Ok, I've done some research on the whole ECU thing for awhile. I think I'm ready to get mine chipped/recalibrated or a dif one.I'm stillreally newbish in a lot of areas of a vehicle so this concept has taken me awhile to figure out. I know that I'll need a chipped p28 with aobd2 to obd1harness. I've got some questions though if this would be practical and safe for me and my engine (aswell as newbish questions).

Is this legal?

Will this put extra strain on my engine and make it age quicker?

Is it worth it to do thisto a stock engine with I/H/E? Can I get it custom done and tell the people who recalibrate it themods
I have so it's set right?

How hard is the chip and harness install for someone who has installed only bolt-ons?

Is there a way for me to get this done to my car without spending much more than a couple hundred dollars? And be reliable andsafe?

Will my car no longer be a good commuter car?
I have a d16y8 engine stock internals, only mods cat-back exhaust, SRI intake, header.

I'm looking at phearable.net and seems to be a reliable site. The obd2 to obd1 conversion harness is $80. The programed 28 pin eprom chip is $30. Anything else I'll need?

 

Well it depends... if you are planning to have vtec kick in quicker, higher rev limit, and so one, then yeah a P28 chip is awsome, but keep in mind that a lot of people who are using a P28 cipped ECU has done internal work on their engine and has planned out how they want their P28 ECU to work, example VTEC, and Rev Limit.

I know a lot of people with swaps and internal works does use the P28 chipper to get a 9k RPM rev limit. But for daily driving on a stock D16 I don't think a P28 chipped is really worth it. Jsut my thoughts.

As for installation, not really hard, unplug screw out old screw in new plug in(with the conversion harness) plug battery back on, start engine and you should be good.

 

along with the harness and chip you need a p28 ecu then you have to put the chip in it.

 

think of it this way. Its an investment for down the road. yeah you might get that full 15hp increase from your mods now but when your ready and have any kind of engine work done it will be right there and al you have to do is adjust the settings on a dyno

 

idk I think I'm just going to put it on the back burner for now. But it's less expensive than I thought it would be so it will prolly be something I'll look into once I get inside my engine and change some things.

 

I think you should get a stage 2 cam if it's a dd then if you want to stay n/a then some high compression pistons then get the chiped p28.

 

Whats a dd? dual over head cam?

 

daily driver

 

Yea, daily driver. If it isn't then you could get a higher stage like maybe a 3 or 4 but the main reason you don't use those for a daily driver is that your idle and low end rpm's will be a little out of wack.

 

if you plan on boosting in the future, it'll be nice to alreayd have a chipped/tunable ECU like burner said, but if you plan on staying I/H/E, its really not worth it.