vtec question, kinda

I have been playin with different honda set ups for a while now. Every honda nut out there loves vtec, despite the fact that on a dyno you will probably never see more than a 10 hp gain from it, but it is like havin a stage 2 cam and only using it above 5000 rpms. With that in mind I decided to try something new. I have a f22 vtec in my accord, my accord was originaly an lx non vtec. So I installed the vtec engine with all the non vtec harness and ecu. The way I see it is if your system is workin properly you would have to use a realy big cam before your ecu couldnt compensate for it. I was rite, I ran a switch to turn the vtec solenoid on and off inside the car and took it for a test drive. it had a lot more power all the way through the tach when I used the vtec from idle up. to test my findings I took it over to my friends house, he has a 95 accord ex. same engine and 5 speed as mine but he is running the vtec ecu and harness. he has a better exhaust to. anyway we lined them up and ran the 1st time with my vtec switch off and he had about 2 cars on me around 100 mph in 3rd gear. we lined up the 2nd time and I ran with the vtec switch turned on from idle up. this time I pulled 2 cars on him around 110 mph in 3rd gear. since I liked the way it ran, I had to find a way to use the vtec cam lobe without pushing all my oil pressure to the head at idle. best way i found was to pull the vtec rockers and get 4 pieces of steel rod the same size as the vtec pins only long enough to lock all 3 rockers together. with the gas prices the way they are now I switched back to the switch so I can get better gas mileage, but I am curious to know what you guys think of this setup?

That's pretty cool but it seems like if it was safe to run Vtec from idle that Honda would think of some way to have Vtec engage based on throttle input. I don't really know a lot about Hondas but is running Vtec all the time gonna cause long term problems such as a much shorter lifespan of the engine or certain engine internals due to improper lubrication, excessive heat, or excessive stress?

activating vtec below 3500ish rpms is asking for a spun bearing or torn up cam journals... vtec is activated by oil pressure and should never be activated that way.

now the lock in pins are pretty common in alot of the full race car setups, that or they get rid of the vtec assembly all together. this setup would work fine for a full out drag car on slicks that never falls below 4500rpm while racing.

however on my setup vtec engagement at 5600 is optimum, at 5500 and at 5700 the car is about 4-5 hundreths of a second slower, but this is an auto bracket car so that maybe insignificant.


ps anything that gives you a true 10 whp in a honda is worth its weight in gold.

Yeah but gold is pretty heavy so we'll say worth its weight in carbon fiber!

this setup works fine as an every day driver to. only downfalls I found are it idles a little rough and it runs a little rich. not enough of either to complain about though. its like putting a cam in a v8, the idle isnt smooth and it runs rich at idle. the only up side is that with vtec you can take the pins out of the rockers when you want gas mileage. and truthfully I personaly have never seen any honda running vtec with the rite ecu setup gain more than 5 hp on the dyno. its not that hard or expensive to make power with a honda either, alot of people I talk to have gotten 150 whp on a n/a d series and have dyno sheets to prove it. I am not tryin to come off like an ass or anything either