D M R H - (MY COSMO)

. . . My personal Cosmo . . .

MAR-06

The lack-of-boost issue (now 0.4 bar) was troubling so after saving some spare cash it was time to get an aftermarket Electronic Boost Controller (EBC). Research showed me that the most popular & reliable around for rotary guys seemed to be the Blitz dual sequential boost controller & the one choosen is the "Spec-R". Why the Spec-R? Its because of the dual soleniod operation that can regulate boost more precisely compared to a single soleniod. The fault with the boost issue was traced to a failed wastegate control soleniod that was leaking when closed, but it wasn't worth fixing that now & was blocked off.

With the boost controller, there were higher spec EBC units available but they all had the same type control soleniods. Simply wanting a "set & forget" system, all the fancy graphs, recalls & mapping that the top level units comes with where simply overkill & also an unjustified cost. This controller with simple settings was more than enough. Now, if only the Japanese instructions could be translated...???

Ease of installation was important as I didn't want to pull the Cosmo apart (again) to install this thing. So it was a matter of finding a suitable rubber mounted location for the soleniods & start plumbing. The soleniod unit can be seen here under the Pod filter. Plumbing runs to both the wastegate & pre-spool actuators on one hose & the first turbo pressure port on the other hose. Boost sensing is done at the controller so a T-piece off the digital boost gauge sensor (under the passenger foot well) was done for that. The controller is now mounted above the Radar detector controller so it can be tucked away or fiddled with on demand.

Once installed & out on the road for a test drive, the levels where set to max out at 0.85-Bar (12.3 psi). The twin turbo's can destroy themselves over the 1-Bar mark so I am not going to exceed that level. As for performance....WOW Not only do I have full boost at just 2000rpm, but it holds around 0.8-Bar dropping off only slightly as revs raise. Rather than dropping to the 0.4 Bar as it would do before. As a result, the Cosmo now has killer performance that has me gripping the steering wheel even tighter when the foot gets planted.

Prior to the EBC installation I got the Cosmo dyno'ed to check out what power it was making. The rear (mouse-over) graph shows the Cosmo was dyno'ed for 172kw (rear wheels) on the RotorMaster dyno. Meaning the actual engine power wasn't much better than standard (230kW - 25%[auto box] = 172kW approx). The car still felt quick but in reality, it was seriously missing out on its potential. Note the dramatic drop in boost once the 2nd turbo comes on-line. When your down 40% over standard boost there is little point to any of the high flow modifications.

In the front (mouse-over) graph, you can see the current power level of 227-kW. (303 kW @ engine) Now that the turbo's are boosting to 0.8-bar the power keeps climbing strongly to the 220-kW mark before tapering off around 6700rpm. This is due to the turbo's simply running out of flow so there is litle point in reving the engine past 7000rpm. A Lambda sensor was plugged into the exhaust to spot any lean points but the 550cc injectors didn't show any signs of maxing out their duty cycle until redline. The Air/Fuel ratio (AFR) held steady around 11.5:1 until 7000rpm where it started creeping towards 12.0:1. A sign that the turbo's cant be boosted any higher if I wished to redline at 7000.

It took a while before the timing was right getting back onto the dyno after the completed installation but finally an oppurtunity came up in early Jun-06. Whilst on the RotorMaster dyno, Each channel of the boost controller was programmed to allow 4-options of boost. Basically, they range from 0.60-Bar on CH-1 through to 0.85-Bar on CH-4. For the dyno day, I did add some Nulon Octane booster as a precaution. If the engine started to lean out, the added Octane would give a little more safety margin before detonation. Much cheaper spending $12 on a bottle than $thousands$ on an engine. One a side note.... Big thanks to the RE-Amemiya team with their ECU tuning too.

The RotorMaster team where impressed with this Cosmo stating its power level was excellent for a standard 40,000km engine running factory turbo's. Here, Joe Signorelli & Darrin Ray can be seen looking over the Dyno PC between power runs. Joe watches the AFR readings very closely & hand signals to the driver 1-metre away on the 1st sign of a lean out. The last thing that they would want on their plates is the engine popping in front of the customer. What scared me more, was watching the Cosmo trying to climb off the dyno with just a pair of front wheel chocks holding it back.... Gulp! Conclusion, Why didn't I do this sooner. This modification really shows how inadequate the factory boost controlling actually is.....