apex1

Yes I have searched, found some info. Could use more. It seems as of late most people dive into detailed tuning rather than just a a PnP. I am looking for the latter. And whatever is most cost effective. I have tuned older standalones before (FAST XFI) so I have some experience. I don't really want to take on the learning curve nor have interest in tuning to the bleeding edge of performance. My car will be street/track day mild bolt on car with reliability and consistency in mind. I will be focusing more on chassis tuning. Goals for the tune are pretty basic:

Cooling fans on sooner
OMP output increased
Turn off monitor for o2

Power and drivability increase without sacrificing reliability.

Initially I though the RB flash was for me. My thought was to maybe pickup a used ECU and have them flash that with a race tune to eliminate the immobilizer. Not much recent feedback on that route as of late. I have also seen Versatuner has canned tunes and a user friendly interface. Like I said, I want something pretty close to PnP.

Thoughts on proven tune files and platforms?

Thanks,

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

This is a tough one to be honest. The RB flash was intended as you know to be a one size fits all type of approach where you could just set it and forget it.
Not many people went that route, it seemed easier to do a flash tune by someone instead.

Speaking of that, Mazda Edit or Versa Tuner are probably some of the more readily used programs out there right now, I'm just not sure who out there is doing tunes for them.
@Kane @Brettus , any suggestions?

Loki

iTrader: (1)

If *all* you want are the 3 things listed, they're reasonably DIYable with MazdaEdit. The settings don't depend on the car you can find them on this forum.

If you want an actual tune beyond that then. yeah.. probably need someone who knows what they're doing. I wouldn't pay for an off the shelf generic tune, it doesn't give you anything useful.

Kane

iTrader: (1)

Agree, those three settings are pretty universal, a Mazdaedit and some sleuthing should be good.

wcs

iTrader: (2)

VersaTuner offers canned tunes. I’ve never tried any of them but there is a several that claim they are for use with for example- The RB Revi or the AEM intake and cat back exhaust, D585 dwell setting etc.

I think if you go to the website they provide a detailed description.
And you can get these with Versatuner light you don’t need the full meal deal.
That said with the light version you can’t make any custom changes.
Personally I’m sceptical other than knowing the changes for the D585 dwell and fan temp changes.

But if you can’t find the details on their website I will post the descriptions here for you.

apex1

I noticed the vt canned tunes and some of the info provided. What I have not seen is any reviews from users. I thought about the light version but without some feedback on the tunes, I would be hesitant.

That is what is kind of leading me back to the rb flash. Yeah it’s old school, I can’t find any info recently. However from posts 10 years ago or so, I found a few positive reviews. Rb seems to have or had some knowledge of rotaries.

As far as the goals, yes fans/omp/o2 are the primary targets. However the stock tune seems universally rich on the top end. If there are easy gains there, I don’t want to pay for a tune and leave that on the table.

Not it sure on cost of Mazda edit but the it’s about 300 for the flash. It looks like a used ecu is about 100 if I go that route.

Legal_Legend

I have recently purchased the full version of VT and find the OTS tunes useful as a starting point.

Being able to make minor changes to idle points, Exit Loads, fan temps and dwell has provide a tiny positive change. The best part is I now can blame myself for blowing the engine for my tuning mistakes instead of blaming the "bad designed rotary engine".

apex1

Don’t worry, the engine will surely blow up know matter what you do.

so the ots tunes made a difference, or just the custom changes you made?

apex1

So I finally made it through this thread.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-eng...ourney-268978/

I certainly appreciate the transparency with the process of building a tune for the RX8. Does anyone have experience with the stage 1 tune? Also where are the coolant fan settings on these tunes and can the cat monitor be turned off on the lite version?

Thanks,

wcs

iTrader: (2)

Stage 1 fan temps are 97 and 101
Settings are located under fan control

and it’s right here in the description about VT Lite
Yes you can turn off the Catalytic efficiency monitor

apex1

About to pull the trigger on one of these options. I like the rb flash idea, but I don’t want to send off the ecu and I also don’t want to relinquish control. So I will go with a tuning option. I will just have to learn (again) to do some basic tuning. However, having a starting point would be nice. I have done some wot pulls and data logged and found the a/f to as low as 11:1 in the 6-9k range. I would like to be able to clean up that area. The rest is pretty much fans and oil injectors as stated above.

from what I can tell this has led me to mazdaedit vs versatune.

1) Do the provided ots tunes from vt provide value compared to mazdaedit?
2) Which platform is more user friendly to adopt and use?

thanks for the continued feedback

DocWalt

I like Versatuner on my S2, I used Mazdaedit on my ND Miata and it's uglier but generally no harder to work with.

The canned tunes from Versatuner surely help a bit as they lean it out a good amount from stock. Stock is *super* rich at WOT, pegging the AFR sensor at full rich at WOT, haha

Witi

I am currently working with MazdaEdit and i can say i really like it
yes its kinda ugly but it has allmost everthing you want to tune your 8
currently i dont have enough experience and run in a lot of dead ends but there are many good threads on Mazdaedit that help you out

Legal_Legend

I have been using the full version of VT for 6 months now and find it to be effective for my needs. Just like having different alignments, I have different tunes based on the planned driving style for the day. Also, the flexibility to live view data, data log and re-flash in a few seconds is very useful.

apex1

Update on this. I am running a HFC so there have been no codes. Also my understanding is that turning those off does not eliminate the monitor fault, so it wont clear emissions. Bottom line, less concerned about removing the DTCs.

The fan temp control is probably the most important tuning goal for me at this point.

The canned tunes come with the VT lite version which is great. However after speaking to VT, none of those tunes change the fan on/off temps from stock. The only way to change those is with the full version. So for $400, I can change the fan temps and have the ability to tune as needed.

Meat Head

Apex1 - that’s where I’m at now. I bought the light VersaTune awhile back only to realize the limitations this spring whilst logging data for MAF calibration. It will be cheaper to go all in now for the full version than to purchase remote fan control which I’d like for summertime heat control. With the way our summer hasn’t arrived (still raining and cool) I may get to wait for the Christmas sale discount.

apex1

Did you try any of the provided tunes?

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

the only thing proven is that some people have an even harder time reading than hearing.
.

Meat Head

I did load a canned tune which resembles how my car is now. Mostly did it so I could mask the CEL’s for missing catalytic converter and dead air pump (deleting it soon) and learn the procedure. There was a very minimal increase in oil consumption and nothing else to note as expected (I document fuel and oil consumption). My aim with this is to learn more of how the car operates and cautiously tweak things. After reading other threads including several on premixing I’m not concerned about the increased OMP rate with the canned tunes - 240 ml of Interceptor every tank for a while now.

apex1

@Meat Head Appreciate the feedback. Did you notice an A/F changes? Or drivability changes?

Meat Head

Apex1 - I have no data logged prior to loading the tune. I want to think there was improvement in drivability but, have nothing to back it up. Butt dyno wants to say yes, my sensitive feelings don’t want me exposed to the flame job to follow in saying yes. Fuel economy did improve slightly.