(hip hop instrumental music)
- I don't have any more fluffy hair. Okay.
But there's a lot more happening up here.
It's just, there's not a lot of hair.
It's just hair in different places and as it gets longer,
it just goes in more crazier directions. Anyway,
just like my uncomfortable transitions and stories that
really don't relate to anyone besides myself,
it has a lot to do with the fact that
I am older than you think. I know I look 12
but you see this mustache coming in all day. Think I'm not?
I remember when MTV actually had music videos playing 24/7
and the history channel actually talked about history.
Try me. I witnessed news was my (expletive) okay,
but there's something that's slightly older than me.
Believe it or not Mr. Ripley. And that's the damn truth.
It used to be the top of the conversation.
Almost every single parking garage meet.
It was a properly and well-documented discussion that made
people dive into the platform of
what we know today as Honda. I'm Alex,
Alex to the FI on Instagram. And
today we're going to be talking about what happened to
that little, teeny tiny four letter acronym
that was practically treated like a turbo
in your $2,500 Prelude. A term that was mean to death,
just like the Icanhascheezburger.com,
which was the original foundation and the memes.
Today We're going to be talking about figuring out
what exactly just happened to VTEC.
(electronic dance music playing)
And if you're just jumping into this video, hello.
If you haven't grabbed one of the wheels, tires, or
suspension, be sure to hit us up
over at fitmentindustries.com.
And if you haven't heard yet, we have launched our very own
aftermarket wheel company called Artisa art form wheels.
Be sure to check that out. If you are
looking to pick up a set for your tuner car.
Just saying the Titans look killer on the SI platform and
we're talking about Hondas and when you go up to five lug
the Titans look pretty sick and drop a comment below on what
you'd like to see us talk about next in this series that
we're dubbing what happened, okay.
Now onto VTEC, which was like,
(imitates engine accelerating)
And then you do like you, you slam it on the ground
and VTEC would kick in and you'd hear
(imitates engine accelerating)
It was really, really exciting.
And if you haven't been a part of it,
you are missing out on light VTEC or variable valve timing
and lift electronic control,
which is essentially not actually VTEC.
They just cut a letter out because it sounded better was a
system developed to practically
replace a turbo, kind of. kidding. Don't get mad.
The year was 1989 and Honda was doing an excellent job
providing fantastic cars to both legacy and new markets
around the world. They've gone global
and they're doing excellent job
specifically here in the United States
with the cars that they were producing.
But Honda was trying to find new and exciting ways to
take their value propositions.
Affordable, reliable, power comfortable,
4/6 cylinder platform into an even higher tier performance
without sacrificing anything that made them who they were.
In 1990, the Honda Accord was the
best selling car used. I mean, it was, it was fantastic.
I used it to drift my in high school with lunch plates.
When Honda developed their NCE program in 1984,
it would eventually birth the variable valve timing system
that introduced additional power, fuel economy,
And one hell of an exhaust note to
anyone with a Honda batch. This was a really big deal
and it was a monumental success for the program.
And in the simplest of ways, VTEC is implemented by the
use of cam followers on dual overhead cams by either
low-speed cams, high-speed cams,
really simple, engage one, or engage the other.
You'll commonly hear people discuss a two-stage VTEC and
no that's not a random internet thing that some Honda
boys started because they were tired of
Subaru boys talking about stage five Turbos.
- These lugnuts are used for is when a
car pulls up next to you at a red light,
you hit the button on the dash and they shoot out,
pop their tires. And that makes sure you always win
- This is actually a real thing.
And it was literally just a low-stage or high-stage
cam system that mechanically switched the cams
at a specific RPM on the engine.
Over time, VTEC would evolve from only changing
valve lifts to add something called a cam phaser
to the intake cam shaft. So it could change the
timing as well, continuously, And at any sort of
variability. This would lay the framework of the
dual overhead cam i-VTEC. Now there's also
single overhead cam VTEC--Calm down! We'll get there!
There's a lot. And you think there's enough acronyms
you'd probably be wrong. Okay.
Honda would go out to introduce all different variants of
VTEC. You had dual overhead cam VTEC, i-VTEC,
i-VTEC i, which was just for direct injection.
You had different VTEC systems on the single overhead cam,
You had the equivalent on a single overhead cam,
which was more for fuel economy than it was for performance
even though they introduced one for performance and
through the use of an inactive intake valve on
single overhead cams Honda to figure out a way to
just pretty much turn it on through VTEC reactivate that
intake valve and change their 4 cylinder from a
3-valve 4 cylinder to a 4-valve, 4 cylinder.
It was a pretty exciting time for Honda.
They really found a neat thing. Now,
Honda friends and family are very particular about what kind
of VTEC you have and how you referenced VTEC at all.
Take a shot every single time. I say VTEC
you had a a single overhead cam,
you had the Earth Dreams V6 which also had the I-VTEC,
but it is in fact not the same and as a three-stage VTEC,
essentially combining all their technologies together,
take a shot every single time I say it I swear to God.
Honda really found success with this new engine technology
so much so that they'd go on to create the dual overhead cam
VTEC dual overhead cam i-VTEC with cam phaser VVT
dual overhead cam i-VTECi with the direct injection.
Then they have something very interesting man,
Earth Dreams I equal VTEC with Atkinson cycle feature
and normal output and aversion with only intake valve only
VTEC, which was the true VTEC without the Atkinson cycle.
They had different variations of even that,
that they introduced onto the platform.
Single overhead cam got VTEC. VTEC/E 3-stage
VTEC, V6 VTEC on the J 37.
You had i-VTEC, you have the R series VTEC and you had more.
Does it now make sense why Why when you talk to a
Honda guy or gal about this, you, you, you get
a lot of information all at one time,
and they're very proud to tell you exactly what version
they actually have and what made this special because
Honda wasn't necessarily the first one to try
this type of system was that they made it work
with two completely different cam profiles.
And it was really considered the first cam switching system
on an engine platform that was reliably successful.
The Acura NSX with the C38 motor
was the first VTEC equipped vehicle
available in the USA. It caught some serious wind.
so much so all their manufacturers copied it.
Porsche introduced the version of continuous variable valve
timing on the 968 was something called VarioCam.
And I give that name a 7 out of 10. Okay.
BMW would introduce VANOS not Vamos that's Spanish, in 1992.
And of course, BMW went all out and even did a
double VANOS system with a bunch of electronic wizardry
and made a terrible system. They made a great system,
but it was unreliable but the name 9 out of 10.
GM joined the fray 9 million years later in 2005
with a variable valve system for the
push rod LZE and LZ4, it didn't really have a name.
So they get a 2 out of 10. All right, there you go.
That's my rating, Daimler, Fiat,
and more would also join the frame of this technology.
But truly Honda was the company to pioneer
The first successful VTEC system. They call the VTEC,
you call it whatever, and people like you and people like me
love this thing. Okay now imagine
it gave you a good mileage gas mileage at low speeds, but
you fricking drop a gear, bud, you let her eat
and you could hear the VTEC kick in,
and there was a true notable increase in performance,
and it was awesome. You drive an s2000 that it feels crazy.
You drive a GSR, it's nuts, an 8,100 redline RPM,
and a 1.8 liter GSR sounded better than most super cars at
the time. And they did it reliably.
They did it consistently, but nowadays,
if you look at it like a 2017 Honda civic Si
you'll see a turbocharged engine without Honda's fancy Nancy
VTEC, that they touted for a very long time instead
you get VTC, which does not sound as cool as VTEC.
And while you can still get VTEC models,
it's just not really talked about anymore.
So why, what happened? Will someone explain to me just
what exactly happened to VTEC that was
staged as a question, but I made it a statement.
A VTEC engine changed the game in horsepower per liter,
and to keep reliability was no small feat.
Its introduction was pretty much at the perfect time as the
sport compact segment with the Prelude and the Del Sol
really began to grow in the United States particularly,
and it's likely what's cemented its success and massive,
massive outreach. You had companies like
Hotsport and Honda to jump onto those
platforms to truly make them special, fast,
and pretty much scary as hell so much so that once laptops
got involved, people were out okay.
VTEC truly started losing its muster though
after everybody started to copy it. VTEC was a fascinating
thing. But as competitors started to come in and
try to do the same thing, the value proposition
began to get compared to the likes of
BMW and Fiat. So many more. Now the VANOS system
ain't going to make you feel like you've (expletive)
a brick when you're going into watt in a GSR because of
how it sounds, but to a lot of people
that aren't really car enthusiasts,
VTEC, or vahnos or VANOS or whatever you want to call it all
sounds like the silly same motor technology with marginal
differences or improvements. You have the Porsche 911
that has it, the 370 has it even EVO's, the Mitsubishi Evo
and their M-I-V-E-C their, MIVEC system had a
variable camshaft timing or whatever it
was, but it wasn't with the lip.
They're all very similar, but you really had to be an expert
to know the difference. And another reason
is because the power plants that reigned
in the day back then are just more available nowadays.
Now let me explain back in the nineties,
when it came to adding additional power,
it was being done predominantly with the use of
turbochargers and it was a really expensive thing to do.
The R and D was so relatively new.
A lot of times even doing it on an always side,
it didn't match Honda's cost structure and it wouldn't solve
the problems Honda was trying to solve for their customers.
So when VTEC was introduced,
it was one of the first of its kind that truly
revolutionized the way to snag power out of a baby 4
cylinder or even a little V6.
But with today's modern technology and medicine,
I could easily live to be a 135 145 years old
I miss Talladega nights.
- Only thing you've ever done with your life is
make a hot daughter. That's it! That's it! That is it!
- Honestly over time the technology that was once expensive,
specifically with force induction to get additional power
and fuel economy started to simply get more affordable and
attainable by a wider variety of
consumers manufacturers and even market applications.
And nowadays you have cars pushing out 300 horsepower out of
a 4 cylinder turbo that was affordable off the lot
reliable, sure may come with a few lawsuits against the
manufacturer, but it provides a ton of a bang for buck.
And I mean, that's kind of the thing that
sometimes pulls people away
from understanding the VTEC and the
shine that it used to have. Now, in my opinion, nothing
seems to carry the same visceral energy and feel as
some of the authentic VTEC systems of the mid 1990s.
And there's plenty of mimickers out there,
but none that have the quite same feeling as Honda while the
means tarnished the idea a little bit VTEC is truly an
enjoyable technology that seems to be dying at the same
speed of people's interest in old school muscle cars,
which is honestly kind of, sort of really sad.
But what I can say is that my 12 and a half compression
turbocharged case series with VTEC is going to sound like,
like Dina Gershon, whispering screen nothing's into my ear
until we blow a cylinder to the (expletive) moon.
So I'm really excited for it. And I don't care if
people make fun of VTEC. Cause I think it's cool.
But what do you think about VTEC?
Is it overplayed or awesome if you've experienced it?
Let us know in the comment section below. And of course,
if you're looking for aftermarket wheels,
tires or suspension, be sure to
hit us up over at fitmanindustries.com.
If you noticed my words per minute sped up
that's because we're filming this at 8:00 AM versus 7:00 AM
and I've had more coffee. I'm Alex for Fitman Industries.
We will see you later. Peace!
(electronic music)