Post your free mod ideas for the MS3

[Bakrauf]

Well I just completed this mod and I swear you can tell a difference. I feel this car was smothered before and now she can breath. YOU CAN feel a noticable difference. I was like WOW. I cut a few holes (nothing some black Duct tape wont cover)in the front and the side away from the motor and dropped in a K&N filter. The stock filter is like 3 inches thick. Not only does the car have to fight through a small air opening, but then suck air through a almost solid air filter.

Let this car breath!!!! IT is a much needed improvement.

 

[Kansei]

I just find it weird that Mazda didn't do this themselves (the air box cutting) if it's that much of a performance boost. Is the car noticeably louder after doing this? I know car companies take a lot of measures to reduce NVH, but the MS3 isn't a quiet car so I didn't think they would bother. Perhaps it is the same basic intake and air box as the CX-7, then the measures to quiet things down would make sense.

 

[Bakrauf]

I am not sure what the Cx7 Box looks like but thats probably what they did. I really didnt notice that much of a noise increase. You can barely hear the turbo and i really didnt hear the BOV at all.

I dont see any car companies cutting anything anyway.

 

[redms3gt]

Stock you cant hear the turbo or BOV at all. Yea its still not that loud but you can hear everything now. I sounds like a vacuum cleaner. With the windows up and no radio it is night and day with the mod. I have never heard a factory car with this much noise. Its definitly to keep it quiet and prolong maintence "cleaning of the filter". I notice a few pops and burbles after doing this mod. It took a few hundred miles for the engine to really smooth out. I did not reset anything. It eats the tires for breakfast in 2nd now. Punchier midrange and topend for sure. Dosent really feel much faster on the highway though. One or two holes dosent increase noise to much. I have cut out most of the front and side of the box now. Louder 4 sure. The KnN adds to the noise also. 20-30% increase atleast I would say.

 

[clos561]

you can hear the turbo spool and BOv now..not CAI loud though..I ordered the KnN for the mz3..part its 2293 I think..same size..Hopefull some more sound and power will be had..Guess I could also cut some more out of the from of the box...(shocked) (shocked) (poke)

i was thinking abotu jsut removing the whoel bottom section of the airbox and get clamps or something to hold the filter in place. havent tried it yet but i wil this weekend. i havent got much idea on the clamps to hold it but il figure something out. il get pics on hereregardless of the outcome

 

[clos561]

Stock you cant hear the turbo or BOV at all. Yea its still not that loud but you can hear everything now. I sounds like a vacuum cleaner. With the windows up and no radio it is night and day with the mod. I have never heard a factory car with this much noise. Its definitly to keep it quiet and prolong maintence "cleaning of the filter". I notice a few pops and burbles after doing this mod. It took a few hundred miles for the engine to really smooth out. I did not reset anything. It eats the tires for breakfast in 2nd now. Punchier midrange and topend for sure. Dosent really feel much faster on the highway though. One or two holes dosent increase noise to much. I have cut out most of the front and side of the box now. Louder 4 sure. The KnN adds to the noise also. 20-30% increase atleast I would say.

you can hear the turbo sppol if you have the windows rolled up and the radio off, sounds cool but i want more. im gona see if i can buy a air box so i can have one for dealer visits. its probably realy realy cheap.

 

[jeffmsp]

another great inexpnsie mod is to fill your stock motor mounts with polyurethane. I am sure there is a how to around the forums somewhere and this can be performed on any car and ill prevent drivetrai thrashing at the expense of a ruffer idle and sme vibrations at times. All depends on what durometer you use andwich mounts you fill.

 

[redms3gt]

There is a dyno on the other forum, a base dyno. I think Stephanie T did it. She opened the airbox lid before and after and said there was about 10hp from just opening the lid. This is dyno proven.

"Same car, same dyno, same run conditions. The 240 hp number is with the Air Box lid off. So it is correct. The 231 hp #'s are with the lid on. When the car runs an AFR of 10:1 at 4100 rpm, there is lots of room for improvement.
Stephanie"

"take out spaces" http://www.mazda 3 forums.com/index.php?topic=64465.msg1107015#msg1107015

Dyno proven means what? It works, and likely after the car learns about the change in airflow over time it will only get better.

 

[jeffmsp]

was that dyno pull she did with the stock filter installed and lower box removed or with no filter at all? Sounds about right for no filter, its the main restriction

 

[desperado-c]

was that dyno pull she did with the stock filter installed and lower box removed or with no filter at all? Sounds about right for no filter, its the main restriction

She didn't say, but I assume that "lifting the lid" means leaving the filter in the bottom, ie., no restriction.

 

[jeffmsp]

ya that sounds about right for no air filter especially if you are replacing a long term poorly flowing filter. if someone can check the maf to see if you are actually moving larger amounts of air that would be great. i am all for a free 10hp but i am still skeptical about hacking the stock box though im sure it sounds good.

 

[redms3gt]

The factory box dosent really pull cool air from the fender like most factory cars do. I cut only on the far side of the box so it shouldent pull any more hot air than stock. Should be no power loss from heatsoaking over stock. vs CAI is likely looses a lot to heat soaking. That problably why the CAI is getting 15-20hp easily. As far as only about 10hp, yea probably, but the power hits sooner and lasts longer. Plus it sound cool. If you only cut out around the bottom of the box it would be hard to spot by a dealer.

 

[jeffmsp]

well when someone checks out the maf we can confirm if more air is actually entering the motor. Remove the entire lower portion not just that tube, the entire lower aibox and tap or ziptie the filter into place on the upper part. for as long as the filter is still in place it should not be flowing more than stock, just sounding like its making more power.

i hope i am wrong but i dont believe so lol

 

[Bakrauf]

even if the filter is K & N?

 

[jeffmsp]

man if the maf readings are higher, its sucking in more air providing the test conditions are the same. nobody wants to go check. try it takes little time. its the only thing that will finish this. I hope your right cause free power is cool but i am doubting this. Remove the entire lower section, keep the filter held in snug, hook up a wire to the maf run into your car and into the tester, if it is reading higher voltage then you know you are flowing more air and not just making n/v/h. make sure the filter is as tight against the top as it would be with the bottom piece atached. doesnt have to be a permanent setup, just have the wire going under the hood then through the drivers window. the tester is called a multimeter, if you can get a digital one. just borrow one or something if you can. if someone in toronto ontario area has a mazdaspped3 you can meet up with me and i will hook it up takes 10 mins and will prove if you are actually getting more air into the motor, hence the sensors name (mass airflow meter). Do the ms3's have a removable screen like the fsde does in the meter also? Be cool to see what the maf reads with the screen removed vs with it installed etc. i know its there for a reason just to get some actual data on the difference it makes for the ms3 community.

 

[jeffmsp]

for example with a sri installed in my msp I hit fuel cut at a lower psi level then I would with the stock airbox since the maf is reading higher amounts of airflow even if it is at the same psi or less. This means the maf is outputting a higher voltage since more air is passing through the sensor, try it out.

 

[WTF MATE]

I heard BEGI did a test (this is in the new HCI mag) with the top of the airbox removed and gained about 20hp, don't know, don't care, not going to hack up my car, just thought I would mention that.

 

[redms3gt]

I just read the new SCC mag. It has the same comment about 20hp from opening the top of the airbox. From the BEGI test. It was in the section for questions by readers and they were talking about certain cars which will loose hp from a poorly designed intake. s2000,STI,RX-8. They commented that certain cars such as MS3 had a restrictive box and were able to pick up easy hp. "20?". This sounds high for stock but possable it was tested open vs a modded car with EXED on it. It did not say. Regarless the power is there at the wheels. Its not just NVH.

 

[jeffmsp]

ya but thats with no filter we wanna see what the gains are with the lower section removed. An intake sounds like a great investment on this car.

 

[WTF MATE]

I just read the new SCC mag. It has the same comment about 20hp from opening the top of the airbox. From the BEGI test. It was in the section for questions by readers and they were talking about certain cars which will loose hp from a poorly designed intake. s2000,STI,RX-8. They commented that certain cars such as MS3 had a restrictive box and were able to pick up easy hp. "20?". This sounds high for stock but possable it was tested open vs a modded car with EXED on it. It did not say. Regarless the power is there at the wheels. Its not just NVH.

Yea my bad it was SCC that I had bought and was reading it in. But yea I was looking into it and it was a completly stock car they were testing it on.