2006 GT, have had it for three weeks and love it. I have owned RX7's and Miata's and this is the best of both IMHO. The car came with Mazdaspeed cold air intake and Mazdaspeed wheels. I'm not a huge fan of cold air intakes as I think there is little real world gain. According to the owner, the engine had to be replaced as the intake sucked water and hydro-locked. Is this common? Should I reinstall stock or replace with Revi. I did research your archives but couldn't find much about this specific concern. Thanks for any advice. Planning to use as DD and track car.

 

Hey congrats and Welcome to the forum..

MazdaSpeed and AEM intakes are the exact same thing with diffrent logos.
No, It's not common to suck water through aem/mazdaspeed intake but its possible if you drive through deep water puddle i guess..

 

Thought they might be. I think dealer installed options, wheels and intake that is. Any thoughts on the wheels, wider and lighter than stock?

 

Without a picture of the wheels it is difficult to say. I think those wheels are actually thinner than stock. Don't recall the weight on them. MS intake is fine. No reason to switch to Revi

 

You should not have real problems of water ingestion with the AEM if yours came with the filter sock and you don't drive through long stretches of deep water. I have owned seven RXs, a few with CAI and I presently own a 2008 40th Anniversary edition RX8 bought new in 2008. It has had a Mazdaspeed/AEM CAI (with the filter sock) on it since 2009 and I have driven thousands of miles in all weather, through car washes and some puddles, in the winter etc, with NO problems. If the chance (and yes statistically there is a chance) of you getting water ingested through your CAI worries you , then I would suggest going back to the OEM stock intake which is really a fine intake. The AEM and stock intakes are preferable to the REVI in terms of performance. You will get a small hp upgrade and a small mpg bump with the AEM CAI. No dramatic change but it is a safe way for your rotary engine to make a little more power. Sans FI, the safest and most economical ways to make more rotary engine hp are intake or exhaust mods.

 

I wonder if you got one of the ones that was reported here on the forum.

Yes, it CAN be a problem. It's easy to avoid the problem by avoiding deep water, but if you opt to not avoid deep water / flooded parking lots, etc... then yes, the depth of water that the 8 can tolerate is greatly reduced with an AEM intake vs a stock intake, and ingesting of water and cracking the engine block has happened. No, not common, because it isn't common that the owner of an AEM equipped car encounters deep water AND decides to drive through it. However, there have been those handful of cases reported where they encountered deep water and drove through it anyway, ingested too much water, and cracked the block when water couldn't be compressed and something had to give.

Just avoid anything deeper than a couple inches at most, and you are fine.

 

Thanks, mostly lines up with my thoughts. Planning to drive through the winter anyway. This compares really well with an Alfa GTV that I owned, only more powerful and an oil change doesn't require 12 litres of oil. The AC and heater works and it doesn't rust in the morning dew.

 

Since as you say you are not a huge fan of CAI and the car had a broken engine due to water ingestion (If the car was originally from your area home area, then you may have some rainy weather or flooding issues where you live) In that case , as this will be your DD, I think you might have better peace of mind going back to the OEM stock intake.