Looking for advice

[chundo]

I am planning on doing some upgrades to my car over the next few months. One thing that may be important to note is I am in NS Canada and we have winter here, with cold temps and lots of snow, so if any of these planned mods are affected by that I would appreciate knowing.

1st thing I would like to do is get some new headlights and foglights, I am looking at Osram Silverstar bulbs...how do these compare to the eurolights?

Other things I am looking at are plugs and wires, I am considering the NGK Iridium plugs and the Magnecore wires, can anyone comment on this choice, especially the wires.

last thing I might do soon is a CAI or SRI, I am leaning to the SRI as from what I understand it has more effect on everyday (3000RPM) driving range and the CAI is for more into the 4500 range? Is this correct? Also I have heard concerns about extreme cold (IE -30 Celcius) causing performance losses. Is this correct? What is a good brand SRI?

Last of all I am looking for dealers for all this stuff, preferably in Canada.

I just had my brakes done and I am pretty happy with them, I got the Hawk pads all around and the powerslot rotors all around.

After the above is done I am looking into Eiback Prokit.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Bijou-MP5]

I say go with K&N Typoon intake, that way you can have SRI and CAI.

 

[NJP5Guy]

I've got the typhoon intake. I like it a lot. no probs after having it on for nearly 7000miles. even survived heavy flooding here in jersey this summer. it adds a great sound and noticeable power. i have yet to use it as a SRI. the mods i have listed in my sig are some basic mods. what is your main concern: handling or power?

 

[chundo]

I am interested in improving both handling and Power, but without the wife taking too much notice, but she isn't overly observant about that sort of stuff! Where can I get some good information on the difference between the CAI and SRI of the Typhoon?....is it hard to change it between the 2? I am also trying to make my upgrades as my original equipment wears out or breaks down, I will likely need new exhaust in the spring, I am over 86000Km now.

What do you think about the Magnecore wires?

Thanks for the help.

I've got the typhoon intake. I like it a lot. no probs after having it on for nearly 7000miles. even survived heavy flooding here in jersey this summer. it adds a great sound and noticeable power. i have yet to use it as a SRI. the mods i have listed in my sig are some basic mods. what is your main concern: handling or power?

 

[NJP5Guy]

Its hard to say about the wires. as far as i could tell the wires and plugs smoothed the engine out. as for changing the CAI to SRI it involves anywhere from 15-25 min to partially remove the wheel well cover, taking off the air filter, removing the last section of piping then reattaching the airfilter to the remaining piping. its not a difficult thing to do just awkward(at least it was awkward installing the CAI in the wheel well). Like i said i havent used it as a SRI. as i know it there is no dyno that shows the dif between the CAI and the SRI. it might be maybe like a 2 HP or so, though you will suck in more hot air with the SRI. the K&N intake comes w/ a water repellant cover for the filter that only restricts air flow by 10% from what K&N says but it protects the filter. also with that cover you may never nee to clean the filter just the cover....which would take a lot less time to clean or you could just buy another cover because the water repellant properties only last like 2-3 years or something like that.

 

[Replica]

The plug wires and spark plugs aren't going to add any power. Pretty much all of the intakes are the same. Ebay would be a good place to start, I got a cold air intake for $59, works like all the others...

The Eibach prokit is worth getting. Makes the car a little lower and it handles alot better than expected.

 

[aceP5]

Here are some good results for you to make your decision.

The first is stock versus injen CAI (1.8 L, I do not have the 2.0 L graph)
Second = stock versus AEM Short Ram
Last is stock versus K&N CAI.

These graphs will let you know where the power is gained - K&N (my choice) gains most in the mid range ~3500.

I also have dynos of the Magnaflow catback, MazdaSpeed axle back, and the RB catback. Let me know if your interested!!!

 

[aceP5]

Oh yeah, I always heard that the CAIs are more "restrictive". The SRs are not as restrictive. Thus with the CAI you have more torque in low range, better gains in low range. From what I have been told, I have figured that the CAI is better for everyday driving, it is better on the low end (where our cars need help, in my opinion).

 

[goldstar]

Many people on the Forum feel you can't do better than use the standard NGK copper plugs. You may get somewhat better performance by switching to the NGK extended reach plugs, ZFR5F-11, recommended by TheMAN. I found this to be the case.

Unless there is something wrong with your current spark plug wires, switching to the Magnecore won't give you any performance increase. The OEM wires should be okay even for modified engines.

I use the Osram H4 Silverstar bulbs and have found them to be superior to the OEM bulbs in terms of brightness and beam throw. I recommend them.

 

[aceP5]

Unless there is something wrong with your current spark plug wires, switching to the Magnecore won't give you any performance increase. The OEM wires should be okay even for modified engines.

This is what a service guy at my Mazda dealer told me. He said the stock wires are fine - just get new plugs.

 

[Poseur]

As far as keeping thing sunder the radar, I've got a Ractive SRI and my g/f has a Injen CAI. Hers is MUCH quieter and doesn't "hiss" as loudly as mine. YOur wife'd hear it after she shutoff the car and thing something was wrong. Also they'r eless blatantly different than a SRI, and being tucked in the bumper, make less noise.

wires, I'd also say don't bother unless you just want spiffy colors, but you're not gonna get gains.

Headlights, I run silverstars, like 'em always have. just a cleaner, whiter light. though realisitically they do seem to be harder to see in the rain than plain stock headlights. Onething I'd recommend is to possibly get silverstars then some yellow foglamps. You cna get lemon yellow bulbs that throw off just a slightly different lemon yellow hue, still looks good. And adds some depth perception to incliment weather conditions.