Lower priced OBD1 tuning opt (Less than Hondata) +logging works w/ tunerview

[NiceHondaDude]

I’ve been watching a lot of videos on the extreme low cost turbo builds and reading quite a bit. Unfortunately when it comes to videos the people in them rarely do a great job explaining what they are using or utilizing the info section under the video to give details.

Whatever solution I do I need to be able to run tunerview. It seems like I can do that no matter what (not sure) as it seems I can even buy a Bluetooth data logger that has nothing to do with a tuning option?

Also, I think I want closed loop wideband support.

At first I will NOT be running turbo. I have a DOHC VTEC H23A but I’m doing everything I can to try and get an F20B instead.

There are a few things that have really grabbed my attention.

+Honda Tuning Suite (but what emulator besides the snake one works?)
+Snake EMU (do these guys even exist?)
+Neptune license and Moates Demon v2 (is that how that works)
+Cobra RTP (I know next to nothing about these guys)
+Hondavert (not even sure how you buy their boards)

I’ve also seen people doing just chip programming. If this is many hundreds less and I can still data log and do Bluetooth then I’m ok with that at first. But ultimately live tuning is the answer.

If you guys could shed some light on the subject and also mention any lower price emulator options that I missed.

thanks

[Grumpys93]

Neptune with demon is a great tuning system and if I were to tune my setup again I would go with Neptune. Also why would you prefer a f20b over your h23A? The only advantage the f20b has over the h23 is it can rev up to 9k, but it takes revving up to 9k to get it to move.

Also I'm just going to throw this in here, when it comes to turbo there are 3 options and you can only have 2. cheap, fast, and reliable. low budget can net your cheap and fast but it wont last.

[deevergote]

The H23A has FRM sleeves. The F20B supposedly has iron sleeves, though I have never been able to truly prove that. Regardless, the sleeves aren't the issue. The pistons are. The only advantage to iron over FRM is the ability to run a wider variety of pistons.
One HUGE downside with ANY F or H series engine and turbo is that you are extremely likely to break a ringland on the stock pistons under any amount of boost, regardless of how well it is tuned. The ringlands simply aren't built for the additional abuse. Some people have had luck for years, but others have broken in a matter of days. It's a gamble. If you want turbo, you WILL need to upgrade your pistons.

That said, you can just get yourself a stock F22A engine, throw some forged internals into it, and make massive power. F20B isn't needed. You could sell your H23A and pay for half the engine build.

As for tuning, Neptune has been the go-to here for well over a decade.

[bruno8747]

With Honda tuning suite, you can use hondavert, cobra rtp, or snake emu.

Hondavert is basically a cloned hondata board. It will run on a cracked version of smanager.

Bluetooth capability is an add-on module also.

If you're going to tune it yourself it's worth a shot to get an emulator so you don't have to burn chips.

If you're going to a tuner. Make sure they will want to use hts
And as far as buying the boards there's a few dealers if you Google them.

[NiceHondaDude]

Thanks for the replies. I got super busy and had too put this off for a bit.

Right now I'm most worried about getting an ECU going. The reason I would do f20b over h23a is just for boost. It will be easier to put pistons into the F20B since its not FRM.

But first I just want to get it running.


Does anyone know if I can use a the original automatic transmission for the H23A but with a manual trans. That could at least be a starting point for me.