MazdaPi

iTrader: (1)

I have been attempting, after repeatedly reading every thread on the airbox and how to remove it, been trying to remove mine. Zero success. I am very strong and cannot compress the accordian anymore than it is currently. Also I tried to pry the top part up but can only get a max of an inch of space so I can barely see into the housing where the filter is. What I see inside is a k&n filter that is just rattling around (I can poke it and move it pretty easily around with my finger).

EDIT (Just ripped it out, caution to the wind style, pulled out the loose rattly filter. Any idea what it is or if I can use it? should it have been attached? Pics below are of the view with a finger gap, the k&n out and on my counter, and the final pic is of the airbox how it is now.






That's my main issue as I want to change my coils/wires and all that jazz today.


In other news, I tried to get to the eshaft sensor (ess) and realized from underneath the car I'd have to remove the undershroud (plastic doohickey with all the screws to protect from rocks and dirt and water) which is a PITA because it's screwed into EVERYTHING else with those super annoying often stripped little plastic screws.

Am I missing something? Do I have to remove that shroud for sure? Are the sparkplugs hidden behind it too?


I'm really frustrated because I watched all the tutorials and read the DIY's last night and that wasn't mentioned and everything I've tried has kinda backfired. This should have been waaaaay easier.

Again sorry if this is a repost or I missed something. I did search. I did. hah.
Also sorry for the frustrated tone. It was my first time working on the car so I shouldn't be surprised I had trouble. My own fault for expecting it to go smoothly.

I have a 2009, MT, GT, RX8. Just bought last week.
Recent issues have been misfires on Cylinder 1 and trouble with coldstarts and once in a blue moon hot starts. It never fails to fire just takes a while. Also idle is rough after and flashing engine light till I drive a bit.

From what I've read this most likely is an ignition problem so I'm replacing my coils, wires, plugs, and bracket today as well as cleaning the maf and the ess and doing a NVRAM reset. Battery is new as is the starter so no worries there.

Also bought some throttle body cleaner and wanted to clean that too.

Cheers, for tips and help~

jasonrxeight

Wow, that is frustrating.
Put in a factory filter and clean the MAF.
Make sure everything is tight.
Worse case the piece of **** MAF filter being loose might have sucked sand into the engine and damaged the engine causing misfire.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Clean the MAF with MAF cleaner (not other stuff). You'll want to make sure that the mesh screen between the intake box and MAF is reasonably straight. It's a flow straightener, so if it's not straight, you MAF will see turbulence, which is not great. Actually there are supposed to be 2 screens.

That's a pretty terrible intake solution, but doesn't look like anything is beyond repair. Like said above, factory filter will do you fine, and add that tube that the K&N was attached to back in. That's stock.

For the spark plugs you don't need to remove the undercover, you just remove the left front wheel and you'll see a little window straight to the spark plugs, covered by a plastic flap.

For the ESS I'd say top down is easier, once you get the battery tray and intake out, you have a lot of room to play. It's easier than it looks.

MazdaPi

iTrader: (1)

So I cleaned the maf. Looks good now.
Haven't gotten to clean the ess yet.
Looked inside the car in all the compartments and found some little bits and bobs that I can only assume are from the original intake. Anybody tell me how they go back together. Where does the second screen go or the weird plastic piece? I get that the three screws hold the plastic piece that was with the k&n in. But what about the other screw or that plastic **** screw? Just random pieces that aren't from the same thing?






Also I replaced the plugs, wires, coils (upgraded to ls2 with bracket and everything).
My furthest trailing wire is SUPER tight not sure if that's normal or not.
Also I lost track of the electrical connectors at the top that plug into the coils (which one goes to which coil... am I totally screwed? I made sure to keep track of which wires came out of the plugs and which plugs go where (trailing vs. leading) but the actual connecters up top are dubious. I did it by length so I hope it works...

How is it even possible my car was running without an intake? What can I do to check/repair any damage that may have been caused by this? I will report back after I get new screws for the maf tomorrow morning and after I pick up a new filter tomorrow morning.

Any help on the bits and bobs would be very appreciated.

paimon.soror

iTrader: (15)

Here is a site that has some great pics of how the airbox is assembled. Hopefully it will help you!

RX8 Airbox Modifications - Swankmonkey Racing's 2004 Mazda RX8

MazdaPi

iTrader: (1)

so what I'm getting from that is that somebody modded it to have one less screen... but then why would there be a typhoon filter just floating in the airbox? I'm taking that out.. that ok?

Also I sh*t you not I looked for the ess for 2 hours and couldn't find it. I tried from above with the airbox out, I tried from the side when I was changing the plugs and I tried from underneath with the car jacked up. Cannnnnot find it. at all. Is it in a different place in the series II? Am I just missing it maybe... I looked at all the threads and pics but even still I can't find it.

paimon.soror

iTrader: (15)

lol, nope, same exact place. You can't really 'visually' see it because it sits inside of a 'slot'. But you should be able to see where the harness plugs into it. Its literally to the right of the Crank Pulley

archwisp

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, it's a bit of a PITA to get to. I sprayed a rag with throttle body cleaner and reached under there to clean it.

Luckily, it's a pretty distinctive shape in comparison to the stuff around it, so it's pretty easy to know when you're touching it.

archwisp

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, most aftermarket intakes eliminate at least one of the screens. Whoever installed the intake on mine before I bought it did a really terrible job of plumbing everything together, so I ended up in a similar situation as you with everything disconnected.

Definitely get rid of the K&N filter and put an OEM filter in there. I'm guessing you know this, but you don't want to run without an air filter

From what I have read, the stock intake with an OEM filter really needs to have both screens because the airflow is not as linear as say the AEM or Racing Beat setups. So, when you install the OEM filter, you may want to fabricate a new screen as well.

Good luck!
Bryan