Hey guys. I just got my 8 back this weekend and have about 500 miles on the rebuild. I plan to change the oil soon and figured it would be worth asking what is the suggested weight to run in an 8 with the Greddy Kit.

I also wanted to ask about the BOV setup. I bought the car already together with a blown front rotor. I noticed that the previous owner had a Greddy Type RS installed and is venting to atmosphere. The car is currently tuned on an EMangle Ultimate. Now I know you can sometimes play with the tuning to make the effects of a VTA BOV setup less noticeable on a MAF car, but I am thinking I may be better served by getting a recirculation adapter for the Type RS and switch back to recirculated. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

I would suggest investing in another form of engine management. The Cobb AP, adaptronics, or mazdaedit are my suggestions. The AP seems to be the weapon of choice for most and is cheapest.
Emanage is a great tuning solution for older cars. It worked wonders on my old boosted project. The rx8's ECU is far more sophisticated and will in time learn it's way around the emanage causing your tune to be useless.
Recirc the BOV as it makes tuning easier and improves drive-ability.

 

Delete "Adaptronics" from your list, it is also a piggy back (unless you go for a full replacement ECU, in which case there are other challenges and a significantly higher cost). MazdaEdit is also cheaper than the AP unless you get the "pro" license level.

 

While I do plan on upgrading to a better ECU setup in the future (probably AP), it is not in the budget at the moment. My basic concerns right now is with my current tuning solution, would I be better going back to recirculating the BOV. For some reason, I doubt the current EMS system has been tuned to reduce the bad effects of VTA BOV on a MAF system.

 

I don't think you understood what we are saying. It doesn't matter what you do with the tune now, the factory ECU will slowly correct for any tune you have on it until it's negated completely. If you can't afford to change tuning solutions now, you sure as hell can't afford to replace the engine tomorrow. Park the car until you can replace the EManage. You are literally just wasting money or time trying to tune the EManage.


But yes, go back to a recirc, you are going to need that regardless of tuning solution unless you convert to MAP based tuning instead of MAF based, which I believe requires a standalone ECU replacement.

 

I thank you for your input. I understand the EMangle (note how I spelled it in my first post ) is a pretty poor engine solution. I know over time the factory ECU corrects around the modifications the piggyback attempts to throw in there. I have 0% intention of tuning the Emangle in any way, shape, or form. I definitely plan to replace the EMS setup in the foreseeable future (probably this fall). However, having just shelled out the money to pay for a rebuild and owing money on income taxes this year, I simply can't do it right this second. This car is a weekend fun car, not a DD. However, I do plan on taking it to DGRR on the current EMS setup.

Now to the second paragraph, thank you for that. That is what I was asking about and your response confirmed my beliefs.

Again thank you all for your responses.

 

Ok. As long as you understand the problems with it. We don't want you losing an engine due to a misunderstanding

 

I really do appreciate you all looking out for me. I may break down and buy the MazdaManiac AP and tuning package before then just as insurance.

 

I didn't realize Mazdaedit was so cheap! I could have sworn I saw a larger sticker price. I do like the idea of Map based tuning the Adaptronics brings to the table. I really should read up on the long term usage of that particular tuning solution. I don't recall anyone running into the same problems experienced by Emanage users...

 

MazdaEdit is software that you install on a PC and connect to the ECU via an OBD2 USB cable. Part of the AP cost is buying the hardware as well.

EManage gets more exposure since it comes with the GReddy kit, and Adaptronic hasn't had much use. Plus they have a stand-alone ECUs that will work, so it clouds the information about the piggy back version.

 

Yeah I noticed the Mazdaedit is very competitively priced, but I con't plan on doing the initial tune myself. That is where MM's AP option becomes competitively priced.

 

I have not attempted to tune the emangle so i'm not really familiar with it . However I did have a piggyback (powermod form aussie) that I believe worked the same way . I found it would hold a tune pretty well if you did certain things .
Key to making it work is to adjust fueling in areas below 0psi such that the ECU will not build a trim to counteract it . It can be a bit hit and miss but you can do it .
Once you have done that you should just limit your boost to below 6psi and you should be ok .
Other than that , I agree with what the others have said ....... Mazdaedit is my weapon of choice these days .

 

The car is running on wastegate and I have no intent to change that

 

wastegate pressure or not....if your ecu tries to hit 14.7 AFR under boost bad things can happen. The greddy kit is pretty much insta-spool. Hopefully, you will keep an eye on it. Good luck and have fun with her!

 

^My response was more so to Brettus' comment, but yes you are correct. This isn't my 1st turbo rotary, but it is my 1st RX8. Considering how cheap the AP is with the MM tuning, I may just do that and call it a day since I don't plan on chasing big power with this car.

 

So on the oil question, any input?

 

I have used 5w-40 synthetic and have a lot of turbo miles on the car . Seems a good choice .

 

Thanks Brettus

 

Another related question. I know a lot of folks are saying for best performance, you should ditch the Greddy MAF housing and go with something like a hacked-up AEM unit. However, is this actually required to get a decent tune with the AP or is it more a matter of getting the maximum performance out of the system. Again I am not hunting for big power, but rather a smooth and dependable setup.

 

I have tuned a few with the Greddy housing and I can tell you that it can be tuned ok but intake air temps go through the roof in many situations . I wouldn't want that on my turbo setup ... low boost or not .

 

Another possible tuning option is to snag a used AP and try to get it tuned by Steve Kan in April.

 

Kane can hook you up too...


.

 

you're also overlooking another great tuner who is responding in this thread....

 

Who Brettus? I thought he was in New Zealand.

 

You don't have to be local to tune a car.