yeah agreed, but I did say that a programmable ECU is the best option IF YOU HAVE A TUNER YOU CAN TRUST LOCALLY but we're over in Perth and nobody can REALLY tune Hondas and I doubt there's that many competant tuners over east either who are dedicated or suitably experienced with Hondas. You got a couple that pop up on here etc but is so hard and expensive to get hold of these guys.
The spoon ECU I am running nw is actually my second chipped ECU. the first was on my SOHC VTEC and was an unknown origin chip. The butt-dyno(TM) told me there was great mid range gains.. when we dyno tested the ECU vs stock ECU the stock ECU actually had 1Kw more peak power, however the Chipped ECU had much more mid-range power and torque. If you're up for a penis-measuremeant contenst then that'd mean that the stock ECU is your best option, but if you off to the track, i think the chipped version would be your friend.
If you DO get a fixed-tune ECU, i would recommend that you got to your local dyno and have the Air-Fuel ratios checked. you mainly dont want to be running lean, and if it's too rich you'll lose power and serves no usefull purpose.
People on here have told me stories of (for example) spoon ECU's on people's cars running super rich etc. well the ECU needs to be matched to your motor code and ou DO need to consider the other modification parameters that the ECU has been tuned for. Most chipped ECU's assume you already have I/H/E and most people wouldnt need an ECU untill these mods have been done anyway. but this whole Ozhonda attitude of "DONT GET A FIXED TUNE ECU" is just parannoia driven by market trends.
make your own decision based on the information available to you. If someone say "Dont do this.." ask them WHY !?!?!?! so much of oz honda's technical posting is done from people's internet-sourced opinions rather than through their own personal experience.
Unfortunately there isnt a whole lot of tuners that specialise in N/A hondas in Australi compared to the united states or asia so sometimes it might be the best option to take advantage of another option.
so in conclusiopn (hahah) a chipped ECU IS very limited and may not adapt to your mods but you need to consider that your tuned ECU is only as good as your tuner.. and by the way HONDATA are basically just chipped ECU's anyway.. you cannot alter the parameters yourself without a full-retune etc. yes i am aware you can upgrade your Hondata to enable some live tunable features but to set that tune you still have to produce another fixed-state chip
also beware of the chips you ARE getting.. a $2 eBay 'spoon chip' aint nescesarilly what it claims.. as with most things in life you get what you pay forand a poorly tuned chip - or a mismatched chip COULD do a lot of damage to your engine - just the same as if an incompetant tuner takes to your car also.
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