Aem air straightener for Mazdaspeed CAI

[240ka]

somewhere around 110mph i believe

 

[perrojordan]

^ No need. My LTFTs and STFTs are perfect with the HKS SRI.

thanks a lot. that is great to know

 

[perrojordan]

I would not think you would need one with the HKS. It is a fix for the AEM Mazdaspeed Cold Air

thanks man i appreciate it.

 

[ericrapp]

my speed on a closed course

Redline in 5th? Jesus! How fast is that anyway?

123 but i think i sneek past the redline. it is near the speedo pointer being straight up and down on my car. I did gps it at 147 once and it was spot on but ihave 225/40/18 tires on now so i think that the speedo is reading a bit higher with the slightly smaller diameter tire. When i first got the car it ran out of breath at about 6200 or so. With a couple of mods that improved alot. its nifty that with this much torque you do not need to wind it up and can shift early and still pull very strongly. Great motor these things have in them.

 

[MSMS3]

be sure to line up the vanes though.

Excellent advice. You want the vanes to be parallel with the MAF sensor that sticks down into the intake. When you are lined up, you will be about 45 degrees from vertical.

And yes, this smoothes out the air and has it flowing directly through the MAF, so that you get more accurate air/fuel ratios.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

I did gps it at 147 once

Where the hell did you find a place to do that? I need to move.

 

[MSMS3]

123 but i think i sneek past the redline. it is near the speedo pointer being straight up and down on my car.

Road and Track posted the gearing ratios and speeds for each gear at 6000 rpm, recognizing that power falls off very quickly after that.

They say 120 mph at 6000. I don't know if they are right, but the guys are automotive engineers and should know how to test, measure, calculate, etc.

That's consistent with Ericrapp's eyeball to speedo experience.

 

[ericrapp]

They are hard to find

Where the hell did you find a place to do that? I need to move.

You might be able to race jets during takeoff out at the airport but at 154.5 mph they pull pretty hard on me. ha a joke itry. I was thinking about this while driving to work this morning at the posted speed limit of 35. The slow way in. And our twelve oclock on the speedo is 130 mph. So iwill have to have another look at this at some point. and i think it is only fair to gps with the change in tires. It is said the car is speed limited. I wonder if that is true. As a fellow here mentioned that when stock the car ran out of breath at say 6000 or so. Sounds about right. After the you open up the intake and exhaust and the car will have some more to give. Can of you guys calculate what 6750 in sixth would work out to potentially be? Just a thought!(RTM)

 

[SomnoSpeed3]

Can anyone give me (or point me to) a step by step walkthrough on installing the straightener to my cai? I'm very green when it comes to working on cars. I just want to be sure I'm doing it right.

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

Can I add the straightener to my old style ms cai? I see they are only like $15.

I got mine for $7 shipped straight from AEM.

 

[ericrapp]

instructions

Can anyone give me (or point me to) a step by step walkthrough on installing the straightener to my cai? I'm very green when it comes to working on cars. I just want to be sure I'm doing it right.

Pm me if you like and i will be happy to help a brother out easy easy easy

 

[MSMS3]

Can anyone give me (or point me to) a step by step walkthrough on installing the straightener to my cai? I'm very green when it comes to working on cars. I just want to be sure I'm doing it right.

It's easy. Here's the AEM installation manual (AEM makes this for Mazdaspeed). Look at the photo for steps (d) and (e) on page 6 to see where you place the straightener and what your alignment should look like.

If you are installing the CAI from scratch, just follow the entire instructions. They are very clear and the pix help.

 

[dread]

I did not think i had issues. Now the motor seems to rev much smoother and from 4500 up. it just pulls till redline. Fifth and sixth seem to be affected the most though. I have hit the redline in fifth without realizing that i could be there already. That never used to happen. And sixth just gets silly. Now i have had a bunch of things going on with my car and modifications. Problems and lotsof good things too. I also was having random misfire codes that Mazda was looking at last fall before i put the car up for winter. Maybe it is a combo of the Densos ( colder ) and the air straightener or something else? But my motor is running great right now and the car is strong like bear. i am just an opinion. i have no data to represent. I have checked afrs after bolting on bits worried i might be lean (HAHa hardly)but do not data log. And my project is far from complete also. Folks said there was a problem with the MSCAI so for fifteen bucks what the heck. When you see the piece you will see why it might make sense in some applications.

funny you think an air straighter makes your car pull until redline. The only thing it does is smooth out turbulent air flow, which helps to maintain the stock long term fuel trims. It doesn't add power or torque. It is very easy to add to the ms intake, just make sure you orient per AEM's instructions. You may want to lightly glue it into place.

 

[SomnoSpeed3]

Thanks for the tips. Still haven't got it yet but I guess it's in the mail.

 

[GoFast]

just as a little fyi....

I put the air straightener in a couple months ago and had the cel kick on again. I am pulling it apart this weekend to see if it had shifted its position. It does fit kind of loosely and can rotate very easily.

 

[MSMS3]

funny you think an air straighter makes your car pull until redline. The only thing it does is smooth out turbulent air flow, which helps to maintain the stock long term fuel trims. It doesn't add power or torque. It is very easy to add to the ms intake, just make sure you orient per AEM's instructions. You may want to lightly glue it into place.

Agree. The straightener is important for engine safety. It helps prevent over lean AFR. It does NOT increase horsepower, nor will it magically make our small K04 turbo stop running out of steam at 5500 rpm.

I don't think the glue is needed. It was a pretty snug fit, and then the hose clamp is gonna put a lot of pressure on it when it's tightened.

 

[ericrapp]

funny you think an air straighter makes your car pull until redline. The only thing it does is smooth out turbulent air flow, which helps to maintain the stock long term fuel trims. It doesn't add power or torque. It is very easy to add to the ms intake, just make sure you orient per AEM's instructions. You may want to lightly glue it into place.

I did not mean to over sell it and i may not explain myself well sorry. I have modifications that have increased my air and exhaust flow a lot without having it tuned. I have all the fuel pressure i need now too. The car ran to redline with some enthusiasm at that point. I realize that we are getting out of the turbos rpm range any way from the compressor map for the ko4. The problem i was having was loading up and throwing a random misfire code last fall before i put the car away and thought i had an ignition issue. With new plugs and the air straightener these seem to be resolved. To clarify;The car ran up to redline before. Again i apologise for the misunderstanding, dread.

 

[GoFast]

well i took it all apart again and noticed one sort of loose'ish clamp so that may have been the issue. I also decided to re-orient the air straightener to a 45* angle instead of parallel. IIRC the MS instructions tell you to do 45 and the AEM tells you parallel. We shall see if the light trips again in about a week.

 

[MSMS3]

Approximately 45 degrees from vertical IS parallel to the orientation of the MAF as it sits inside the pipe. I think they are intended to be the same position once you are done.

 

[GoFast]

i meant 45* from parallel with the maf