COBB Tuning Blog

Al from Dyno Flash recently posted dyno results on NASIOC for their ICS / Dyno Flash ’08 STI Project car. They were using the AccessPORT for engine management, with custom tuning done by Al using our AccessTUNER software. Just to show what’s possible now days with proper control of the stock ECU.

Great job to Al and co… Same to the rest of the amazing tuners we work with that are constantly pushing the envelope on these cars! Not to mention helping us make our solutions better for everyone.

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After much anticipation, the AccessPORT has been released for the Mazda RX-8.  If there is one thing the RX-8 needs, its a little more umph.  The AccessPORT helps in that department, along with a host of other features such as fuel economy monitors, gauges to monitor your engine (such as coolant temp since the stock gauge doesn’t move until its too late), performance tests (0-60 mph, 1/4 mile) and more.

In addition to our tuning, our AccessTUNER software suite for the RX-8 is now in the hands of capable and talented tuners around the country so that they can help create custom tuning maps for use on the AccessPORT to cover anything from turbocharged and supercharged RX-8s to wild NA setups.  Hopefully now RX-8 tuners and enthusiasts will have one less obstacle in their way when trying to get the most from their cars.

Below is a dyno result from one of our earlier tuning sessions.  We’ll post more finalize results on our website shortly, or you can head over to our forums where some beta testers have posted their own results.

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A few posts ago we showed some pictures of our EVO X and various parts under development. With the engine finally fully broken in now, we were able to do some testing and finalize the design of a few parts including our SF Intake.

Below is a dyno graph of our results from the SF Intake testing. Most of the gains come by way of leaning out the A/F mixture. Even though we maintained the exact same MAF housing size as stock, the change in air flow is causing the car to run leaner. This has been the same as reported by nearly everyone else testing intakes on their EVO X. Fortunately, it’s not unsafe. In fact, the stock EVO X runs so rich (black smoke out the tailpipe rich) that it causes our wide-band lambda sensor to go off the chart.

This part has now moved into production and should be available for purchase this spring!

For raw dyno graphs including boost and A/F ratio, click on the image below:

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As you may know, we’re NOT a fan of running a car at full load on the dyno until we’ve properly broken in the engine. However, we were constantly asked today what it did on our dyno so we succumbed to the pressure and we went ahead and made a few WOT pulls with only a scant 100 km on the clock. <sigh>
OK, here are the results. A few things to keep in mind.

a) We use a Mustang AWD dyno and all power figures are at the WHEELS. Not the highest reading dyno out there, not the lowest.
b) Runs were made in 3rd gear due to the speed limiter coming on in 4th. Partial runs in 4th produced better torque but we hit the speed limiter before peak HP. Remember, this is a JDM model and thus has a 180 kph (~112 mph) speed limit…too be removed soon!
c) We’re at ~4000 ft altitude here in SLC. Thinner air, less power. Even with turbos. Hard to directly compare NA to Turbo but a brand new stock Z06 puts down 405 HP to the wheels on our dyno.
d) A 50/50 mix of 91 octane and 100 octane was used, which isn’t too different in octane rating from the fuel normally used in Japan.

Blue Line is torque (peaked at 416 ft-lbs)
Red Line is HP (peaked at 419 HP)
Green is Boost (peaked at 13.8 psi)
Gray Line is A/F Ratio (dipped down to around 10.5:1)

We made nearly 440 ft-lbs torque in 4th gear since it could load the engine a bit more, and I’d suspect that with some time to properly break in the engine and removing the speed limit, we’ll see maybe ~450 HP (wheels). Not too shabby!

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And the verdict is….

3825.6 lbs.  10 gallons of fuel.  Keep in mind this is a Japanese version, the US models may be a little different (more?).

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Please don’t rice out your GT-R.   (Yes, this is actually in the manual)

Someone needs to turn this into a t-shirt!

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Our R35 GT-R arrived early this morning. We’ll post more info shortly, it’s going on the scales now and then on to the dyno.

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In my opinion, Japanese car manuals have the BEST illustrations. Here are a few memorable ones from the new R35 GT-R manual.

First up, a nice reminder not to let your soda can get behind your brake pedal. A bad situation in ANY vehicle!

If you’re unlucky enough to have your new R35 break down on a train track, use your included flare to alert the train operator. (Who thinks of these horrific scenarios?!?)

Real friends help you push your R35 off the train track and clear of certain disaster. Just remember to put the transmission into Neutral, or else you may loseWeight Exercise your precious R35… oh yeah and some things called friends. ;-)

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As you know with the previous post, we have a new GT-R (R35). Here are the pictures of it being loaded into the shipping container as it headed over here from Japan.

Bye for now… we’ll post more pictures next week of our R35 here at our shop and the parts we’re prototyping for it….including of course the AccessPORT for the impossible to crack ECU!

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[This is a long post, hang in there]

I’ve been harboring a secret from you all for a looong time… I’m a closet GT-R fanatic. Since a child, I’ve always been interested in cars. My pre-teen years were spent pouring over automotive magazines, dreaming of one day owning a Porsche 959 or some other exotic. At some point, I started an interest in Japanese performance cars and still vividly remember a Road and Track article written by Sam Mitani covering some exotic Japanese iron including a green RX-7 (FC3S) with an overheating 20B transplanted under the hood. That article alone solidified my decision to buy a RX-7 Turbo II as soon as I could afford one, which sent me down to the path that led me to where I’m at today. Along the way, I fell in love with the Nissan Skyline GT-R, which I’ve kept as my dirty little secret. Until now.

It first started with a Gunmetal Grey BNR32 in old Option magazines. Shortly after, the BCNR33. Not everyone was a fan of the R33 but I always appreciated its potential. Then while watching some Japanese videos a friend of mine from Hawaii sent, I was introduced to the Hakosuka GT-R in the movie Battle King (a red one was driven by the father of the hero’s female interest/girlfriend). By the time the BNR34 came out (in Bayside Blue!), I was officially obsessed. Now I’m extremely fortunate to own some, including a white Hakosuka and a beloved Gunmetal Grey BNR32 (DOT legal).

As you can imagine, when news of the new GT-R (R35) coming to America broke… I was beyond excited. Finally, we had an opportunity to tune the Japanese supercar and see where we stand against the best of the Japanese tuners. I’ve long been interested in that challenge, and through pure luck, determination, or a mixture of both I think we’re ready.

To get a start as early as possible, I decided to go ahead and order a car direct from Japan. This way I could order the color and trim I wanted, without the risk of getting nailed with markups that now appear to be the norm for US dealerships. This entire process has been nearly a year in the making with a lot of planning, discussion with the US government to make sure we could bring in the car legally for R&D purposes, etc. Just so you know, we’re doing this 100% legit. Our GT-R won’t be used EVER on the street. It is strictly a R&D vehicle that will be driven on the track only. I’m perfectly OK with that as we will be using this to develop new product and test it on the track, which is what we end up doing with most of our demo cars anyway…

Enough babbling, on to the pictures. Here’s our R35 prior to being loaded into the container on route to America. We ordered a White Base model. The fancier seats, wheels and stereo weren’t worth it considering they’ll be replaced anyway.

Up next, loading into the container…

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