fredinlou

does stage1 mod (canzoomer) improve mpg????????

NAVILESRX8

iTrader: (1)

?????

RXhusker

1. Read the threads 2. then ask questions

Using that order usually works best.

MEGAREDS

Yes, according to Canzoomer. He reported that fuel economy improvements occur in use where the driver is aggressively using throttle and rpm. Smaller economy improvements will occur at lighter, lower rpm use, but these are less significant. See this thread:

Performance tuning kits

brothervoodoo

Let's make something clear, you are not going to jump up to an extra 5 mpg.. You are using a leaner fuel mixture at higher revs so you will use less than under stock. But if you are running high revs all the time guess what your gas mileage will be...

When the units start getting installed in large volume I would love to hear different, but I'm getting a little weary of all these dicussions on saving fuel, I've yet to see anything make a world of difference. The best fuel economy you are going to get is if you drive on the freeway all the time at 3500 rpm (maybe a little lower).

Jeff_pap31s

I know I sure as hell didn't buy this car for fuel MPG!!!

SDFLY

Amen brother.....get a yugo if your worried about another oil embargo....not sure if any of them are still running though.

Jeff_pap31s

Hell! They could just get a nice little 4 banger RSX or Celica or whatever other ugly thing outthere that gets better MPG. Small price to pay for a classier car then all the rest!

rotarygod

I think that when you first install it you are going to get worse mpg. You will be having so much fun that you'll floor it everywhere you go!

JeRKy 8 Owner

Now that gas pricesare back up again I start realizing againhow bad the gas mileage is for the Rx8 but this is the carI bought and Ijust have to live w/it. I bet you guys didnt knowthat the Rx8 mpg is almost identical to these cars--Acura NSX BMW M3 Infiniti G35 Porsche Boxster and Carrera Ford SVTCobra Chevrolet Corvette and Z28 Pontiac Trans Am just to namea few. It hurts my head whenI think about how I own a car that has less than 70%of the performance and horsepower of other cars butmanages to get the same ifnot worse mileage. SoIm advising toyou guys to just try not to think about it so much. This isthe only way youll stay sane. Then again I dont know too many people who bought the Rx89 for practical reasons in thefirst place.

JD32

I'm new to this so be patient. Does the ECU upgrade void the warranty?

brothervoodoo

Your question would be best directed in the Vendors/Canzoomer section.

Stage 1 has been designed so that you can remove the ECU upgrade and everything will be left as stock.

Gyro

Yes..........and No

One of the biggest design factors of the CZ piggyback ECU is its stealthy profile. Its sits inside the enclosure with your stock ECU. There are generally very few times even the dealer would open this.

However its ease of removal is such that you can do it in about 10 minutes. Without any permanent modifications whatsoever.

So it basically breaks down like this.......

If you bring your RX8 in for warranty service it may be a good idea to leave the piggyback at home. This way your warranty will be under no threat. No trace....no problem.

If you bring your RX8 in for service and they happen to find the piggback (unlikely...), then they CAN refuse warranty work depending on what needs repair.
For instance, if an elecrical component or sensor goes bad......AND they find and verify the piggyback ECU......my bet is that they will refuse warranty work.

Just leave it at home when you need warranty repairs. If you do that....it wont affect your warranty at all.
As far as oil changes at the dealership, I would leave it in. The have no business opening up you ECU enclosure for that.

JD32

Thanks for the info. Like I said before I am new to upgrading rotary engines. Had a '82 RX-7 for years but haven't owned a rotary in 8 years. I am thinking of upgrades and am debating between the ram air cold air intake from Rotary Extreme or the ECU upgrade.

cueball

I think you will find that the ECU upgrade will yeild more HP gains versus a CAI.

MEGAREDS

Yes. No doubt about it. If you do elect the ECU upgrade, do it with your eyes open as to the legal consequences of your decision. Theoretically, Mazda could even attempt to recover former warranty repair work if they've done it on a voided warranty, perhaps by putting a lien on your vehicle the next time it shows up for an oil change. This is certainly an unlikely scenario, but if the RX-8 should fail Mazda would have very little incentive not to try to collect the data on which of its VINs no longer legally require warranty repairs. Another horror story: think of what would happen if they hired Canzoomer and bought his company. I don't know what the law is in Canada, but in the U.S., they'd own his business records for any purpose they wanted to use them. Another worry is that the "upgrade" will leave a trace as to it having been installed in the car's memory, which Mazda will be able to read. If I were making the RX-8's computer, I'd look into programming something like that into it.

My point is only that people should understand what a voided warranty means and post their ECU experiences carefully. Personally, I'm hoping Canzoomer does one for the AT.

JimW

The RX8s computer will only flash altered readings if you uninstalled it and immediately had a diagnostic scan done. After removing the piggyback and driving the car for 15 minutes, the computer has a learning mode and would erase all former settings and go back to the original factory parameters!

RX-8 friend

The ECU doesn't even keep error codes if you disconnect the battery. The lawers will be disappointed if they think they can "read the ECU" to get info. after an accident! I'm talking here of the news stories that went around a few months ago.

But yes, technically, adding the unit will void the warranty.

We haven't seen Mazda get this hardnosed so far. They seem to be more interested in having happy customers. Kind of bodes well for their future, don't you think?

MEGAREDS

I do. I would hope Canzoomer is actually helping Mazda's sales by allowing people who care get the missing HP get it back, and that Mazda would realize this and support is as much as possible. But if Canzoomer's unit ends up damaging the car or if something unexpected happens and Mazda starts to look at the RX-8 as a liability, things might change -- people should understand that before they do anything that affects the warranty.

As I said before, I'm really looking forward to seeing posts about how the unit works and hope that it turns out to be the best upgrade going. I've seen some other posts about ECU mods that allow things like "valet mode" -- limiting the car to 30 mph, or a "teenager mode" -- limiting the car to 65 mph; or even which might prevent the engine from shutting down cold in flooding conditions. There's a lot of great things possible...

JimW

RX8-friend thanks for the clarification. I also think your talking about another recorder device There was and idiot driver that killed 2 girls down the street from where I work. He was giong over 100mph down a residential street with a 35 mph limit. Under court order, the manufacturer had to display his driving characterisitics, in which this guy was nailed. So yes it can be done.