Reset ECU with intakes?
 

A friend of mine said that when you put an aftermarket intake on you should reset the ECU so that it remaps everything and "learns" the new intake. He said it can help fully utilize the extra air. Any validity to this?

The Ecu map will not change, but you do need to reset it.

Just disconnect yournegative battery rightbefore you start installing the newintake and then reconnect it once youve finished putting in the new one.

I have found that resetting might work for a day, or two, but aftermarket intakes are actually worse for performance. My aftermarket intake cost me 2-3 tenths in the 1/4 mile.

Charles

Charles, what is your aftermarket intake?
I am waiting for my MS air filter, will it affect my performane too? I have stock exhaust yet.
Can you give me some advice please?

Really? I had an AEM SRI on m Integra and it was great. I'm kind of the available scared of intakes for this car. People seem to have mixed feedback about them.

strange that u got worst performence than stock... intakes suppose to offer a but better performence cause it should allow more airflow than the stock one does...

Maybe to the average econobox racer out there, but gains have been extremely difficult to achieve on our highly strung 13B-MSP.
Certain intakes have shown losses.

i have the MS air filter and i ono if im crazy but i felt a better throttle response and it sounded a little better IMO

That's because you still retain the factory airbox which is an excellent design as it is.

IMO, changing the airbox for an open element intake (with or without heatshield) is purely for aural and visual satisfaction.

nojooc is completely correct on this one, in my opinion. The dumb thing for me was that, although I had read posts warning people about the aftermarket stuff, I had to see for myself. Then, I was having a conversation with a friend who works for Ilmor Tech. At the time I was trying to get my hands on some left over carbon fiber for a project and they were building F1 and/or Indy engines. When he described for me the airboxes that Indy cars use I got to thinking about the RX-8 airbox so I put it back on and saw my measured times drop a bit. After this, I got to thinking how I learned in school about the nature of airflow through cylinder heads being more important than the raw airflow numbers. I am sure as sensitive as the Mazda MAF sensor is the nature of the airflow is very important. Besides, I looked at my Rotary Extreme intake tube dimensions and they are no different than the factory tube. The only reason I put it on any more is, as nojooc says, for looks. I would venture a guess that the "velocity stack" on the factory intake is an important device and, as such, the HKS filters(and others similar) might fare better than most others out there. Just a hunch, though.

Charles

I agree, I have had a K&N intake which ran well but was loud, so I changed for SR intake.
I have tried resetting ECU many times after the SR install. The idle has improved but once I installed the SR exhaust, the car misfires over 5k and or 80 mph and boggs down- it pisses me off. I had car to Mazda to check out since they did all the installs. They could not fix and when the dealer called the Mazda tech line, the techs said the air/fuel mixture is the problem. I have since made an appointment to bring the car to Acosta Racing in Northern Jersey. They have told me that they have seen quite a few RX8's come in with similar problems and the fix was the installation of Greddy Emanage system. I will be able to report by Wednesday.

RX8FOREAL, Let me know how that E-Manage works out for you. I need a piggyback in order to get to the next level of nitrous boost and I am wondering how well the E-Manage might do for me. If it can be programmed to flip to the nitrous map only when the throttle body hits 3.8v and the nitrous master switch is activated would be cool. It would be nice to have two optimized discrete maps for both N/A and nitrous conditions. Thanks.

Charles

I have the MazdaSpeed air filter too...

But I think I will be lying if I felt the same as you did. Mind you, I have gained 10kg since I have the car and my butt dyno is becoming insensitive :D

Unless you have extended the CAI, like this Hongkie dude did

https://www.rx8club.com/australia-new-zealand-forum-37/cold-air-induction-oem-box-44956/

hmm, once I get the air filter, I won't be using it straight away then...
I think its better to wait for an ecu upgrade... they'll work better together...

In reference to my last reply, I want to say that I can write in proper English. I was tired and the "y" on my keyboard sticks.

From all the negative feedback about intakes I've read here, I don't think I'll be buying one. Only if AEM puts one out will I consider it. I had an AEM SRI on my old Integra and it definately worked. I kind of agree with those that think that AEM doesn't have an intake out yet because it's just not easily workable on this car. Different cars have different places where power can be unlocked, and I'm thinking that the intake system on this car is just not that place.