ETS TMIC installed today

[sparkplug]

Well I installed by new ETS TMIC 3.25" and also a BPV from Forge. I can say that it made little to no difference on my car. I had a MS CAI on there at the same time. Mind you it is -4 degrees C here in Canada so I am not sure how much that is playing but I expected more out of it.

Now on the other side of the coin it does have some nice bling bling since I got it polished by ********** and the shroud is powder coated black.

I see others saying how it made a big difference and I have to say it made very little.

I have attached a picture. Sorry the engine bay is not as clean as I owuld like it but all the salt on the roads makes it hard to keep clean right now.

enjoy!

[gr3y]

Well.. move to Hawaii! 90°F Not fun for intercoolers. You'll get your monies worth outta that new TMIC!

P.S. Even if you're not noticing improvments now, your engine bay still looks sick! :D

How hot does it get there in summer?

[jam_asian85]

Well.. move to Hawaii! 90°F Not fun for intercoolers. You'll get your monies worth outta that new TMIC!

yup agreed, move to miami ;) and then you'll see the difference
if not i'm willing to take it off your hands :D

[Young Roids]

I notice that you don't have a billet aluminum oil cap. I thought all MS3 had those.

[ericrapp]

Installed my 3.5 today! Easy to install, but finish could've been better on the shroud plate. I'll probably do somethin to clean up finish. Already did some filing to clean up edges, maybe I'll look into anodizing. Seems to function well, but Summertime will tell. Stock clamps seemed very loose as did torque on Valve so I felt better about fixing that. Did see abit of oil from pcv as I beleive is common. It's 39degrees today. A little rub mark on underside of hood in plastic air ram. I will shim backside to see if it helps. no big deal , it will be an easy adjustment yea Igot the cap red!

[sparkplug]

Well I think I spoke a little to soon. I just came back from driving around and I have to say that my bottom end is not as good as before but the high end above 4500 is stronger. It seems my power band has moved upwards with the addition of the BPV and the TMIC. So I am still happy since I am seeing some benefit and once I get my downpipe and manifold I think that it will work better. I think the computer just needed to get used to the mod since it got better as I drove it.

GR3Y: It gets actually pretty warm in the summer around 37 C on the high end and normally around 27 C so nice and comfortable.

[ericrapp]

Should I reset with battery disconnect? I did not. Blue sky today. I'll run her out on some open road today. Probabaly my imagination, But spool up seems louder.

[sparkplug]

Yes disconnect your battery for a few minutes and pump the break's to make sure the energy left in the system is gone.

Reconnect and start driving.

Wow your up early. Its clear here as well but still cold. I can't wait till April when things really start to warm up.

When you took your TMIC off did you do the stretch spring trick for the sparkplug coils ?

I did it and my power seems more consistent with zero hesistation. I used to have some hesitation and now I don't. It took like 5 minutes to do.

[Jesse MS3GT]

Why doesnt someone get a baseline dyno run done then buy one of these and get some more runs in to log an actual difference. Then have a few with FMICs do the same so we can put these issues of which is better TMIC or FMIC to rest! lol. I had a baseline done with my CAI last year but the shop I went to recently closed down due to the typical winter slump here in the northern MW.

[sparkplug]

Its seems that PG did this a long time ago and saw some benefits. They have a dyno of the results.

Mine seemed to get better as I drove the first day of making the change. The power did seems to be on the higher part of the powerband though compared to without the upgraded TMIC.

[Jesse MS3GT]

I dont trust shops or companies who sell the products to post accurate before and after numbers... They can always play with the numbers, I want numbers from actual enthusiasts lol

[ericrapp]

no I did not stretch but I thought about it for sure. I will have to remove again anyways. Jesse I'm not associated with a shop. But if I had access, I also would like to quantify parts and tunes There are some, each about an hour away. But It costs money and I'm spending it doing bolt ons right now. Next month i'll be able see real data on our laptops but not yet. Sparkplug thanks for reminder and help

[ericrapp]

Ps Car ran very very hard today Embarassed a friend in his 07 Si sorry buddy Ilove this car!

[sparkplug]

ericrapp: Very nice indeed!!!

ericrapp: I was driving some more today and the Forge BPV really helps to hold boost in between shifts. I find there is zero lag between hard shifts now compared to before so you get a really nice launch as you shift gears compared to before.

Jesse MS3GT: I am the same way I would do dyno's but I am getting the parts on the car instead with the money. I will get a dyno once I get my final parts in and installed.

ericrapp: I am glad you are having fun with the car. I saw on another thread people talking about other cars like the BMW I135 and I really have to say that the MS3 is the best bang for the dollar spent. I mean its got great power, very comfortable seats, good options even rain sensing wipers. The rear seat is actually great and comfortable for people you want to carry around. I mean its a great car and hard to beat. Plus if you add a little bit of money it becomes a monster on the road.

Enjoy!

[ericrapp]

Enjoy! to you too. This car really is something else. Received Cork sport Turbo Back Exhaust System Monday and what a nice piece it is. It won't be installed for little while but I hope to see a measurable ( Butt dyno again) increase in performance! Are you going to free up your exhaust? Seems like you are at that stage. peace

[sparkplug]

Yes I have a Corksport downpipe coming this week and a PG exhaust manifold which should be here in the next 2 weeks. I will install the downpipe first and see what the gains are and then the exhaust manifold. I am doing the downpipe first since its the one that will show you if you have a bad seal on the turbo so I want to keep the mods to minimum before I can see if the turbo is ok. If I need to get it replaced I don't want Mazda to be worried to much about the mods but I did see that there is a new turbo now for our cars so that might be an option if Mazda does not want to replace the turbo due to the mods I did.

I might install a mid pipe if I can find one with a high flow cat. Then I might do the rest of the exhaust depending on if I can find a tame enough option. I like balls to the walls performance but in stealth mode. I really like to see the look on peoples face when they get into my car and feel the butt dyno and go wholly crap this has tons of power.

After that I am just waiting for a tuning solution and the Cobb AP or the hydra seem to be the front runners right now. At that point I will be done with the engine mods and should be happy with good power and drivability since this is my daily driver and I don't want to have to rebuild the engine.

Cheers!

:)

[ericrapp]

This is turning into a pm my bad. But it is your thread eh? Yea post up on oil smoke. I'd to see if this happens and I bet it doesn't. option on turbo, if it fails, upgrade, always! Does cp-e have stealthback? might be wrong on that. Lastly please We will tune ourselves and see what we can find. Feel free to pm me. Whats hydra? thanks

[jy1051]

lol you all have to move to maryland where humidity is the killer.....

[ericrapp]

lol you all have to move to maryland where humidity is the killer.....

Humidity comes around here now and again and it seems to lessen performance. As does 85+ degrees.

[sparkplug]

We get about 1 month where the humidity is really bad but aside from that its nice weather well at least for 3 months out of the year :)

enjoy!

[SHAGwagn]

Yes disconnect your battery for a few minutes and pump the break's to make sure the energy left in the system is gone.

Reconnect and start driving.

Wow your up early. Its clear here as well but still cold. I can't wait till April when things really start to warm up.

When you took your TMIC off did you do the stretch spring trick for the sparkplug coils ?

I did it and my power seems more consistent with zero hesistation. I used to have some hesitation and now I don't. It took like 5 minutes to do.

How do you do this stretch spring trick? Can someone explain from beginning to end clearly please :D

[ericrapp]

Tru boost knows

[redspeed]

How do you do this stretch spring trick? Can someone explain from beginning to end clearly please :D

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123694249&highlight=coil+stretch

[ericrapp]

Spark, is downpipe on yet? I'm interested in your results. I'm trying to decide about suspension bits now.

[sparkplug]

not yet.

I was away on vacation in the the south in the warm sea :)

I have not received the DP from PG yet or my new manifold but I should be getting them this week and this weekend I might have the downpipe on her.

We shall see.

Stay tune.

[ericrapp]

hey spark hope v k was nice. post up when you make some headway on THE project! and if you search, some of the members have posted their recent exp with exhaust installs while you were away. Staying tuned

[crossbow]

You can't really dyno the effects of an intercooler for a variety of reasons.

The main reason is the fact that the design of an intercooler can effect boost levels. Any modification which effects boost, will show a gain not from the mod itself, but from any changes in the boost pressure of the vehicle.

It is incredibly easy for any manufacturer to show large horsepower gains from a dyno with an intercooler swap, just by fiddling a tiny bit. If you ever see a manufacturer post an actual dyno of "before/after" IC results, also ask for an A/F and boost graph. More often then not, you'll see these are out of wack from stock, and thats where the gains are coming from.
Thats why you will generally not see a dyno of an intercooler but a "supporting horsepower" #. This is to help you decide on sizing without doing alot of research. You can get into some crazy long arguments over sizing, so I won't dive into that now, unless someone wants me to repost the mazdaspeed6 intercooler sticky from 6club. (Short summary: Bigger isn't necessarily better, and can be far far worse then stock).

Judge an intercooler by it's endtank design, its efficency rating, and its pressure drop. Not by its size, bling factor, or dyno.

This is what an intercooler "dyno" looks like.
http://www.cp-e.com/imgs/MazdaSPEED6_Intercooler_Research_PDF.pdf

Remember that the primary function of an intercooler is to reduce charge temperatures due to the compression of air molecules from the turbo. It's not designed to make power. That's merely a side effect by lowering charge temps.

Quote from intercooler article
"he function of an intercooler is to reduce the amount of heat generated by the compression of air by the turbocharger. It does this by passing the charge temp air through a series of channels/vanes which are externally cooled by either ambient air or water. The primary reason for reducing the charge temp is to help reduce the chance of detonation. Excessively high charge temps can increase the chance that the air/fuel mixture will combust spontaneously outside of the main flame front. Detonation is insanely bad, it causes excessive stress to drivetrain components. Secondary benefits include, cooler air is denser, and contains more oxygen per cubic inch then warmer less dense air. The more oxygen you can fit in a given space, the more fuel you can add to it, and thus the larger the resulting boom. (Hopefully a controlled one). ) Formula's below for those who like math. Intercoolers are measured by efficiency, which is basically the % of heat they can remove from the charge temp (caused by the turbo compressing the air) , prior to the air entering the engine. The higher the efficiency, the greater the temperature drop. Of course the problem with efficiency (and why it isn't stellar on stock cars) comes down to design. The more efficient an intercooler is, generally the larger the pressure drop of the air traveling through the intercooler. The denser the intercooler is, the more pressure loss. It is this balance of pressure loss vs efficiency that drives intercooler design."

[sparkplug]

This is good info and I agree. I would like more of the info on the forum to be realistic for people so that people do not get the wrong impression of what something might or might not do for there vehicle. I am happy with my purchase but it did not make a big difference like some were claiming. It made a slight difference. I am going to be adding my new PG manifold this weekend and a Corksport downpipe the weekend after so I am sure the changes with the intecooler will help since the air will flow better then before and my exhaust will also be more efficient.

[jeffmsp]

to make more power you need to run more aggressive a/fs and timing now that you have a higher knock threshold. Your ecu does not know that you changed anything. The IC will not heatsoak as quickly (or at all in DD) which is a big plus but I doubt your ass dyno could feel the small 5-10HP difference (I doubt you would get more without proper tuning) in a car that already has so much power.

[sparkplug]

Yep I agree 100%. I was thinking of the Cobb AP or Hydra since they have total control of the environment. Now hopefully they come out soon :)