cai worth it

[Greenbread]

i mean 200 is hard for me to come by. so am i gonna notice any diffence besides sound? thanks

[Nightmare]

is there one on ebay?

[Mazda3hatchback]

Intakes are well worth it. I pulled an extra 10 horses with my K&N intake. Sounds great too when you gun it. Real race sound. Fortunately I recieved mine for free but look around you can get them for good deals as long as you do your research.

[NRRfrogmanP5]

as long as its manual yes

[Protege52003]

i believe gains are minimal with just the intake. i use an ebay intake i got for $55.00 and it looks nice and sounds nice.....i noticed no gains though!

[Zoom-Zoom03]

If you look at Injen's web site they will tell you the gains for their CAI. I have a black one for sale for 170.00 + Shipping OBO. PM me if interested.

[Micah]

Intakes are well worth it. I pulled an extra 10 horses with my K&N intake. Sounds great too when you gun it. Real race sound. Fortunately I recieved mine for free but look around you can get them for good deals as long as you do your research.
+10HP as measured by who???

Where's the dyno sheet before/after?

CAI - usually adds about 3-5whp -

it's more about the throttle response than the hp

[garretts77]

+10HP as measured by who???

Where's the dyno sheet before/after?

CAI - usually adds about 3-5whp -

it's more about the throttle response than the hp
but it's mostly about the sound. Intake will compliment other mods, but it doesn't do a whole lot. I would say get an ebay intake and upgrade the filter. It will end up costing about half of the price of an Injen.

[Micah]

he could also just get the ebay intake - and modify it to be a CAI

or fabricate a simple heatsheild box out of aluminum.

Personally, I like the sleeper look/sound. Intake doesn't make quite so much noise though - just sounds like your engine races easier - which it does due to increased airflow - resulting in better throttle response.

[Mazda3hatchback]

My car added 10 horsepower in third gear running at 3000 rpm going 70 miles an hour. Went from 103 hp stock to 113 after intake installed. Measured by K&N before and after.

[Da 6]

i believe gains are minimal with just the intake. i use an ebay intake i got for $55.00 and it looks nice and sounds nice.....i noticed no gains though!It's a mazda 3 not a civic...the only avalable intakes on ebay are injen and aem for now...

[AzMz3]

+10HP as measured by who???

Where's the dyno sheet before/after?

CAI - usually adds about 3-5whp -

it's more about the throttle response than the hp

Thats pretty much a blind statement to say. You have to remember this is not a protege. This engine does great with mods. I will be dynoing mine shortly to see if the 10whp is about right. But I would definately say it would be more than 3 - 5 whp.....The focus 2.3L is putting down close to a 10whp gain with just an intake.

[Da 6]

yes as stated before...new engine lineup(not fs-de platform) gains are really felt and heard :)

[Micah]

Ttiwwd

[Mazda3ofKent]

It's a mazda 3 not a civic...the only avalable intakes on ebay are injen and aem for now...
he he he those silly little civics

[memo79]

+10HP as measured by who???

Where's the dyno sheet before/after?

CAI - usually adds about 3-5whp -

it's more about the throttle response than the hp

DAMN. You're hella quick to dispute HP claims. He didn't say anything about gaining power. READ:


Intakes are well worth it. I pulled an extra 10 horses with my K&N intake. Sounds great too when you gun it. Real race sound. Fortunately I recieved mine for free but look around you can get them for good deals as long as you do your research.

He works on a farm, and his job is to drag dead horse corpses to get disposed of. He added his K&N, and can drag each corpse a little faster than before. This results in him having enough extra time on each shift to pull an extra 10 horses.

[/bullshit story]

[Da 6]

K&N intake was the worst of the intakes and costed as much as the injen?

[TuRbOtEcTicS]

any one installed the injen on the 2.0?

[Micah]

yes - quite a few people on this forum - use the search

[Mazda3hatchback]

Ha ha about the farm post. I am not BSing. Intakes are for midrange power and I did gain an additional 10 horespower from stock 103 hp to 113hp going 70 miles an hour in the 3000 rpm range. I will download my sheet and show you I am not kidding.

[Mazda3hatchback]

Hey guys look closely at the peak of both graphs. My stock readings were red and my blue readings are after the intake. Remember to keep in mind that intakes are for midrange power not over all. It didnt comeout very nicely but you get the idea. I can email it to someone if they want to see it clearer.

[Da 6]

shit you got 10 hp of the K&N even with the chrome rims on!

[Micah]

Hey guys look closely at the peak of both graphs. My stock readings were red and my blue readings are after the intake. Remember to keep in mind that intakes are for midrange power not over all. It didnt comeout very nicely but you get the idea. I can email it to someone if they want to see it clearer.
Where was this dyno run done? Phone number? I've never seen a dyno sheet with the K&N logo on top before. Does this place rent out ad space on their dyno printouts?

Interesting.

[Dmack_901]

I worried about the same thing, but I decided to take a change and buy an AEM CAI. Trust me, it's worth it. Although you don't feel real big physical gains, the change from vrrriiinggg, to vroooouuummm... is definatly worth it, IMO.

[Da 6]

Vnnnnnnnnn is more like it. Yeah 2.3 with intake sounds nice specialy in 3rd

[Screamin'3]

He is only getting ~4.5whp peak gain. The 10whp gain is at 3000rpm. The dyno sheet is supporting DA6, that the gains are midrange and in throttle response.

[Mazda3hatchback]

Well guys I told you I was not bsing. I didnt get much overall but like I said intakes are for midrange power not over all. It helps in the shifting. As the dyno sheet that was given to me by K&N engineering themselves while I took my car up to have them install my intake. Remember also that the engine hasnt fully gained the effects of the intake so gains can be higher after driving a 100 more miles. My car is also an automatic too so manuals will probably be higher.

[Da 6]

Manual will definantly have a difrent story to tell ;)

[tgv121281]

Guys, I just received my AEM CAI and as I'm reading this I'm getting more and more confused. The following comments may be ignorant b/c I'm new to the tuner scene, but this is what I've found through research. 1- this is the 1st time I see a claim of 10WHP from a CAI only....are we sure we're not talking 10HP which would clear things up??? 2-The dyno sheet has KNN logo on it b/c it was done by KNN, point is they probably tweaked everything they could while still leaving the car stock in order to be able to advertise it.

Also, I have a question-I'm about to install the CAI, and I have a catback ordered. Is it safe to say that either of these 2 mods ALONE realistically dont give much power, but the 2 COMBINED will? IE: CAI alone = 3-5whp, Catback alone= 3-5whp, BUT CAI + Catback together= 12-18whp? Or do you just do the math and say that the 2 together give 6-10whp???? In other words I hear that you get more power from mods when you combine them with other mods. And I wanted to know if it was true, and also what to expect from the CAI/CatB combination. Also, will it be sluggish off the line????

Thanks for your help!

[Da 6]

air box is restricive nad exhaust will be midrange to hi gains...low end may appear to be lagging

[Mazda3hatchback]

Its a 10 horsepower increase at the wheels thats how dynos are done. Second of all K&N didnt tweak anything except their intakes to make sure they dont get SES lights for running to rich or lean. As for the K&N logos thats their so called stationary they use for their dyno sheets. Its not used for advertisement. That dyno was taken off my car only no other cars. Thats why my name is at the top for the stock and intake installed readings.

[tgv121281]

Relax bro, whats your deal? Did I knock your #'s ANYWHERE in my statement? Did I not say that I'm new to this and I was just putting my 2cents in?

PS-dA6, thanks for the input..Do you think it'll be a significant lag at low end? I'd hate to lose the ability to spin the wheels so easily!

[Mazda3hatchback]

Sorry if I came off strong didnt mean it. I was just writing it this way to get to the point so no one is confused.

[Da 6]

you won't notice the lag till you go back stock. the sound of the exhaust will give you an intoxicating illusion that you are goung as fast or even faster than stock on low end ;)

[tgv121281]

no harm no foul,

Anyway, da6 I didnt really understand what you posted about noticing the lag when I go stock. Sorry for the ignorance-but can you rephrase?

PS-I'm installin gthe CAI today/tomm, is there any last minute advice anyone has for me? If you have any input on the install(what to do, what not to do, tools needed, dont forget, watch out for, etc...), please fork it over as this is the 1st perf. mod being attempted for me....

[Da 6]

if you took the aftermarket exhaust off and put stock parts back on...

[Micah]

I'm still waiting for the phone number to that shop.

[tgv121281]

Thanks for the 411 da6

[badAzLava3]

The math isn't additive, but at times it can be synergistic.
If the basic engineering of both were crap, you'll have a ton of gain.
If the basic engineering was good, you'll have a lot less gain.

The intake on the 3 does look to be a bottle neck for getting air in.
So If I were a betting man, I'd bet more gain happens there than elsewhere.

So basically, 18whp is not going to happen..with an intake and exhaust, but 10 whp is very doable.

The K&N shows 4.4whp gain, the 10 is ft lbs of torque at 3k rpm.
Even with that, the numbers are sad, and 4-5hp and 20 ft lbs behind what the 5 speed gets.

So if you have an Auto, every bit helps, but a lot of the gain still gets eaten by the slushbox.

Sorry.



From what I can see, the exhaust is not that restrictive, so 3-5hp there is about what you can expect. Dumping the second cat would help, but the EPA and your local state gendarmes would have something to say about it.

[Da 6]

He also has chrome rims on...chrome rims on a civic dynoed almost 12 hp less. Who knows what that could yeid for the 3.

[tgv121281]

Guys, finally did it. The intake is in and its great. Only been 3days, but no problems so far. Sounds great, and runs great! Feels like the bulk of the power gains are between 2nd, 3rd, & 4th gears. Dont feel much low end loss. Install took a little over 2hours, but thats considering this was the 1st tim eI took a wrench to any car, and the fact that I was improvising since I dont have all the proper tools. I'm addicted and moving onto the next mod. Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement. Also, gettin gback to the original topic of this thread, IMHO the $200+ bucks for the CAI is most def. worth it!

Here's some pics!

PS-If anyone need any info in ref. to this, let me know. I kept notes to ref. for future use!

[Da 6]

yep even if it didn't show gains it was worth the sound you make driving up and down the street.
(cool)

[Mazda3hatchback]

Actually it is a gain of 10hp. The dyno they use unfortunately doesnt show torque. I will try and scan the sheet for the full size to show that at the bottom, its miles per hour which at 70 miles per hour at 3000 rpm the car gained 10 whp. Look at the side where it says HP. They took a look at the dyno graph and noticed a big gain within that frame of 70 miles an hour and 3000 rpm. Going from 103hp to 113 hp. Now remember this is accelleration so as the car reached it peak the over all came out to 4.5 whp. If you know how to read these graphs take a closer look. They are definately basing it on HP because the 103 hp is exactly based from the HP graph on the right and the 113 hp as well. Take a pen and draw a straight line from the 103 hp mark across to the HP side and what do you have exactly where the 103 hp is. Same with the 113 hp mark. Draw a line straight across to the HP side and walla it fits right where the 113 side of the HP. Man you dont know nothing. It must be a coincedence.

[tgv121281]

Again, just a rookie and only judging by my butt, but I dont feel the biggest gain @ or over 70MPH. More like 40-60MPH. But hey, numbers dont lie I guess, just putting my 2cents in

[untouchablemz3]

^^^^dont cry please!

[Da 6]

K&N doesn't let in as much air as Injen and aem reason it doesn't send cels more airflow=fuel trim CEL INJEN is the main one giving us (I4 and V6) cels...mater fact they turned their backs on the 6 after their failure to drive the car more than 5 miles cause a V6 wouldn't make it halfway down the block withought throwning a code. I4 took 100 miles for initial and me every 3 weeks.

Yes chrome is heavy X4 (lbs added Per corner) As I said manny times you can't have go and show at the same time. Look at the 3600 lb speed 6 with 18's(gearing ratio on a 4cyl!) and every package we couldn't get here thrown into the car to "Make up" for it. Turboed but 1 second faster than a lightly modded 19K V6.(movng on)

My coment was if there was no gains shown for the sound it makes in top of 3rd gear it is still worth it(original topic at hand)

[tgv121281]

This is the 2nd time you get all bent out of shape over a simple opinion. Do me a favor and keep your BS to yourself b/c no one wants to hear it. Everyone and their mother has good & bad opinions about things, and thats great if you can learn to share them w/out sounding like a wannabe tyrant. This site is geared towards tuners sharing info w/ each other to help one another & of course for some bragging. Not to prove on eanother on every single issue. I'm telling you what I feel and think after I installed it on my car and I drove it for about 100miles. I dont have any problem w/ AEM, I dont have any cels, I have more power and I'm happy. So I shared that opinion WITHOUT throwing anyone under the bus. Seems like everyone here is on the same page except for you, so why dont you throw yourself UNDER your cousins Camaro rather than trying to beat him! (fuoops)

[Mazda3hatchback]

Chill man like I said making a point. And by the way that, was a mature remark. Was there anything in my post slamming on somebody. If you were on this board near the beginning of this year everybody practically were throwing cells like crazy with the AEM intake. And yes they did rush out there intake. INJEN and K&N took there time to do research and get them out when they knew there were not going to be any problems. You should know that all cars are different even if they are the same make and model. I just wanted to use my old camaro as a point. I dont know why your tripping but its got to stop. Your new on this board and your already causing trouble. Oh yeah DA 6, you right its either all show no go or all go. Once you start adding body kits, chrome rims or bigger wheels stuff like that your just taking away from your power. I love my chrome wheels because it really helps with the looks of the Mazda 3. Even though I gained 10 HP I lose most of it with the wheels. I just love the sound of the intake though. Its really nice. I dont know how the K&N intake is designed with a smaller tube but the size of the intake is a 2.5" pipe. That seems pretty huge for a I4. Is Injens bigger.

[AzMz3]

If you were on this board near the beginning of this year everybody practically were throwing cells like crazy with the AEM intake.


Thats not true at all. Being one of the first to get one and have not had a single problem. If you were to look at those post and read them you would see that if they did get a CEL it was installer error.

[Da 6]

? How do you not instal it right?