SRI vs CAI on the DYNO!

Like I said before, believe and buy what you want to buy. I personally happen to know it doesn't make a significant enough difference to go with a CAI. No, I can't prove it but that's okay, the important thing to me is that I know I'm not getting ripped nor brainwashed.

that seems to be a recurring theme with your arguments or points of view. YOU happen to know that they are fact but can never really back anything up with any kind of fact or factual based points.

Like I said before in this post, there are things that you say that I agree with but a lot of times you go off and make these statements that tell the entire modding world that they are wrong and get upset when somebody asks you to back it up.
 
Wait a sec. I monitor intake air temp with my dashhawk, and sure enough, if I idle with my Nano the temps go up. But when it's 60 degrees out, and I'm moving above 35 mph, the SRI intake temp is usually 65, for example. I'm not drag racing, I don't sit in pits, although I do drive in Baton Rouge, which is similar. hehe. My point being, my SRI at speed pulls in air that's about 5 degrees above ambient. So this whole, "what do you want at peak speed on the interstate, do you really want HOT, b**** ASS, SATAN'S NUT SACK, ENGINE AIR, PLAYA?!" discussion is moot - I'm pulling in nice cool air from the bay, no problem. The idle thing I get - heat soak. But while you're moving? What's the difference, really, for those of us who haul groceries on the wau home from work at 110mph?
 
Yea but even 5-10 degrees over time will amplify your Boosted air temps. And will heat soak your intake track faster. Does the engine perform better with 10 degree cooler boosted air temps? YES... It will be less knock prone and will flow more air mass at the same time.

15min5k

Did you read my post here?

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123692556&page=6

Our intake tracks and intercooler acts like heat sinks. The intercooler also acts as a heat exchanger. So while you sit in traffic with the higher temps you will heat up your whole intake track and intercooler.

I can agreee with you that in the whole scheme of things, this is a relatively small issue. Even less if you run a FMIC. And is probably a moot issue most of the time when ambient temps are below 70 degrees.

But on those hot 80 to 90 degree days, the engine bay can be really hot. If you sit idle for any length of time you could start to heat soak and overwelm the little stocker intercooler.

Look.... these (all turbo) engines hate heat. Heat kills turbo engines. Heat is the enemy of these engines as far as performance and longevity. I will say it again.... Heat is the enemy of a turbo engine. Any time you can limit the amount of heat (especially going into the intake track) even by a small amout... I would advise doing it.

So.... I will not run a SRI without a properly ducted air box. Maybe I am anal, maybe paranoid? who knows, but I have modded turbo cars before, and I have come to realise that I only put the best on my car even if it costs a little more. And in my opinion CAI>SRI
 
Last edited:
The OP already backed up the claim that CAI>SRI isn't true with a controlled test. I live in Central Florida, gets hot as hell out here. From first hand experience I personally know a CAI isn't worth the extra money over a SRI which has several other benefits as well (One being throttle response) I've driven a CAI and SRI MS3 in the middle of summer 100+ to see if one or the other would pull harder. End results were always the same, the SRI equipped car would be dead even if not slightly ahead along with better throttle response and a more satisfying sound. You can kick your "theories" around all day but that isn't going to convince me. Just do as I did and find out for yourself if you really want to know the truth. Perhaps the CAI will give you 2-3 extra HP but that isn’t enough to make up for the shortcomings such as throttle response, price, and ease of use, etc. If you have a SRI and CAI MS3 race, the better driver will win every time.
 
Last edited:
The OP already backed up the claim that CAI>SRI isn't true with a controlled test.

It proves nothing.

Hardly a test that represents everyday driving. Dyno's are usually done with the hood open and with a fan where the SRI would have access to ambient air.

Did the OP drive around in traffic for 15 minutes and then do this dyno, with the hood shut. That would be a more accurate test. I did not see anything in the op posts that says this.

Of course you are not going to see a difference between the two when you come to dyno pop the hood, put a fan on the open engine and dyno the two where the SRI has access to ambient air.



This whole op post makes no sense to even discuss the differences between the SRI and the CAI, because we all live in the real world where the hotter engine bay can change the dynamic.
 
Once the car is moving the ambient air temps where the SRI is located drop significantly (No more hot engine bay) neglecting any advantage that a CAI might have in regards to the MS3. Been there done it, I know. Have fun changing / cleaning your filter for your CAI, this argument isn’t going anywhere.
 
The OP already backed up the claim that CAI>SRI isn't true with a controlled test. I live in Central Florida, gets hot as hell out here. From first hand experience I personally know a CAI isn't worth the extra money over a SRI which has several other benefits as well (One being throttle response) I've driven a CAI and SRI MS3 in the middle of summer 100+ to see if one or the other would pull harder. End results were always the same, the SRI equipped car would be dead even if not slightly ahead along with better throttle response and a more satisfying sound. You can kick your "theories" around all day but that isn't going to convince me. Just do as I did and find out for yourself if you really want to know the truth. Perhaps the CAI will give you 2-3 extra HP but that isn’t enough to make up for the shortcomings such as throttle response, price, and ease of use, etc. If you have a SRI and CAI MS3 race, the better driver will win every time.


Not sure where you are getting this from but when I switched my mscai to sri after a couple of days of driving the car I noticed my car didn't pull as hard as it did with cai. I live in here in orlando as well and as stated. When I did high roll comparisions with my boy. His ms3 is mhas the same mods as mine. Cai vs sri. We were dead even upto about 115 then I started to pull ahead. Everytime.

When I changed to sri we were dead even every run long as there was no mis-shifts. The cai sits out of the engine bay. I don't care how fast you are move with sri, the engine compartment will not provide air as cool as outside the engine bay. While the gains of cai arnt that much higher over sri, gains are gains.

Dollar value per hp gained is a totally different arguement. Are the gains of cai over sri worth the high price? No, I don't think so. Please believe if I didn't buy my mscai for only 125 shipped I would have gotten sri. At that point the cai was the better buy. Even if the cai was the same price of the sri I woukd have gotten it b/c I have the ability to switch between the two.

But this isn't about price vs performance. Its only about which show better gains abd the cai provides that.

Oh and I'm still running my mscai in sri mode b/c my turbo is loud and I rather the sound. Of turbo spool that than the little extra gains in performance. Butwill switch back to cai and try to see if I can tune the my bov right to where my spool is loud. Which I learned is how you minipulate the volume of the turbo. Or atleast with my car

Please excuse if there are typos. I'm typing on my tmobile g1 and getting use to the size of these damn buttons
 
Last edited:
Air filters are overrated....

e1bb6581d6b44af291d538ce9be3607d.jpg
 
What we really need is an independant source like a tuner mag or a group of local MS3 owners to get together a collection of the various intakes, CPE nano, Cobb SRI, Injen, Fujita, etc. and dyno all of them on ONE car on the same day, back to back to control the variables. Monitor fuel trims and the whole nine and give us a scientific result.

As for CAI vs SRI I suspect the design differences and air flow characteristics between two given systems makes more of a difference in performance than colder air in the fenderwell compared to underhood air.

Lastly, taking a look at that Cobb solution with the air box rig, flexible air hose and velocity stack, I think I could make something like that myself pretty easily.

The velocity stacks can be found on the web. The hose is pretty universal stuff and the box could be made from brake bent aluminum sheet or plastic and pop riveted together.
 
Back to back wouldn't work. Not enough time for the ECU to learn the new intake and give a proper dyno, nor would it be fair as, all day the temps would change, the engine would have to be cooled down.

It would be easier just to dyno each car with each single intake.
 
if you're gonna have your turbo like that I'd be trailering it to the track haha. Turbos don't like bugs and rocks.

As for CAI vs SRI...... for turbo it doesnt matter at all. The turbo sucks in just as much regardless of the pipe length and the air is cooled by the intercooler.

Now for N/A you start playing with pipe lengths and diameters on the dyno and you're gonna see a difference becasue you're helping the engine get more flow velocity by taking advantage of physics and the motors natural vacuum since you don't have a turbo to push it all in for you.

I've witnessed this first hand on dynos and you can see very substantial differences. Not saying you can buy an ebay intake and have a million horsepower though.
 
Lastly, taking a look at that Cobb solution with the air box rig, flexible air hose and velocity stack, I think I could make something like that myself pretty easily.

The velocity stacks can be found on the web. The hose is pretty universal stuff and the box could be made from brake bent aluminum sheet or plastic and pop riveted together.

Excuse me, but what's this Cobb "air box rig"?

Thanks
 
I personally like the RX-8 wheels even on the MS3. I just thought they looked larger than life on that MSP. They look so basic on the MS3.
 
Back