I live in Billings, Montana, which means that I have not a single high performance shop available to me. My point is that I was planning on buying a turbo kit for my D-series in a few months, but from all the research I've done, it seems you have to get it tuned after the install, as to maximize hp gains and avoid blowing your engine. The only place that I could even think of that might do it is a place called G+J High Performance Diesel. They work on trucks so:

a) Do you think they do tunes for turbos?
b) Would they do it to my Civic?

Thanks for the info, sorry if this sounds ridiculously stupid or if its already been covered by someone else, I'd rather get your guys' opinions before I call and sound like a fool.

 

Ask them...

You live in Montana, which is not a very populated state... I really doubt anyone here will know.



I bet that either they won't do it, or they'll say they'll do it but in reality they've never tuned a Honda before.

 

They probably wont have the software to tune a civic. You would really need to convert to obd1 for easier tuning. Worst case get a piggy.

 

If you do research on tuning, buy a Hondata s200 or s300 and tune it yourself.

Otherwise, call them and see if they have tuned Honda's before. Piggyback systems (emanage, VAFC etc) should be your LAST option.

Don't worry about sounding like an idiot.. they don't know who you are.. and if they do, who cares? The fact is that you're learning... or at least trying to. Everybody has to learn at some point. You could also talk to them and see if they know of a shop that can help with your tune. Just don't drive the un-tuned boosted motor to the shop, you risk blowing the motor (as you may know)... get it towed there if you must,.

 

Alright, thanks for the info. btw anyone know of any good sites or anything to research DIY tuning?

 

Alright so I was looking on another forum and I learned that I'll need an OBD2->OBD1 harness, a Hondata s200 or s300, and a P28 ECU. So now I basically just need info on how to tune it myself, I could really really really use some information on that, websites, personal experience, tutorials, anything.

 

You probably don't want to tune it yourself without prior experience or someone being there to guide you, especially without a dyno.

 

It'll be almost impossible to properly tune without a wideband o2 sensor, too.

 

Yup, you'd absolutely 100% need a wideband for tuning. Unless you have an HX, the stock O2S isn't sensitive enough to give anything better than a "best guess" reading. Also, without tuning on a dyno, you don't know if you're actually helping or hurting performance. With street tuning, you're just going with what feels right, which isn't always helping performance.

Also, when you start tuning your own ish, you're running a huge risk of blowing your engine unless you know exactly what you're doing. That brings me to my next point of why you probably won't run into any free how-to's on tuning that go in-depth. Tuning is pretty much an art form, and the people that are on top spent a lot of time and money learning what they know. Why would they tell a stranger on the internet what they know for free? You'll find the basics of what you want to do (pretty much common sense stuff if you understand how engines work), but probably not much more in-depth than that.

 

You might be able to find a place that tunes online. I know my friend who boosted his Focus SVT went though the best tuner for Focus' online. He emailed him tunes to get it started, then went off the data logs to get the rest up to par. Or have it towed or trailer it to a tuner in another state or what have you.