<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Revolutions Performance @ Mar 7 2008, 05:14 PM) [url=index.php?act=findpost&pid=30737]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/url]</div>
We don't tune emanage because it is not a reliable and consistant platform. The tune will change for no reason and it does not compensate for temperature and altitude changes. We do not feel that we can give someone a safe tune with we can stand behind when the system is not consistant. With that in mind we pretty much stay away from most piggyback ecus such as Utec, Unichip, Emanage, Perfect Power and the like. I've tuned them all before and there is nothing better than flashing the factory ecu or getting a full standalone for reliability, repeatability, and maximum power. In my opinion it is unwise to run Forced Induction on a vehicle that does not having a solution for tuning ignition timing. There are two major parts to tuning any engine- Fuel and Spark. To leave timing unchanged and too far advanced is asking for trouble. That being said- you can rent the dyno for as long as you like- It's $100/hr.[/b]
That makes sense. Although I'm with you, in preferring flash based tuning (Accessport, ECUtek, Open Source ect), I've owned and worked on other people's cars running UTEC's in the past, and my former Mazdaspeed 6 that I ran a simple DTEC on, that have been pretty damn consistent. With my Speed6, I used to frequent a certain local dyno, and went months apart between dyno pulls after tuning, only to see my AFR's were identical. I've seen similar results from a couple WRX's running UTEC's, where their AFR's stayed consistent over long periods of time. Not to say that's true for every car, I know RX-8's have picky ECU's that like to revert back to stock tunes over the course of time, but I have seen otherwise.
With that said, I completely understand where you're coming from. I guess I've been spoiled, I've mostly been around factory turbo'd cars here lately, with pretty advanced timing multipliers, so never really had to touch ignition timing too much, as car's like the Mazdaspeed 3/6 are incredibly adept at keeping timing advanced, and retarding it in the case of knock, only to re-advance timing after sensing no knock over the course of a few driving cycles. I completely understand what you mean about keeping timing too far advanced on a NA vehicle that's been turbocharged, I only assumed the RX-8s finicky ECU would pull timing accordingly in the event of it sensing knock. For overall safety, I agree it's safer to pull timing beforehand, and advance slowly while monitoring a knock sensor. Most of the guys I used to associate with were fairly old-school, they mostly just tuned to the point of knock, then pulled 2 degrees of timing.
Your reasoning is sound, and again I understand completely now. The fact you guys stand behind your tunes to that extent is admirable, and respectable. From the nightmare stories I've heard about RX-8's reverting to stock tunes after long tuning sessions, I probably wouldn't want to touch a turbo'd RX-8 with a piggyback either. Or at least not without giving a very solemn disclaimer lol. Thank you for taking the time to post, with a completely understandable explanation. It's truly appreciated.
That being said, to Ghost, eventually, you should opt for a more permanent solution of tuning. I haven't looked into the aftermarket for the RX-8, but I'm pretty sure there's no open source or licensed tuning software available at the time, and standalones aren't usually cheap, and can be difficult to install in some cases... what I would consider, for simplicity sake, is in the future picking up an Accessport since Cobb just released them. In typical Cobb fashion, I'm sure that in the coming months, they should be releasing Pro/Street tuner software, which would allow you to properly tune the car for your specific application... just my opinion, but if it was my car, that's probably the route I would take, unless you can get an incredibly good deal on a good standalone, but even then, just for the sake of simplicity, I would rather flash the stock ECU. Something to keep in mind.
