Among the many things we love about Honda is its emphasis on advancing technology, whether that encompasses variable cam timing, producing zero-emissions engines or building robots to help old folks live better lives (we get the shivers when we hear rumors of Honda contemplating entry into NASCAR). Honda's resolve to move the needle doesn't end on the factory or R&D floor. This exploratory spirit has filtered down to Honda heads populating the Internet and given rise to one of the most exciting grassroots tuning movements around: DIY engine control.
This ain't just dialing in cam gears. This is real car geek shit: laptops, chips, burners, code. It all adds up to what the core of these enthusiasts acknowledge as the PGM-FI Movement. Be warned: the following report from our own in-house car geek is not for newbies. It assumes a certain familiarity with engine management principles.
That doesn't mean beginners should shy away. There's a wealth of information out there, happily shared by the enthusiasts who've already taken a machete to the cluttered path. As one pioneer of the movement advises, get some strong coffee and a blank notepad with a lot of pages. Once you dig in, you'll find it hard to stop. - DF
Every Internet community starts with a visionary and some server space. Dave Blundell (screen name: Blundar) started what eventually became PGMFI.org in the spring of 2002. The forum's humble beginnings were at a "borrowed" domain name (pgmfi.crx-forum.org). Currently, the forum boasts more than 3,700 registered members, all working toward the same goal:
"PGMFI's final goal is for all Honda fuel injection systems to be well understood, properly documented and able to be tuned by [my] girlfriend," Blundar explains on his site. "It is not PGMFI's goal to turn everyone into a rocket scientist, but instead to make ECU tuning more accessible."
The majority of the site's members probably don't know Blundar's girlfriend. Blundar isn't even referring to his girlfriend, more the idea that programmable engine management software and techniques should be easy enough for all to understand.
Blundar says, "My girlfriend is very smart, but she is not all that mechanically or scientifically inclined. She represents an audience I want PGMFI's tools to be accessible and available to."
The first goal the group set for itself was to document the Honda ECU by disassembling it byte by byte. Developing a replacement for the stock program, commonly called "chipping," came next. A quick look at the circuit boards of an OBD-0 and OBD-I ECU shows Honda made chipping these boards easy. The ECU requires no major modifications, just a few additional components soldered into pre-marked locations on the board.