I have a vid on youtube getting my car tuned at IMW Motorworks by Derek Robinson. I recorded audible knock which was a major issue solely due to poor fuel quality. Once we increased the octane with E-35ish, both power and knock was 100% better.
Really higher octane created more power and reduced knock? Who woulda thunk it. So because you have a YT vid of someone else tuning your car, you now have his knowledge? Again your confusing higher octane with fuel quality and the two are completely different. Getting a bad batch of fuel and or tuning to the max that octane can handle is also something completely different, dont care who is tuning it. Of course its going to knock if you keep increasing the boost, advancing the timing ect. With that thought process you could theoretically always keep running into that wall with any octane fuel until you raise it(providing everything remains constant and the turbo can put out more boost, injectors more fuel ect) . Let me break this down for you as well. Raising octane simple allows the fuel to burn longer, ie a more complete burn of the oxygen and fuel, less knock. Its more resistant to pre-detonation and therefore also lowers intake temps. Knock is simply having the wrong amount of af ratio that its not full igniting. SO anyone can tune to the point it knocks. The problem with that is if your tuned for a minimum octane like that, you always have to have that. So if you travel somewhere without ethanol fuels (here its E85) then your in trouble. Your also lowering your mpg the higher the ethanol mix. You will always hit some sort of limiting factor. That being said ethanol is cheaper than 100 octane fuel, E85 is around 103 iirc but, you need the kit to run it full time otherwise you will burn out the seals in the fuel system.
I appreciate your expertise. I did some research on the water/meth kits. I think I'm going to look into getting one. Mostly for the cleaning properties. Any performance is a bonus.
Anytime. I used my washer tank as to not have a separate one in the trunk and run extra plumbing. Not sure if there is enough room under the hood of a 2.0t to fit the pump somewhere, even with a custom bracket, as I have not done any work on one, but a trunk mount tank/pump combo might work best for you or the engine compartment. The advantage of the wiper res is that when your running low, your warning indicator will flash on the dash, leaving one less thing to wire. Also for that matter not sure how big that tank was but in the VW/Audis they were generous. The Snow kit came with a tap for the ww res. If im correct with a tune you should be running somewhere around 25psi or so based on some of the hp numbers I have seen on here(again not too familiar with everything on this engine, ie turbo flow but have tons of experience with 2.0l turbo engines). Any kit needs the anti siphon valve. The mechanical one is cheaper and needs no wires. The maf based systems are way more complex to setup compared to the boost based ones but are more efficient and will waste less. Probably start somewhere around 10-11 psi with stock turbo Either way I would setup a boost gauge and a place for the activation light to be visible. This way you can tell when its on and back off if you want to drive around the system and save mix as well. Start somewhere around 300ml nozzle or so. You can get pails of VPM1 from a local distributor and mix your own compared to the premix from the manufacturers as its way more cost effective. Its 99% pure the other part being lubricants, so when they say well our prebottled stuff has lubricants ect, so will your mix. They are more than likely using vp as their base anyways. Use distilled water or a really go ro system. If you use the ww res and it has a an electrode type level sensor vs a float, your going to need to add a couple drops of food dye or something for the electrode to be able to read the fluid, otherwise your tank will be full and still trip the indicator saying its low or empty. You really want this because you do not want to run the pump dry and burn it up. Being able to drive around it and tell when its running low is key imo.
Now in order to take full advantage your doing to need a tune. I used to run the race or 100octane file daily with this no problems. Now the tuner actually fined tuned development of that Race file on my car for their product line for everyone else after a bunch of logs and that system, but it was still basically an off the shelf 100 octane file. In all reality there is more room in it than that because your overall octane when spraying is going to be around 105 or so. On top of that your going to see sub-ambient iats, which helps on so many levels, somewhere around -30deg C. Plus your getting the bonus of steam cleaning your engine parts. As I started to mention above, you could tune to the max but I would not recommend it. Leave some headroom tune to about 102 octane or so will provide significant hp and torque gains (just the 100octane file i had did), leaving something on the table in case your pump fails ect. Your stock ecu is smart and will adapt to a certain degree providing the tuner leaves the adaptation channels open, which any good tuner will do. Because of this you will still see nice gains without a tune once the ecu learns and adapts. Your tuner should handle all of this for you if they are doing custom. If your doing logs yourself, you will look for the point where your not going to see anymore gains like, iats stop dropping, timing does cant be advanced further, a/f ratio, ect when the nozzle size increases, but again tuner should be looking at those things when working on your maps. Finally if you do not have ability to switch program on the fly, carry an extra tank of mix with you if feasible. If not and you run out, turn the system off and revert to normal program.
LMK if you have anymore questions ill try to answer them. Ill try to help you with logs best I can but never done them on Honda before. All in all basically same thing just different channels and program but ultimately same data. Think I touched on everything but probably forgot something.
Edit: Yup forgot something. Your tuner might also have to limit torque down low with this. Im not sure the limit of the transmission or the rods on this engine but i know the CTR had its rods and internals strengthened. Torque down low especially bends rods, and in general breaks things. These smaller turbos spool instantly giving almost immediate torque. Food for thought when talking to tuner if your looking for longevity.
