I installed my Stage 1 last night and took a test drive. There seems to be a bit more power but nothing monumental. I guess after waiting 4 months my expectations kept going up.

I'll be taking my 8 to Atco Raceway soon to get documented numbers on the gains.

So how do you guys like your Stage 1??

I feel the same way. It seems to pull harder all the way to redline but it would have been pretty hard for it to live up to our expectations considering all the hoops we went through (actually epitrochoid went through) to get it. It seems to have more power throughout the rev range. I only have about 30 minutes driving time on it so far so more time will tell.

The car is definitely more responsive than before and my exhaust seems quieter now.

I can't wait to see your numbers. Are you going to do runs with Stage 1 turned on and then turned off?

Originally posted by SMigneco


I can't wait to see your numbers. Are you going to do runs with Stage 1 turned on and then turned off?

I ran the car at Atco with the exhaust only and my best was a 14.8. Here's the time slip.


Car #202

Sweet. Can't wait to see the improved (*crosses fingers/says hail mary) numbers!

v8, what were your times before stage 1.1?

do you guys all have the "M" flash or have you just put the unit in regardless? My car is going in for service on tuesday and I'm going to have them reflash it to M (or punch them in the face if it comes to that, whatever) and then i'll put the canzoomer gadget in. Is anyone running their 1.1 without the latest flash?

Originally posted by epitrochoid
v8, what were your times before stage 1.1?

That time slip is before the ECU. I just put it in last night silly! :D

I'll go back in about a week.

hey fellas, quick question: What flash are you talking about? I asked the service manager about any mods from Mazda to improve the mileage on the rx8 and he said no. I do plan on getting a CZ stage 1 or 1.1 because my mileage really sucks, literally! Thanks.

i installed it with K flash, it idle's rough and the high rpm isn't smooth. its fast though, I beat a z28 after 100mph from a 60mph roll

I have the "M". Maybe I should list that in my sig as a mod? :D

yah be "coool"

Installed mine today...Definitely notice a difference. The rpm's rev alot faster and the engine seems to have a higher pitch whine than it did before. However, the car idles rough as hell with it installed. I thought I had M however after the rough idle I think I may have been given L instead of M. Unfortunately my work order for the recalls, etc didnt list the part number of the pcm reflash. The brake pedal test works but I suspect I got L and thats why it idles rough. Gonna give the dealer a call tomorrow and have them look up what flash I got.

Regardless, I do love the increase in power it has given. The beep comes on before you know it!

does your idle start out fine and they get rough the more you drive, regardless of how hard you drive? thats how mine is....I didn't have M either

Originally posted by epitrochoid
does your idle start out fine and they get rough the more you drive, regardless of how hard you drive? thats how mine is....I didn't have M either

my car does this normally (without stage 1.1)...drive it for a bit, sit in neutral, car sort of shakes and shudders. it has done this since I bought it.

I have the M flash and 1.1. Idle is fine. Maurice had stated that the new tune was compatible with all flashes but everyone that puts it in with L flash seems to have minor problems.

i installed it with K flash, it idle's rough and the high rpm isn't smooth. its fast though, I beat a z28 after 100mph from a 60mph roll

I have the K flash. My car lost about 5-7hp with CZ1 AND ran roughly. I did about 12 or more pulls on the dyno. CZ on= rough running and about 176ish hp. Turn it off or pull it out=183ish hp smoothly.

Spoke with CZ, I was going to back-date the CZ1 with an earlier program designed for K's, ordered that an month ago. No word.

Not a particularly good performance buy. About $100 per LOST hp. For another $5,000 I could have a Honda Civic.

Epitro,

Yeah, when i first turn it on it idles perfectly fine. However once I start driving and then come to a stop it idles rough. I did notice this morning that the tach didnt bounce around as much as it did yesterday. I hope that getting a few more miles on with it will smooth out the idle. ONly time will tell....

My idle is noticeably more erratic since the CZ1. I've also noticed more power. :D

it has been stated that there's a 50 mile 'learning' period for the PCM too....

1strx8 - i dont know what the story is on your car, but I'd be weary of putting so much stock into anything coming off a dyno with this car. the power was right there, especially after the 2-3 shift. i could understand if it lost several PEAK hp due to mismatched maps and flashes, but I think the total area under the curve is still greater, and that's what counts.

it has been stated that there's a 50 mile 'learning' period for the PCM too....

I have only put about 40 miles on my car since installation and it does seem to be settling down more each day. The power is definitely there and ready to be unleashed. Get outta my way, I'm coming through! :cool:

2.3 sec 60' time? isnt that kind of dismal even for street tires? taking .3 off that should take .3 off the total, right?

james

1strx8 - i dont know what the story is on your car, but I'd be weary of putting so much stock into anything coming off a dyno with this car. the power was right there, especially after the 2-3 shift. i could understand if it lost several PEAK hp due to mismatched maps and flashes, but I think the total area under the curve is still greater, and that's what counts.

I can post the dyno data. the AFR after 5.5k goes way lean and the hp plot indicates a major power drop - ACROSS THE BOARD.

Turn the car off, take out or disable the CZ1 and do another pull within 3 minutes. It is way smoother and makes significantly more power.

The data is on my home PC, I will post it from there. FYI I did talk to CZ, he is sending me the software to back date the CZ1 program for K flash. I hope that works.

The dyno may or may not be showing the full power output capacity. IMHO, it is very close. I would be surprised if it is making more than 220hp at the crank. My car indicates about 183ish at the wheels which sounds close at least.

It does, however, indicate changes. The CZ1 is not doing anything good right now, it does not feel faster OR measure faster.

Maurice will get it right - soon I hope.

yea...i dont think running an M tune on a K pcm is a good idea. that's why i pulled my unit until I can get flashed or my data cable comes and I can put the K tune back on.

but damn, to loose power being too lean means it's gotta be on the other side of stoich...that's just plain bad!

yep.

It will be fixed just in time for the Turbo mods.

Originally posted by Ophitoxaemia
2.3 sec 60' time? isnt that kind of dismal even for street tires? taking .3 off that should take .3 off the total, right?

james

Yup, 2.3 60' isn't anything to brag about. I did not drop the tire pressure when I did those runs. My experience so far with the 8 is that it is hard to get a good 60'. Yes, a drop of .3 on the 60' should equal about the same on ET but not always.

i put mine in today, install went smoothly and no CELs or anything. Haven't had much time to drive it yet, but so far no problems.

e-manage software came in today. I will upload the K flash tomorrow and I have yet another dyno scheduled for Friday AM.

regarding the 2.3 60', the light flywheel might help with that. car certainly seems to spin up slow in 1st.

lower gearing might help to get into the power band quicker- smaller diameter wheels/tires are my idea here.

james

drag racing is for the birds...

Originally posted by epitrochoid
drag racing is for the birds...

Why do you say that? I agree using the RX8 for a drag racer is a waste but timing your car to see the improvement of mods is valuable.

So, everything was fine with the CZ for 3 days. On Tuesday, I was on my way to the shop to get my springs/shocks installed and my Check Engine light came on.

When I picked my car up later that day (8 hours later) the light was off because the battery was disconnected for hours.
2 days later and the light is on again.

I reset my PCM this morning before work (by doing the 20 brake stomp) and confirmed the oil needle swept.

Light is still on.

I am going to work on my car tomorrow. I will pull the CZ and see if the light goes out.
If it does then I will install my stock airbox back in...put the CZ back in and see if I trip the light again.
Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

Totally.

A 1 1/2 hour enduro road race in a GT2 car is racing. Side stepping the cluth at 9,000 rpms for 14 seconds is so boring.

SMigneco, i got one too. Installed my CZ on Sun. got a cel last nite. ran my new canscan obdII scanner ( i love it!) and got the error code. I got the P0300 engine misfire error message.....I turned off the CZ last nite and the light was off this morning when i went to work. Gonna take it to mazda tomorrow for them to check it out and clear the code.

Originally posted by 1stRX8
Totally.

A 1 1/2 hour enduro road race in a GT2 car is racing. Side stepping the cluth at 9,000 rpms for 14 seconds is so boring.

Can I borrow your GT2 for a few hours?

Like I said - 1/4 mile times are good to see the difference the mods make. I'm interested to see how much real world power the CZ1 makes on my car. For $12 and 45 minutes I'll have real data. Plus the track is only 10 minutes from my house.

Correct. It does give you a quick indication of the effectiveness of engine mods.

I have the fortune of a dyno shop 100ft from my office.

intake + stage 1 is a well documented bad idea....pull that intake and reset, I'll bet you'll be fine.

but would it cause a misfire? i dunno...make a post in the CZ forum about it. because i could swear mine was missing too

Ya'll are running 89 octane or higher right?

I'm running Mr Fusion, trying to stay under 88mph though.

Shooter: Did you bring your car to the dealer? What did they say?

Yeah, i took it to the dealer. But i uninstalled the CZ prior to going, just in case they decided to crack open the ecu....Well unistalling the CZ erased the stored code I had. It had a new stored code, a DSC error, obviously because I disconned the CZ and reconnected the ECU. They ran a full diagnostic and found everything was fine.

My brother was in town for the weekend and he is alot more of an engine expert than me. We did some Gtech runs stock, then I reinstalled the CZ. Did a run with CZ and there was a difference from stock however the idle is still awful. He said it sounded like misfiring to him and he advised me to turn it off until i hear back from CanZoomer. I ran my OBDII scanner and it didnt throw any CEL's in the 30 mins or so I had it installed and on.

Just waiting to hear from CZ now on what the next step is.....

Well I was all excited to put in the CZ ECU once received. Now I have alot of concerns.

Am I correct that you guys are saying that it does not work well with the L flash or newer?

Thanks

Originally posted by 2001F4S
Well I was all excited to put in the CZ ECU once received. Now I have alot of concerns.

Am I correct that you guys are saying that it does not work well with the L flash or newer?

Thanks


"does not work well" is debatable I guess. The majority of us notice more power but we also notice that the car doesn't idle well with the unit installed, but we're not sure if that's a bad thing necessarily. I made a thread about the rough idle so you can see what you'll probably be in for at least...

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31160

I gteched my 8 with the cz 1.1 on and with it off. THe cz only gained 1/2 hpw from stock.

My car also was horrible while ideling.

Took the damn thing off all together. I would highly recommend waiting for another solution as now instead of a plug and play they are saying all cars are different and need to be independently tuned.

The hesitation on my CZ has all but completely gone away, except from the subtle lag you feel with the port openings. I think the PCM had a bit of learning to do. The car idles really well, starts well, and feels strong. My butt dyno isn't worth anyting so I am going back to the dyno for the 3rd time. I will post those results when I can.

I am also working on a heavy-duty cooling solution for the PCM box, it needs one.

Originally posted by Shooter
We did some Gtech runs stock, then I reinstalled the CZ. Did a run with CZ and there was a difference from stock however the idle is still awful.

Just waiting to hear from CZ now on what the next step is.....

How much of a difference did it show on the gtech?

OK. Here is what I did...

When I first installed the CZ, I received the CEL after 3 days. I received the CEL on the way to get my springs/shocks installed (which, by the way is the best mod so far). Anyway, after getting my car back the light was off for 2 days (maybe 1 day) and then it came back on.

I did not want to pull my K&N (very difficult for me) so I pulled the CZ because it is much easier. CEL went off. Then I though about it for a few days and decided to try something. I put the CZ back in. After it was in I waited an hour with the battery disconnected. Started the car and cleared the DSC. Turned off the car. Turned the key to ACC and reset the PCM by doing the 20 brake tap and confirmed my oil needle swept. Since doing this I have not received the CEL and it has been a couple of days.

My idle is fine as long as the car is cold. Once the car is run hard for 10 to 15 minutes then the idle is horrible. I really didn't notice it at first because I honestly did not run the car hard for very long. My commute to work is less than 10 minutes.

I fear burnt coils because of what happened to Genom and we are both in FL. I also really hope that there is some way CZ can fix the idle issue. It has not stalled yet but it sounds like it right on the verge of stalling.

Do you guys notice the rough idle when the car is cold? I thought the CZ did not kick in until 2,000 rpm. Am I correct? If so, then there is obviously something wrong because the CZ should not affect the idle. Perhaps everyone's idle is fine until the first time the CZ kicks in. Say you start your car and let it warm up for 10 minutes without going over 2,000 rpm. Is the idle ok? If so, then is it possible that the CZ is kicking in (for the first time) and, for lack of a better term: not turning itself off? I am just speculating here, but obviously something is not right.

I have decided to keep the unit in the hopes that CZ can get these issues straightened out. Maybe we all should invest in the software/cable. Perhaps CZ should start including those as part the of Stage 1 purchase because it seems that there are so many issues now that getting the cable is almost a must. He can then setup his ftp site with different maps for different climates and sea levels. That to me seems like the only way he can continue selling the stage 1's without getting them all returned after people see the rough idle and minimum hp gains. I have put my trust in CZ by not returning the unit and I really hope I do not get let down.

Lightweight flywheel here I come...