Hey guys , i finally gave in and bought my dream car ... 2006 brilliant black shinka . :) the car has been GREAT to me ... besides the odd flooding .

Simple question . I would like to start putting parts on , but want to start simple like an exhaust system or cold air intake , nothing to complicated . What do you all think would be the best first mod ? and what kind ?

AEM CAI would be nice since it's more or less the mazdaspeed one but cheaper. If i remember correctly AEM makes the mazdaspeed CAI.

I personally went with the racing beat intake combo and rev8 exhaust. The exhaust yields a nice deep sound on low revs and really sings when its on high revs. I also chose it because it's quieter then the other exhausts out there and my neighbours are all elderly citizens that complain about sound alot lol.

hope that helps and congrats on the purchase. Remember to warm the car before shutting it off to avoid flooding and give it a red line or two a day =).

My thoughts are....it depends on what you going to do with your 8.... if your tracking it, I would recommend spending the $$$ on a good suspension & tires...

CAI is a good start as the 8 produces a lot of heat in the engine bay...so really no point going short ram. Then I would do the 4.44 final gear... to give it the torque it don't have now...lolz

AEM CAI would be nice since it's more or less the mazdaspeed one but cheaper. If i remember correctly AEM makes the mazdaspeed CAI.

You'll wanna go with the AEM, the MS screens have a rubber ring around it, that allows it to flex. Sure, you can remove them more easily, but if you drive at high RPMs a lot (which is good for the motor), the air can spin them around, causing huge driveability issues. I hear AEM has metal ringed screens?



hope that helps and congrats on the purchase. Remember to warm the car before shutting it off to avoid flooding and give it a red line or two a day =).

:ylsuper:

whoa whoa whoa....
Tubingchamp, can you confirm that? The AEM has METAL ring screens? shit that solves my one of my two problems I have with the MS CAI.

As well known on the forum... the rubber screens do come loose after extensive high-RPM driving. The wind forces are just too strong over sustained periods and they come loose. When they do, the screen flies backwards and gets lodged at odd angles in front of the MAF sensor. This would affect the MAF readings and give you all sorts of idling/sputtering issues. I had that happen to me twice and I had to remove the assembly to re-fit the screens.

On another issue, seeing that you're from sudbury, you have horrible snowy winters. The CAI is NOT good for you. Do not do it. If you want to know why. Look up the threads I started and read everything I wrote.

The AEM has METAL ring screens? shit that solves my one of my two problems I have with the MS CAI.
I never knew the MS CAI had a rubber ring surrounding the screen!
Learn something new everyday.
I actually never had the screens pulled-out of my AEM because it was part of the coupling.

whoa whoa whoa....
Tubingchamp, can you confirm that? The AEM has METAL ring screens? shit that solves my one of my two problems I have with the MS CAI.

I never knew the MS CAI had a rubber ring surrounding the screen!
Learn something new everyday.
I actually never had the screens pulled-out of my AEM because it was part of the coupling.

:wiggle:

That'll do.

What? so the AEM user never knew the MS CAI had rubber rings, and the MS CAI user (me) never knew that AEM at metal rings?

Thanks Guys ! im kinda leaning towards a cold air intake as most of you said ... an exhaust would be nice thought . Im only 20 and the car would be used more or less for going to university and or drive around town .


Question : What Web Site is good for parts ... there are SOOO many of them

Thanks for the help guys this is awesome !

What? so the AEM user never knew the MS CAI had rubber rings, and the MS CAI user (me) never knew that AEM at metal rings?
^ha... more like the AEM user never heard about this issue where the screen came loose with the MS intake and has never had a reason to remove his screens from his AEM.

What? so the AEM user never knew the MS CAI had rubber rings, and the MS CAI user (me) never knew that AEM at metal rings?

Ta da ;)

Not sure why MS even makes an intake if AEM does a better job at it.. :scratchhe

Time to call AEM now to order their screens and retro-fit my MS CAI with those instead!

Welcome to the addiction!! :wavey:

Time to call AEM now to order their screens and retro-fit my MS CAI with those instead!

Not sure if AEM will sell just the screen since their BOM indicates the screen with the coupler (because the screen is already installed in the coupler).
150018

I guess if you have to buy the screen with the coupler, just use the AEM coupler instead of trying to remove the screen from the AEM coupler.

Question : What Web Site is good for parts

You can check out the buy/sale section of this forum, or buy from our forum vendors like RaceRoots or BHR (just to name a few).
If you are looking at getting an AEM intake, here is a link to RaceRoot's site:
http://raceroots.com/index.php/products/mazda/rx8/intake/aem-cold-air-intake-system.html

Thanks Jon , i also see you run on 5w30 ? i was told to ALWAYS put 5w20 ?

Yeah, I heard that as well. Confirmation you guys?

Thanks Jon , i also see you run on 5w30 ? i was told to ALWAYS put 5w20 ?

LOL... there are TONS of threads on this discussion, but I think most will agree to run AT LEAST 5w30

Is there anything you would suggest over 5w30?

No more oil threads.....

Closed.