Anyone heard of this product from http://www.accessecu.com ?
It's not out yet for us but our Subie WRX friends can get it. I contact the company on the 8's release, I'll let you know what they say.

To quote an email:
Which brings me to fuel economy, you would be able to program a Fuel Map with good economy and switch between that and whatever else. Solves a lot of problems I think.

 

It's a rather new product, even for the WRX, but Cobb has been working and tuning Subarus for some time and offer one of the best ECU reflashes on the market. Another one to keep an eye on that was first developed for the WRX is the Utec from TurboXS. They have never done any services for Mazda cars, but if there is enough interest from you guys you never know.

http://www.turboxs.com/UTEC.htm

 

I hear ya Ike
- as a former owner of a WRX the UTEC was a great piggy back system and performed well, especially with the ability to toggle between maps. Very trick. I'd be all over it IF they made one for the RX8 though I'm not holding my breath. I talked to them recently about it and they said that unless it comes from the factory with a turbo they probably wont touch it. Too bad...

 

This thing is awesome. You can change maps on the fly! Go from stock to econ mode to race mode. No problems!

 

i see the accesPort RX8 stuff is underdevelopment. That would be amazing to have... how well it works though depends on what rotary tuner will step up to the plate like Cobb did and develop a whole mess of quality maps

 

That's the problem with a lot of these type systems, they are best suited for factory turbo cars and will give the best gains for those cars. The other thing is with the RX-8 being a rotary there are probably a lot of tuners that won't want to tackle the project. The fact that it's a first model year, probably has even the tuners that would be willing to tackle the project in a wait and see mode.

One of the great things about owning a WRX is the aftermarket, you guys should see all the fun stuff we have available to us. If only I had more money... then Praxis suspension here I come! Rumor has it they are developing the Praxis system to work with other applications and it would be great if you guys were on that list of cars. The 2004 Cannonball will have 2 Praxis equipped STis one driven by the Firestone brothers (Harvey's great grandsons). Look it up if you don't know what it is, talk about versatility in a street car, combine Praxis with a Utec/AccessECU and the other basic goodies and you have tuner and car enthusiast nirvana.

Ike

 

:D

 

So you may see it by the end of the year :p

 

lol of course, when are any of these guys on time?

 

http://www.cobbforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31354

 

I guess the cats out of the bag... there goes all my secret fun

 

It wasn't that much of a secret. I would suggest everyone get a login to that site and start posting up. Show your support for the development of this product.

 

... i'd like to add something to that...

showing support and interest = good
turning the thread into another bitch session like most threads here = bad

 

Just showed my support and offered to be a tester in the Chicago region if they needed me...

 

We've had some discussions about this here before:

http://www.google.com/search?q=site%...com+cobb+flash

I'm really looking forward to seeing how well it works. Price is good too.

 

Can you bold this statement and put it in red? Some people still won't get it.

 

bump to show support

FWIW I have a good feeling about this product.

 

Nice, this makes me want to get a RX-8 even more. I have a Accessport for my g/fs 04 WRX, very easy to use. The car drives like stock, we are running stage 2 (full exhaust for those that don't know). Quicker boost response, more power. Hell, the car even starts up better when its cold than it used to.

I consider it a better unit than the UTEC because it has much better control over the engine. The UTEC does offer instant map switching and launch control, but those aren't features I needed. Also the UTEC has poor support for Automatic WRXs which would limit future upgrades.

Flashing Stage 1 made the car feel alot different, IMO it should have come from the factory that way. Seeing this option come available for the RX-8 will really give a boost to the aftermarket, it'll be interesting to see what starts happening after it is released.

 

The website does not seem to have any information on the development of this for the RX-8 or prices. This would be huge for RX-8 users, if a product came out.

 

He's already said the price will be in line with the current product available.

And it's still being developed. You'll have to read his forum for details. The main website is for stuff for sale, not crap he can't yet sell.

 

I emailed Trey at Cobb to see how far they where with this and about tuners in Florida.

I did not ask a price cause it is still being developed!


He said quote,

Ken,

The RX-8 flash is coming along very well, but we also have some hardware
and other issues to complete before it can be released. We have the
ability though, so we're excited to get some of the other necessary
tasks done in order to get it to market.

It would be a bit premature to commit to any specific power gains but
currently we're seeing reputable gains above 5000 RPM on an otherwise
stock 2005 RX-8 6MT. We will soon begin tuning for more common
modifications so we have a good selection of flash maps available for
different mod. levels.

For Florida, we should have a few tuners available who can tune with the
software. I don't have any lined up yet because we don't have a product
yet to sell but there has been a lot of interest considering the strong
rotary interest in Florida.

Keep in touch,
Trey @ COBB

 

From the STi it sells for $645, and then $195 for the StreetTUNER software.

I have never done any tuning, but that software looks pimp!

This is definately the product I want. I just dont seen any need to buy electronics, to override my perfectly capable, and probably already expensive, stock ECU.

This is what it can already do for the STi. Obviously some things dont apply, since we dont have VVT (or valves), and no stock boost control. But I would expect to be able to control anything the ECU already does:

Fuel control
Direct control of fuel programming within ECU for precise control.

Closed Loop Fuel control
Control exactly when Closed Loop Fueling is active according to RPM, TPS, Boost, Vehicle speed and more.

Ignition Advance control
Direct control of Ignition Timing (spark advance). Includes additional "auto-tuning" Timing Advance capability that increases Ignition Timing according to detected knock.

Closed Loop Boost Control
Tune for the factory or larger aftermarket turbochargers. Advanced boost control according to RPM and TPS. Uses actual boost values (in psi/bar) as targets. Gain adjustments provided to control spool up speed and stability. Additional adjustments can be made to compensate for Air Temperature and Barometric pressure which allow you to prevent boost spiking on cold days or unstable boost at higher altitudes.

Intake Camshaft VVT Control
Control the Intake Camshaft Timing advance as part of the Variable Valve Timing system. Modify to decrease turbo spool-up time, particular when using larger turbochargers.

Fuel Injector Control
Tune for larger injectors using a single injector size value. Additional compensations for injector's latency (dead time) and throttle pump (tip-in enrichment) can also be fully controlled.

Intake Calibration
Tune for aftermarket intakes and bigger MAF housings that are designed for higher airflow. Complete adjustment can be made to re-calibrate the ECU to understand the increased flow.

Adjustable Rev Limits
Engine RPM rev limit can be adjusted to any value between 0 and 10,000 RPM. Adjustment may also be made to control how hard/soft the limiter acts.

Boost Limit Control
Protect the engine from overboosting. Multiple boost values can be set, according to altitude, to briefly cut power to the engine in the event boost exceeds safe values.

Turn on/off DTC (Check Engine Lights)
Individually select DTC (Check Engine Light codes) you wish to activate/deactivate. Ideal when modifying the exhaust system, etc. Turn off only the DTCs you no longer want to see while maintaining full functionality of the trouble codes you'd want to see (ie: when a REAL problem exists).



Other Software Features
The StreetTUNER allows users the ability to Save and SHARE their files with other StreetTUNER users. Files can be saved in both StreetTUNER BASE MAP and REAL TIME formats. Various Staged and convenience Base Maps are also provided.

To assist in the task of tuning, the StreetTUNER software features LIVE TRACING mode, where the area of the table currently being accessed by the ECU will be highlighted for quick and easy adjustments.

In addition, a powerful Data Logging feature is built in that allows high-speed logging of engine parameters and knock activity. In addition, external Air/Fuel Ratio monitors such as the Innovate! LM-1, LC-1 and the Zeitronic ZT-2 are supported and can be logged from within StreetTUNER. An integrated Log Viewer allows you to instantly view your log files from within StreetTUNER.

Package includes StreetTUNER CD-ROM that includes software and map files, a USB security HASP key, and a printed User's Guide. An AccessPORT is REQUIRED to use software.

If your computer does not have a USB port, please inform us at the time you place your order. A Pass-thru Parallel port HASP key may be substituted at no additional cost when placing your order.

 

Damn sweet. If it was already out, I would have already bought it. Wish I had this before I got my ECU flashed. But, will buy it anyway, when it does come out.

 

well I'm bummed. Was going to drop my car at Cobb for their use on the way back from the SCCA championships, but my deal with Racing Beat to have early access to their '05 flash created a conflict of interest so I cancelled out

 

Ahh, you sabatoged us!!!