V88 much more accessible for Euro owners. What would the pricing be like, considering the amount effort that went into the research for this harness?

It's definitely something I would like to do if there is anyone who is seriously interested.

We would try and make it as reasonably priced as possible. A rough figure would be $500-$600 (including the cost of a boomslang extension harness which retails for $200)

Alternatively we could put together a kit for roughly $300 for those people that know how to solder and don't mind getting their hands dirty. It would include:
Vi-Pec wiring schematic + instructions
Boomslang factory extension harness
neccessary heatshrink and loom tubing.

I should also point out that I have no intention of making the plug and play harness for a profit but simply to cover costs and to provide an incentive for my engineer friend to help out. I can't expect someone with a degree in aeronautical engineering to put in over 3 hours labour doing the wiring for nothing.

For reference, the cost for a workshop doing the wiring from start to finish (assuming they charge $100 an hour) would easily be close to $1500.

I'd also like to point out that a standalone ECU in the euro is not for the faint of heart. You will loose cruise control. You will loose the ignition cut function of the traction control too since the vi-pec takes complete control of these functions. The vehicle stability component of VSA is maintained.

It isn't cheap either. But, all costs included (assuming we make a plug and play harness) you could have a Vi-Pec v88 installed and tuned for between $3500-$4000. It's all relative though... a Motec setup is easily double that.

We have used Hondata S200 before going to Vi-pec. Car drives so much better with vi-pec. We have a OBD2 loom in the car so we had to run 2 conversion harness...still work great tho.

Best of luck with your project.... should be able to see good gains from it

Good to hear. Thanks

lookin good cant wait,
take it to QR once u finish install all ur goodies

Will do!

subscribe!
all the best chris! cant wait for the result!

Thanks Kit

[Chris_F]

Good to hear that you got it all ready to go Chris. Can't wait to see the results.

Quick question though, why do you need to run a wire all the way to the engine block? Can't you just tap into the ground back in the harness?

Good question man...

The v88 has four seperate grounding wires, so that would be a bit messy. We also wanted to avoid splicing as much as possible. The installation manual also says you should ground directly to the engine block.

Theoretically, you could ground the wires to the chassis too. But we decided that overkill isn't such a bad thing. (wasn't too much of a drama either since we were already running the 6 wires for the drive by wire connector)