Intakes!

[fufanu180]

Just curious as to which brand intake to go with...

there's so many...

K&N, AEM, Secret Weapon, etc.

Which gives the best HP gains?


Thanks in advance guys

[GoFast]

they are all pretty similar and to be honest, money can be better spent somewhere else. An intake isn't going to yield much of a gain on a na 3

[thejeans]

like he said most of the intakes are goin to yeild roughly 3-6hp... your choice as to what to get...

there are many options and many different prices
here is a list of Cold Air Intakes
Simota Twin Charger
F2
Fujita F5
AEM
K&N
Injen
Mazdaspeed (accessory)

i think thats it....

[2004-MS3]

I just bought and installed the Mazdaspeed CAI and i really like it. It didnt give a big jump in power but i can see a difference in the way it feels a lot smoother when accelerating. It also added a nice tone to the engine. The only downside is that you have to take off the front bumper. Also the Mazdaspeed CAI comes with a splash guard.

[fufanu180]

I see. I was just curious as to maybe one intake might be superior to others since there seems to be so many to choose from.

I recently installed borla exhaust and really like the sound of it but i want more power!!!

[Captain KRM P5]

we do sell alot of the weaponR intakes. they seem to work very well for the price.

[sl0wthe0ry]

^ talk to this guy here.

weaponr and simota make nice short ram intakes from what i've seen and heard.

[fufanu180]

so...short ram?

I'm sorry there's just so many choices and it's not like i can expreiment...i'm not made of money. =[

[thejeans]

do you want a short ram or a cold air??

once you decide that we can help from that point

[Captain KRM P5]

http://siteground207.com/~protegeg/product_info.php?cPath=22_310_67&products_id=1416

my number one selling intake for the mazda3

[fufanu180]

well see i was looking into cold air intakes simply because of what i heard about ram air intakes just breathing in the hot air coming from the engine restricting horsepower. but if weapon r seems to sell a lot then they must be doing something right.

thanks again for all the help, this is my first car and i'm planning on doing everything i can to get the maximum amount of performance out of my 3.

[Akaveli]

Check out this thread on CAIs for our cars.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123634585

[cfazz77]

I am in the same boat, so many choices to choose from, but not so much money,
I drive a 03 mazda protege 5 (blue)
been looking around for quite a while now

[infearandfaith]

check out option racing on ebay....i got my intake for 60 bucks shipped. It's basically a rip off of the injen intakes for the 3. There's really little difference from one intake to the other. An intake is an intake.

[Sleezer1533]

I went with AEM short ram. Sounds great and def. a big notice in HP bump. Also the best part was it came with detailed instructions with actual pictures of my actual engine!

[Chibana]

Corksport is working on one for the first gen Mazda3 right now. I plan on replacing my Simota (which has caused me major problems, to the tune of $600) with the Corksport SRI when it arrives. I'm a big fan of Corksport.

[joshritger]

I got an email from corksport yesterday saying that they should have the first SRI's for the 04-09 ready to ship on friday, not sure what colors they will have available at launch, but sounds like they will be ready soon.

[mgerst1]

we do sell alot of the weaponR intakes. they seem to work very well for the price.


^ talk to this guy here.

weaponr and simota make nice short ram intakes from what i've seen and heard.


well see i was looking into cold air intakes simply because of what i heard about ram air intakes just breathing in the hot air coming from the engine restricting horsepower. but if weapon r seems to sell a lot then they must be doing something right.

thanks again for all the help, this is my first car and i'm planning on doing everything i can to get the maximum amount of performance out of my 3.

To echo what others said a sri is not a bad investment. It does not give the same gains as a cai but it still makes a noticable difference. I have a msp but i figured i would chime in as i have the Weapon-R secret Weapon SRI on the msp and it works great. so far no problems, the filter is very easy to clean and holds up really well. I have had it for a year and a half and I love it. Just throwing it out there

[Chibana]

I got an email from corksport yesterday saying that they should have the first SRI's for the 04-09 ready to ship on friday, not sure what colors they will have available at launch, but sounds like they will be ready soon.

Excellent. I need to contact them, because I think my Simota is still causing a CEL (MAF code).

[Mazdafreak67]

I have to disagree with Gofast and Thejeans.
I've run both the SRI and CAI on my Mazda3s and they both give a significant improvement in performance and sound. Additionally, they seem to smooth-out the throttle response in the 3k-4k range.
Using my calibrated butt-dyno, I would say the SRI added about 5 lb-ft of midrange torque and maybe 3-5 peak HP.
The CAI seems to be close to double that, with around 10 lb-ft of midrange torque (3k-6k rpm) and maybe 6-8 peak HP. Believe me, I was totally surprised how much difference the longer tube of the CAI made.
The thing to remember is that what most of us feel is mid-range torque. Peak HP typically happens just before or at the redline, so it's really almost unnoticed.
Whenever you look at dyno charts, unless racing is your goal, look at the power and torque gains in the 3k-6k rev range. That's where you'll feel the difference.

[Chibana]

Butt-dynos are notoriously unreliable. I agree that in stop-and-go driving, or even in dyno testing, a true CAI will likely make more power (and this has been tested on dynos). For my driving, which is almost entirely expressway with this car, I can't imagine it makes much difference, and the SRI should have a little better throttle response due to the shorter intake path. Personally, I won't ever put a real CAI on any of my cars again, unless it has a water filter as the K&N ones do. I don't need to spend $600 replacing a MAF sensor again. My new CorkSport SRI is gorgeous and high quality.

[Mazdafreak67]

In case anyone is questioning why replacing the factory intake on the Mazda3 2.3L engine makes such a big difference, just take a gander at what the air has to fight through before it reaches your intake manifold.
Not only is it a hell of a restriction (obviously to reduce noise) but the entire contraption weighs over 10 lbs.
The second photo shows it next to my MX-5 just for some perspective of how massive it is.

http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/ss149/jjuhring/IMG_5143.jpg


http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/ss149/jjuhring/IMG_5147.jpg

[CorkSport-Chris]

Its a impressive part. Makes you wonder how long someone sat in front of a computer building that thing.

[burgmo3]

Its a impressive part. Makes you wonder how long someone sat in front of a computer building that thing.

Sometimes I think about how it costs Mazda thousands of dollars just to design the intake portion of the car and then we replace it with a $200 pipe.

[flcruising]

Has anyone tried running with the lower section just removed?

[burgmo3]

Has anyone tried running with the lower section just removed?

A lot of people have. It gives your car a more growl but no performance gains.

[speedracr79]

Well I dont have a 3 I got a 99protege I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Injen CAI for the 1.6 which you cant find anymore, but any ways I love it. like everyone said your not gonna get a whole lot of HP from an Intake unless ur running turbos, I had a buddy who had the SRI on his 01 1.6 he lost every time. I mean its really up to you I like the CAI because you get just that cooler air, and better air flow, with the SRI you get the hot air from under the hood which would you rather have. Now the only downside I think to the CAI is that you could suck in water if going through water, obviously you wont have that problem with the SRI

[L3vzoomzooom]

I love my Ingen intake for my 3

[speedracr79]

Can I get an AMEN.... I mean Injen

[Mazdafreak67]

Sometimes I think about how it costs Mazda thousands of dollars just to design the intake portion of the car and then we replace it with a $200 pipe.

It's definitely to reduce sound. At WOT, once the engine hits 2,500~3K rpm, the sound out of either the SRI or CAI intake is actually louder than the exhaust. (Let me clarify that.... factory exhaust.) Personally, I love the resonance sound made by an aluminum CAI, but I imagine the "masses" may not agree. Thus, all of the baffles and bends.

[SRH_3GT]

like he said most of the intakes are goin to yeild roughly 3-6hp... your choice as to what to get...

there are many options and many different prices
here is a list of Cold Air Intakes
Simota Twin Charger
F2
Fujita F5
AEM
K&N
Injen
Mazdaspeed (accessory)

i think thats it....

That is the one my '08 Mazda 3s GT Hatchback has.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r269/srhtx/Mazda/3s%20Grand%20Touring%20Hatchback/AFTER3sEXTERIOR18.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r269/srhtx/Mazda/3s%20Grand%20Touring%20Hatchback/AFTER3sEXTERIOR19.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r269/srhtx/Mazda/3s%20Grand%20Touring%20Hatchback/39458f6a.jpg

[Mazdafreak67]

Very nice, Stephen. So what's your take on the performance gain from the intake?

[SRH_3GT]

It feels fine. Also, my exhaust does not sound like a ricer!! I had the flash done almost two weeks ago and I can tell there is a little more gain in power.

My next addition will be a Borla Cat Back exhaust. I want to make sure my vehicle will not sound like one of those ricers.

I also use Synthetic Mobil 1 oil. It's nice only needing to change my oil every 10k miles. I also use Citgo Medium fuel or Shell Supreme fuel in my vehicle. All the good stuff.

[burgmo3]

It's definitely to reduce sound. At WOT, once the engine hits 2,500~3K rpm, the sound out of either the SRI or CAI intake is actually louder than the exhaust. (Let me clarify that.... factory exhaust.) Personally, I love the resonance sound made by an aluminum CAI, but I imagine the "masses" may not agree. Thus, all of the baffles and bends.

I agree I love the sound my sri makes. Also when I put my sri back on when I needed to get some warranty work done my exhaust tone went down, so it make just be me but I do think a aftermarket intake has something to do with exhaust tone and performance.

[christiansMSP]

if u get a sri make a heat shield!

[CorkSport-Chris]

I agree I love the sound my sri makes. Also when I put my sri back on when I needed to get some warranty work done my exhaust tone went down, so it make just be me but I do think a aftermarket intake has something to do with exhaust tone and performance.

Could have something to do with more velocity in the intake system. Faster air in faster air out.

[Mazdafreak67]

Butt-dynos are notoriously unreliable. I agree that in stop-and-go driving, or even in dyno testing, a true CAI will likely make more power (and this has been tested on dynos). For my driving, which is almost entirely expressway with this car, I can't imagine it makes much difference, and the SRI should have a little better throttle response due to the shorter intake path. Personally, I won't ever put a real CAI on any of my cars again, unless it has a water filter as the K&N ones do. I don't need to spend $600 replacing a MAF sensor again. My new CorkSport SRI is gorgeous and high quality.

Alright,
I have some field testing to back up my butt-dyno testing.
Over the weekend I temporarily put the factory intake back on and ran some acceleration tests. Luckily I live in an area where farmland and their associated straight (nearly unused) sections of road are within a couple of miles of the house.
Anyways, I decided to run some 30-80 MPH acceleration tests. This meant starting in second and slowly accelerating to 30 then starting the timer and punching the gas simultaneously. Shifting to 3rd at the redline and running full throttle to 80.
I ran 3 tests and they were all very close in time (less than 0.1 sec variation) with the average being 10.7 seconds. This number really isn't important, other than it sets a baseline that I need to drive exactly the same with the CAI. All we're concerned with is the time difference.

I went back home and swapped the CAI back in and ran the same tests.
Again all 3 runs were within 0.1 seconds and they averaged 10.3 seconds.
Since acceleration-to-speed time is directly proportional to the average HP over that time, the ratio of the two times will provide a fairly accurate average HP gain.
Since the acceleration test required a 2nd to 3rd gear shift, I subtracted 0.5 seconds from both times since there's no acceleration during the shift, and used the reduced times to calculate the actual acceleration time ratio. That's 10.2 seconds (stock) vs. 9.8 seconds (CAI).

So the results are a 4.1% average power gain in the 30-80 MPH range, which converts to 6.5 HP average HP gain assuming 160 HP for the stock engine.

Fortunately this confirms that my butt-dyno is still properly calibrated as my previous post said it felt like a 6-8 HP gain.

What I still ought to do is re-run the tests again with the CAI split and only running the upper tube as an SRI.

Also, it would be interesting to see if anyone else has the opportunity to run some similar tests and post their results.

2006 3S Touring Sedan, 5-speed manual, Eibach springs.

[Chibana]

It's cool you took the time to do this, but as far as confirming your "butt dyno" is still calibrated, not so much. The intakes all make around 6-8 hp, so there's no surprise there. It was a safe claim to begin with. Still, I agree that it would be interesting to see this test repeated many times with other intakes so there is some repeatability and comparability.

[Mazdafreak67]

It's cool you took the time to do this, but as far as confirming your "butt dyno" is still calibrated, not so much. The intakes all make around 6-8 hp, so there's no surprise there. It was a safe claim to begin with. Still, I agree that it would be interesting to see this test repeated many times with other intakes so there is some repeatability and comparability.

Originally, the idea to do this was simply a sanity check to see if what I thought I was feeling was actually translating to a measurable performance gain and not just a placebo effect. But after compiling all of the numbers and having the data be consistent with what I felt, plus as you mentioned the dyno results that others have posted, it seemed worthwhile to document the results.

On a final note, as for my calibrated butt-dyno, on average I drive 70 miles per day and in the past 5 years I've owned the following cars:
1995 Nissan 300ZX
2001 Porsche Boxster
2006 Lexus IS350
2006 Mitusbishi EVO MR
2004 Mercedes E55 AMG
2008 Subaru WRX
2008 Mazdaspeed 3
2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata (current)
2006 Mazda 3S (current)

This covers an extremely broad performance range with 0-60 times ranging from 4.5 seconds to 7.5 seconds. As a result, I've had a lot of time to fine tune my internal dyno and do feel that the test results confirm it's still calibrated.

[Chibana]

I bow to the sensitivity of your butt! :)

[MZ3SPORTRUE]

has anyone had issues with there sri making there car stall or studder? ive heard this happening with SRI's but they all did it in quite high temperatures/high elevation (outside). im assuming because the intake sucked in to much heat? but these temps were like 100+, i live in michigan so i dont experience super high temperatures or high elevation! any thoughts?

[MonchieM3S]

I'll post mine as well..

Fujita F5 CAI, installed Summer 2008
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk304/samsonR/car%20pics/carz001.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk304/samsonR/car%20pics/carz002.jpg

Just to make sure when Installing, make sure you give enough slack on your MAF wires. Scrawny little wires and mine got severed.

and here's a video.. it sounds pretty much just like that.. heh :)

http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk304/samsonR/car%20pics/?action=view&current=carz004.flv

[hat1018]

i have read that sri may cause heatsoak in higher ambiant temps in stop and go traffic, ac running. my guess is rad temp and condenser temp super heating available intake air.

[MZ3SPORTRUE]

my guess is rad temp and condenser temp super heating available intake air.

im sorry i dont understand

[mikelebz]

I just installed a Takeda SRI with dry filter. it did not come with a heat shield. I don't want any issues. should I invest in one? are there people who run it without a heat shield?

thanks,
Mike

[MZ3SPORTRUE]

do anyone particularly sell heatshields for a sri? if so where can i find them?

[hat1018]

im sorry i dont understand

cooling fan kicks on and draws air thru the rad. and ac cond. into engine bay which is already hot, and since you are not moving an sri may draw in too much of this hot air causing hesitation/stalling. "heatsoak"

[MZ3SPORTRUE]

ah ok, i guess the abbreviations through me off lol

[mikelebz]

I just bought a TWM short shifter on ebay and the seller also had a cold air intake for sale on there, but did not get what she wanted for it (I believe it was, Injen, AEM maybe?...some reputable brand I DO remember.) she said she would let it go for 130 shipped. think I should ditch my takeda SRI for this CAI? and do you think I could use my dry-flow filter on the CAI?

thanks for the advice,
mike

[hat1018]

imo cold air intake is the better deal. but also a potential to hydrolock (suck water spray into system) bad deal for mass air flow sensor and maybe throttle body. i am torn between the 2 versions both have pros and cons. my thought is to cut about 3 inches off of a cai and end up in the middle. hell i don't know. i believe that AEM sells a foam wrap for the filter that helps to prevent water from entering the system.

[mikelebz]

I mean I just want to be safe. I don't want to mess anything up. the thing keeping me away from the CAI is hydrolock, and what is worrying me about my SRI is heat(the reason for this is that I drive in a city with stoplights and stopsigns everywhere, however I rarely use AC if ever. but I have also heard that unless you are going fast and actually getting some cool air into the SRI, all of the benefits are naught. is this true? because I am stop-and-go in a city and it is taking in some hot air going fairly slow speed, are my gains just not being had?

if this is the case, I will go with CAI

[thejeans]

go CAI and then get an Outerwears Prefilter and youll be fine...

[mikelebz]

there are so many. I don't see the difference between most of them. are they just the pre-filters?
http://www.outerwearsracing.com/products.asp?cat=11699
and I should be good? slim chance of hydrolock? even when going through the car wash(my apartment does not have the space to was the car myself)?

[MonchieM3S]

I mean I just want to be safe. I don't want to mess anything up. the thing keeping me away from the CAI is hydrolock, and what is worrying me about my SRI is heat(the reason for this is that I drive in a city with stoplights and stopsigns everywhere, however I rarely use AC if ever. but I have also heard that unless you are going fast and actually getting some cool air into the SRI, all of the benefits are naught. is this true? because I am stop-and-go in a city and it is taking in some hot air going fairly slow speed, are my gains just not being had?

if this is the case, I will go with CAI

hmm.. i grew up in dc/maryland area.. never had a problem with having a CAI.

[mikelebz]

alright. thank you guys very much. any more opinions?