What in your opinion is the best mod for the buck, I have a maximum of 500$ to spend. This money can get me either: intake, pulleys, midpipe, highflow cat or reprogrammed ECU.

I was leaning towards spending the money on a resonated midpipe, but was warned that I will be shooting flames, dumping gas and getting CELs. So perhaps getting a high flow cat like the ones offered by SR Motorsports and RP is the better way to go.



Does any one have a better idea on how I should spend the money?

 

SR has a used one for sale, maybe that's you're best bet

http://www.srmotorsports.com/Used_Mazda_Parts.html

 

if i were to go with a high flow i would go with the rp

 

...save it for your next car...

 

rOtor, we meet again, thanks for the constructive input

next car should arrive in 4 years in the form of a lease take over Cayman (if I manage to donate enough...), so I doubt 500$ will make or break

 

good choice for the next car.... though I think i would put the money in the bank and go with an RS4 myself

Glad to see your ok though, we were actually starting to wonder what happened on C&D because of no p0sts about the new car!

OK, $500... I have an RP supercat, not sure if I would do that one again. I haven't been able to prove it gained any power and I'm not that fond of my new exhaust note - it sounds seriously tinny at 4-6k rpms. Much happier with the purchase of the canzoomer piggyback ecu (but buy it used) and the gains I was able to show with it, although it takes alot of time to tune properly and if you don't tune it right its not going to do anything for you (hence most of the stories here)...

honestly, the best $500 i spent probably is the: factory mp3 player, clear corner lights, trunk cargo tray, and the racing beat oil cooler and ac condenser screens

 

Spoke to both SP and RB regarding high flow cats.

SP: about 8-10hp increase with just the highflow cat. Said the stock catalytic is really restrictive.


RB: "we do not really believe in high flow cats for this car, since a high flow cat is still a cat and is thus still restrictive", so they don't even have it under development, their estimate an increase of about 2hp.

So as you can see there is a difference in philosophies here.

RP seems to side with SP on this issue, I have not talked to them but their website dyno chart shows a maximum of 9hp increase at about 8400rpms.

Note: All of the numbers motioned here are solely for the highflow cats and do not include any other mods.

So as you can see there is a disagreement on numbers or facts between RP & SP and RB (not opinions since they are proven by dyno results).

I am still inclined to get a high flow cat, the question is which one do I get? SP says that theirs is street legal, while RP is says:
"It has been tested several times and can pass a smog test with flying colors. Because this is a new design, CARB and Federal emissions certificate is pending. This is a perfectly street-able cat system but is for off-road use only."

I am leaning towards the one that is made by SP but have to act quickly since their discount ends this Friday.

any thoughts?

 

this was my take when deciding....

The RP cat from an engineering standpoint looks like it will flow better because of the shape of the entrance and exit transitions around the catalyst and the fact they enlarge the cat to 3" rather then the stock 2.5".

The SR guys use (*i believe*) an extremely high quality random flow technologies ceramic catalyst - which is designed to flow extremely well and stand up to high temps. Their cats are also CARB certified. The stock cat is ceramic as well BTW. The RP catalyst is a metallic catalyst which has an advantage it won't crack under impacts but theoretically would be less tolerant of heat - however no heat issues have been supposedly experienced throughout the rotary community. The RP catalyst is not CARB certified, but should pass an emissions test.

Fitment wise the SR pipe has all the factory hangers. The RP one does not because it is much lighter then stock - however some people needed to weld an additional hanger on because of clanking noises.

I personally have a horrendous buzzing sound around 4-6k rpms with my RP cat that I can't figure out if its a loose catalyst, vibration from not having the hanger, an exhaust leak, or just how the damn engine sounds. I also could not proved I gained any power after repeated data logging. The exhaust note at idle is nice and deep once the catalyst gets warmed up, but before that sounds horrible and smells bad - I'd wager the metallic cat takes longer to get up to temp.


So its pretty much a toss-up as far as i'm concerned. If you can get a discount on the SR one I'd go for it.

 

Aluminum Flywheel.

 

driving school

 

If you can get a good deal on a part, like the high flow cat, then get it. Otherwise, I'd say sway bars and oil/condenser screens.

 

strip club

 

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-aftermarket-performance-modifications-23/4-778-final-drive-%24296-77054/