Steve, I have been doing a lot of reading over the last few days trying to figure out a good solution to my lost Cobb AccessPort. I must say, you all have seemed to be the most interactive with the community and that is a HUGE plus.

I am running an '08 RX-8 turboed with aftermarket fuel injectors, coils, etc. Most of this was done by Ray (BHR) and tuned by MazdaManiac. The engine was blueprinted and tolerances tightened up. I put a fair amount of money into the car back in '08 and almost none of it was with off the shelf mods.

I have several questions that I hope you can help clear up for me.
1. Are there any tuners in the SoCal area that you know of for rotary? Or as a new customer can I send logs to have a tune made? While I may be able to tune myself, I rarely have the time anymore.
2. How difficult would it be for me to take one of your maps and adjust for my mods?
3. Since I don't have my Cobb anymore, would I need to have the dealer overwrite my tune to stock before I could install a map from you?
4. does it make much difference to use VersaLink vs. OBDlink? If so, what is the difference?

I look forward to doing business with you all once I know what to get.

 

1. You may want to post here: https://www.versatune.net/forum/view...cc940f9abcdb43 and check here https://www.versatuner.com/etuning
2. Not that difficult if you know what you want to set things to. The UI is very easy to learn and use. There's not a lot of things to fiddle with when tuning RX-8s (no valve timing )
3. If we can't overwrite it, the dealer can't. We can overwrite Cobb S1 flashes. Not sure about S2.
4. VersaLink is a J2534 compliant interface. You can use it with other flashing tools like Mazda MDS. OBDLink SX is ELM emulation with some extras. VersaLink is a little faster when flashing and logging.

 

Will the speed make a difference? I am not sure what speed the RX-8 ECU supports. Bluetooth is of course more convenient, but if I will get poorer results in the tune accuracy then that would be counterproductive.

 

Flashing a S1 with OBDLink SX is about 30s slower than VersaLink. With LX or MX it's even slower due to bluetooth latency. Personally, I'm not a fan of flashing over wireless for reliability reasons.

On S1, logging is ECU limited at 125 PIDs/second. Both VersaLink and OBDLink SX can do that. On newer ECUs, the OBDLink SX will cap out on logging speed.

 

Im about to take my car for a compression test to Lucky 7 in Duarte. They do lots of tuning there for race builds if that is any consolation.

 

Thanks Jake.

I think I found one in Santa Ana (I am in OC) that looks good. I am always open to any suggestions from anyone with FI that has used a tuner in OC. I am a couple months out from needing them but want to do my research.

 

FYI - the header will be going on the shop car once this lock down mess passes. We're still working on adding tunes for RX-8

 

Ive been using Versatuner for about a 2 months now, and I am quite impressed with the software as well as its continued support! Thank you for your hard work Steve.

When you were playing with timing on the dyno, were you using 93oct? Also, what benefits were there from moving the VDI changeover point higher?

Ive dialed my fueling in, but now I want to play with timing to extract a bit more out of the tune. I moved my timing split to 10 degrees at high load, from the factory 15 degrees, and have seen promising gains in my MAF readings (gain of 15g/s on the same road, same gear, same weather, same day, etc). But, this type of testing is nowhere near as accurate as I'd like it to be when chasing small gains.

 

91 or 93 octane doesn't make any real difference. We tested with both.
We didn't see much benefit from advancing or retarding timing. I don't recall how much we played with the split. I'll do some more tests when I get it back on the dyno.

 

I might be off, but isn't the biggest issue with RX-8 on Turbo the side port exhausts?
Ppl say they are restrictive, but what I see as the real problem is side seal springs being so tiny and small, they get destroyed from all the heat going through the small side exhaust on a turbo setup, which kills everything thing in the engine once the side seal gets thrown around.

Is there a way to upgrade the side seal springs to handle the heat from turbo?

 

It's really not an issue so long as :
1/You aren't trying to run a small turbo (eg Greddy/Gt30) at a level where exhaust backpressure is excessive.
2/You don't run the engine close to overheating for an extended period.
3/The combustion chamber is properly lubricated.

 

Number 1 is also why using the stock ECU (even with VersaTuner) with a turbo isn't great. You really do need EMAP and EGT values for proper (failsafe) tuning and there's no way to add those without going to an aftermarket unit.

 

You make a good point but I really don't think there would be many Greddy setups out there that are that sophisticated. Most just operate the turbo conservatively with the knowledge that you just can't push them hard and even with all the failsafe wizardry ....you still wouldn't push it hard if you had any sense.

 

Any updates guys?