I had looked at the mazsport mod. My feeling was that it was that the additional $150.00 to acheive the same cooling results and slightly improve the performance of the car was worthwhile. The accessport is appealing though as I would not have to worry as much about the dealer over writing the flash, and it offers greater flexibility / future proofing. I'd be looking to do a very very conservative tune, along the lines of the RB street flash. Too bad I can't just pay the RB guys for a map for the AP!

 

x 2. plus the software will likely offer some cools stuff like tire dia. and idle rpm. just a guess.

btw, crh. pm.

beers

 

As long as someone else figures out some nice safe profiles for it, I'm going to hold out a bit for the Access Port. I was getting ready to pull my pcm out on monday to send it to RB. Hopefully it will allow fan turn on adjustments etc as my number 1 interest is in cooling on hot summer track days.

 

the templates i saw were an easy one and a tuner one... it was not cobb, but my bet is they are going to be working the same way..

beers

 

From cobbforums.com, Trey:

I can't commit to hard power gains yet... particularly since we own what people affectionately refer to as a "heart breaker" dyno. Gains are slightly better than what I anticipated, and we still have a good deal of time to continue refinement.

Not too long after we release the AccessPORT for the RX-8 we hope to have the professional and street Tuning software available. That way you can have the car custom tuned to your particular setup, extracting maximum gains. Our mapping will work very well on most cars, but in order to do so we have to consider the averages. Not all cars are the same so if we tune for absolute maximum power on one car, those settings will likely not be ideal for another.

As for release time, I've been discussing it quite a bit with our engineering staff and everyone is confident and willing to do whatever it takes for a summer release. For those that are software or electrical engineers, that time frame came from the developers...not their boss (me). So, that means it should be accurate, right?

Thanks for the patience, everyone!
Trey @ COBB

 

Sounds promising!

 

Money is stashed away for this one

 

Trey is soon going to be our new hero (hopefully). Let's dream he becomes an official vendor and immediately starts a beta tester group, then establishes a group buy with ... oh say 10-20,000 RX-8 owners max signup... it should be a blockbuster!

 

the beta testers are already out there ...

 

As a past owner and user of the Cobb AP, I can tell you that its highly unlikely that Cobb will release the AP with baseline performance maps that are "unsafe". Anytime tuners provide base shelf maps with an ECU map tool, they are always pretty conservative. I spoke with Cobb last month and asked them if they were going to have a 91 and 93 octane map for the NA RX8 cars as a baseline, and the guy I spoke with said "yes, that was the intent". These safe base maps are really no different than what RB is offering in the regular and race flash scenarios as there are only a few ways to get additional power out of the NA RX8. Obviously there may be small differences, but the real difference will be that you can have access to a couple of base maps and your stock map, and change the maps at your hearts desire. It also looks like based on Treys comments on the Cobb forum, that the AP for the RX8 will follow suit with the Suby's, and include the street tuner and Protuner upgrade options for those that want more hp/tq by data logging or dyno tuning. As far as having to take your car to a dyno to use the AP though, thats only if the regular base maps don't whet your performance appetite, and/or you are mixing in Nitrous or FI.

Not to trivialize the value of the AP because I think they are excellent, but I think the real value in the AP over the RB flash is the flexibility to load a variety of base/maps and also provide the flexibility to custom tune against any kind of mesh of components you might have. Its also nice to know that if a Mazda tech overwrites your AP map, you can simply re-load it again as opposed to removing the ECU and sending it back in to get it reflashed again at a cost for the re-flash and shipping, not to mention down-time with your car.

 

The guy I spoke with confirmed that they would have a 91/93 octane type base map scenario, but we won't know for sure until its actually something we can buy. It does sound pretty close though. As far as the base shelf maps, I bet they will be for NA cars with basic bolt-ons like exhaust, intake, race cat/midpipe taken into consideration. As far as nitrous goes I am willing to bet that Cobb will say you need the streettuner/protuner set-up and custom dyno tuning based on your needs. There are so many variables that in no way could I imagine Cobb standing -up and assuming liability for anything but conservative base maps for off the shelf maps.

My Cobb AP was the past version and you basically plugged it in and downloaded the base map and then you had to disconnect it. There was a very specific procedure you had to go through to ensure that the programming was not interuppted and your ECU somehow corrupted. Accidently knocking the cable loose during programming was not a good idea...!Once you had the base map in place (which took a longer time to load) you could go back in and load a "real time" map. For instance I was running a Stage 2 93 octane map, and then when I traveled into New Mexico where all I had was 91 octane, I would run a Stage 2 91 octane map to avoid detonation issues. The other thing was the ability to read and clear CEL's. I think the new AP is going to be much more sophisticated so your guess is as good as mine on whether or not it can be left connected or not.

As far as using the emanage to do different things from an aux input aspect that the AP cannot, I would bet that someone somewhere is doing something similar with a piggyback on top of an AP in some kind of wild Subaru application. I would visit the trenches over at Nasioc and ask if anyone is running a more complex ecu management overlay, and I bet you will get some feedback. I imagine from an RX8 perspective though, that you will once again be pioneering your way through it, and will help set the standard for the rest of us.

JR

 

If anyone can figure it out Charles I would bet you would be one of those guys! The way I look at it, I am certain that what you want to do can be achieved with enough R&D, patience, and possibly your pocketbook. Getting predictable consistent results that work in a variety of environmental conditions(temps, fuel octane and quality, altitude) as well as considerations for the dynamic nature of air/fuel/timing/NOS factor could represent a challenge. Again, my hats off to you for not being afraid to explore the limits.

 

If I can set my fan turn on temp, or if the included maps have the fans kick on at a lower temp, I'm sold on it.

 

I have a question for all you with experience in tuning and so forth. If the RB flash is safe, reliable and adds some additional pony's why didn't Mazda do this from the beginning? Same thing goes with the Accesport, why can't Mazda who knows the ECU inside and out come out with a similar product for the aftermarket. If the base maps are indeed that safe to run why didn't Mazda think of using those maps? I know nothing about tuning or what goes along with it, so I'm just confused why Mazda doesn't offer this

 

Emissions, variability between engines, and warranty/reliability concerns...me thinks...

 

My guess is that Cobb and RB is leaning out the fuel, resulting in higher cat temps. With the higher cat temps, the Cat will not last 150,000 miles (IN THEORY) which US emission laws require. The JDM 8's have this 'lost' power....

 

ARGH!!!!

How long is this rumor going continue to be spread?

The ADVERTISED power is 250ps... the original US 247bhp. Japan did NOT luck out and keep a different tune than the US which gives them this "lost" power over the ADVERISED 238bhp in the US. Chassis dynos by Knight Sports, Blitz, RE Amemiya, RMagic, etc. have ALL showed similar numbers to what USDM spec cars are putting out.

There is no magical JDM power tune, Virginia.

 

That CAT point makes lots of sense.

 

The JDM models do have a little more HP, but not much more... Only around 10 HP more by default from Mazda... The difference seems to be about emission laws... The RX-8 Auto appears to benefit the most as it is/been 210 HP (including 4AT) /212 PS/215 PS (6AT) . The US model was 197 HP, until the 6AT came out. The JDM RX-8 MT kept advertising 250 PS (245 HP)

However, it is true that there is no magical JDM tune. Simply e-mail Re-Amemiya, R-Magic, or Knight Sports to confirm. If you pay them around $1,000 dollars, they may find 15 HP more (as well as fans at lower temp, rev/speed cut) in an ECU flash. Better to get the Int-X (which would be $1,500 dollars) or wait for the Cobb AccessPort to find that (and keep tweaking as your heart desires).

Or... just also go FI... to get the power you want. That is what Mazda should have done. They should have came out with a Mazdaspeed supercharger that gave 75 HP or more. Then there would have been a lot less smack talking. Luckily, Pro-tuners have come out with some decent SC and Turbo kits.... But, Mazda should have done the same 2 to 3 years ago.

 

Any updates on the AP release date?

 

no

 

Thank you for the correction!

 

they don't have any more HP, they use a different rating system is all, more inaccurate BS from sosonic ...

 

Toyota uses the GATP (gimpy anemic three-legged pony) HP correction system. Its not as widely used as SAE.

 

JIS system of measurement=DMS (Don't mean Sh%T)