I am looking into a CAI for my RX 8 and was noticing that you can make your own for alot cheaper than buying a factory one. I would like to know the pros and cons of this from people that have some experience with this.

 

good luck getting the MAF tube.

 

oh no... where is the PVC intake with two filters? Its gonna show up....

The MAF is tuned to the OEM size tube and there are screens in the intake passage to smooth out the air flow and reduce turbulence across the MAF.
A slight change can really play hectic with the MAF.

Word of advise... you bought a nice car, don't throw cheap junk at it or else you'll regret it in the end.
Look at the AEM/MS (MazdaSpeed) intakes.
They are designed for the RX8 and look great in the engine bay.
Here is a pic of my AEM intake when I had it installed:

 

do you really want something that looks like this in your engine bay?

 

lol

 

it doesnt work, i tried it after buying my 8 before i knew about the engine. The placement of the MAF needs to be perfect, the tube size has to be right, and you may need screens installed to smooth out airflow. Even if you had a AEM intake in front you to duplicate everything, i would guess it would still be pretty tough to get everything right and not lose power.

 

many turbo owners made their own because there were no good aftermarket intakes available. If you get the airflow correct, it doesn't matter the size of the maf housing as the factory computer can be scaled if needed. I assume you have an accessport, since it would be dumb not to own one.

with that said, I like the AEM CAI.

 

go for pvc pipe like pictures above.....j/k

and if you were to do this unless you are VERY educated in making intakes I can see alot of power loss(even some intake you buy lose power)...MS/AEM

 

just cut one off of the OE intake box


yeah, they said a self-made intake would never work ...


.

 

Well,

what I have done is this.

Took out the oem box. Hacksawed the MAF tube part from the oem box. Took the little 3.5 inch tube (from the oem box) and connected it straight to a KN cylindrical filter. Removed one oem screen from stock box; Permatexed it to the oem MAF tube (MAF being about two inches away), so that the screen is almost inside the KN cylinder filter-while two more inches leads to the MAF sensor...

And because the oem box tube from the oem box connects perfectly (its factory) to the stock accordian tube to the throttle body, connected it like that, as factory.

Yes, I get hot air, but my idle is perfect.

I will soon "cold weld" ...Cold Weld is a brand...the oem tube I hacksawed off, back onto the stock box, and reinstall the stock box, with a KN dropin filter.

From there I will use a flexible exhaust fix pipe, to connect to the intake part of the stock box (which is like a flattened O kind of ) to lead outside engine bay air into that box.

Hopefully this will mimick a Racing Beat ram air duct effect. But for now, having a 3.5 inch KN filter which I bought at a Kragen/O'reilly's auto parts store, connected to the stock 3.5 inch stock oem MAF sensor tube (which I cut off the oem box), leading to the oem accordian tube to throttle body, has done me well.

I just want cooler air...

Homemade is possible. Don't hate. Good luck!

 

^pics?

 

I have done something similar to targatheory. I simply removed the lower half of the air box and the horn and removed one screen. I used K&N cone filter part # RU-4250, fits perfect in place of the horn. Idle was not affected whatsoever and no cel after 3 months. However, i did eventually replace the lower half of the box to eliminate the "hot air intake" affect and have recently ordered the AEM. Just waiting on it to get here. I will try to get some pics up of the old setup uploaded shortly.

 

As far as this car goes, Intakes are for sound... and if you use Intakes for sound... your doing it wrong.

 

I didn't have any issue running without a screen, installing a Racing Beat air supply duct to feed a fabricated enclosure for the K&N cone filter is pretty easy too

 

I found a CAI kit on ebay for say $100 shipped.. thinking I could buy a $45 dollar AEM filter and have the same thing... So I got the kit in and the MAF sensor was welded in so that it would be cocked 180 degrees off. I made an adapter for it and now everything works great! so for about 150 I have a AEM CAI. No screens, idle is a little rough at times nothing unbearable.

 

If you're doing it for sound knowing the drawbacks...you're doing it right.

If you're doing it for sound knowing nothing, or next to nothing, then yes, you're doing it wrong.

At least with this car.

 

what would the drawbacks be i'm trying to gather as much information as possible to make the most educated decision.

 

The educated decision is to buy a manufactured kit. Sure making your own kit would be cheaper, but you get what you pay for.