Has anyone installed the kits from SR Motorsports? I was considering the GT-4 kit, but I was looking for some feedback from anybody that may have these already installed on their 8.

Thanks

PS: This is my first post!

Kinda pricey for what you get. I haven't seen their intakes before - they're pretty nice looking. The underdrive pullies is a hard call - some cars make more power with underdrive pullies, some don't, and it's hard to tell by looking at the dyno chart of the guy selling it :).

SR is a good shop, but their stuff is usually a bit high in price. I'd probably look at doing an ECU upgrade off the bat - either an E-manage or the Canzoomer setup, definite power and bang for the buck there.

Dale

Thanks for the reply - I was considering the Canzoomer, but was afraid of changing something I did not understand that well. I too liked the look of the SR cold air intake system, and that was my first choice because they said it was quiet. It comes with a reusable high performance filter that can be cleaned. Is the E-Manage better than the Canzoomer?

Curious about the SR cold air intake too. Anyone have it? Anyone, Anyone?

The advantage of the E-manage is price and flexibility, but you DO have to tune it yourself. Canzoomer is more expensive, less flexible, but is plug-and-play.

Kinda depends on how much of a gearhead you are :).

Dale

Thanks Dale, I think I'll just start simple, Intake, Mid Pipe, Exhaust - that should empty the wallet for awhile. I might wait for the AccesECU to come out for the 8 to mess with the maps.

Don't hold your breath on the AccessECU cobb stopped responding to local area 8 owners :(

Cause us 8 owners are so starved for more power we tend to be pains in the asses.Rotary perf in texas is co-develping they are sticking to mid july to mid august.

RB also has one in the works. Don't know delivery date.

Originally posted by WTF no turbo
Cause us 8 owners are so starved for more power we tend to be pains in the asses.Rotary perf in texas is co-develping they are sticking to mid july to mid august.

That's what I was told but now Cobb wont respond at all to us:( that sucks eh? we are pains though lol

Just a clarification, an stage1 is just as flexible as an emanage, sicne it IS an emanage. It just has a RX-8 custom wire harness. If you like DIY stuff, wire in an emanage. If your lazy and dont mind spending a few extra bucks, buy a stage1. Added bonus is it comes with a pre-tuned map already you can start off from when yo do your own tuning, or if ya wire in your own emanage, I'm sure someof the other guys tuning would be agreeable to helping out with a basic map or such.

still be possible to make a valet mode?

If no one has the SR intake, maybe I'll buy it and demo it for the club. It is kind of pricey, but it is a true cold air intake unlike the others. They have told me it is allot quieter also.

yeah try it :) Maybe try to work a deal with them, because if someone else says they like it I'd rather get that and sell my RE.

Cold ram air? There is no ram air effect from the SR intake.

Stock intake is designed not to have any ram air effect. Take a look at the following photo:

http://www.rotaryextreme.com/newarrival/P8080041.JPG

The primary air duct is blocked and the secondary air duct is facing side where. Where is the ram air effect?

The SR intake is just a smaller version of the stock air box. If you want to get the SR intake, you might as well just keep the stock air box and replaces it with a K&N stock replacement and the flow area will be more than the SR intake since the filter is bigger.

We never advertise ours as a ram air intake because ram air intake simply does not work on the RX8. I have wrote up an article on the forum regarding all the confusions people have on the aspect of intake system. If you do a search, you can find it.

Chuck Huang

Originally posted by Nemesis8
If no one has the SR intake, maybe I'll buy it and demo it for the club. It is kind of pricey, but it is a true cold air ram intake unlike the Rotary Extreme version. They have told me it is allot quieter also.

Thanks for the update Chuck. Why do they advertise it that way?

I don't know why they advertise it that way but from the technical aspect, their is no way a ram air intake. It's just a short arm intake like any others such as from us, K&N, and HKS.

If it's a true ram air intake, the filter has to be placed directly at the incoming air stream. As you can see, there is no direct forced air flow into the filter. The air coming through the filter is sucked in by the engine, not forced in. The guard in front the air duct blocks any kind of forced air. If you take off your bumper and investigate, you will see more. There is no way there is any kind of ram air effect if you still keep the stock air ducts.

It's good that it's not ram air because ram air does not work on the RX-8 that RX-8 uses a MAF sensor, not a MAP sensor.

MAF sensor measures the air flow of the air coming in. If you have a ram air intake, it's going to create too much turbulence and the result is inaccurate MAF reading. It will cause poor running engine and triggers check engine light.


Chuck Huang


Originally posted by Nemesis8
Thanks for the update Chuck, but why are they promoting theirs this way? Are they misleading me??? Now I am really confused.

Here is the article I wrote a while ago:

Here I would like to talk about different terminology.

Short Ram intake: Actually it should be called short arm (tube) intake. There is no ram air effect when you place the filter inside the engine compartment, unless you have a scoop feeding air to it. Because it takes in the hot engine air, unless your stock intake set up is really bad, you can expect loss of power from this kind of system.

Cold air (fresh air) intake:

Long arm cold air intake: First type is the one that places the filter outside of the enigne compartment but the air flow is not in the same axis as the air entry on the air filter.

Short arm cold air intake: Second type is cold air short arm intake that sits inside the engine compartment but with shields to block off the hot engine air. This term is mainly to distinquish from the one that takes the hot engine air. Of course, the air temp will never be colder than the ambient temp. So when the ambient temp is 100+F, the air isn't really "cold" but it will be at least 40F cooler than a hot air intake.

Ram air intake: The filter is placed on the outside of the engine compartment and the air flow is in the same axis as air entry on the air filter and also the air flow axis inside the tube. Some filters have a entry point on the the top of the filter. Those are used for ram air intake.

Now I want to talk about which one of those will work and which ones will not and why.

The only thing that will work on the RX-8 will be the short arm intake and the cold air short arm intake. The cold air intake that places the filter on the outside of the engine compartment will not work and the ram air intake will not work due to the use of MAF sensor instead of MAP sensor.

The stock MAF sensor is very sensitive. Any turbulence of the air flow will upset the reading. When the air filter is placed on the outside of the engine compartment, the air flow from speed will create too much turbulence. It's even worse with a ram air intake. MAF measures how much air is going through it and then it sends the signal to the ECU and the injectors will fire according to the map on the ECU. So the ecu map is a 3D graph.

MAF signal vs. RPM vs. Injector duty cycle.

With a MAF sensor, the amount of air that goes through it has to go into the motor. If it bounces out (ram air intake) or there is any leakage, the a/f will be off. Here will be a few cases:

Ram air intake: When car is at low speed, the throttle is not open all the way. If you force the air in, you can expect some air to bounce back after it goes through the MAF sensor. Since the MAF already sends a signal to the ECU to account for that much air, the injector will be firing according to that. Since some air does not really go into the motor, you can expect an overly rich a/f which causes hesitation. To make it easier to see, look at the following equation. ECU will fire the injector at X % for each Y amount of air. If you have 10Y of air going through the MAF, the ECU will fire the injector at 10X %. But if 1Y of air bounces back, you only have 9Y of air actually going into the motor but the injectors will still fire at 10X %. So the a/f ratio will be about 10% richer than what it should be. If the car is at idle where the throttle plate is nearly closed and there is gusty wind, you can expect the car to die at idle with a ram air intake due to overly rich a/f.

Leakage: The piping from the MAF all the way to the combustion chamber has to be air tight. In an N/A motor, if there is any leakage, you can expect a leaner a/f. Becuase some of the air that got sucked into the motor didn't go through the MAF. So let's say if there is 9Y of air going through the MAF, the injector will be firiing at 9X %. But there is leakage so there is 1Y of air going into the motor not going through the MAF, you can expect a 10% leaner a/f. This problem will be more pronounced during idle. When you install an intake, it's very important that you clamp down every piping tightly after the MAF or you will have idle problem. On a turbo car with MAF and when the car is on boost, air that passes through the MAF will be leaking out so you will see a richer a/f instead.

Stock Intake Design:

Many people think the stock intake is a ram air intake. It's totally wrong. There is no ram air effect from the stock air duct.

http://www.rotaryextreme.com/newarrival/P8080041.JPG

The photo shows you that the primary intake duct is pointing side way and Mazda makes a guard to block off any direct entry of the air for the 2ndary air duct. You can also see another shield at the bottom of both air ducts to block off any air entry. When it comes to RX-8, the air gets sucked in by the engine. Engine is doing all the suction work. Any kind of ram air effect will upset the reading of the MAF sensor and Mazda did everything they can to eliminate the ram air effect. The only way to make a ram air intake work will require a very complicated intake setup that has a electronic controlled bufferfly valve in the ram air duct that opens gradually according to rpm and throttle position so you only get the amount of ram air that is needed. Even Mazda's OEM design is not that complicated so don't think any aftermarket manufacturer can come up with a true ram air intake for cheap. We have tried to make one but the gain from the true ram air intake can't justify the cost.


Chuck Huang

JERCS - I contacted SR and ask them how theirs works, and I am placing an order with them this week.

Cool, could you PM me the results? After installing look for idle issues as most aftermarket intakes seem to have a problem with it.

Yep - no problem. It shipped today the 15th of June.

I checked on the idle issues, and they said theirs is "rock solid perfect"

The intake arrived today the 17th, so good service so far. I will install on Friday night hopefully. If I don't get it done then, it will be next weekend!

looks dead sexy! thanks Nemesis8!

looks good! please keep us updated on install and your personal review.

The quality is excellent, except for the gray support bracket. They had a mounting bolt hole to close to a weld, so it is being replaced. The bracket is the U shaped piecce in the lower left of the photo. I'm pretty excited to get it in the 8, but now I have to go to Columbus then Detroit next week, so it won't get installed until next weekend - bummer. I'll do install photos for the thread when I get back in town.

sweet if it goes crappy ima grab the RE one cause everyone said its nuts!

any install pics

he hasnt posted he should be installing today he said friday and today is friday!

Sorry, but I made it back late, arived at SeaTac Airport in Seattle at 2:30PM, then hit the I-5 driveway. I averaged 10 MPH for 90 milles! Totally out of control for a major Interstate. When I made it to my house, it was off to Tugboat Annie's for an after party with my wife's office. So, the install will go either Saturday or Sunday.

sweet!

its saturday any pics or comments ? :D

Sunday hopefully - the only question I have is about the vaccum hoses, the intructions are a little vague, and I don't see where they go. I'm going to try and call SR before I start.

OK the wait is over, sorry but I'll start at 4PM PST on Monday. It should go pretty quick.

sweeet

Yeah, no kidding after breaking the bank on this one - I thought it was pricey, and I was forewarned by dcfc3s. The quality looks great, especially the outer 6061 aluminum housing. I'm just too busy to work on my 8 lately, I have almost 9K on the OD now!

it looks good donest look stupid like the heat shied ones the other too have.. if it works out good i might get that one or even the racing beat one!

it s4 pst :D :D :D im pretty sure ull be done in a few hours!

OK, it took me 1 hour and 15 minutes. The car is idling in the garage very quietly, and real solid.

Before

After

Now I am out for a test drive, back after awhile on the road!

nice install pics tell us how it is!

It is really quiet just tooling around town doing 35-40 MPH. I noticed a little hesitation after stomping it to the floor in third - maybe too much air?, I don't know, but it grabbed hold and broke the tires loose - definitiely a rush. Hit the on ramp and it opened up to a low roar - sounds great! I'm not sure if I have the vaccum lines right. I need to call Greg at SR in the morning to discuss.

Oh, BTW, at highway cruising speeds of 60-70 MPH, you don't even know it is there - real quiet.

I had a little trouble getting the OEM airbox out, but other than that it was pretty simple.

Update on the hesitation: Looks like I moved the inner foam gasket when sliding the filter into the outer housing. I was told to be careful there. I'll fix it tonight as soon as the mosquitos go away!

so would you say it's better than stock? and how so?

It seems I have more power in lower RPM range than before. The car moves off the line after a stop easier than before. I am stiil out on whether or not the expense justifies the small increase. One thing for sure, is it looks REALLY good when you open the hood. It is not loud, which was a plus for me also. I did not want a screaming intake under the hood. Tomorrow I'l drive to the office for a 35 mile trip one way. Plenty of highway to get a better feel for if it is going to stay or not.

hey Kevin, why don't you fill the tank before your 35 mile trip? then you can see if you are getting better gas mileage as well.

Already did that thinking ahead. Just filled it prior to coming home tonight. Thanks

Great, give us some updates when you can!

Nice install. Thanks for the updates.

The ride is was great today, but I still experienced the hesitation, so I called SR and they confirmed what I thought, I have an air leak that is causing the hesitation. I need to adjust the gray foam gasket around the base of the pleated cone filter to the bottom, to seal off the back side entrance better. Then he said to check the bottom of the MAF sensor and make sure that the o-ring is not pinched. He said once you seal it up I should be fine, and they said you will know when you have it on right by road testing it.

I don't have the tools here, so I will drive back home tonight to do the work in the garage. This day will screw up my mileage testing also. Stayed tuned - more to come...


OK, back home - fixed the air leak - did the test drive = :)

I'm going to do some small MPG's next, so give me the weekend to play, and I will post some sound bites and video shoots! I think I am feeling allot better about my purchase now!

RB Exhaust is next on my list....

how is the noise and hmmm how much pick up do you feel?

Very pleasing tone, sounds like a sports car finally. Not loud at all tooling around town, and when you open it up, it has a distinct roar that just sounds right. I am getting happier by the minute.

Tonight, I am going to try and create a sound bite, so check later.

As far as pickup, the butt dyno says something is happening. I might trek over East to get a dyno, but have not made the commitment yet.

OK, here is my first video, but it is rather large at 8MB - sorry. On Thursday I will go out on the road and do a video from the inside :)

http://www.nemesis8.com/videos/srintake.wmv

That sounds just like an exhaust!!
Do you have the racing beat exhaust installed, or is it still on order?

i got the racing beat exhuast and you know what i think imma give this intake a try it sounds very nice and looks even cooler!

just ordered the polished one and great job on all the updates and sound bites great job nemesis!

RB on order.

Wait till this weekend, I plan on shooting video from inside the car. I'm out in the garage now trying to figure out how to keep my tripod in one place when I hit the on ramp...

Originally posted by Nemesis8
RB on order.

Wait till this weekend, I plan on shooting video from inside the car. I'm out in the garage now trying to figure out how to keep my tripod in one place when I hit the on ramp...


lol but hey man thanks alot for the info!@

Great job Nemesis8, Can wait to see more video.

It sounded very nice! love the look also.

Do you know if they ship to Canada?

Thanks.

SImon,

I'm not sure about shipping to Canada, I would call them today or e-mail them. They take several days to reply by e-mail.

(925) 516-7382 Phone
(925) 516-8901 Fax
www.SRMotorsports.com

Nemesis8 , thanks for the video, looks and sounds great. Not too loud, but you still know somethings going on.

I studied my early airleak problem, and have come to the conclusion that you need to put double sided tape around the base of the filter, and then pry the gray foam rubber gasket over the base of the filter before sliding the filter into the intake tube. That way it does not slip off like mine did. I'm going to FYI SR about my fix.

The white foam tape I added.

Slide the gray foam donut over the foam tape. Remember to use double sided tape.

All assembled

Thanks for all the info Nemesis. I've been following your progress on this and am grateful you took this venture and shared it with all of us. However, I don't know if you shared enough of whether you are enjoying it more due to performance reasons or just because it makes your car "sound" more agressive. I'm a newbie, myself, but I should be getting my RB exhaust soon. Air intake was definitely my next consideration and any and all info you provide will be highly regarded.

I am enjoying it more for the performance rather than the sound. That was my main objective. I wanted a stealthy RX8, not a loud one. I can tell you that this intake does add HP, but I just don't know how much. I'll see what Greg at SR can tell me. Hope that helps.

Thanks Nem. It's you all day baby.

hahahah that last post was hilarous!

sounds good and looks better. do it save any weight and how much if you know.
chuck

I'll see if I can make a comparison. The entire SR intake weighed 9 lbs in the packing box, and I have the box, so I'll weigh it and get the net. Give me a few minutes.

hows the fuel milage going?

I'm doing a mileage check this week, and will post in a couple of days. I have a lot more performance than I originally thought. I cannot wait to drive the car lately, and look for any excuse to run an errand!

thats awesome dude

yo! so how much weight diff. is there from stock to sr intake

OK, sorry for the delay - my stock weighed in at 10 lbs on the digital bathroom scale, and the SR weighed in at 8 lbs. So it is lighter. :)

I have also gone 85 miles and just now hit the 3/4 full mark on the gauge! On Friday I will re-fill and see what the numbers crunch to.

UPDATE: Still on the same tank on Monday the 12th. I now have 220 miles and I just reached the 1/4 tank mark on the odometer. I will fill tonight when I get home and calculate the MPG and post it here.

UPDATE: 18.5 MPG on first tank after install of SR Intake. That was combined City/Highway driving. So, it did go up from my 16 MPG I was getting.

thats cooool can u please get a clip while driving i wanna hear it in the car and in action!

Yes Rotary extreme is right. The only time air is really moving in this intake systems of mazda's is at 70 mph Plus. I did pre filter air temp measurements at differant speeds. on a 92 degree day driving approx 15 miles at approx 45 mph the temp was 118. At 70 mph on the interstate it was 95. This indicates no airflow at 45mph. poor design in my humble opiion.
olddragger

...poor design in my humble opiion.
olddragger


What's poor, the stock OEM airbox?

Yes, you might be right Olddragger. Chuck is very good with his facts, however SR Mot. Sports Intake is a nice piece of equipment. I'd like to see some real facts on paper. The price is quite high for my liking, but most of SR parts are. They charge 200 for a gascap, when in actuality they are $90....

My bets are with RacingBeats Intake - apparently their new intake will be released late summer.

Nice work Nemisis8...enjoyed reading all the info!

Wayne

Just adding my 2c worth... The intake drew a crowd at our last meeting - it does look good when you pop the hood.

Yeah - I bet. The design 'look' was really taken into consideration!

how much HP does the rx-8 gain by the SR intake?

Nemesis8, Thank you for taking the time to share what you learned and gained from sr intake......it is appreciated :D

I have an SR Intake and I am having idle problems. I had to also modify the foam gasket around the filter to block off leaks. I also used double sided sticky tape and a rubber weather proofing tape on top to make a good seal. Unfortunate, I am still having problems with a rough idle. My dealer told me to remove the intake and see if that fixes the idle problem. I am going to work on that this weekend. What a PIA.

I think the post by Rotary Extreme is right regarding the problems of intake leaks and the MAF. I will let you know if I lose any power once the stock is back on.... I will keep the SR under drive pulleys on during this test...

Check the o-ring under the MAF sensor. It is easy to pinch when installing back into the SR tube.

Check the o-ring under the MAF sensor. It is easy to pinch when installing back into the SR tube.

Yeah, that's why SR includes a new o-ring with the intake kit.. so if you break/tear it you have another to replace it with

I have an SR Intake and I am having idle problems. I had to also modify the foam gasket around the filter to block off leaks. I also used double sided sticky tape and a rubber weather proofing tape on top to make a good seal. Unfortunate, I am still having problems with a rough idle. My dealer told me to remove the intake and see if that fixes the idle problem. I am going to work on that this weekend. What a PIA.

I think the post by Rotary Extreme is right regarding the problems of intake leaks and the MAF. I will let you know if I lose any power once the stock is back on.... I will keep the SR under drive pulleys on during this test...

Jeez, how many places did you ask this question? I answered it somewhere else, but I agree with Nemesis...
Check the o-ring under the MAF sensor. It is easy to pinch when installing back into the SR tube.

I fixed the rough idle problem myself... so much for the dealer and the experience tech....I tightened up the clamps and place some electrical tape around the MAF tube that inserts into the rubber flex hose.... It kind of helped seal it better... I also found the clamp on the back side of the rubber housing after the MAF (don't know what it’s called) was loose... tightend that too.... Now everything seems 100% better.... no rough idle, no stalls at the light.... what sucks is I spent $110 with the dealer only to be told to remove my after market equip. and then they could troubleshoot the problem... BS!!! I'm going back in to show them what I did and how easy it was... refund!!!!

One thing about the SRM Intake... the gasket around the filter before the MAF is very poor design! I had to custom rig some rubber tape and a rubber weather strip together to create a tighter seal... still not 100%, but better then what they send you.... They really need to work on their design some more... better mounting bracket and gasket, etc...