Hi, I was thinking about adding the Mazdaspeed cold air intake. Anyone have any thoughts on this? How much horsepower it will add?
This will be my 1st mod. I'm not really trying to build a racecar but just want a little more than what I have now which is 2005 auto, pretty slow.
I hear that exhausts don't do much for the 8's.
Anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks.

 

well you should search before some guys here will rip you a new one... Also you probably already know that our 8's aren't mod friendly, so the intake, exhaust etc.. won't give you much gain, maybe 4 HP on topend power....... as for exhausts its mostly just for noise...... the common ones are Greddy SP2, MS SPORT Cat, BORLA, and B&B... good luck

 

What part of "SEARCH" you dont get ?

Damn it man, learn how to READ and use the SEARCH function before any questions, and needless to say theres like a god damn sticky post about it on the forum.

My god.

 

best mod upgrade to manual.....

 

lol, well i wont be as mean as some peepz in this site. I know how u feel, cuz we were all once there. hahah anyways as for the intake, the mazdaspeed, aem, or the racing beat revi are the ones getting the best reviews. As for the power gain, your not gonna get much.(If any, it will be very minimal) If you want best power results for the $$ i would go for a midpipe. Try doing a search on them. i have a B&B(billy boat) test pipe. They should add somewhere around 10hp at peak. so good luck wit ur car and enjoy it

 

just an FYI....your car comes stock with a Cold Air Intake System.

Basically MAzda will not release any HP gain numbers from their filter on a stick...wonder why that is?

If you must get an aftermarket intake...I would suggest the racing beat one.

I would suggest keeping the stock OEM box, remove the VFAD and interior baffles and then place a High Flow re-usable drop in filter panel in.

 

^ Good advice ^

 

Hobby,

I installed the MS CAI on my 2006 Shinka and saw minimal gains on the dyno. After a good cooldown 1-3 horsepower at best.

FWIW, the car definitely sounds better after the mod. Also, you can see the filter element and chrome pipe through the stock front grille. I think it adds a nice visual touch.

 

I stripped out the two mesh screen inserts before the MAF today. Idle is exactly the same and per racing beat....you gain 1 HP for each screen you remove...thus +2HP for a free mod. I also wonder if these aftermarket intakes are only providing gains equal to the removal of the two mesh screens.... 2HP.

So my current set up is, VFAD removed, interior air box baffles removed, Advanced Flow Engineering Hi Flow drop in filter and both MAF mesh screens removed. My guess is that I flow just as well if not better then the Mazdaspeed filter on a stick.....next step will be to enlarge the oval inlet into the OEM air box....which should gain +2HP.

 

I would be careful about removing screens. They were put there for a reason, and you might start seeing the check engine or eventually get a rough idle/stalling.

 

if you really decides to get an aftermarket intake, you should get racingbeat and the duct. and if your dealer is hella hard to deal with, then go for the mazdaspeed cold air intake. well i personally don't know whats the gain difference between those 2, but i own a racingbeat intake with the duct and i love it! well i don't think theres even a difference between the 2 anyways except one with the stock look and one with the chrome pipe

 

i'm in ur position bro, but i say go for the HKS intake. i heard it was GREAT for RX-8's. as for exhaust, go with HKS too cause they make some really NICE sounding and lightweight exhaust that'll add at most 25hp but at least 15hp.

 

lol^^^no they wont

 

Some exhaust actually lose you power. I would surmise that an aftermarket intake and exhaust will net you 8 WHP..maybe. Not bad for close to $1,000

If you want some real power gains you need a high flow cat or mid-pipe..that will only be ~$350...and should give you 8 RWHP or so.


The following table lists the measured power gains from various aftermarket components. Testing has been conducted on the Racing Beat engine dyno with both pre-production and production Renesis engines.

1. Intake – enlarging the oval inlet to the factory air box - +2 HP (this modification eliminates the VFAD intake duct.).
2. Headers – approximately 4 HP peak power gain.
3. Mufflers – muffler & connecting pipe - 2-3 HP.
4. Removing the muffler from the car (engine) – about 4 HP.
5. Remove catalytic converter and resonator from the engine completely, and replacing with "cat" replacement tube – max benefit 8 HP – regardless of what muffler is used (or even no muffler).

 

Dont remove those screen dude. The reason is that because it helps to fix up the airflow.

If you remove it, your engine might just suddenly shut off when u're going on a highway.

 

Yeah, pretty much to add 25 hp you're talking FI. Well, unless of course you add the Turbonator, then you should be able to get 25 easy!

[edit: ]

 

You are jocking, right? Itn such cases you should use comical faces , or people will take you for a real deal.
...Turbonator LOL

 

Yes I was jocking, but I'll edit it anyway for you. I'm pretty sure most people on here won't have a problem getting the sarcasm.

 

Jag - how is it going without those screens - no problems ?
Can you actually notice any HP gain ?
Had a look at that oval intake - looks pretty difficult to enlarge . Let us know how you get on with that .
This may be good for the DIY section once you have it all sussed ?

 

Hi Brettus, It is going well. I drove the car today and the idle was very good....I would say the idle is 95% as constant as before...my wife drove the car and did not notice any difference, which is a good sign.

You can't notice any real HP gains with 2HP....but I plan to place one of the screens back in. I wanted to see how it worked. Tomorrow I am driving into work ~40 minutes in stop and go traffic and I will see how it does then. One time, when I was shifting into 2nd gear from 1st (9000RPMs) the 2nd gear shift seemed to stumble..which never happened before....so maybe it has some weird turbulence when the RPMs dropped down quickly.

As for enlarging the oval inlet into the factory air box, I plan to do that once the car is out of warranty period....in ~9,000 miles. Once I am out I will take my grinder with a cutting blade and enlarge the oval inlet of the sheet metal in front of the OEM air box. Next would be to cut the plastic on the airbox. Lastly would be to get some aluminum sheet metal to box out the larger ovals so no hot air form the engine would get sucked in.

 

OK......RX-8 stalled out twice today...once at a stop light after driving and the second time in my parking spot....I will put one screen back in tonight and see how she runs. I will do the screen closest to the MAF.

 

^^ See ? didnt I say !

Put them back, it helps to direct steady airflow. Im serious. You dont want any sudden shut off when you're going 75.

Cuz its just not funny that out of nowhere, your powersteering stop. Engine dies, and ABS doesnt work cuz theres no power.

 

I appreciate Jag doing the test & telling us what happened - you never know he could have been onto a good thing ........

 

Or just fit the RB duct ?

 

Ok, I put one screen back in last night closest to the MAF. Car idled fine this morning...it did not stall out when stopped and in neutral. And I was pushing it hard this morning too, multiple red lines and the car was hot and still idled fine..

nycgps..I understand the issue with removing both screens before I removed them. In my opinion, there is no way the car would stall out while engaged in gear. I was more curious to see how it would idle. With both screens out the car would idle fine for about 15-45 seconds or so then the RPMs would suddenly drop ot ~500 RPMs..and then stall..sometimes..other time it would just idle without stalling.

I plan on leaving the one screen in and see how it does over the weekend. If it continues to do well, I will leave the other one out for a spare.