new owner with some questions

[mazdafreak7]

hello everyone, Ive been a mazda guy for 8 years now, i own 3 rx7s and i just traded my 05 rx8 for a black 03 msp, i was very sad to get rid of the rx8 because i must say those cars are amazing! but anyways i have a few questions about this msp because i know absolutely nothing about them...the car has some obvious mods done to it, like CAI, inter cooler and i think it has an exhaust but im not sure if its stock or not, the muffler says racing beat which im very familiar with because i buy there parts for my rx7, it has racing beat sway bars too, are the muffler and bars stock? and also i think it may have one of those unichip things..in the glove box there is a harness with 3 switches with L.E.D lights on them. What exactly is this thing? and what do these switches do and how do i work them? i see it has an electronic boost controller on it so im assuming these switches up the boost and what not..the switches are all in the off position right now so id like to know whats gonna happen when i turn them on? And please let me know if there is anything else i should know about this car before i start driving it. In the mean time ill be searching the forum here looking for answers to these questions but id appreciate any help from you guys. thanks

 

[Ricktalife]

well i wouldn't turn on the switches until you find a mechanic lol.

-do not up the boost unless your engine is built
-racing beat sway bars are stock on the msp, however the muffler should say "mazdaspeed"
-unichip is a nice ems for the msp, assuming you're close to somebody that can tune it (if it's not already tuned)

 

[mazdafreak7]

what do you mean? why would i need a mechanic? either way i am a mechanic lol have been for many years, ive built drag racing turbo rx7s and currently im running a 10 sec 2nd gen rx7 that i built from the ground up.. so i defiantly know my s***, im just not familiar with this unichip..from what ive gathered one switch changes between two maps (A-B) the other switch turns the system on and the third switches the boost controller on to bring boost up to 10psi correct? im just not sure what the procedure is for turning the system on and also which position i should have the map switch in? the only piggy back type ecu ive ever messed with is the SAFC II then all my other cars run microtech stand alones so im lost on this unichip thingy lol also how are power gains with this unichip installed?

edit* i just saw the 3 things you posted below your first sentence..from what ive been reading this unichip ups boost to 10psi correct? i assume that is a safe level for a stock engine right?

 

[mazdafreak7]

another thing i was wondering is why this car would still have the stock by pass valve? can i install a BOV? god that sounded like a ricer question haha

 

[Cruzanspeed]

03 msp say "racing beat" on the exhaust tip not "mazdaspeed"... He did say black msp

 

[mikeski]

First, congrats on the MSP! as for the UniChip, the stock tune on a msp is horrible. It runs very rich. the Unichip helps this a lot and gets the car running right. Im not familiar with what the switches will do but from what ive read, the same things that you posted. If you have a racing beat muffler, the msp has a racing beat muffler but I think the 03 still had mazdaspeed written on it. As for the boost goes, the stock msp is set anywhere between 5-6psi. With the correct support mods ie: intercoooler, exhaust, intake, hardpipes, you can boost up to 10psi safely. Anything more than 10psi is playing with fire considering that the stock rods are pencils. Now the bpv, some run a bov on the cold pipe alone, but the MAF is very sensitive so it runs like crap. some relocate the MAF and place it before the BOV so it would be like this: intercooler/MAF/BOV/intake mani. I have mine set up as a dual set up which I found is the best for me. The way to do this is to keep the stock bpv in place and just add a bov to the cold pipe. The main thing to remember is to hook the vac lines to a strong source ie: brake booster. I get no flutter and all pshhhtttttt! gotta love hks! Hope this helps!

 

[mikeski]

03 msp say "racing beat" on the exhaust tip not "mazdaspeed"... He did say black msp

^this

 

[fishdonotbounce]

MAF come AFTER the BOV, not before if you're running a BOV.

 

[mazdafreak7]

wow thanks for the fast responses guys..im not use to that being a rx7club member haha
first off, the muffler does say racing beat and the car is an 03.. also im a little confused, im almost positive that the unichip is not only a fuel map mod but also controls the boost, hence the electronic boost control solenoid mounted near the battery, however i dont see any type of boost controller where i can actually change the boost setting? so my guess is that the unichip has a set boost of 10psi which is non adjustable right? now about the BOV, you guys are saying the MAF sensor is on the cold charge pipe right? I didnt look at it to hard but im not use to the maf being on the charge pipe, im use to it being on the intake, after the filter before the turbo..maybe these msp's are different..i think i read somewhere that you cant run a BOV if you have a unichip?? is that true?

 

[fishdonotbounce]

I don't know anything about the unichip but the BOV does go on the cold side. Here's a pic of mine to give you some reference. My BOV is really close to my MAF but I haven't had any problems with it. Oh and mine isn't an MSP I turbo'd my car using the stock MSP turbo, mani, etc.

 

[Ricktalife]

what do you mean? why would i need a mechanic? either way i am a mechanic lol have been for many years, ive built drag racing turbo rx7s and currently im running a 10 sec 2nd gen rx7 that i built from the ground up.. so i defiantly know my s***, im just not familiar with this unichip..from what ive gathered one switch changes between two maps (A-B) the other switch turns the system on and the third switches the boost controller on to bring boost up to 10psi correct? im just not sure what the procedure is for turning the system on and also which position i should have the map switch in? the only piggy back type ecu ive ever messed with is the SAFC II then all my other cars run microtech stand alones so im lost on this unichip thingy lol also how are power gains with this unichip installed?

edit* i just saw the 3 things you posted below your first sentence..from what ive been reading this unichip ups boost to 10psi correct? i assume that is a safe level for a stock engine right?

didn't mean to insult you i wasn't sure if you worked on the rx7's yourself or not. and as far as boost goes IMO upping the boost at all is pretty dangerous despite what mods you might have. i have heard of engines going boom at stock boost but also hear that you can run 10 psi daily forever with no problems. it's quite a crap shoot with these cars, but having an ems is a great way to keep your engine from joining the zoom zoom boom club.

03 msp say "racing beat" on the exhaust tip not "mazdaspeed"... He did say black msp

oh my bad i thought only the mp3 muffler said "racing beat" on it

 

[mazdafreak7]

oh its all good, i didnt really take it as an insult, i just wasnt sure what you meant, i figured you might have thought i was clueless about cars..anyways, it sounds crazy that the car shouldnt be able to handle 10psi, what is the weak points on these things when running higher boost? is it detonation that kills them or just weak internals? and also am i correct in assuming that the sole purpose of this unichip is to up the boost and refine the fuel/timing maps? and the unichip comes with pre set maps and pre set boost which you can not change?

 

[fishdonotbounce]

The weak point is the internals. Mazda decided to cheap out at the last minute and decided to only keep the forged crank. The rods may as well be made of balsa wood. 10 psi is the widely accepted max. You could bend or throw a rod at 7 or you could run 10 forever. It's a crapshoot like the other guy said. If you don't wanna have to worry about it, just forge the engine.

 

[Ricktalife]

oh its all good, i didnt really take it as an insult, i just wasnt sure what you meant, i figured you might have thought i was clueless about cars..anyways, it sounds crazy that the car shouldnt be able to handle 10psi, what is the weak points on these things when running higher boost? is it detonation that kills them or just weak internals? and also am i correct in assuming that the sole purpose of this unichip is to up the boost and refine the fuel/timing maps? and the unichip comes with pre set maps and pre set boost which you can not change?

the trick with the unichip is that you have to send it out to be tuned, but yes the maps CAN be tuned, and the boost can be changed as well. if they made it so you could only run 10 psi nobody would buy it lol.

 

[mazdafreak7]

ok, i guess what i meant was out of the box it has settings and only way to change them is to send it back to have it reprogrammed correct? i mean this isnt a fully tunable ecu is it? i know it works in conjunction with the stock ecu but im kind of unsure about what adjustments can be made by myself sitting in the car, not by sending it back to the company..are there any? is there a link to a description of the unichip? i found a install instructions PDF file but no info on the functions of the unichip. And also, is there software or something i can download on my laptop and plug it into the unichip for tuning or what?

 

[Ricktalife]

ok, i guess what i meant was out of the box it has settings and only way to change them is to send it back to have it reprogrammed correct? i mean this isnt a fully tunable ecu is it? i know it works in conjunction with the stock ecu but im kind of unsure about what adjustments can be made by myself sitting in the car, not by sending it back to the company..are there any? is there a link to a description of the unichip? i found a install instructions PDF file but no info on the functions of the unichip. And also, is there software or something i can download on my laptop and plug it into the unichip for tuning or what?

hopefully somebody running a unichip will chime in but as far as i've heard it is not end user tunable i'm sure you can change the boost by yourself however.

edit: and no you cannot tune the stock ecu (if that's what you meant?)

 

[mazdafreak7]

i meant is it similar to a SAFC? like a tunable piggy back?

 

[greasemonkey524]

I'm running a Unichip and like said before you have to send it out or find someone around you that has the equipment to tune it. All the switches are for are
1)On/Off power switch
2)On/Off boost controller
3)Map A/B switch for two different tunes.

I'll be honest, I had mine tuned when I bought it and have added some decent power making mods since so I need to get it tuned. It still does alright without the right MAPs but could be better. Oh, and there have been problems with the boost controller it came with. I'm not using mine cause of some nasty boost spikes.

 

[mikeski]

Here are some pics of the way I have my BOV set up. I got a couple PM's about it and I couldn't post the pics to the messages for some reason so here they are.

 

[mikeski]

Here are some pics of the way I have my BOV set up. I got a couple PM's about it and I couldn't post the pics to the messages for some reason so here they are.

The third pic is how i set up the vac lines to the brake booster. I have bigger vac t's in there now but you get the idea. There is a sensor in the brake booster so make sure you cut to the passenger side of it. This is the dual set up.