Just in case any auto owners/noobs are wondering about whether or not this intake will work an auto, I installed mine today successfully and all appears well.

Just a brief review:

The product:
AEM cold air intake

product/part impressions (quality,fitment, instruction detail etc.):

I was very impressed by the overall quality of the part(s), the piping was huge and gorgeous and nothing was missing when it arrived. As a bonus I got some stickers and a license plate frame on top of the intake etc. as part of the kit. I really like it when companies do this, it's kind of an extra "thank you" for purchasing their part and it's a nice little surprise when opening the box and checking out everything.
Fitment was perfect, no issues whatsoever, everything fit as it was supposed to.
The kit came with excellent instructions, as a precautionary measure I had researched everything on here in addition to having the instructions, but I probably could have gotten by w/o doing so as the AEM instructions were more than adequate. I did notice the 4 port doesn't have some of the same vacuum lines that the 6 port has, so everything I unplugged got plugged back into something. From reading the directions, it would appear there are some pieces from the 6 port that get plugged or are no longer used.

driving impressions/noise level etc.

I haven't driven the car very far, all I did was take a spin around the block, leaving the car idling for about 6-7 minutes and then taking a quick drive was enough for me to tell I hadn't screwed up anything lol The car is a little louder at idle, kind of has a high pitch to it now like a jet engine. I noticed it idles a lot smoother, and does scream when revved up to 7k or so. Tomorrow will be a good test as I will have to drive to work etc., that should put about 40 miles on it total which will give me a better impression of how things are holding up.

pros/cons?

start with the pros:
noticable difference in sound
really dressed up an otherwise plastic filled drab engine bay
should be getting a little better mileage now
high quality parts/kit with bonus schwag like stickers etc.

cons:

might be too loud for some, even though I could hardly tell a difference from inside the car
did take a lot of work to install, over 5 hours for me off and on as I kept hitting snags taking things off and putting them back on. (it is worth mentioning I also swapped foglight bulbs, and I also had to do some minor repairs to my bumper mesh, this may have added maybe an hour or so altogether)
nothing stealth about this bad boy, you pop the hood and know it's there. Some folks might like the stock look, if so, I would recommend going racing beat or doing the "airbox" mod for this one.

I did notice my ECU isn't happy right now, it's showing my "dsc" indicators full time. I should also mention that it was having issues prior to this install too though. The other night all my lights came on at the same time, I was reaching over thinking my handbrake was still engaged but then I noticed all of them were lit. I got home okay, and the next morning on the way to work everything was fine. I did disconnect the negative before starting work on all this, but I probably need to find the "resetting ECU" thread.

I have some pics from the install below:

Here are the goods:



eeeek!! where'd my nose go?!?



side view, almost done!



installed! But now i have to put it all back together....ugh



done for reals this time, bumper back in place and all



here's a front shot to show where the filter sits behind the MS front



If anyone has any questions I recommend doing a search, this intake has been discussed to death. If you have a hrd time finding what you're looking for feel free to pm me, I'll be glad to help

 

Great write-up, thank you very much

Just a quick Q though.

Is the longer piping better, or worse for (any?) HP gains?

I have the K&N Typhoon V2 CAI, and it definitely has a shorter pipe. My Airbox is still under the hood, and there was no need to go into the bumper housing.

As for the look of your CAI over stock, no question about it....it rox!!!

Edblor

 

the longer piping is to place the intake further away from the heat of the engine. hence "cold air intake" does provide better gains.

 

turn steering all the way from left to right and then right to left.

beers

 

ah hah, I thought I remember seeing that somewhere, thank you sir I'll give it a try, can't wait to drive it a longer distance tomorrow too

And yes, the longer piping is for extending the filter beyond the engine bay for cooler air

 

Ummm? Why?

 

resets the dsc.

beers

 

btw,
to reset the ecu after the r flash... i find that you have to disconnect the batt.... yes you will lose your radio presets..

after the bat disconect. turn the key to on and pump the brake 20 times... if you do it the old way without the disconnect. the ecu does not reset all the way.. you still will be stuck with you old ltft... and that defeats the purpose of the cai....

btw, what is that cross bar.. need something like that to get to my shock adjusters.

beers

 

cool, I'd found the pre r flash instructions, but hadn't been able to locate the post r ones, I may actually do this tonight before I go to bed lol (it's almost midnight now )

edit: I just saw your question lol The strut bar is a greddy piece, I got mine from www.sportcompactonly.com as they take the carcareone card

 

yes.
post r flash the only thing that clears the ecu is the bat disconnect and key on brake pump...

great photos btw...

and that filter is HUGE

beers

 

okey dokey, just went and did the whole reset deal, but I'll have to wait until tmorrow to drive it to see what's going on I guess

 

Stupid question : When it comes time to clean / replace the air filter how hard is it to remove? looks like it's a pain in your photos.

 

not a stupid question at all, and it is going to be a pain. On the other hand, the mesh we went with in my bumper has smaller holes than the factory mesh, and there is giant piece of plastic that sits underneath the car as part of the front end so even though it is visible, it is well covered and will probably stay clean for quite a while. There's also a piece of plastic that pops off where I can do a lazy man's cleaning job if nothing else as it allows me some access.

 

How likely is the filter gonna be clogged by water very soon either from rain or carwash?

 

i have 1 statement and 1 question: ur grill is ******' NICE. and where did u get it from? i was thinkin about gettin the AEM intake but my friend told me that the HKS suction kit is alot better.

 

Very unlikely as rotaries don't hyperlock as easily as normal piston engines, there's even a mod for 2nd gens etc. where they actually push steam back into the motor to clean out carbon etc. Driving in the rain or wahsing the car will not have much of an effect at all other that making the filter a little damp, not to mention it is actually pretty far back as well. (although you probably can't tell from the pictures)

There really is no such thing as a "better" or best intake for this car, it's really about personal preference. The HKS won't gain you anything more over this one, it may even gain less as it's not a true cold air filter. You could also argue that the AEM is better because Mazda pretty much duplicated it for their "new" Mazdaspeed cai but that would seem silly to me as I like I said, I don't believe there is a best intake for this car. I have seen and heard the K&N, the Racing Beat (with ram and exhaust) and now this one, and even though it's probably one of the more cumbersome/intensive ones to install, the drive to work this morning was SICK, and I actually got out of the car smiling, I haven't done that since I first got the car. It sounds amazing, and when you get on it, the thing sounds like an exotic, not to mention it is running better, and seems to have a little more pep to it. I'll know more once I take it on a road where I can push the car a bit though.
The mesh was purchased by the body shop, the Mazdaspeed bumper comes from the factory with black mesh, but after seeing it and how it looked on the car/bumper, the shop and I agreed to do something a little different. (I really didn't like the size of the holes, it looked a lot like chicken wire to me) I was a little nervous at first going with silver/polished/whatever as opposed to black but after seeing how everything turned out I couldn't be happier. I can probably find out from them where exactly it came from if you like

edit: forgot to add, reset the ECU after doing some searching and following Swoope's advice and this morning car was perfect, no cels, no weird indicators lighting up that shouldn't be etc, everything was perfect so thanks swoope and everyone else that has posted how to do that

 

is it bad that I didn't leave the catch box when I installed my AEM? basically you can see my fans when you open up the hood, i figured that it would let air circulate better under the hood....

 

nah, should be fine, I'm debating on taking mine off and just doing a very thorough cleaning underneath where it is now. Can you tell any difference in temps? probably not, but figured I would ask anyway

 

Well probably not, but when I do open the hood after long drives, it doesn't feel as if there is as much heat as there was without the aem unit... also when i put my hand on the pipe its not hot at all..... so I guess it helps, but i was just asking whether something could happen.....

 

I don't think anything could happen other than the fan being a hazard while the car is running, as far as driving it you should be fine as there is a huge piece of plastic underneath the car that covers that area pretty well from underneath.

I also drove the car in wet conditions yesterday, we got hammered big time, rain was coming down so hard it was falling straight down. None of this "skimpy drops at an angle bidness", these were huge drops coming straight down in buckets. Car drove fine, no issues whatsoever with the wet roads or rainy conditions at all.

 

hey, i would like to know where ur body shop got the grill from cause i would LOVE to have a grill like that. about the intake, i was thinkin the same way as u were until my friend told me that the suction kit is better because it allows more air in and other that being a cold air intake, it also cools the engine down by alot. i'm guessing that's y it's $100 more expensive than the AEM cold air intake.

 

Well I've heard that the HKS "suction" is supposed to increase the air flow and all but the jury is still out on that, as for making the engine any cooler I SERIOUSLY doubt an intake would have that effect. I'm not an expert by any means, but if intakes can drop your engine temps that's a new one on me. It's entirely your call though too, you really can't go wrong with either one, I don't think there will be a huge difference (if at all) other than looks and sound between the two, so if you have the extra dough and want to go HKS by all means you should go for it, it's not like you'll be getting ripped off or buying a low quality piece.

 

to be honest do not get the HKS, two of my friends who do have 8's had the HKS suction unit, and it sounds so ricey, like a ******* pissed off Mosquito haha.. literally after we installed it, we drove it down the street, and his neighbor who was outside, said it made his head hurt....now one of them has the REVi and ther other has the MS CAI....

there are so many intake threads, but from my knowledge the HKS unit is just like the K&N unit whereas it sucks up a lot of "under the hood air" so it basically heat soaks... Whereas the AEM/MS CAI and the REVi are closed off and bring colder air from outside the car... obviously not bringing any increase in HP, maybe 1 HP at most.....

 

I would gamble that it's a hair more than just one, I could be wrong but I do remember seeing a thread a while back where the ones you mentioned were getting about 3-5 more hp on average, nothing earth shattering but then again, every little bit helps

 

i thought stock intake has that variable length intake paths depending on the engine rpm? I think installing aftermarket intake might take the benefits away (which i am not really sure of...)