So i just finished the install of my MS CAI on my 2005 RX8(MT) and i thought i'd share some of my opinions on the installation and the results.

First, i'd like to say that up until around the time i bought my 8, a year and some change ago, i have never even had an interest in cars, and i knew NOTHING about them. Hell, putting oil in my old honda was a mystery to me. So now lets fast forward to now, after buying my 8 and lurking on these forums forever.

The installation was relatively easy, considering i've never taken a single bolt off of a car before, the worst part for me was taking the bumper off, the directions are fairly confusing to a non-mechanical individual such as myself. another snag i caught was that one of the damn hose clamps they included was far too small; i had to grease the **** out of the elbow peice to get it in place.. also, mounting the MAF back onto the new intake was confusing to me since i didnt realize i had to take the damn mount from the stock intake.

All in all though, once i had everything assembled it took me no more than 20-30 minutes to put everything back on, and take it out for a test drive. So, that will put my non-knowledgeable installation time at about 4 hours, most of which was figuring out what the hell i was doing

The *** dyno tells me theres no difference in power, if anything there's maybe a slight increase in throttle response, but its hardly noticeable. The best thing about it is the really throaty intake sound, you can really tell the difference. All in all i'm pretty pleased.

 

Good job.................mod on! You just got your first fix of many more to come!
Some will be good, some will be bad, some will be easy, and some will be rough.
............................And so it goes.

 

How do you dyno it?

 

reread the start of that paragraph emphasis on the

 

The curse of the modding has begun... lol nice man.

 

Congrats!! Always a huge sense of pride when you DIY and don't just drop it off and pay someone else to do it for you. Saves you money to spend on the next mod

 

haha yeah, next up is the headers and catback...i live in sunny CA so smog sucks my nuts, probably put it in right after i get smogged this year

 

haha, yeah duh. Thought you meant stupid *** jerk dyno.

See if it gets any better MPG overtime..

 

fyi Falen.Angel, get an exhaust that you can bolt your stock CAT in when you need to get tested.
Not all aftermarket exhausts are stock length and size. I have autoexe header and ap exhaust, I like it. It's really loud though. Examination tome and i put the stock cat in for the day and blam! pass, then, blam! dual res pipe back in. Pure win.

 

^ good point...

 

Chad: Thanks for the heads up; I'm still under the correct assumption that i can put on new header and catback without getting rid of the stock cat? i kind of figured the whole point of the "catback" was that it went from the catalytic converter BACK, such being the purpose for "cat delete" pipes. Despite wanting a better exhaust note plus wanting higher flow for when I get around to FI, I dont want my car crushed for not having a cat on there :P I'm in law enforcement here in CA and trust me, CHP does NOT **** around. But, I happen to be rambling now, haha.

Forgive the ignorance, apparently i must lurk moar.

 

Congrats, man. I also noticed no real change in performance when I installed mine. This was disappointing after changing intakes on all my other cars, but at least I was prepared for it with all of the good information on this forum. The sound is amazing!

One heads up...You may find it difficult to keep your filter dry. The sleeve that came with my filter is just large enough to fit over the cone, and I find my filter to be damp from time to time. I'm working on devising a different method of fitting the sleeve better or attempting to find a bigger sleeve that will work all together.

And, in case it needs to be said, be careful about driving through standing water. Congrats again!

 

headers aren't going to do much tbh. Use what you would spend on headers for a super nice catback.

 

bahaha I'm not that retarded...but on that topic, I pulled up to an eclipse the other day on the side of the road (I'm in law enforcement) to see if the driver was alright. He had an extremely similar intake, and drove through a large puddle (like 3 feet deep, quite literally) . Needless to say, it seems he sucked water right up through that thing! I got a pretty good laugh at that.

 

^HILARIOUS! I'm a Firefighter and, when we get rocked with some good storms, they'll tone a general alarm for coverage. Even driving through heavy downpours has given me a few problems with a saturated filter. If I could do it again, I'd have gone a different route. But, now that you have it, enjoy it. I do really like this intake and I think you'll be happy with it. I love the way it looks through the grille...and the sound! Be safe out there.

 

haha always safe, never sorry :D

 

I have seen a lot of people running their CAI without the sock, claiming that it will "rob horespower". A word to anyone with the AEM/MS CAI.. use the sock, it helps.
I'm not saying this is what the OP is doing, just a general FYI.

 

Nice job man. i have a MS intake and an AP dual res cat and exhaust. I keep the stock cat just for emissions. I have a rattle in my exhaust (i dont think I bolted it tight enough) but it is loud. Nice, but can be a bit annoying at around 4K rpms. From everyone I've been talking to, headers don't do much if anything. I agree with other when they say just get a good exhaust. Keep in mind you won't gain much horsepower at all. I did notice in mine that it pulls very strongly from 5K all the way up to redline without loss of breath. You will see a serious gain in flywheels but not too much with exhausts. I have to join everyone else by saying that you have been bitten by the tuning bug. Its great!

 

Kind of a dumb question but what tools are you gonna need for the MAZDASPEED /AEM cold air intake

 

flat head screwdriver for worm clamps, small phillips head (for oem maf), 10mm socket for oem intake removal.