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Project S2000 – Hondata KPro Gives More Power and Better Power
By Khiem Dinh
Khiem Dinh is an engineer for Honeywell Turbo Technologies at the time of this writing. All statements and opinions expressed by Khiem Dinh are solely those of Khiem Dinh and not reflective of Honeywell Turbo Technologies.
Power delivery is an important characteristic in being able to go quickly; just ask any motorcycle racer where they only have one tire contact patch to put down the power. The S2000’s one fault is a poor power delivery curve due to the VTEC engagement. I hate the VTEC engagement and the resulting torque spike which hurts drivability. It is not fun being WOT coming out of a corner and having the torque spike hit. Therefore, my goal was to reduce the spike by changing the VTEC engagement point to smooth out the torque curve and I needed a way to tune the car to meet my goal. The Hondata KPro system met my requirements for the job.
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| Here’s everything that comes with the Hondata KPro for the S2000: ECU, mounting brackets, software, USB cable, wiring to go from the TDC sensor to the ECU (blue wires), and the multi-colored wiring harness that allows for the connection of external sensors to the ECU. |
The Hondata KPro for the 2000-2005 model year S2000s uses a RSX ECU as its base. Because the ECU is still a factory Honda item, the OBD-II port still functions. OBD-II functionality is important to me for two reasons: the ability to have the smog check computer read it and also to maintain the operation of the ARK Design MFD-II which reads from the OBD-II port. The KPro is fully programmable of course with all sorts of very cool features like fully mapped boost control, nitrous control, 2-step setting, and datalogging among the many features. Basically, it can do anything I would ever need for future power modifications. Of course, the A/C and all the gauges work as they normally would.
As the KPro is based on the RSX ECU, there are a number of items and sensors that require replacement:
Crank sensor 37500-PZX-003
Crank wheel 13622-PCX-013
TDC sensor 37510-PZX-003
TDC wheel 14112-PCX-003
Valve cover 12310-PCX-020
Drain plug washer (for PCV valve) 94109-14000
PCV valve 17130-PCX-003
IAT sensor 37880-P05-A00
I have done all the work on the car myself up to this point, but the installation of the required parts was beyond my capability with the tools I had, jack stands, and lack of experience with the S2000 engine. Plus, the KPro needed to be tuned immediately after the installation of all the parts to have the car running properly. So my decision was easy, take it to Church Automotive in Wilmington, CA. Shawn Church and his team have worked extensively on Hondas, worked directly with Hondata themselves, and Church happens to own two forced induction S2000s himself.
Before starting any modifications, we established a baseline by dynoing the car and with it came a lesson or two. The first dyno pull read quite low. What was the reason? Cold fluids; the cold engine oil, transmission fluid, and rear differential fluid made for horsepower sapping high viscosity. The power output started to become consistent around the fourth pull. For a test, we tried pointing the blower directly into the scoop of the airbox and that picked up around 6hp. It just goes to show, dyno results can easily be altered and consistency in testing methodology needs to be consistent (read this to learn the importance of minimizing variables in dyno testing).
The tough parts of the install require changing out toothed wheels on the crank and exhaust cam. The removal of the exhaust cam for the toothed wheel install was fairly straight forward starting with the removal of the valve cover and then the cam. Installation was the procedure in reverse of course.
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| A shot of the cams with the valve cover freshly removed. The toothed wheel requiring replacement is at the end of the exhaust camshaft on the firewall side. |
