Hey whats up erybody, i just got my 8 tuned this past friday and i got a few questions and was wondering if anyone could help me out. First off let me say that i went to topspeed in alpharetta ga and it was a very good experience scott and doug are really cool guys and very professional .

I will list my mods first (which arent many) and then get into whats got my boxers in a wad. I have a 04 6 speed, motor has 17,646 miles, greddy turbo kit, new coils, new plugs, hks blow off, AT injectors, turbo xs manual boost control, and running it all on the emanage ultimate.

and yes i am getting the accessport but i wanted to get the car tuned right away mostly for reliability issues until i get the ap.

Now to my concerns... i was getting a pretty strong misfire when i first put the kit on. so i had been reading up on the forums and replacing everything i thought would cause that. so i got all new coils, new plugs, and a new battery.

Those things helped me out alot but still didnt get rid of the problem. But the misfire went from being very, very strong, to slightly noticable and mild. So then i was thinking maybe i just needed a tune and that would take care of it. so i went to topspeed and i told my tuner what it was doing and the car actually did it once on the dyno.

Doug told me it went lean when it did it. The car never does it at full throttle only when u accelerate slowly during like norming driving and thats why i was surprised when it did it on the dyno but he told me he wasnt full throttle when it did on the dyno either.

so i work at a mazda dealer as a salesman and my really close friend is the tech there and we both been tryna figure out whats going on but pretty much figured that tuning would fix it. I dont have any idle problems at all and the car pulls really strong sono lack of power issues. which is why we pretty much ruled anything serious. Not to mention this motor is almost brand new, mazda warrantied my old one last year and put this one in.

ok anyway, i was wondering if anyone could help point me in the rigt direction. i been searching on the forums and have tried everything. We even did a full decarb, i let it sit over night and everything (shot out to mm), but it still didnt stop the misfire.

Im hoping my seals arent going bad. The misfire is always on cylinder 2 which is usually the first to go. we will do a compression test next week after the holidays but i almost feel like the motor HAS to be still good at only 18k miles! the tune went well considering still have emanage ultimate and it gave doug a hard time but he eventually got my a/f ratio reliable. for some reason tho he couldnt adjust the timing, or it wouldnt let him. or somethng like that.

he showed it to me and everything else on the laptop screen was being graphed but the ignition/timing showed a flat yellow line no matter what he did. which may not be a bad thing because from what ive read on these forums the ignition and timing is very delicate and easy to screw up on the 8's. i think it was racing beat who said there where no power gains to be seen in adjusting or retarding the stock timing.

The very first pull was 231hp 195tq@7psi the final numbers where 244hp 206tq @7psi. didnt gain alot of power. we never turned up the boost cuz i wanted to wait until i get the accessport. Are these good numbers? Or do these look like numbers from a motor with low compression? I still got stock catalytic converter on also. I will be posting the dynochart probably tomorrow cuz im waiting on them to email me the charts.

I was so excited and ready to drive the car that i forgot to get the charts before i left . The biggest gain i got was the power band changed from all over the place on the first couple of pulls to extremely smooth on the last few. I also learned that its proly better if i shift at 7 grand instead of the 9 because of where the power starts dropping off and cuz i make alot of power between 4500 and 7200rpms. Just wanted to know if u guys thought that these numbers were ok or is my motor screwed.

i was looking at one of mm posts and he showed the greddy kit making 293hp at 10psi so i have been a lil bit worried. plus my misfire issue has been a concern and it still threw a soft code for a misfire after the tune. It just flashed but didnt stay on. still was on cylinder 2 again when we checked it.

any advice would be helpful.

and one more thing, my idle vacuum has been kinda low too. im normally at arould 17 sometimes 18 but recently it has fluctuated from 15 to as low as 14/13. i havent been able to find any vac leaks anywhere. i had a problem briefly with the evap solenoid vac line but i fixed it i think, still not quite sure i got it running to the right line.

exactly how important is the solenoid anyway? u know the one that is connected to the same line as the plug for the MAF... can i just get rid of it and leave it unplugged? What does it do?

 

sorry very hard to read. please break it up into paragraphs

 

divided by zoom

 

get rid of your cat - whatever.

upgrade your ignition - bhr.

get a real ems - interceptor/ap.

 

Here is a pic of the first pull. I got the last 4/5 pulls on video> im still waiting on the secretary valerie to send me the email of the dynograph of my final pull so i can post it.......

[IMG][/IMG]

 

Are you misfiring when in boost or vacuum? What are your AFRs and load? Post up the AFRs and engine rpm and some of the boosted guys can take a look and give you feedback.

From what I know you should be running AFR's in the 11's under boost.

Also I would be concerned that your tuner can't figure out reducing the timing. I think you're supposed to back it off quite a bit for boosted applications. There are some threads on tuning with the emanage ultimate on this forum. Check them out and post there.

Misfiring in boost can really damage your engine so don't push it if you're misfiring.

Misfiring in vacuum could still be a tuning issue but also could be coil related. Usually though the coils have problems at higher loads and not in cruise.

 

lol, and they said our cars were supposed to have 238 stock

 

At the flywheel numbnutz. -j/k

 

Is your misfire around 4000 rpm at light throttle ? If so i had the same thing - just a tuning issue . Mine was going way rich in that range .
Numbers look OK . Wait till you hit 10psi - it will blow your mind

 

1yeah afr is at 11.8

2.as far a him tuning the timing i think it was something with eu.. i gotta get the ap quick. for whatever reason the eu wouldnt let him adjust the timing. i dont know if it was him, or the emanage

3.it hasnt done it as of yet under boost, only if im cruising and i gradually press the gas once boost builds it wobt do it

4.just put the new coils in not even 300 miles ago i guess they should be ok, plug wires maybe?

 

lol, I know. I just saw irony and had to comment

 

Yeah. I just wanted to type out numbnutz...

 

yeah 238 to the flywheel and 238 to the wheels is a big difference...

My misfire wont happen at a set rpm which is whats so crazy! ive had it happen at 3 grand and sometimes at 4 or 5. i cant predict it at all...

 

your numbers look about right for 7psi I think

 

AFR graph?

Timing graph?

 

it's not 238 at the flywheel either -more like 215 fw and 175 at the wheels .
So you have picked up 65 odd hp .

 

i will call em first thing in tha a.m. and get them to email me the timing and afr graphs also. that will hopefully help shed some light on whats going on.
how have some of u guys w/boost been hooking up the evap solenoid vac line?

 

all this time i thought it was 232 fw but 65+hp is cool... that mmmmmmmakes me hhhappy!!-simple jack

 

For 7psi your numbers look OK, assuming it's a conservative tune.

You need to get the AccessPORT ASAP, it will change your boost-loving life.

Also upgrade ignition and put a midpipe (no cat) on. Then retune, at the same psi you will see probably 10-rwhp+ if not more, then you start cranking up the boost.

FYI, just because you have low mileage doesn't guarantee anything. All it takes in one strong detonation event and it's toast.

 

STOP!!! You're depressing me with that ****

 

Do some runs at 20 boost lol

 

Hey man as far as your vacuum readings believe it or not they are right on borderline. the reason I say this is because I too was once boosted here in GA. I recommend taking it to Mazcare for Charlie to do a compression test, it wouldn't surprise me if the compression is around the low 7's.

 

my personal belief is that rx8s have ~215 at the flywheel stock. its what makes sense mathematically anyway. and its within the allowable SAE margin of area for mazda to market the cars as having 232hp.

also, you dont mention exhaust. so im assuming you have the stock exhaust. get the turboxs headerback. it includes a resonated race pipe. and its all a full 3". you'll pick up 15whp easy.

 

[/QUOTE]FYI, just because you have low mileage doesn't guarantee anything. All it takes in one strong detonation event and it's toast.[/QUOTE]

i really need to get this compression test... im really afraid that my motor may be bad mostly because all the misfires have been in cylinder 2.

 

low 7's would be pretty suck *** huh?

thanks alot kersh, i been tryna decide which way to go as far as exhaust is concerned. ima prob have a hard time selling my mazdaspeed exhaust tho.