96-99 CIVIC HX tunable?
 

hey everyone,

are the 96-99 civic HX's tuneable? haven't heard back from anyone, but was curious to find out if you can wire in like an apex'i afc or hks sfc ???

thanks for any help

So... you are posting at 3 AM.... remember, many of us are asleep thus the reason we were not able to post in the first thread made 6 minutes before this one.

One question, one thread. Simply "bump" the original thread it if you have yet to get an answer. That is, after you search first to see if someone else ask this question previously.



To answer you question, yes you can wire in a piggy back tuning system. I have no idea how to do this though. IMO, piggy back systems are a waste of time. If you really want full tuning capabilities, buy a Hondata S300 installed in a P28 or P30, buy an AFR gauge (with wideband of course), and hook the S300 to you laptop (go buy one if you don't have one :D). Oh yea, you would need to buy the appropriate step-down harness since you would be converting the ECU to OBD1.

96-98 Civic = would need an OBD2a - OBD1 harness
99-00 Civic = would need an OBD2b - OBD1 harness

If you don't have the money for a Hondata... Look at the Krome chips, and find someone to solder it on and someone that knows how to tune it - not just someone that downloaded the program and knows what all the fields and buttons do.
Need to know info too - most of the older piggyback units are closed loop systems - meaning the settings you tune are not going to take effect until you are at WOT. The old A'Pexi SAFC that had the dials on it for the RPM curves was like that. It didn't matter what you told the box to do - it wouldn't override factory settings until it saw WOT. Hope this helps!

OK here is the real deal on the Hx D16Y5 and its ECU from a 98 Hx owner. First off I love all things Honda. The D16Y5 is a red headed stepchild of Vtec. When it came time for mods other than an intake and exhaust. I contacted my tuning shop Superior Racing Development, they work with Honda Tuning mag a lot. I am lucky enough to have them only 20 minutes away from me. After a long talk with Tim I found out that no one has cracked the Vtec-E ECU for the D16Y5, not even Hondata. So I asked about a V-AFC, that will not work either I dont know the specifics but it is to do with fuel and timing trims for the low rpm Vtec-E. Also the way Vtec-E works has major limits to tuning for any kind of power. I wanted to put a turbo on the D16Y5 after seeing a video of one online. But it was using stock ECU and stock injectors so the motor did not last long im sure. A Hondata would work to tune IMO but Hondata never cared to crack the D16Y5, they completely left it out. So there is no base map for a Y5 to flash into a P28 ECU. I dont know why I feel that it could be made into a good tuner. The Y5 makes more hp than the Y7. So after much research I decided that my D16Y5 had to go and in went a 99 B18B1. After an IHE and Hondata S100 tuning I made 133whp and 127ftlbs. I was very happy with the Ls swap and even stock wast much faster than the D16Y5 ever could have been, reliably. I still have this setup in my car and I have lots of fun with it. I now have a B16 head waiting P&P and upgrades that will be going on the Ls motor soon. The D16Y5 is made for low emissions and high fuel economy. I got 40 mpg on this little motor. So if you want high MPGs the D16Y5 is great if you want power and tuneablity then the B series is the way to go.