Which COBB Accessport fits your Nissan GT-R?

Almost every week somebody contacts us and asks for the Accessport for their GT-R. We ask what year the car is, and the conversation changes, because the R35 takes four different part numbers and only two of them will talk to the gearbox.

Do you know which one your car takes? Most owners don't. COBB's listings are spread over several pages and every description reads as though the units all do the same job. They don't.

Two model year groups, four part numbers

COBB splits the R35 in half by model year.

Cars from 2009 to 2014 take AP3-NIS-005 or AP3-NIS-006.

Cars from 2015 to 2018 take AP3-NIS-007 or AP3-NIS-008.

The split runs off model year, not the date on the rego papers. A car built late in 2014, complied and first registered here in 2015, is still a 2014 car as far as the part number goes. Read the model year off the plate, then check it with us, because getting it wrong costs you freight in both directions.

Inside each pair the only difference is the transmission control module. The 006 and 008 units can reflash the TCM in the GR6 dual clutch transaxle. The 005 and 007 units cannot. Everything else on the device is identical: the ECU flashing, the gauge display, the data logging, the fault code reader.

The four we keep in stock:

• COBB Tuning Accessport V3 (AP3-NIS-005) for 2009 to 2014, $1,547
• COBB Tuning Accessport V3 (AP3-NIS-006) w/TCM Flashing for 2009 to 2014, $2,111
• COBB Tuning Accessport V3 (AP3-NIS-007) for 2015 to 2018, $1,739
• COBB Tuning Accessport V3 (AP3-NIS-008) w/TCM Flashing for 2015 to 2018, $2,399

Those are our current AUD prices. They move with the exchange rate, so check the product page before you commit.

Is the TCM version worth the extra money?

On a 2009 to 2014 car the gap between the two part numbers is $564. On a 2015 to 2018 car it is $660. That money buys real work on the gearbox.

TCM flashing lets the Accessport reflash the transmission control module itself. COBB lists three jobs for it: enhance launch control, run factory gear learning, and adjust clutch capacity and clutch touch points. Add TCM logging, which records transmission monitors side by side with engine data, so a dragging clutch or a slow shift shows up in a datalog instead of being guessed at on the road.

It matters after a gearbox repair too. A clutch job on a GR6 is normally followed by gear learning and a look at clutch capacity and touch points, and those are TCM jobs. Without TCM flashing that work goes to someone else's laptop.

Two GT-R features are locked to the 006 and 008 part numbers, and adjustable launch control is one of them. COBB's own notes say every TCM function, plus launch control and TCM adjustments, is unavailable on AP3-NIS-005 and AP3-NIS-007. If launches matter to you, the ECU-only unit will feel like half a product.

If you already run a 005 or a 007, you are not stuck. COBB lists a separate upgrade to TCM flashing for Accessports already in service, shown at US$420 on their website. We do not carry that upgrade on our site, so message us and we will tell you whether upgrading your existing unit or moving to the TCM version makes more sense for your car.

What the Accessport changes on a GT-R

Most of the day to day value sits on the ECU side.

• Read and clear fault codes without booking the car in somewhere
• Monitor up to six live parameters on the screen, boost included
• The boost gauge wraps around past 20 PSI, roughly 150 kPa, because the factory multi function display stops reading there
• Log engine data, up to 10 hours of it
• Store up to 100 maps and switch between them while you drive
• Adjustable traction control with eight slip targets, for wet, damp, dry, street or burnout
• Factory launch control RPM and boost off the line, where the calibration allows it
• Speed density tuning, which takes the MAF sensor out of the equation once your build flows more air than the stock sensor can measure
• Fast flashing, under 40 seconds for a map change
• TPMS learning, so you can program new sensors yourself after a wheel change
• Shift light, set to the RPM you want warning you before a run
• Performance timing for acceleration runs and quarter mile trap speed
• Knock events shown on the factory in dash display while you drive
• Uninstall, which returns the ECU to exactly the factory calibration

Have you ever paid a dealer an hour of labour just to read a code? That list is the part owners underrate when they compare the Accessport to a one-off tune.

What it will not do

The Accessport will not fix a mechanical fault. If the car runs badly because of a failing sensor or a boost leak, flashing a map over the top makes the problem harder to find rather than easier.

It also will not overwrite another tuner's file safely. COBB's own warning on these units is blunt: installing an Accessport over anything other than OEM or COBB software may result in ECU or TCU failure. If your GT-R came with someone else's calibration, tell us before you plug anything in so we can work out the cleanest way back.

The pre-loaded off the shelf maps suit a stock car or a lightly modified one. Once you fit bigger injectors, a flex fuel kit or larger turbos, you want a custom calibration written for your hardware. We do custom tuning for these cars, so ask us what your build needs instead of assuming the OTS map covers it.

And it cannot make a 2009 part number work on a 2015 car. The two groups are not interchangeable. Ordering an "R35 Accessport" and nothing else is how people end up with a unit that has to go back.

Before you order

Tell us the build year of the car. That alone decides the part number. If it is a private import, tell us the market it was sold in as well, because COBB lists applications by market as well as year, and both have to line up. Australian delivered cars are covered across the ranges above, and imports are on the lists too, but we would rather check your exact car than have you find out at the post office.

If you are sorting the exhaust at the same time, read our turbo-back exhaust tips first. It answers the questions we field most often on the other side of a GT-R build.

You can browse the whole COBB Tuning range, or send us your model year and we will confirm the part number, the price, and what the calibration suits before you order.

One more thing worth knowing before you buy. The Accessport is hardware, and the result comes from the calibration inside it. Two cars with the same device and the same bolt ons can drive very differently depending on who wrote the file, which is why we ask what you are chasing before we quote you a package.