Turbo and ECU, To chip or not to chip?

[dluszcz]

I just bought a 95 Civic DX Coupe with about 111,000 miles on the engine. It is not the VTEC engine.

I bought it from my mechanic who was playing around with it. He had too many cars so I got it for the price of the parts.

Some background.

The turbo boost is just about 6psi.
Factory injectors.
Straight 2 1/2" exhaust.
Timing slightly advanced.
No reprogramming of the ECU.

My question is, should I have the ECU reprogrammed? Presently, I have noticeably more HP than stock. And, when I hit 4000 rpms, the boost is awesome. The problem is, getting to that point feels like it's chugging a little bit.

I've been told that if I chip the ECU and have it reprogrammed using CHROME software (whatever that is), my fuel economy would increase a little bit and I wouldn't have the very noticeable turbo lag. I should feel an immediate difference.

This would be accomplished by replacing the stock ECU with a chipped and programmed ECU for about $160. Is that a good price and should I do this? Any chance that this would mess anything up? I've never had a bolt on turbo before and since I didn't install it, I'm lost on exactly what step I should take next to improve the performance.

 

[Steven.]

take it to a tuner, they can chip it and tune it for you.

if they cant chip it, plenty of guys on the internet will do it for a small fee plus parts.

the tuning software is called CROME
$160 is good price, but it will and should be taken to a tuner who can either street tune or dyno tune it. the chip in the ecu wont be for your exact setup. its best to get a tune on your car with your parts.\

http://www.tunewithcrome.com/

 

[Esotericimage]

you need to change the injectors before you blow it up. get 440cc and i would look into NepTune for the ecu programming.


just dont do anything to it until you get it to someone that knows what they are doing. sounds like the guy was 90% done and theres a few little things to finish it off.

 

[got traction]

NepTune is garbage. tune on crome since your obviously on a budget

 

[dluszcz]

I'm not that mechanically inclined and that's why I bought this particular car. I am definitely on a budget.

How can not changing the injectors blow the engine up? I did call a place that was recommended by a friend and they asked me what kind of fuel management did I have. Well, apparently I have no fuel management.

Do I need to buy new injectors to get it tuned or can I get it tuned to use the stock injectors? The particular turbo kit my mechanic bought wasn't that aggressive and he said that the setup is for use with the stock injectors.

I've had no issues for the month that I've owned the car and I've put over 1000 miles on it with no hint of a problem, other than the fact that it feels like it's being held back til I hit 4000 rpms.

If it costs $160 to solve that little problem, it may be worth it.

But, if I choose to leave it alone, is there a chance that I could do some harm to the motor?

 

[Esotericimage]

NepTune is garbage. tune on crome since your obviously on a budget

obviously you have no clue or havent done ANY research, crome is garbage and anyone will tell you the same.