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7. Cobb AccessPort
Putting the tuning power in the hands of a smart end user can be a beautiful thing— the Cobb Accessport for the Evo X (p/n: AP-MIT-002) is exactly what I was looking for when it came to engine management. Having had some experience in the past being involved with ECU reflash tuning of the Nissan VQ35DE engines at TechnoSquare (and seeing the types of limitations when it comes to laptop-only tuning), I welcome the ability of end-users being able to have a simple, handheld tune device and a company that provides the customer support behind their product.
Cobb Tuning has a plethora of off-the-shelf maps for many vehicle applications and the Evo X is no exception. 2008 to 2013 Evo Xs are currently being supported, and the downloadable maps for different fuel octane levels and intake air systems is continually expanding. The AccessPort has a lot of neat features: it allows for storage of multiple engine tuning maps (up to 100), can be a real-time digital gauge as it pulls information off the OBDII port (located in cabin by the driver side left knee), has the ability to check and clear trouble codes, and… wait for it…. allows for data logging of specific parameters of the ECU! (This engineer is seriously stoked about this feature; you should see the smile I have on my face). Cobb states that up to 10 hours of data instrumentation is possible with user-selectable parameters to store. For the Evo X, there over 30+ parameters available for monitoring, such as: injector duty cycle, knock sum, load, throttle angle, ignition timing, and long term fuel trim to name just a few. To access this data, along with the tune maps, the AccessPort has a micro USB attachment at the base of the unit which can plug into your PC or Mac. The AccessPort Manager software is a download of an executable file from Cobb Tuning's main website and is quite intuitive to use. If you've ever used a simple FTP based program, you know what I'm talking about. Select files and click the transfer button. Fairly simple, and the GUI isn't hard to navigate.
The Install
The items listed above are pretty much the extent of the “simple” engine bolt-ons that are available for the Evo X MR, without doing a turbo and cams. After I arrived at Cobb SoCal, Ronnie turned the keys over to Danny Oda, the mechanic who would be working on the install. Danny has been a mechanic and fabricator for a Formula Drift team, and now works full time at Cobb SoCal. After a brief handshake and introduction he went to work.
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| With the removal of the front bumper, work starts. The factory MR transmission cooler shroud needs to be removed in order to gain access to the lower intercooler piping. |
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The bolts holding the shroud for the transmission oil cooler are removed.
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The shroud has to be cut slightly to allow for clearance of the larger charge pipe, a real simple job.
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| The factory lower intercooler pipe is compared to the Cosworth pipe. It's hard to tell in pictures but the bends are smoother and the tubing is larger in diameter. |
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| The factory upper intercooler pipe compared to the Cosworth pipe. This part helped out our EVO GSR project with more power. |
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| The factory intercooler is removed then compared to the ARC intercooler. As you can see the ARC part is very similar to the Cosworth unit. The improvements come from a more efficient and slightly larger core design. |
