$3000 to spend on my 08 MS3
- Thread starter Asieg79
- Start date
cool! welcome to the forum.
i don't have an ms3 but I do have a magazine article were they spent 1,599 bucks on one stage of tuning/parts and 2600 bucks on a second stage of tuning /parts to get 300hp to the wheels. = to 351 hp to the flywheel.
first stage was to get a cp-e 3 inch exhaust, cp-e cold air intake, and cp-e downpipe.
The exaust is going to help get more mid range as now the there is less restriction caused by the spent gases. the intake is going to get more air into the system for increased response as well. At this stage they made 273.3 hp to the wheels.
for stage two they did cp-e fullContorlflash and stanback ecu + cp-e intercooler. but that is more complex so I would probably stay away from that and do the cp-e intercooler as it would give you more mid range at a cost of around 1,185 bucks for the intercooler kit. A blow off valve would probably help, not for the mid range but for the high range as it would help you hold boost longer.
edit: however it don't have to be all cp-e, that is what they used but the same parts from maybe corksport or cobb, could do the trick. There is a cobb accessport that is good and could make the best use of the parts.
don't expect the hp numbers to be exactly same as the tuning and such was professionally done.
i don't have an ms3 but I do have a magazine article were they spent 1,599 bucks on one stage of tuning/parts and 2600 bucks on a second stage of tuning /parts to get 300hp to the wheels. = to 351 hp to the flywheel.
first stage was to get a cp-e 3 inch exhaust, cp-e cold air intake, and cp-e downpipe.
The exaust is going to help get more mid range as now the there is less restriction caused by the spent gases. the intake is going to get more air into the system for increased response as well. At this stage they made 273.3 hp to the wheels.
for stage two they did cp-e fullContorlflash and stanback ecu + cp-e intercooler. but that is more complex so I would probably stay away from that and do the cp-e intercooler as it would give you more mid range at a cost of around 1,185 bucks for the intercooler kit. A blow off valve would probably help, not for the mid range but for the high range as it would help you hold boost longer.
edit: however it don't have to be all cp-e, that is what they used but the same parts from maybe corksport or cobb, could do the trick. There is a cobb accessport that is good and could make the best use of the parts.
don't expect the hp numbers to be exactly same as the tuning and such was professionally done.
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bradboyd80
Member
- :
- '12 Velocity Red MS3
$3000 can actually get you a lot. Here's my .02:
Rear Motor Mount: $125-$135
SRI: $180-$250
TIP: $150
catted DP: $600-$800; you wanna go with catted for the back pressure. I'd stay away from a CBE because you'll only see minimal gains. The stock exhaust is efficient enough as is.
Cobb AP: $500-$600
FMIC: can be had for $500
TWM STS and bushings: $250
BPV: $175-$250
Total cost = roughly $2600-$2700. That leaves you some money leftover to get whatever electronics to go with it (i.e. gauges, dashhawk, or both). This should put you close to, if not over, 300hp&tq.
Rear Motor Mount: $125-$135
SRI: $180-$250
TIP: $150
catted DP: $600-$800; you wanna go with catted for the back pressure. I'd stay away from a CBE because you'll only see minimal gains. The stock exhaust is efficient enough as is.
Cobb AP: $500-$600
FMIC: can be had for $500
TWM STS and bushings: $250
BPV: $175-$250
Total cost = roughly $2600-$2700. That leaves you some money leftover to get whatever electronics to go with it (i.e. gauges, dashhawk, or both). This should put you close to, if not over, 300hp&tq.
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- :
- 06 LS MS6
07 BM GT (shell has been struck from the roll)
You would do best to post this in the welcome lounge
i have all of the above power mods (except TMIC instead of FMIC) plus a HPFP and made 290whp so this route will get you near 300whp reliably. I DD my car on a 35 mile each way commute with no problems.
Saskatchewan17
Member
- :
- 2008 TR Mazdaspeed 3
Short Ram Intake
Turbo inlet pipe
Bypass Valve
Test Pipe
Rear Motor Mount
Trans Mount
Coilovers
Rear Sway Bar
Wheels and/or other appearance items to make it your own.
That provides you with a good balance of handling/power/appearance and should cost maybe $2,500-3,000 depending on what wheels and other appearance things you do.
Turbo inlet pipe
Bypass Valve
Test Pipe
Rear Motor Mount
Trans Mount
Coilovers
Rear Sway Bar
Wheels and/or other appearance items to make it your own.
That provides you with a good balance of handling/power/appearance and should cost maybe $2,500-3,000 depending on what wheels and other appearance things you do.
(yes)
Saskatchewan17
Member
- :
- 2008 TR Mazdaspeed 3
Moved.
FrequentFlyer
Member
- :
- 2008 CWP Mazdaspeed3
So many variables here. Are you concerned about your warranty and having easily removable mods?
If I could do it all again for $3,000, here's what I'd go with. Some of the things on my list I currently have:
Intake: Corksport Power Series Intake - $239
Why? Because for $239, you get the intake and the turbo inlet pipe, choice of colors, an aluminum MAF housing and a dryflow filter.
Exhaust: Corksport catless downpipe (keep stock midpipe) - $299.
Why? One of the best bang for the buck and best sounding downpipes out there. Keep the stock midpipe to save money and for some backpressure. It'll also keep the car from stinking too bad and killing trees, which we should all be concerned about. If you want "The Full Monty", go with the entire Corksport TBE with high-flow catted midpipe for $987, but that's eating up a lot of funds for not that much more power.
Intercooler: ETS - $550.
Why? There are pros and cons to both styles and my pro's for an upgraded TMIC outweighed the cons. Everyone talks about heat soak with the TMIC, but unless you're sitting in traffic for minutes at a time, it shouldn't be an issue. The TMIC cools off pretty darn quickly once you're rolling and it doesn't take much speed with the ram air ducting that goes up under the hood. It's also easier to install and REMOVE, which was my main concern and at the time, there were no $500 FMIC kits. They were all up over $800-900.
Engine Mounts: CP-E 75 duro RMM (at the very least) - $140.
Why? Don't ask, just put it in. I'd actually spend the cash on all 3 CP-E mounts when they are finished with their passenger and tranny mounts, but at the very least, a RMM is a must.
Tuning: AccessPort - $600.
Why? I went with the AP. It works for my goals right now. Some people swear by the AP, some have switched to the SB. I have no experience with the SB. All I know is that it is significantly more expensive, so it must be better, right? It seems CP-E has quite a bit more interest in the Speed right now than Cobb does, so that may seal the deal for you. We just got the load cap fix for the AP, so lets see how it works out for some of the guys pushing more power with big turbos. For those of us still using the factory pee-shooter, we won't take much advantage of it.
Bypass Valve: Keep it stock and save $150-300.
Why? I've yet to find hard evidence our stock BPV leaks boost. Some people say theirs was leaking and others say theirs holds 22+ psi. My car ran like crap on the Forge gen1 valve. Maybe I had the wrong spring in there, not enough shims or too many shims. I don't know and I didn't want to be bothered, so I put the stock BPV back in and sold the Forge. I also had to clean and regrease it twice, which was over a span of about 30,000 miles (which I guess isn't too bad). No more "PING.. PING..." when shifting now, which is actually nice, the car a is a lot smoother between shifts and I have no noticable loss of boost/power at 18psi. I'm sure the spring in the stock valve is softer than the blue spring in the Forge valve everyone says to use.
High-pressure fuel pump: PT-Performance - $382
Why? It's a must at higher power levels since the stock pump has been known to suck (in more ways than one). Get the whole pump assembly for piece of mind that it was assembled by someone who most likely knows what they're doing more than you do and at least if something goes wrong, you've still got your stock pump to put back in if the new pump doesn't pass the break in period. I've had my PTP for 10,000 miles and it's great.
Shifter: TWM w/bushings - $250
Struts/shocks: Bilsteins or Koni's - $550-650
Why? The stock dampers suck.
Rear swaybar: Cobb - $165
Why? It'll help with the inherent understeer a FWD usually has.
I've got you just over $3,000 at $3,175 and with some tuning you'll have something near 300whp.
If I could do it all again for $3,000, here's what I'd go with. Some of the things on my list I currently have:
Intake: Corksport Power Series Intake - $239
Why? Because for $239, you get the intake and the turbo inlet pipe, choice of colors, an aluminum MAF housing and a dryflow filter.
Exhaust: Corksport catless downpipe (keep stock midpipe) - $299.
Why? One of the best bang for the buck and best sounding downpipes out there. Keep the stock midpipe to save money and for some backpressure. It'll also keep the car from stinking too bad and killing trees, which we should all be concerned about. If you want "The Full Monty", go with the entire Corksport TBE with high-flow catted midpipe for $987, but that's eating up a lot of funds for not that much more power.
Intercooler: ETS - $550.
Why? There are pros and cons to both styles and my pro's for an upgraded TMIC outweighed the cons. Everyone talks about heat soak with the TMIC, but unless you're sitting in traffic for minutes at a time, it shouldn't be an issue. The TMIC cools off pretty darn quickly once you're rolling and it doesn't take much speed with the ram air ducting that goes up under the hood. It's also easier to install and REMOVE, which was my main concern and at the time, there were no $500 FMIC kits. They were all up over $800-900.
Engine Mounts: CP-E 75 duro RMM (at the very least) - $140.
Why? Don't ask, just put it in. I'd actually spend the cash on all 3 CP-E mounts when they are finished with their passenger and tranny mounts, but at the very least, a RMM is a must.
Tuning: AccessPort - $600.
Why? I went with the AP. It works for my goals right now. Some people swear by the AP, some have switched to the SB. I have no experience with the SB. All I know is that it is significantly more expensive, so it must be better, right? It seems CP-E has quite a bit more interest in the Speed right now than Cobb does, so that may seal the deal for you. We just got the load cap fix for the AP, so lets see how it works out for some of the guys pushing more power with big turbos. For those of us still using the factory pee-shooter, we won't take much advantage of it.
Bypass Valve: Keep it stock and save $150-300.
Why? I've yet to find hard evidence our stock BPV leaks boost. Some people say theirs was leaking and others say theirs holds 22+ psi. My car ran like crap on the Forge gen1 valve. Maybe I had the wrong spring in there, not enough shims or too many shims. I don't know and I didn't want to be bothered, so I put the stock BPV back in and sold the Forge. I also had to clean and regrease it twice, which was over a span of about 30,000 miles (which I guess isn't too bad). No more "PING.. PING..." when shifting now, which is actually nice, the car a is a lot smoother between shifts and I have no noticable loss of boost/power at 18psi. I'm sure the spring in the stock valve is softer than the blue spring in the Forge valve everyone says to use.
High-pressure fuel pump: PT-Performance - $382
Why? It's a must at higher power levels since the stock pump has been known to suck (in more ways than one). Get the whole pump assembly for piece of mind that it was assembled by someone who most likely knows what they're doing more than you do and at least if something goes wrong, you've still got your stock pump to put back in if the new pump doesn't pass the break in period. I've had my PTP for 10,000 miles and it's great.
Shifter: TWM w/bushings - $250
Struts/shocks: Bilsteins or Koni's - $550-650
Why? The stock dampers suck.
Rear swaybar: Cobb - $165
Why? It'll help with the inherent understeer a FWD usually has.
I've got you just over $3,000 at $3,175 and with some tuning you'll have something near 300whp.
NocturnalSpeed
Member
- :
- 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege
(attention) Lots of good advice here.
Tronspeed3
Member
- :
- MazdaSpeed 3 GT, Pearl White
sell the car and put a downpayment on an evoX or buy a motorcycle...jk
Definately suggest tuning and suspension/wider wheels&tires... I wish i had $3k to spend on that.
Definately suggest tuning and suspension/wider wheels&tires... I wish i had $3k to spend on that.
i agree that this is a pretty good list of power/suspension/appearance mods...but the only thing I would not do is the bypass valve. I have heard from several mazda techs that one of the most common problems with blown turbos stems from aftermarket bpv's. That, and the test pipe. I had a TP on my car for around 12k miles, and recently took it off, and i noticed boost spikes all the time. Now that its off, my boost levels are perfect.
just my thoughts
What tires are on there now? Everything rides on your tires, so if you don't have good tires or other money put aside for them I would take it out of your mod budget.
Personally I didn't need many power mods to be satisfied with my MS3 (for now):
ETS TMIC: $400 used
MSCAI: $276 dealer, talked them down
Cobb TIP: $90 used
TRZ RMM: $75 used
I was going to start modding suspension, but then I bought a Miata (sssh)
There are a couple DIY short-shift threads out there, this one I came up with. There are others. I also cut and welded a stock shifter, which is a breeze if you, or someone you know, can weld.
Personally I didn't need many power mods to be satisfied with my MS3 (for now):
ETS TMIC: $400 used
MSCAI: $276 dealer, talked them down
Cobb TIP: $90 used
TRZ RMM: $75 used
I was going to start modding suspension, but then I bought a Miata (sssh)
There are a couple DIY short-shift threads out there, this one I came up with. There are others. I also cut and welded a stock shifter, which is a breeze if you, or someone you know, can weld.
J-Speed Inc.
Member
- :
- 2008.5 Mazdaspeed 3
First thing I bought was a good short-ram intake system, that really helped with the performance and sound of the car. I'm currently running a CPe Nano and CPe Turbo Inlet Pipe and it's working great! Having a short-ram intake also allows you to hear that sweet and sexy bypass valve!
I recently installed BC Coilovers which helped allot. Once you get the dampening dialed in the way you like it (recommendation on the forum is 9 front, 12 rear, I'm running 12 on all 4 corners) the car drives allot better. I didn't like how the stock suspension had a "floating" feeling to it, like you weren't really connected to the road.
Other than that, the car performs really well, just a few changes here and there to enhance the experience. Many people on this forum enjoy a short shifter as the MS3 has shifts that are a tad long for a sporty car.
Hope this helps!
I recently installed BC Coilovers which helped allot. Once you get the dampening dialed in the way you like it (recommendation on the forum is 9 front, 12 rear, I'm running 12 on all 4 corners) the car drives allot better. I didn't like how the stock suspension had a "floating" feeling to it, like you weren't really connected to the road.
Other than that, the car performs really well, just a few changes here and there to enhance the experience. Many people on this forum enjoy a short shifter as the MS3 has shifts that are a tad long for a sporty car.
Hope this helps!
lynnriderm6
Member
dont b a girl
get a GT3071R Bolt On Turbo 1800
either a cobb ap or a standback-400-600
fmic-500
used sri-100
BAMM itll be fun for alittle while
get a GT3071R Bolt On Turbo 1800
either a cobb ap or a standback-400-600
fmic-500
used sri-100
BAMM itll be fun for alittle while
J-Speed Inc.
Member
- :
- 2008.5 Mazdaspeed 3
dont b a girl
get a GT3071R Bolt On Turbo 1800
either a cobb ap or a standback-400-600
fmic-500
used sri-100
BAMM itll be fun for alittle while
Haha that's another approach that would be fun for a bit...
dont b a girl
get a GT3071R Bolt On Turbo 1800
either a cobb ap or a standback-400-600
fmic-500
used sri-100
BAMM itll be fun for alittle while
if he goes big turbo then he'll need a wider diameter TIP to fit the turbo, so your looking at an ATP High Flow TIP or Cp-e's TIP with 4" flange.
that will be another 225-275 bucks
