Techno Square Inc. will no longer be offering ECU reflashes due to the recent employment decision of their current engine tuner to leave the company.

Last year was a hard year for Techno Square.. their President and lead fabricator (Richey Watanabe) passed away due after a long and arduous fight against Pancreatic Cancer. As the company struggled to recooperate and restructure, the Engine Tuner decided to pursue other career options in Japan and here locally.

Howard Watanabe, (Richey's brother), the current owner of Techno Square has decided to now concentrate solely on engine building, race chassis preparation, and installations, however he no longer has the ability to offer engine tuning services. Techno Square is also working with Right Hand Drive Japan to help with their importing and legalization of RHD vehicles..


Steve Mitchell, who is a good family friend of the Watanabes (Steve, formerly of M-WorkZ fame), will soon be heading up Cobb So Cal as a manager, so hopefully something can be worked out [as far as Engine management is concerned]... but effectively immediately, TechnoSquare will no longer offer reflashes.

thanks.

 

You've gotta be a little bummed out about that? Isn't your car operating purely on a technosquare reflash?

 

Yup. so.. time to look at other options... I have a Cobb AP for the Evo X.. so maybe i will pick one up for the Z and get it tuned once Cobb So Cal opens..

 

Cool, I'm going to give you a ring soon as I need to send you a piece to have Technosquare do some fabrication on for me.

 

Dammit. TS was the ONLY option for early 03 G35 sedans! Argh! Glad I got mine done already

 

Oh my God! I didn't know Richey passed away. He was so nice and professional to me when I went to use their services for my first flash. I didn't know Technosquare was going through such a hard time. I pass-by their shop every once in a blue moon and I think about them but never decided to stop and say hello to them.

When you say their lead engine tuner, do you mean Tadashi (was that his name?) or someone else?

 

I thought Cobb was done with the AccessPort on the Z/G? I was told they will no longer support the AP I have on my G37.... I am not real happy about it, but I think Cobb here in Plano can still tune it (they did my initial tune, but I have not talked with them in a while).

Sorry to here about what has happened at TS. I know Richey (and TS in general) are good people. My dad passed away a few years ago from pancreatic cancer, and I hate to hear about it happening to anyone else.

 

yea it was pretty tough on Howard and everyone else that knew the Watanabe brothers.. i mean. i can't imagine what it would be like to work along side your brother for the good part of 30+ years, and then something like this happens. It left a pretty big hole in the company, not just support wise, but emotionally / mentally..

I'm sure Howard will bounce back if he concentrates on the engine building and race prep, which was his trade study... but with the tuning side of the business out, that is a bit hard on the pocketbook..

Lead engine tuner, aka Tadashi...

 

I remember Tadashi actually drove my car and I rode in it as he was checking for signs of pinging going down Normandie.

Can't they hire someone else who is knowledgeable in engine tuning?

 

Easier said than done. Ts was a leader in northamerica.
Sad to hear.

 

TS was a leader on the reflash but there are other methods to tuning the Z.

I originally started on the reflash but upgraded to a piggyback system. They can hire people who know how to program those and stand-alone systems.

 

IMO Technosquare has been falling behind Uprev for a couple of years now, and now that Cobb dropped out of the race Uprev is the clear choice for dyno tuning. The only thing Technosquare has/had over Uprev is the ability to reflash Gen1 ECU's.

 

Sorry to hear about Rich dying. I lost my brother tragically in 09', and it's very hard. I didnt have the relationship with my bro like these 2 did either so Howard must be lost.
Regardless of what TS is doing, I'm sure they will have lots of business and support from all the enthusiasts out there.

 

Cheston or anyone else that knows, are there any other tuners out there that do Techtom-based ECU flashes for these cars? Back in the day, Altered Atmosphere Motorsports did them, but they're long gone if I remember right. Us early 03 G sedan owners plus the VQ35 Maxima/Altima crowd need someone to provide reflashes.

 

What about a nice old piggy back system like a GReddy E-manage or E-manage Blue? Those are cheap nowadays and are more capable than flashes.

I'm using a Blue, myself.

 

...

 

They are still around and I do believe they still have custom technosquare flashing abilities for the oddball 1st gen ECU's and others. www.aamcompetition.com

 

...

 

There are a few other shops on the east coast that had the Techtom Flasher... there was AAM, and a shop in Texas somewhere... i dont recall the name in Texas..

however, they are not OUT OF BUSINESS, they are just changing their business plan.. basically tuning is no longer their primary concern since Howard is busy wrenching and putting together race engines and doesnt have the time to tune.. he has tuned Motec or other piggy backs back in the day, however it is not his expertise..

So basically your other options for tune is AP, UpRev, haltech, Motec, or FCon...

 

Cheston,

Thanks for the response. I've emailed AAM to see what they say. If they don't offer the flash, then no big deal I suppose. I'm not going to waste my time or money cutting up and/or tapping into my wiring harness to tune my car. These early ECUs seem to be quite a bit more adaptive than the later ECUs. I have no desire to do significant modifications to this car. The flash was an easy choice because it easy, clean, and somewhat effective (~8whp). Chances are I'll be moving on to a new gen WRX, STI, Spec B Legacy, EVO X, or 330 ZHP coupe within the year.