Hey folks,

I know this is waaaay early, but since a number of us are going stir crazy we might as well figure out what the majority of us would like to do for the first large meet of the year when the weather finally turns into something other then crap.

So... options

1) Mods Meet - Install all the stuff you've bought over the winter.
2) Detailing Meet - Get the 8's to sparkle again after winter / storage.
3) Parking Lot Meet - Be like the civics?
4) Cruise - Wander the road's and try not to **** off any farmers this time.

 

Yeah, I voted for option 1. FYI, I am looking for anyone in GTA to swap intakes with me. MSCAI for Stock intake. Thread is open on buy/sell section.

If the meet is for detailing, I'll help out for sure.

 

i am all over the mscai....lets do it!@!!!!

 

I voted for the cruise

 

i voted for a cruise. I'll be installing all my suspension at work and likely detailing it there too so those options arent really of interest to me. dont get me wrong, i would love to help at an install meet, but if we are having a meet for the sake of having a meet or the season opener or whatever, i would prefer a cruise seeing as how these cars are more fun to drive than they are too wrench on or clean.

 

I voted for an install meet, but I am also good for hitting up a pub and drinking

 

Why the heck are you giving up the intake footman? Why don't you just buy my stock intake?

 

Its my daily driver, and it's giving me a lot of issues with "wet intakes and water in combustion chamber (stalling and ****)"... you wouldn't believe the **** I went through this morning on Hwy 401/Kennedy... I had to be TOWED.

 

why the issues is it not factory mazda stuff? i want it but i dont want to tow home with it...ololo

 

You ok Footman? WHAT HAPPENED?

 

Ouch, that's gotta suck. All because of a wet filter and some slush. You gotta love mother nature!

 

Kafka,

Here's a series of events which I believe lead to the disaster I encountered yesterday.

(Feb 18)
- Heavy "WET" snow throughout the day.
- Worked from 11 am to 10pm.
- Car was parked outdoors all the time.

The key here was "wet" snow. I left work, brushed off the snow as usual and I drove off. At 10pm, there's very little traffic going home on Hwy 7/404/401. For the most part I was doing 90 - 100 km/h easily without much slowdown. This means the filter in the front was getting blasted by 90 - 100km/h speeds of wet snow which sticks to the rainshield, and some goes through it too. Luckily, I made it home without much trouble.

I park underground over night for 10 hours or so before the next morning. During this time in the underground parking garage, the temperature rises to around 1 - 2 degrees. Just enough to melt everything off my car that was stuck to it I know because I always look at the ambient temperature on the dash when I start my car. This means all that wet snow on the filter melted and slowly seaped through. It was not hot enough to dry in those 1 - 2 degrees above 0.

(Feb 19)
Outside temperature = - 7C

Started car, warmed up and drove off. Didn't make it past 5km of distance from home. No huge revs as the car was still warming up somewhat. I kept it below 4000 rpm for all my shifts. As soon as I picked up speed on the 401 ramp entrance at Brimley, it was over. I made it to the far left lane already in 6th gear, then the stuttering/sputtering started...
I backed off the throttle, the are just died in neutral at 90km/h. I tried to restart the engine while in motion, died again.. slowly tried to make my way across the lanes back to the right with the last momentum I had... stopped at the right lane just before the onramp from Kennedy southbound. The -7C temps had instantly froze all the water on the filter element as I picked up speeds. Suffocating the engine from the outside, and drawing in additional water from the inside of the filter into the engine that had not yet frozen. Essentially the ice outside forming was making a coating around water behind it (VERY VERY BAD).

I knew from the hesitation and stuttering immediately it was the filter. Those symptoms appeared so. I got out of the car right away, grabbed my microfibre and tried to salvage the situation by reaching in and patting dry the filter. I tried multiple times and it didn't start. I felt behind the rainshield (even though it was dry), but the filter had developed thick ice between each pleat of the folds!!! It's all over I thought!!!

My friend said that I was crazy, because she reminded me afterwards how I could have been killed easily by standing in front of my car doing this while ducking below to do the filter thing. I couldn't have been seen at all, and all it took was one crazy SOB to lose focus, ram be from behind, and I would be instantly killed by my own car. I had never had that thought cross my mind at all during the whole time. I guess I love this car so much I completely ignored my own safety.

After awhile of trying (15 minutes), and creating a HUGE *** BACKLOG of traffic on the 401 Westbound, the OPP and several tow trucks showed up. Traffic helicopters had spotted my red car easily from above and called them in ahahaha

Got it towed to Scarboro Mazda under roadside assistance plan (so I was covered). I kept thinking, "It's okay, the car is okay, she just needs some time to dry out..." But because I was holding up traffic on a main highway, I had no choice, the OPP told me I had to get off the road RIGHT NOW. I had a gut feeling that after the car was up on the tow truck that she would be dried out by the time it arrived at Scarboro Mazda....


... and it did. The tow truck unhooked the car, and she started up.


No CEL codes, nothing. Had Scarboro Mazda do some routine inspections, and perform the deflooding procedure just in case. I also asked them to take the filter out and please dry it with a heat gun. They took it off and verified that it was soaked through completely. They dried it off, mounted it on.

I drove to work, this time taking local roads in case it ***** up again. I stayed far and back behind from anyone to minimize backsplashing. Kept speeds below 70 km/h to minimize wind speeds. Drove on the right lane instead of the left to reduce splashing from oncoming cars in the opposite direction.

I made it to work! Then the evening came and I looked outside and noticed it had snowed some more AGAIN. I left work at 9pm, this time, I didn't want to take any chances to be stuck. I drove with the pizza box thing that Thumper3322 talked about. I made several thick cardboard cuts and shoved them inside from the opening and had them effectively block frontal winds at the filter.

It worked somewhat. I made it home. The cardboard stayed in place even at 100km/h. I felt behind it, some minor dampness from the swirling winds behind and around it. But the front was dry at least.

I'm getting ready to go to work now as I finish writing this. Frankly, I'm scared it will happen again. I'm going to drive local and hope I don't make it into traffic cameras again.

I hope I'm not making a knee-jerk reaction here, with switching to the stock intake. My friend told me that I am so blinded by my own love for this car that I do not see through what needs to be done. She reminded me how many posts/threads I have started or commented on regarding issues I've had with the MS CAI in Canadian Winters. She said that Toronto's winter's are inevitable, if I was in Vancouver, I could probably get by because it's often above 0, but Toronto's are brutal. Then she said that I was going to lower the car this year which would make the filter at an even lower point than before; this would necessitate the need to move the filter back to a higher position (stock intake!).

She concludes that since I need this car for 365 day operation and I'm not getting a winter beater, I really need to think about reliability and safety. I thought about what she said and added the forum-wide knowledge that the CAI really does not add much of an appreciable horsepower gain. It's more for noise. Can I live with doing that pizza box thing for 4 months in a year? It's simply not practicable.

I am now looking to install the stock intake back in once and for all.

I hope I haven't let anyone down...

 

Footman, its just a car and you put YOUR LIFE at risk that day.

I do respect your love of the car!

How about a Racing beat one instead hehe...

You are a engineer, you solve problems including this! DO IT man! create an innovative solution!

cheers.

 

Why don't you just spend one day prior to the winter season and put the oem back on?just buy an oem one.

 

haha someone needs to some sense into him.
hahaha it's more than "a car" it's more valuable than his life!

 

good job thread jacking :-P

 

Thread fapping? Fap fap fap.

 

I made it to work with that pizza box contraption. It's staying in there for awhile. I'm going to upgrade it with some more cardboard and duct tape. It looks super ghetto, but it keeps me out of trouble.

 

Super GHETTO!!!

 

It's a good thing your car isn't lowered with a Mazdaspeed bumper! You wouldn't get 2km from your house. :P

I really don't understand how you have all these problems. Physics is not being kind to you.

I voted for a parking lot meet because I'm all about chillin.

 

Natalia is a sensitive woman

 

That or a stubborn bitch who always gets her way. :P

 

actually sometimes I think she is a ******* stubborn bitch... it's a love hate relationship I have with her... ******* bitch, PMSing all the time in winter!!!!

 

Ahhhh women... I mean cars...

 

Helped plow the roads this winter did you Eric? MS front hold up ok?