Ok here is the deal. Shortly after installation I began experiencing irregular idle and often times the vehicle would stall. I took her into the Mazda dealership to have them take a look at it. They ended up having to reprogram the computer with a new image. They have been receiving several complaints similar to mine. This seems to be fairly common fix.

I'll let you all know tomorrow when I pick her up.

Rotor

 

If true, will it give the improved sound effects of the 2 other systems mentioned?

 

it would be a negative on the improved sound from just a K&N drop in, i like the RE and K&N also because of the throatier sound they would be producing

 

It probably wouldn't be as loud as the others, although it has been my experience that there is a slightly louder "whistle" (for lack of a better description) with it. What it boils down to is preference. But at what price sound?

 

alex where in miami are you? im in the lakes of the meadow (west kendall ) area

 

I will make you a bet that you gain no more than 5hp tops. Seriously I'll bet you. Your point about performance cars is flawed. I dynoed my modified 11 sec '01 Z28 with a stock filter and a K&N drop-in and gained 2hp. My friend gained 0hp in his 99 Vette, and another friend picked up 3hp in his 00 mustang GT. They just don't flow much better than stock filters.

 

Brando,
I had a K&N filter in my '91 MR2 Turbo 575hp. My question to you: are you still using the stock mass flow sensor. This would be a huge limiting factor since only so much air can get passed one. We want to control the air intake but we want more oxygen at times. With an after market you can suck more volume when you need it. Now do they make one for the RX-8 yet.

 

My thoughts on the matter have already been expressed by other members on here. Bigger filter vs heat shielding. No intake will give a huge power gain. Expect less than 10 hp from anybody's intake. This just isn't enough power to be noticable as far as sheer acceleration is concerned. Cold air does help but don't ever try to figure out how to run ram air. I know no one has brought it up here but unless your car can top 200 mph you won't need it. I tend to lean towards the larger filter element although the internal design of the filter plays a huge role too. Some aftermarket "cone" filters (I'm going to refer to this K&N filter as a cone as well) have a very nice gentle bell shaped radius inside them that aid in smoothening airflow into the pipe. Many others do not yet they all physically look the same on the outside. For those of you with the K&N system, find a way to put the stock intake cover back on. It may take a little effort and a trip to Home Depot but find a way to do it.

In the end, I'm sure that it is just a matter of personal preference as to which is right for you. If the only mod you are going to do to your car is an intake, save your money for the gas tank. With such a small gain in power it should really be thought of as a package deal along with exhaust and ecu changes. Every little bit adds up to a big amount but if the only thing you got was a little bit there isn't much point to it financially.

 

So RotaryGod from what i gather you suggest going with the K&N and then trying to put of the stock cover back on it? what about gettting the RE kit and just buying a bigger filter sort of like the one on the K&N intake? since that one already has the cover built into it?

To Chuck from Rotary Extreme, why didnt you guys use the larger filter that K&N is using?

 

I think he's suggesting to save your money for something else...

I still think that for the Much lower cost, the Drop in will probably yield within one to two HP of these two.

 

I don't have a problem with the RE kit. I just favor the largest filter I can get. I would see no problem with fitting a larger filter on the RE kit nor would I see any problem adding some sort of heat shield to the K&N kit. If this is going to be your only performance mod to the car then I say save your money. If you are going to do much more then go for it.

 

Again, thanks for all the great feedback everyone. Keep it coming, this is a very interesting topic to me.

'Rotarygod' brings up a good point. If the intake and exhaust are the only mods we're going to make, will the minimal gains be worth the $$$! I was only planning to do those two mods myself as I stated in the first part of this thread (i.e. intake & exhaust). I know that there is a slew of things that can be done and I'm sure I'll hear about them on this forum but I just don't have the funds to be able to do them all. I kind of thought that the addition of the intake and exhaust would be enough for me to notice a nice gain in hp and torque without hitting the pocketbook too hard.

What else would those of you suggest I add that doesn't start opening a can of worms. Computer upgrade, etc.? If in fact that gets done does something else have to be done to complement that mod.

'93rdcurrent' mentions something about a "mass flow sensor". Is this something that should be added to take true advantage of aftermarket intakes and exhausts?

 

I not really sure if you are referring to the camaro or the 8 in regards to the MAF. I know in the Camaro the stock MAF was sufficient for upwards of 600hp applications on seriously built cars. The aftermarket ones that were offered were found to cause it to run too lean and therefore cause the ECU to retard the timing to prevent detonation creating lost power. It provided small gains for some people, but since I was spraying the last thing I'd want to do is run lean. As far as the drop-in K&N is concerned, I seriously challenge someone to provide evidence of it gaining more than 5hp. Don't think that I am saying that you can't make big power with a modded car and a drop-in filter, I'm saying that the difference between the drop-in and the stock will be negligible. I predict these short ram systems for the 8 will make in the 10-12hp range at the peak. RE has dyno charts that show increases of like 16hp in the mid RPM range. I personally would say that is worth it and I expect the K&N would have similar gains.

 

I'd suggest the only other thing you get is Canzoomer's ECU fuel controller... $500 for 25-35 WHP is a hell of a deal, and will make a significant impact on your 8's performance. See these threads for more info: https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=14823 and https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=15950

 

Omicron - Thank you for the tip! It does sound like a great $$$ to hp ratio!

According to many of the above claims: For around $1300 we can gain roughly 55whp give or take. That's about $23 per hp or a round of beers for your boys during Monday Night Footbal. Worth it - I say yep!

 

I would agree. :D

 

THose are prob the only 3 mods i would do, intake , exhaust and ECU

 

The only other thing I'd like to see sometime soon is a header. That should round out a nice package of mods. Especially with the Stage 2 kit that Canzoomer is going to have(50-60hp). We could seriously see 80-90hp with just a couple thousand worth of bolt-ons. Most aftermarket turbo kits(for other cars) don't even give you that for twice the cost.

 

There are a few companies making headers, but the gains from them are disappointing UNLESS you get some exhaust port work done. The angle of the exhaust ports is too sharp for headers to help as much as they normally do.

 

It's too bad your dealer did not check their online technical information. There is information regarding how some aftermarket intake systems either create turbulent airflow across the MAF, or oil from the air filter contaminating the MAF element. Both can cause a rough idle concern. BTW- there is not a reprogram for rough idle.

 

Is this real??? Click here... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2448558503

 

Got to Have

 

Yeah, it's for real. I've dealt with that vendor before, and they're good people.

However, you might want to rethink that intake... it sucks an awful lot of hot air into the engine.

 

one thing that i hate is when people use the rx-evolve and the rx8 concept as photos for the production rx8, damm do these people have eyes??

 

Socal Motorsports called me up on the cold air typhon. He was reely nice and quick to call back. I did order it and I will post a how to section when I get it in in about 2 to 3 weeks.