The D.I.Y. Duo

Doug Macmillan and Derek Stevens
Owner (Macmillan) and Engineer (Stevens), Hondata

Performance-tuning pair Doug Macmillan and partner Derek Stevens started in the late 90’s like many in the industry, racing Hondas. The beginning of their partnership found its roots when Macmillan, looking for more power in his 1.6-liter VTEC CRX, purchased a computer chip and did what was then considered unthinkable; Macmillan dyno’d the car before and after installation to measure performance gains. When he found the chip was the cause of a 2 whp loss, he promptly returned it and asked for an explanation. What he received was radio silence and a $600 hole in his wallet.

Partnering with Stevens, a racing friend and natural ECU tinkerer, the two created Hondata. They focused on reverse-engineering existing and new-to-market ECUs to allow the end-user as much control as possible over the vehicle’s tune. “We wanted to remove the black magic around engine tuning and give customers the tools to make their own changes rather than relying on common pre-programmed chips at the time,” Stevens explains.

Comparing operations a decade ago to today’s, Hondata paints a picture as varied as the types of cellular phones available during each time period. “Both the S300 and early K-Pro units required a circuit board to be installed into the ECU. This often required the unit or an expensive core be sent to Hondata for installation, resulting in downtime or major inconveniences to the consumer,” Macmillan states. “With the introduction of newer microprocessors on the 2006-and-up Honda ECUs, we were able to figure out how to handle all the programming through the OBD-II diagnostic port.”

Not only has the transmission protocol changed, but so has the number and type of features available to users wishing to utilize the factory ECU as opposed to a standalone unit. “We continue to add innovative and useful features to the newer ECUs such as boost control, speed-density tuning for air-flow meter- equipped vehicles and real-time tuning ability from the factory unit.”

In case the ramifications of Hondata’s contribution to the import performance aftermarket have gone unnoticed, Stevens points out, “We believe our most important accomplishment was to provide a powerful, easy-to- use engine management solution for the Honda aftermarket. [pullquote]WE WANTED TO REMOVE THE BLACK MAGIC AROUND ENGINE TUNING[/pullquote]Without the ability to custom tune the engine management it would be much more difficult to extract power from simple bolt-on accessories and next to impossible to run forced-induction systems utilizing adequately-sized injectors without switching to a full stand-alone engine management system.”

When queried about the future, the Hondata principals are just as vocal on their collective opinion. “We hope that Honda realizes that having a ‘sporty’ image requires a sporty engine. Honda used to be the leader in this area but has since fallen behind. There are many technologies like direct injection and A-VTEC that Honda could bring to market to improve power and efficiency.” In the meantime, the two will continue to pioneer and develop products that offer full access and uncompromising control to Honda enthusiasts everywhere.