Power FC for B18C2.

[ginganggooly]

Didn't want to attempt this one at work, so here's the belated response...

nope, never mentioned that, read again

Okay, i've taken your advice and i still get stuck at, "as my research appears to be leading me to a different conclusion..." In reference to a statement by another member suggesting that his research presented the Hondata as a superior unit. I realise that different doesn't equate to opposite, but it can easily be construed that way. So to end all confusion, in the context of your original post, does different mean different as in one unit being no better or worse than the other, or does different mean opposite.


i am up fro a PowerFC/Hondata swap - but who to pay for tuning?

My guess is that if someone is willing to come to the party and agree to purchase the ECU based on the result of the shootout, the tuner may be a tad more accomodating towards this comparo. Obviously this represents a can of worms, and there are a million ways for this deal to go pear-shaped, but it'd work if everyone was as simple as i am...

but who knows? maybe that is too presumptious? maybe Hondata is the best, and no-one is telling us in an objective factual way?

You aren't going to get an unbiased response, because at the end of the day people will either defend their purchasing decisions, defend their mates' decisions or argue for or against a product based on their feelings towards the distributor of the product. The only people that are worth listening to on this topic are the tuners, and they studiously avoid taking sides in these arguments.

and how do you weight each of the pros and cons in order of importance?

All i can see is cost vs result. What are the pros and cons of each system as you see it?

is full throttle lauch more desirable than a hand controller?

The hand controller is a gimmick plain and simple. A tuner would need to sit on the dyno for 6-8 hours to tune a car from scratch using a hand controller. Most serious tuners would be using the proper desktop software, making the handcontroller a redundant "feature".

A S200 with datalogging and a cheapo palm unit provides proper data-logging for a very low cost. How much is the FCdata-logit?

maybe for a drag racer, buit not a daily driven street car?

What is the value of a hand controller for a daily driver? If it can't data-log, what use is it for either road or track?

and when determining "best", how does one factor in cost?

How do you factor cost into any automotive performance related purchase?
It's always going to be a balancing act between anticipated results, marketing of the product and overall cost. Some people will pay a premium price for a premium product eg. Autronic. Others -myself for example- are far more price sensitive.

and how much difference does less "tunable points" actually mean?

I have no idea. I have assumptions of what tunable point are, but i don't believe it is as simple as that.

and what is the end goal?
MAX horsepower? best area under curve? smoothest idle? best fuel economy? least knock? best cold start? shortest tuning time?

What is the end goal for pretty much anyone purchasing an aftermarket ECU?
At the end of the day it's about making the motor use the available fuel more efficiently, thus making more power, while delivering improvements in economy and throttle response. I don't know of anyone that purchased an ECU based on tuning time, but if they were to use that as a yardstick, i'm fairly certain that a PowerFC tuned via handcontroller would be somewhere down the back of the pack.