OK I was messing with my KnN this evening when I noticed something, when I had my Z28s and Vette, when we would be getting ready to put in a KnN or Hi Per filter, we would cute the space around the front of the airbox to make the opening as large as the air cleaner, Yet it would retain the frame work and clips and such,

So when we put it back together you could see the whole air cleaner exposed but in a large frame now due to cutting the plastic.

So here is what I was thinking of doing (maybe) when you pull up your air box you see the small oval for air to get into the box, but you could cut around the frame with a dremel and expose allot more air cleaner so you could get more air in instead of just that little oval.

( I know why not get a CAI or Revi, I just can not drop 350 to 500 on that at this time, stupid Florida we have crazy ass home owners insurance Damn hurricanes!!)

Let me know what you gut think... it made a real diffrence on my Vette and Z who knows :) :crazy: :crazy:

It would be a waste of time IMO. Even aftermarket intakes have a very small performance gain, and that's really because the stock intake system has very low resistance already. Simply cutting the hole bigger won't do anything but give you a bigger hole, sorry.

I'd advise against it. Even with CAI/ or Short Rams there have been minimal gains on our cars, meaning that the intake on our cars was pretty much maximized by Mazda when they designed it (the notable exception is the REVI intake made by Racing Beat and even it doesn't have a huge opening in the front)

My guess is the shape of the intake helps route fresh air from the front of the car, instead of the incredibly hot air inside our engine compartment.

i guess you don't know about the VFAD...can't just make the hole bigger.

making the hole bigger isn't going to help, but if what you want is more air, look up the racing beat revi air duct. It mounts on the inside of your bumper and funnels air into the intake area. this removes the vfad.

looks like this: http://proxy.searchirc.com/revi/DSCN3821.jpg

I already took my VFAD off...

I was just thinking on how we can get just a bit more power and it always worked on my other cars and I know these are a major exception..worth a shot though to ask
And I know you can get the Revi with ot w/out the raim air duct I have heard mixed reviews of if the RAD made any diffrence on top of the Revi.

How about just getting the RAD ?

And I know you can get the Revi with ot w/out the raim air duct I have heard mixed reviews of if the RAD made any diffrence on top of the Revi.Right... a funnel of air directly from the outside is giving minor improvements (but you do get colder air out of it), so just widening the opening is unlikely to give you anything you could even measure on a dyno.

maybe I wil just purchase the RAD someday and go from there.

1. Intake – enlarging the oval inlet to the factory air box - +2 HP (this modification eliminates the VFAD intake duct.).


Thats right off the RB site. I dont see it saying anything about the RamAir. In fact, didnt they just sell the box for a while before the made the ramair for it?

well I will say I am a firm believer in it, weather it is mental or not , I knwo my other cars always ran so much better with the air box cut to the size of the cleaner so the whole surface was exposed... I know v8s are diffrent but I might try it...jury is still out

check pm.

beers :beer:

I'm gonna do it in 2 weeks when im on vacation. I'm gonna use a heat gun and try to bend up some 4" PVC pipe to make my own Ramair system. Ill have to see how it goes, I've never tried to bend PVC that big. I love to build things by hand when ever I can. (that makes me a "Cheap ass" according to some people) If that doesnt work I'll just build a box.

If you really think about it, almost every system you see for our cars is just cut open box with a shaped air filter. AEM and MS atleast take the filter outside the hood. Most lost HP is from the stock snorkel designs, most are restrictive with a small opening or covered in resonators. I dont know why people try to make silent sports cars. We got the VAFD thing, it opens, but does it open big enough to let the needed amount of air in? Could say 45MPH worth of air fit in that flap?

The only realy advantage of an after market intake is that it will get 360Deg of air filter around the inlet while the stock box gets about 80% of that cause the inlet sort of lays on the bottom of the box. You may have to see it to know what im talking about. I think if this was a problem Mazda would of fixed it from the start. They have the room to do so if they needed/wanted to.

I think I might do it...nothing to loose...and even if I gain a smidge or more noise to make it even a more cooler car Ill do it...
Hey you can get cutting wheels for your drill right? My Dremel is in Pittsburgh.

Drills are kind of slow with alot of Tq. Not the best thing for cutting.
Jig saw works best. I sometimes just hold a hacksaw blade in my hand and do it. Depends on what I'm tring to do.
Dremel always seems to shoot hot plastic on me.

Had a jig saw but it is in Pgh as well,,,You can get a cutting wheel for drills though can you not?

Well I've seen a few that were for an Air drill. You can use an cutting wheel the drill can clamp on to. I'm just not sure if them make 1 for a (screw) drill.

hmm Might have to take out the airbox and take it to my friends shop and do it with his cutting tool , how hard is it to get the whole airbox out and detached?

I dont think cutting the hole in the airbox alone will do you anygood. youd have to cut a larger hole in the front brace of the car the oval inlet rests inside of..

I was just going by racing beats web site..according to them 2hp with the larer hole in the airbox and remove vfad, vfad is already gone, wont cost me anything to try it

yeah, but how much of the gain was due to the vfad removal? Cause it's closed off till you're at higher rpm.

who knows...Like I said I might do it might not..all I can trust is the butt dyno...I will think about it this weekend and keep everyone posted

SaxMan, WhiteRice and Abbid have all warned you not to spoil the stock CAI effect you get, by opening up the hot side of the airbox, yet you just keep on asking - "Drill or jigsaw? Cutter wheel or Demel?.......and how do I get the airbox out? :Eyecrazy: "

The cold air is on the front side of that metal brace, all you will get from a bigger hole in the plastic is hot air from the radiator, so you'll just get less power.

If you want to do the job properly, you would need to cut a larger, matching, airtight hole in the metal brace too.

S

well then I will not do it.. I heard yes and no and now that was explained I gues I will leave it.. never hurts to ask though
It was just an idea ....good lord

well then I will not do it.. I heard yes and no and now that was explained I gues I will leave it.. never hurts to ask though
It was just an idea ....good lord


No need for an attitude, we told you about 12 times in the thread. Just as STL mentioned, you blew off all of our advice and continued to ask about cutting methods.

don't sweat it. Cut up your air box. I have a spare here I'll sell for $200 ;)

Hi.four years later.......did you ever mount an intake to form a ram air attatched to the stock air box?I took out the baffles and both screens and added a drop in kn with great results.....i want a ram air in the airstream,any help would be greatly appreciated.Jim S

racing beat duct

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=197555

I am always down for a creative mod! Forget adding power, if you can get any hot air out of the engine bay then good! However, more air in doesnt help if it can't get out, so that being said, I feel like an exit scoop on the aft side of your hood might do a lot more.... But I say go for it and make a DIY. Just try and figure a way that you can measure airflow before and after. Good luck man!

I am always down for a creative mod! Forget adding power, if you can get any hot air out of the engine bay then good! However, more air in doesnt help if it can't get out, so that being said, I feel like an exit scoop on the aft side of your hood might do a lot more.... But I say go for it and make a DIY. Just try and figure a way that you can measure airflow before and after. Good luck man!
I believe that can be measured from the ODBII port.

Al, you're right. MAF is on there

I was talking more about overall air entering from that oval in front of the airfilter but MAF would give you a good idea...

I was talking more about overall air entering from that oval in front of the airfilter but MAF would give you a good idea...

actually MAF will give you an exact idea, of how much air is going into the motor. which is the overall goal is it not?

Well in my first reply I said that more cooler engine air is great but gains are very small for mods like this. So I was thinking more about getting the hot air out of the engine bay as a whole.