I have been doing a lot of research for the past few months and am about to begin modding my car this summer. as of now i plan to eventually have these aftermarket upgrades:

Racing Beat exhaust
Racing Beat Intake with duct
AF SS
MM Cobb AP
BHR ignition kit

From what ive read im pretty sure this is a solid setup to start off with. what's still hazy for me is how the tuning works. Ive looked into DIY tuning and its all way over my head. so i guess this is a newb question but lets say i bought the exhaust/intake and AP at once would i need to contact MM to tune my car? can a dealership do this kind of thing? or is tuning even totally necassary for this situation.
or... would i use the maps on the AP to get the right tuning...

 

I wouldnt buy the Cobb from MM until you have everything you want on the car installed. That way all you have to do is the necessary datalogging. You dont really have anything on your list that requires extensive tuning so even if you put everything on drove around on the stock map it wont hurt anything. But MMs service is only for 6 months, so make sure you use it wisely.

 

http://www.mazdamaniac.com/cobb/instructions.htm

 

C'mon, nobody reads those ...

 

so the intake is not compatible with the cobb. hmm maybe ill skip that and get the ignition kit instead.

 

where did you read that ? No reason for that intake not to work with the Cobb . FWIW - you would gain more from the Cobb than the intake so if you do want to leave something out , make it the intake .

 

well i found this in the map notes for stage I.

YOU MUST USE THE FACTORY INTAKE SYSTEM ONLY. NO OTHER AFTERMARKET
INTAKES ARE CERTIFIED COMPATIBLE WITH THIS CALIBRATION. THE INSTALLATION OF ANY OTHER
HARDWARE SUCH AS HEADERS OR CATLESS EXHAUST MAY ALLOW THE VEHICLE TO RUN LEANER THAN

DESIRED, WHICH CAN CAUSE ENGINE DAMAGE.

also found some threads on cobb.forums about it.
http://www.cobbforums.com/forums/sho...ration-Reviews
telling this guy he should just use the factory intake.

am i missing something??

 

that is Cobb covering their *** - for that particular calibration .
The whole tuning thing is about fitting all the aftermarket components THEN tuning to get the best result .

 

alright thanks a lot that makes sense. Ill go ahead and get the other mods first. then im assuming submitting the datalog to MM is so he can choose the right map for my car?

 

He makes a tune SPECIFIC to your car and the mods you have on it. Click on the link MM posted and it explains everything perfectly. There is no one tune fits all.

 

gotchya just needed to look at the link.

 

Yeah - You're missing reading the instructions I posted instead of wasting your time on the Cobb site.
There is no intake for which I can't produce a calibration.
Some are WAY better than others (AEM, MazdaSpeed). But I have dozens of customers with the Racing Beat.

 

yup got it

 

Excellent.
E-mail me if you have any questions.