Just ordered my Versatune today

[Alpha Wolf]

Well this will be a new experience.

I am an older dude and all my racing and tuning was old school where we changed jets, powervalves, needles and hangers in carbs and changed weights and springs along with timing on old distributors. Tuning without getting under the hood will be a new experience.

Well except for the custom cat back exhaust, my CX7 is currently stock as I live in California and I had to get my car smogged.

I am thinking about re-installing everything except maybe my CPE Cold Air Intake during the winter season for my initial tuning attempts. Will be taking a long trip to Disneyland next month and wife hates the sucking noise . That includes an Extreme Turbo Systems 3" TMIC and a Forge BPV (Gen 1 Ping!).

I am frustrated with the level of nannyware this car has. Not trying to make this a race car by any means. Just want it to go when I need it to go.

Any thoughts or help will be appreciated.

[Steve @ VersaTune]

Welcome aboard!

You'll have a lot of fun tuning from the comfort of your keyboard. You'll use a lot less abrasive hand cleaner

The biggest downer with the CX-7s is the small turbo. It spools super fast, but the party's over all too soon. A MS3 swap or BNR upgrade will make a huge difference, as you've already done the external airflow upgrades. I doubt they'd ever notice a MS3 K04 on there for the smog check. I'm not sure how obvious a BNR would be on a CX-7.

[mituc]

We has a MSF fellow in Germany who had a BNR S3 and factory cats (on a MS3). As far as I remember he was pushing about 330 g/s of air in 60-70F weather, so that's a huge step for a CX7 with automatic transmission which has that small K04 pushing only 240bhp at like 5000rpm and making 350Nm of torque as low as 2500rpm. This is diesel torque curve!!

So with a BNR S3 and a stockish intake you can get a lot more horsepower. The stock K04 on a 244bhp CX7 is pushing about 190g/s of air. With a MS3/MS6 K04 you will be able to push 240-250 safely. With a BNR S3 you can probably push at least 300 with the Cp-E SRI and a good tune from an e-tuner (you will also need fuel pump internals if you get the larger BNR S3 turbo).
Also keep in mind that tuning these engines properly makes them run a lot safer and better than with the factory setup/tune.

So if you're in for more, here is how you can get a lot more with hardly visible mods. Keep the stock TMIC plastic shroud over your aftermarket TMIC and nothing, not even the upgraded turbo will not be visible without inspecting it in detail.

Good luck!

[Alpha Wolf]

Thanks. I have thought of the K04 upgrade. As a "Stock Turbo" it may get by. Not sure if I need it yet. But you never know. The bug may bite and I may upgrade. I understand the bigger turbos require new fuel pump internals first.

Just would like not to be left by the wife in her Turbo Baja.... LOL

Are there any safe maps for the 91 octane gas I have to deal wither in Commie Fornia...?

Aside from the lack of a manual transmission (I been driving sticks since 1974) the nannyware crap is what gets me about this car the most. Any help you can offer is appreciated.

Is there a limit on the number of re-flashes you can do? I have been told there is.

Thanks again.

[mituc]

There is no limit of reflashes. The only weak piece in this puzzle is the EPROM memory where the ECU software is written.
We've had a member that flashed his ECU about 430 times using versatuner. I flashed it myself about 80 times but that's 5 times less than what that sweedish guy did I'm not encouraging to reflash the ECU for no reason, my only point is that we never saw any errors or problems from reflashing the ECU repeatedly.

And yes, there is a safe 91 octane map you can use off the shelf and still get sensibly more power from your car.

[Steve @ VersaTune]

I have flashed my MS6 over 1000 times.

[YuraL]

Steve, where can I read about your MS6?

[Steve @ VersaTune]

Here is an old post: Sample log from my car

It has a GTX3076R and 3.5 BAR MAP now. It was running well over 3.0 load. Unfortunately, it has a fried clutch, cracked exhaust runner in the cylinder head, and a burnt/rusted through manifold. It's been sitting for a while as I have not had time to tear it apart. I may actually start on it this weekend. I'll post pics of the clutch carnage.

[Alpha Wolf]

Well I received my Cable and I downloaded my Versatune software to my lap top today. All that went fine.

Next I went to download Versatune to my car and I encountered a problem. It started by first checking my cars status which seemed fine. However, it then bombed with an error (L something) stating it was an unsupported engine type. I thought maybe I typo'd my VIN number or something, but it is correct.

Any thoughts as to why I am getting this error. I had to unplug and come inside to right this. Should I try again and do you need a screen capture to see the error code?

Any help you can give me would be appreciated.

Note that aside from my exhaust, I have reverted it to stock to start off my tuning.

Darryl.

[Alpha Wolf]

You'll have a lot of fun tuning from the comfort of your keyboard. You'll use a lot less abrasive hand cleaner

Yes that change alone is VERY appealing to me....

The biggest downer with the CX-7s is the small turbo. It spools super fast, but the party's over all too soon. A MS3 swap or BNR upgrade will make a huge difference, as you've already done the external airflow upgrades. I doubt they'd ever notice a MS3 K04 on there for the smog check. I'm not sure how obvious a BNR would be on a CX-7.

They may notice the BNR but a Mazda MS3 swap should get by. It is on my list of ways of improvements.

Wish I could find a Euro CX7 with a good Tranny and all the parts to make this a manual though... But the cost I am sure would be prohibitive and it may be smog illegal here in Commie Fornia....