The APEX RX8 Programmer is a revolutionary new product for the RX8
enthusiast. Using the RX8 Programmer you can:
a. Flash a 2004-2007 RX8 with a user generated custom tune
b. Flash a 2004-2007 RX8 with an encrypted commercial tune (more on this
later)
c. Read the contents of any unprotected RX8 ECU load and save as bin file
d. Read and save your factory stock ECU load for use as emergency restore
or just to take the vehicle back to stock condition
e. Run the RX8 Enhanced software package, included, read and clear ABS and
Airbag codes, read TPS, real time misfire monitor and more.
f. Run our OBD-II software for general trouble shooting and data logging.
The APEX RX8 Programmer does not include tuning and mapping
tools, nor do we have a "tuned" flash file at this time. See
more on this below. Our focus will be
building programming tools for the RX8 community with enough flexibility to
serve as a standard platform for a myriad of tuners and folks who would rather reflash their RX8 themselves and avoid a trip to the dealer.
We envision the DIY community will share RX8 tuning data
as it's discovered and make available various tunes which can be shared among
the user groups. Professional tuners will be able to create proprietary
tunes which can be encrypted with a free utility we will provide. The
encryption is 256 bit Rijndel code, keyed to a VIN number and will only download
to a specific vehicle. Our ECU Upload (read) software will not be able to
load a file which was generated with our encryption utility to prevent copying
others work. I know there are many who believe all data should be free,
but the professionals invest many hours of development and dyno time and deserve
to profit fairly from their labors. This is why we have a dual development
process, if you prefer to "get your hands dirty" and do it yourself, nothing
will prevent you from it. On the other hand, if you want an off-the-shelf
performance enhancement tune, that route will be available also.
The Details
The Apex Programmer is based on our OBDScan-APEX scan tool.
The code in the APEX chip has been greatly modified for programming applications
but still retains the OBD-II functionality of the scan tool. Indeed, the
programmer will operate with the OBDScan software on most OBD-II vehicles.
The only missing functionality is the GM interface is no longer working, but all
other OBD-II interfaces will work. The APEX Programmer requires the use of
a PC or Laptop with Windows XP or Vista, and it has an USB 2.0 interface to the
computer. A standard OBD-II cable is supplied with the programmer for the
vehicle connection.
The user interface for the RX8 Programmer is shown below.
Functions:
Read File from Disk - Just as implied, this button
reads .bin files from a storage device. The file is stored in
binary format in a RAM buffer.
Write Memory to Disk - Writes the contents of the
RAM buffer to mass storage. Used to save a factory stock load for later
use or read any RX8 load, so long as not protected.
Read ECU to Memory - Reads the entire 512k flash
memory image from the ECU to the RAM buffer.
Write ECU from Memory - Flashes the current RAM
image to the ECU. Also checks the load and corrects checksum function if
files has been modified, required since the ECU will not run a loaded application if the
checksum test fails.
Flash Encrypted File - First decrypts the RAM image,
using the vehicle VIN as a key. If the vehicle VIN does not match the file
will not be decrypted and will not be flashed to the ECU.
The APEX Programmer is available today for $389.00. The price includes the RX8 Enhanced
Software package and OBDScan-APEX scan tool software. This package
includes:
1. APEX RX8 Programmer
2. OBDScan OBD-II/EOBD software
3. RX8 Re-flash/ECU Upload software
4. RX8 Enhanced Data software with ABS/Airbag support
5. OBD-II cable
6. USB cable
If you are only looking for a programmer and don't need the other
functions, then the APEX-Flash is only $239.00. It's limited to flashing a
binary image only, can be used to load stock updates or modified "tunes". This package
includes:
1. APEX RX8 Flash Tool
2. OBDScan OBD-II/EOBD software
3. RX8 Re-flash software
4. OBD-II cable
5. USB cable
Call 281-751-8836 for more information or email
sales@obdscan.net
DIY Tuning the RX8
This is a brief introduction on how to tune a RX8
using our RX8 Programmer. What you read here is what we know to the best
of our ability. We are not tuners and this is a very rudimentary
introduction to tuning. Step one is download the stock ECU load from the
vehicle. This image is the raw data from the ECU memory and is the
application and Operating System code for the ECU. Above the code area you
will find the Constants and Maps, among other things. Take a look at the
figure below
In the hex dump window you see a series of highlighted bytes, 43 7A 00 00, and
in the Inspector window you see "Float 250". This is showing a map
or constant value, in 32 bit floating point format, of 250. The next
series of 4 bytes, 43 FA 00 00, is a value of 500. A value of 00 00 00 00
is a zero value. Notice there are lots of 32 bit floats in the area of
memory. This is part of a table. The 20 values shown are:
250, 500, 0,0, 9, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000, 2400, 2800, 3200, 3600, 4000, 4400,
4800, 5200, 5600, 6000 and 6400. The values 200 and 500 are not RPM based
on the magnitudes (RPM would not normally be lower than 650), the values 800
thru 6400 are most likely RPM values used in a lookup table or map. What is a
Map? Look at the array below. The numbers in red represent RPM
values, the green numbers represent Mass Air Flow and the numbers in the yellow
matrix represent fuel injector pulse width. The longer the injector pulse
the more fuel gets injected into the rotor. To find this table you would look
for ascending RPM values, ascending MAP values and many fuel injector pulse
values, RPM X MAP numbers, in this case 13X9. This is a purely hypothetical MAP
for illustration only.
RPM
| |
800 |
1200 |
1600 |
2000 |
2400 |
2800 |
3200 |
3600 |
4000 |
4400 |
4800 |
5200 |
5600 |
| 100 |
90 |
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19 |
| 90 |
80 |
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17 |
| 80 |
70 |
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15 |
| 79 |
60 |
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13 |
| 68 |
50 |
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11 |
| 60 |
40 |
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9 |
| 52 |
30 |
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6 |
| 45 |
20 |
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4 |
| 40 |
10 |
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3 |
MAF
Going back to the ECU hex dump, the
ascending RPM numbers could be the start of a fuel map, or it could be a
timing map, or possibly a map to control oil injection, at this time we
don't know the definition of that map. To find a Constant, you
need to know what to look for. An RPM limit would be a 32bit float
at 9000 for a standard transmission car or 7500 for a automatic.
You would do a search for "46 0C A0 00" to find all values of 9000.
Pick one and change to 8000 and see if you hit the RPM limit. Not
all values are stored as floats, there are also single byte values of
0-255, unknown if 16 bit integers are used. Once you take a look
at the RX8 MAP area in memory, you will see it's nearly all floats or
byte values.
There is a program called WinOLS which is used by most tuners to help
locate the maps. Go to
http://www.evc.de/en/product/ols/software/ to read more.
More information on tuning maps can be found at
http://www.moto-one.com.au/performance/fuelinjection.html
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