Hey Tom.
No daft questions, only daft answers are possible. How easy is to swap an ECU ? Once you have philips screwdriver , small ratchet and 10mm socket its easy. Around 20-30 min of light acrobatic etudesfor noob. Heres manual off hondata website on how to pull the puppy out
http://www.hondata.com/tsx_ecu_removal.html Hidden gotchas are always there, if you are real cynic you have to know that if
some s.h.i.t can happen there - it usually happens. Most often one is a passanger side bolt that holds ECU which usually stuck because of rust. Apply some man power or some WD40 and it
capitulates. Second one is an ECU connectors. Since its tight place there, ppl not always push em to the end ( must be a click sound of latch ) , once connector isnt fixed properly with its clip, sooner or
later, it will fall out under vibration and youll have a happy new year tree on your dash and ill have hysterical call or mail that game is up. Just push it to the click to save our nerves ! To sum it up - nothing special. You cant screw up anything there even if you do it for first time.
Now about security. Spare ECU has immo disabled and you are able to run and test the car, no need to visit stealership and pay bunch of $$$ to pair your immo with ECU. Its been made only for testing
purposes while you wait for turnaround. Your stock ECU remains immo protected after reflash, i keep this function in FW for security reasons, im in no way want your car to be unprotected and stolen. .
But... this protection isnt reliable though. This car has foolish stock alarm system, can be disabled with lockpick since wires from key cylinder comes to alarm. I highly recommend to cut those wires so youll
be able to set alarm off only with your remote button, not by opening your door with a key. Second trouble here - spare ECU with disabled immo to run your car. Im not the only1 in the world who can make
this trick and its not too hard really. Key is stored in eeprom, its unprotected and can be easily modifyed with master key which immo will accept as native. It takes 1 min to pull cover , unplug connectors
and plug em into spare ECU , then break ignition key hole and you can go. ECU connectors can be protected with some barrier but you need to dry er brain to invent and install it there. Third problem -
cloned HDS tools. They are widely available now for cheap ( 100 bucks or so ) and use patched oem software that dont need one time dealer codes to program new keys into immo module. I tried this trick
and it took me around 3 min to write new key to start the car. If you want to keep your car secured - never rely on stock alarm, its same on all cars and always well known and vulnerable. Always install a
secret buttons to run starter and\or good immo with wireless immo transponder in er pocket. If some1 will throw you out of da car and run - car will stall in few minutes without transponder. Hood lock is
also a good idea to protect car.
Hope i covered your questions and even a lil more.