Advanced Race Technology "long tube" cold air intake made for my 2013 CX-5 GT

[theorie]

Advanced Race Technology "long tube" cold air intake made for my 2013 CX-5 GT

My RX-7 is waiting on a new 20b (3 rotor) to come in, so for the time being I've started to play with my 2013 CX-5 Grand Touring "daily driver"...

I just had my friend over at Advanced Race Technology (Sarasota, FL) fab up this custom "long tube" cold air intake for my CX-5 Grand Touring. The filter sits just behind the fog light, so if you wanted, you could remove the fog light for a ram-effect, but I kept the fog light in place since it seems there is still plenty of opening down there for cold air to be pulled from the bumper/fender area (instead of the hot engine bay, as you would have with CorkSport's short intake kit).

Right off the bat, I can tell you there is a definitely change in the sound tone of the car under acceleration. It sounds a bit more "throaty", and it slightly louder. Advanced Race Technology has an in-ground dyno right in house, so we're going to dyno the car with the stock airbox, then dyno it with the longtube intake. For now, I'm trying to see how average gas mileage is affected. He said if there is demand he can make more of these.

Keep in mind this is a quick prototype fab job and not production version quality. The production version would have less welding, and a true billet CNC MAF mounts.

A few pics:

Just wanted to share.

 

[Gregx-5]

Is that filter boxed in down behind that fog light hole?

 

[GAXIBM]

With the intake that low, if you pick up water in that intake it will kill your engine and Mazda won't cover the damage. I would not drive it in any standing water and not follow traffic at speed that are throwing up water...

 

[theorie]

Is that filter boxed in down behind that fog light hole?

The angle on the photo makes it hard to tell exactly where the filter sits. The filter is actually positioned just behind & above the fog light area.

With the intake that low, if you pick up water in that intake it will kill your engine and Mazda won't cover the damage. I would not drive it in any standing water and not follow traffic at speed that are throwing up water...

Wrong. It's highly unlikely any water will get "sucked up" though the intake unless you plan on fording a river. You would need to drive though water that is well over a foot deep. I wouldn't do that with my CX-5 even if the car had a roof-mounted snorkel intake. This is a road car, not an off-road mud truck.

The lowest point on the filter is still 1.5-feet above the ground. The filter is also blocked from water splashing up due to the undertray and the front bumper. To put things into comparison, the intake filter on my 1993 RX-7 sits less than 1-foot off the ground and the filters are visible though the front bumper opening (I run the M2 Carbon Fiber Airbox). I've driven my very low RX-7 though plenty of nasty Florida storms, and even in heavy rain, it never "killed my engine". Even if water did manage to splash up onto the filter, It's perfectly OK. Some water can even enter the engine without "killing" it, so long as you aren't submerging the intake filter and allowing a lot of water into the motor. (Side note: I have a water-injection setup on my RX-7, so I am literally spraying water into the motor. It helps cool exhaust temps and it "steam cleans" the combustion area while generating more power.) That being said, the placement of the filter will protect it from excessive water, but yes, don't plan on driving though anything more than 1.5-feet of standing water.

 

[MikeM.]

I just had my friend over at Advanced Race Technology (Sarasota, FL) fab up this custom "long tube" cold air intake for my CX-5 Grand Touring. The filter sits just behind the fog light, so if you wanted, you could remove the fog light for a ram-effect, but I kept the fog light in place since it seems there is still plenty of opening down there for cold air to be pulled from the bumper/fender area (instead of the hot engine bay, as you would have with CorkSport's short intake kit).

Nice downgrade!

I think the position of your red square is off. The first photo clearly shows the intake horn of the air filter extending below the bottom of the fog light cut-out. Due to it's placement right where the "bow" wave of the front tire develops in standing water I think it's not a good mod.

I was once stranded near the end of a rural road when the river exceeded it's banks. There was only 6 or 8 inches of standing water but the air intake on my buddies Saab was only 8 or 10 inches off the ground. Not knowing that little detail, I told him he could easily drive us through, no problem, just go slow. I felt pretty stupid when the intake sucked up the flood water that created a small wake near the air dam. Totaled a Saab that was otherwise a nice car. Water in the combustion chamber is fatal to any gas or diesel engine. Shop estimate was thousands of dollars, more than the car was worth. Very inconvenient for me, very expensive lesson for him. I was young and foolish once. But not twice.

Floods happen.

I don't like feeling helpless.

The stock cold air intake has superior engineering by far. Better throttle response, quieter cabin and more power and efficiency at various rpm's.

But it's your life. I'm just trying to help.

 

[doughboyr6]

i had a mazda3 previous with a CAI near the drv side foglight and i did manage to hydrolock it.

i was driving down a city street in a warm winter night. it rained and snow also thawed really quickly that day. the sewers were backed up due to leaves or whatever and i ended up driving thru a puddle about 1-1.5 ft deep. i didn't even see it as it just looked like asphalt (it was raining and foggy). popped a whole in the engine case once it was lifted out of the car...yikes.

my car was lowered and with a CAI down that low, it was no wonder this happened, but who would've thought 1.5 ft of water in a city street. on a cx-5, this high up and if he doesn't drop, i don't see a problem. but i've learned my lesson either way and i'm leaving everything alone....

 

[theorie]

I think the position of your red square is off. The first photo clearly shows the intake horn of the air filter extending below the bottom of the fog light cut-out. Due to it's placement right where the "bow" wave of the front tire develops in standing water I think it's not a good mod.

The red square indicating appx position is accurate. As I said above:
1) the angle of the photo is deceptive and makes the filter look lower than it actually sits.
2) the bottom of the filter sits above 1.5-feet from the ground. I know this because I measured it.

To give you an idea of size/distance, the top-center of the black plastic fog surround is exactly 2-feet from the ground:

 

[pt00323i]

Dinan CAI did that for BMW E36 and E46, they offer a water proof sock to cover the cone filter. Most guys that have those in CA are fine in raining days. the idea is the same, down low cooler air.

now just dyno

 

[theorie]

Dinan CAI did that for BMW E36 and E46, they offer a water proof sock to cover the cone filter. Most guys that have those in CA are fine in raining days. the idea is the same, down low cooler air.

now just dyno

Exactly. My mother has the bumper-positioned carbon fiber Dinan intake on her Z3. Its positioned very low to the ground and she's never had an issue in 5 years of daily driving the car here in rainy Florida.

Speaking of rain, its been pouring since last night. I drove the CX-5 over to a friends house this morning to swap some injectors on his RX-7 for him. Even in pouring rain the filter stayed dry.

 

[xwedge]

can' wait to see the dyno results

 

[CodyZoom]

this is World of Warcraft but for measuring...you guys are funny.

 

[theorie]

I suppose that would make your man unit 12" long then, eh? (lol2)

Some people just love to troll.

I don't want to argue about a few inches but the photo doesn't lie if you know how to interpret it. Yes, I understand geometry and viewing angle. If the bottom of your air filter is more than 18" above road level then your CX-5 sits two inches higher than my AWD CX-5. Or you are not very adept with a tape measure.Perhaps you are not very adept at reading comprehension either. Re-read my post - I said "6 to 8 inches" of standing water. Big difference. And the car had not been lowered. It was a standard mid-sized Saab that looked like this:

You can "interpret" the photo however you like. The fact is, the lowest point of the intake filter sits about 1.5-feet above the ground, despite what you think you know from seeing one camera-phone photo. I have no problem using a measuring tape. I've fabricated a number of parts for my 400rwhp RX-7, including intake & intercooler piping for a custom ducted-SMIC setup:

And I currently have the car torn down to the chassis for a bottom-up restoration/build that I'm doing in my home garage. I think I know a thing or two about cars...

What??? You are equating injecting a fine mist of water vapor into the intake with driving through standing water?

Also, more on water in the engine: a little water in the motor won't automatically "kill it" as you've so stated. You can literally feed a gallon of water into a motor in a matter of minutes. Perhaps you don't know about "steam cleaning" method of feeding water into the motor (not injection) e.g. http://www.berrysweb.com/steam_clean.htm.

Have you never seen cars race in the rain? Even an F1 car with a massive front duct that rams air directly into intake manifolds isn't bothered by a little rain. You think there is no water getting into the motors here:

Or how about all the cars of the Muscle cars of the 1960s/1970s that featured "ram air" hood scoops, that fed air though top-mounted carbs. You think water wouldn't get into the engine while driving in the rain?

The fact is, floods happen and sometimes you need to get somewhere or help someone. I know the CX-5 is not an off-road vehicle but floods happen on city and country roads too. I don't want to be crippled by a silly mod that decreases the vehicles natural performance and threatens total destruction of the engine. The stock cold air intake is 33" above ground. Very nice insurance against getting stranded in water. Heck, I wouldn't want to drive through what looked like only 3" of water with that intake mounted because you never know just how deep it's going to get half-way across. Your front tire dropping into a pothole could be the final straw to totalling your engine and leaving you stranded. Obviously, no one is going to force me to install that crap on my CX-5 but I have the right to recommend against it.

Maybe you are planning to drive though almost 3-feet of water, but I'm certainly not - even with the factory airbox. I have absolutely no plans to drive though standing water over 3-6" in my CX-5. If you honestly think everyone needs to be prepared for flash foods and to act as off-roading emergency vehicles, then perhaps you should trade in your CX-5 for a Jeep or Humvee. (lol2)

As I stated before, this is a raod car, not an OFF-ROAD "DOOMS DAY PREPPERS" FLASH-FLOOD EMERGENCY RESPONSE VEHICLE. (rlaugh)

I'm sure it will turn your CX-5 into a real powerhouse(boom02)

I have an RX-7 for that. Please, if your only input is to thread crap and post false/assumptive information, find another thread to do it in.

Now you've embarrassed me! Normally I would never measure ANYTHING before considering a modification. I don't want to know the dimensions of anything relevant. That's too nerdy. I'm more of a seat of the pants kinda guy. Why cripple yourself with measurements and facts that just prove you are making things worse? Who needs that? LOL! The only time I normally bother with measurements is if I'm trying to sell something that's hard to sell. That how I can afford a dynometer. It's already paid for itself in sales of cold air intakes (basically over-priced and under-engineered tubes of silicone or metal). Sales go way up when I show potential customers all the extra ponies those stupid factory engineers left grazing in the field. Most people think numbers don't lie, see - that's how it works. But how embarrassing - you caught me with my tape measure out.

I don't own or work for Advanced Race Technology - as I said before, it's my friend's shop. They specialize in performance upgrades, fabrication, engine building, and tuning. Recent cars they've built for customers include: a single-turbo Skyline GT-R (R33) build, a single turbo K20 Civic hatchback (that runs in the 10s), and a twin-turbo Dodge viper, a twin-turbo Mazda RX-7 (not mine), a number of single-turbo Toyota Supras, various Porsches, and a handful of other Skyline GT-Rs (R32, R33, and R35s). Currently they are twin-turbochargining an Audi R8 and building a single-turbo K20 Lotus Exige. The owner also builds race-ready (i.e. Spec) Mazda Miatas for customers, and he also races one himself.

A.R.T. in Sarasota, FL:

(Old photos...they haven't updated website in awhile, but just so you can see some of the cars they work on / build.)


Now, as I said before: troll elsewhere.

 

[theorie]

Off Topic Post

 

[IHeartGroceries]

You can drive a life time with a low-sitting intake filter, and never ingest enough water or mist to destroy engine if you are careful. If you suck that much in, the engine will shut down anyway, and without restarting the engine, there a few COA's you can take to rectify the situation before a total loss.

However, it is a pain in the ass and not worth the additional effort to stay out of large puddles. I can think of a million times when my asshole puckered all the way through a rain storm on some of my previous vehciles equipped with an aftermarket CAI.

The real-world problem you will undoubtedly encounter with this set-up and its particular positioning, is mist soaking the filter while driving in wet conditions. Yes, small amounts ingested don't hurt the engine. But, what it will do is screw up your MAF sensor, leaving the car running like crap until the resistors are dried and cleaned.

Not to mention mods are never at their full potential, and can even be problematic without the support of a tuning device to remap the ECU for the changes in airflow.

 

[theorie]

The real-world problem you will undoubtedly encounter with this set-up and its particular positioning, is mist soaking the filter while driving in wet conditions. Yes, small amounts ingested don't hurt the engine. But, what it will do is screw up your MAF sensor, leaving the car running like crap until the resistors are dried and cleaned.

Not to mention mods are never at their full potential, and can even be problematic without the support of a tuning device to remap the ECU for the changes in airflow.

Just to clarify, the intake filter is NOT exposed though the front bumper (or from below). I only had the fog light removed while we were fabricating. Additionally, as I explained before, the filter sits ABOVE the fog light opening, so even if you were driving without the fog light in place, the filter isn't going to get sprayed/misted with water.

 

[apexanimal]

Some people just love starting trouble...

While I don't particularly love the design, good on you for trying stuff...

 

[theorie]

I also have a 2011 dodge ram and a 23' boat. I'm not worried about flooding. Please drop it already and stop trolling.

Forum rules:

11. The act of intentionally posting inflammatory threads or replies for no other purpose than inciting or provoking others, also known as "trolling", is strictly prohibited. Mazdas247.com has a zero tolerance policy towards trolling, meaning users who engage in such activity can be immediately and permanently banned without warning.

You were fine to suggest your concern about the height of the filter and possible issues with water getting sucked in. The point was made. However, you've taken it took far, with multiple sarcastic posts and unnecessary photo spamming to derail the thread. That is called trolling.

If you are so worried about flooding, go harass these people: http://www.layitlow.com/forums/

 

[MikeM.]

We will be testing this intake, as well as the factory airbox, using an in-ground dyno this afternoon.

How did the dyno testing go?

 

[fatti03msp]

Thread cleaned up

MikeM i know you're trying to state a point and it was stated, now your just instigating the situation and causing this thread to be full posts that are irrelevant.

I left your first post cause your allowed to state your point and your thoughts but you just kept posting up none sense.

This is a warning so please stay on topic and dont be rude.

Forum Rules can be found HERE

Let keep this on topic please, also if you plan on selling these intakes on here make sure you get your AMM status.

 

[Nodnerb]

Fruitful or not, it will be interesting to see the dyno results. Looks like nice work too.

I think most of mike m's posts could be edited similarly. This is the reason mods are necessarry. Thanks for cleaning up the garbage fatti.

Feel free to edit my post if required.