Hi!

I have an 08 MS3 and last week I had the dealer install the MS3 Cold Air Intake in the car thinking I would get atleast a 10HP increase in output as the dealer claimed. I was however disappointed on discovering soon after that as the car has a turbo charged engine, a CAI alone has minimal effect on power. Is this true? Does it atleast improve engine performance with regards to fuel efficiency as it takes in more cold air?

What else should I do to now achieve this goal that I have to attain the 300HP benchmark to compete with the STI?

I was infact thinking of getting a catback exhaust as I heard the combined effect of the exhaust and the CAI would get me atleast 30HP!!??

I was also advised about chip performance enhancers. Are there any out there? I am worried about these as they would negate the warranty on my car and might also mess with the tuning as well. Is this true?

I'd greatly appreciate any advice I can get on this issue.

Goal: 300HP +
Budget: 1K
Constraints: Warranty

Thanks in advance!

 

Number 1 - double or even triple that budget.

Number 2 - stock for stock, this is what you are dealing with; the sti has weight issues but the ms3 has traction issues. That being said, a modified ms3 can take a stock sti. The question here is where is the line drawn? The weight issues can be overcome with power, but traction issues are an achilles heel in any vehicle. The more power you add to the cars, the bigger the difference becomes. The sti's awd system handles the power that it is given and overcomes it's weight limitations eventually. The ms3, however, gets worse traction with more power.

Just do yourself a favor and put a limit on how much power you add to the car. If you go overboard, it won't be nearly as fun. Driving will seem like work eventually.

Anyways, off of my soapbox; a catback isn't where you will get your big gains. You will get way better gains off of a downpipe and testpipe. That is where the real restrictions lie. If you could dump 3k into the car, I would recommend a cobb accessport, corksport test and down pipes, and a vibrant catback.

 

The CAI will most likely have a minimal effect on your overall power, and I'm thinking that 10HP is a pie in the sky number that can only be achieved in a perfect environment, and then only at WOT near redline. As for fuel economy, if anything, a CAI will reduce your fuel economy as cold air is the enemy of fuel vaporization, and anything that reduces vaporization will also reduce fuel economy.

 

Hmm...but considering that the turbo here is heating the air at about 200deg.. should it matter that more cold air is taken in? Infact, thats where my logic tells me the only effect should be = more cold air = more oxygen = lesser effort by the engine to burn fuel = but thats my nascent logic. Am I even in the ball park?

 

Thanks a lot for that info...but how much is too much? Even another 35 HP would be too much for the car to handle? Getting a downpipe and a testpipe would void my warranty wouldnt it? Would it trigger the EC light too?

 

Ummm, no. When you're simply tooling down the highway the turbo does virtually zero work (i.e. the MAP sensor will be indicating a MUCH lower pressure reading than the ambient barometric pressure), and as such, the temperature of the air as it passes through the spray zone on the fuel injectors is likely to be colder than OAT.

 

I could be wrong on this but putting a downpipe or testpipe would cause problems with CA Emission rules.

 

300 whp is a good place to stop. It gets harder to drive after that point. Downpipe and testpipe will void a warranty, but mazda could revoke a warranty just based on no service records. If you change your own oil and blow the motor, you are liable and the warranty is void. You need to choose between a warranty and power. It's not a tough decision for most people. Some would rather have more power than a safety net. There are ways around the CEL, so that's not a big deal.

 

Yes it will. In fact, a vehicle is legally not allowed to be registered after factory emissions have been tampered with. That's not what he asked me though. He never stated that he was trying to keep the car emissions legal. As far as I know, it is a dedicated track car.

 

If you want a 300whp setup here is a list:

HKS exhaust - 500
or
Custom 3in cat-back -300
PTP Fuel Pump Internals Kit - 325
PG Tubular Turbo Manifold - 500
ATP Full Downpipe - 300
ETS Top Mount Intercooler Upgrade - 566
or
ATP Front Mount Intercooler Kit - 790
Custom Performance Engineering Standback2 Engine Management - 883

Total w/o dyno and tuning - $2874-3391

This is a guaranteed 300whp mark as long as your tuner knows what they are doing. This list is solely based on engine performance, other mods such as suspension and tq dampeners are not listed.

Ok the cold air is not a bad thing but its not gonna give you that much hp, your not changing the amount of air coming in just getting rid of restrictions. The gains from these components wont be that much but they will be full utilized when its tuned.

You gotta pay to play