Okay.. somebody had to ask.. inquiring minds want to know...

How does one compare to the other? Performance, Compatibility, Price, Support?

 

Great idea!

 

Yes, I was thinking of starting one like this as well. I believe the Shaw ECU costs around $1500, I think that is Australian Dollars though and I don't know how to convert to USD.

 

I can't answer too many of the questions but looking at price Canzoomer's is less expensive when comparing prices listed on their sites!

 

$1,500.00 AUD (Australia Dollars) = $1,049.85 USD
or, 1 AUD = 0.699900 USD; 1 USD = 1.42877 AUD

 

So Ric Shaw is more expensive, and I think you tune your own map so the power is up to you, however I do remember hearing a little bit about a compatibility issue with US cars because something was a little different.

 

The CanZoomer Stage 1.X kit plus full tuning kit runs about $750, and gives you full programming capability too...

 

becuase of the proximity alone (y'know, Maurice being on the same continent and everything) i certainly would take the Canzoomer unit over the Shaw unit.

 

if he would sell it with a program kicking 30 hp i bet he sell them with no problems even at 1000$ people would pay

 

... and many people would blow up their engines...

 

i thought canzoomer was kicking like 20 + hp for stage 1 and stage 2 40 + he has not blown an engine yet . why would you say that

 

as a newbie to the rotary world.....what or how is he extracting the HP gains?

 

From what I understand, they are tweaking the air/fuel mixtures. Its much more complicated than that, but thats about the point to which I understand it ;-)

 

I have a feeling the Canzoomer upgrade, the Ric Shaw upgrade, and tuning an E-manage by yourself will all result in very similar horsepower gains.

Canzoomer's plug-and-play is good for people who don't want to try and tune the car themselves - that's a big plus for the less technically inclined.

The E-manage is probably the best bang for the buck, but requires the most work on your part doing the tuning. Probably the most flexible too, but again requires the most investment of yourself.

Dale

 

Any of these provide multi-mapping so I could effectively flip a switch and be back to stock mappings if I wanted to go conservatively sometimes and less conservative others without removing the unit?

 

After having dealt with CZ you would have no idea he is on the same continent. It seems that there customer service/shipping department is located somewhere near the mars rover

 

yes very close to the rover. After I get my stage 1 from the GB, I will never do business with him again.

 

I don't know about the others but with CZ you can buy a little package so you can have a switch inside the car to turn the unit on and off. Off means you have stock mappings.

Also I have heard that CZ while it takes a long time for the unit to arrive, he has excellent support if your unit for some reason doesn't work.

 

anyone got a link to his site cause im thinking of getting this
________
Expert insurance

 

www.ricshawonline.com

 

The most power would be found with the E-Manage because you don't have to be at the mercy of the rather horrific level of variation that appears to be present between different RX-8s.
What works on one doesn't always work on another.
Because of this, you are limited to a preset map that is fairly mild by comparison to what you can do on your own with a little testing.

The E-Manage is the cheapest and most powerful.

With the E-Manage, it is just a mouse-click away.
Or a stylus tap if you use a palm or the E-01.

 

Mazda Maniac.... what do you do about taking your car in for warranty service, etc.? I know you had to tap all those wires to install the eManage and it'd be a pain to pull it all and put it back in after getting an oil change, tune up, etc.

I think what would help the eManage case the best are the connectors that Canzoomer has for his piggyback. With those and the base programming you've done, most people could get the eManage up and going fairly quickly.

The other issue is... I'm not a pro tuner. Me program the A/F and timing on a 4 stroke reciprocating engine... much less a rotary engine? I'd be afraid I'd blow it up! NOt to mention I ALSO have to get a wideband 02 sensor for A/F tuning purposes. This is a lot to ask of the average person I think...

 

No need for the wide band anymore. The CANScan tool will read the factory wide band O2 sensor.
There is nothing to be afraid of in tuning - just pick an A/F ratio target and whittle your way down to it across the RPM band. It just takes time, not talent.

As far as the wiring goes, I installed connectors that can be easily unplugged, capped and then buried under the battery box.
If I need to hide the E-Manage, it just takes less than ten minutes to unplug it and take it out of the car. No tools necessary.

 

The connectors look like this:

 

Do you recommend doing that tuning over time on a chassis dyno, or logging data from the 02 sensor and making adjustments that way? I am supposing no, because you need to be able to tell when the power drops off, etc...

I am curious about the possiblity of doing this through actual driving as RB claims the ECU has several A/F maps that it uses for different gear ranges... If so, tuning on a dyno in 3rd gear isn't going to get you the best results...