I just purchased my 2004 Mazda 6s, sport stick transmission with the 3.0liter V6, the bose, leather interior - basically fully loaded.

Now I am beginning to want to start tweaking horsepower/speed/looks slowly as my income is not small but I just want to work my way up. I have no idea about cars, I know how to change my oil, I am good with computers, I can pretty much do the normal stuff with cars

What small steps should I take to gain speed/horsepower etc...

Also could I get some very inexpensive websites to begin my tweeking? I am also looking at adding a turbo and/or cold air intake, can I get some advice?


Tim

 

Welcome to the world of the Mazda 6 Tim. Firstly, if you want to mod this car inexpensively, it is not the right car for you. You will have to spend some money to gain power safely & reliably. Best intake on the market for the V6 that will give you the most HP gains & not throw a CEL, is the CPE intake. It is not cheap either.

-Sheldon.

 

When I say inexpensively I mean less than a grand per item I have to buy lol, I am dedicating 1 grand per month at the moment while my job has slowed down this winter


Anyways,

Where can I start?

 

Oh ok. Intake would prob be first. Again I have to say to go with the CPE. Pricey, but very much worth it. Suspension Mods def help our car & the best person I recommend on asking any info on that is CKeffer. Cam knows his **** when it comes to modding the suspension on these cars.

-Sheldon.

 

less than a grand is definitely doable. Though I want you to keep 3 words in mind when modding: Cheap, Fast, Reliable....now pick 2. The CPe CAI with MAFci supposedly adds around 20hp due to the little black box it comes with that changes the A/F ratios, those run around $500, and can be found here. For handling I'd recomend a set of the Racingbeat swaybars and AWR endlinks, these can be found here, here,and here. These will give you a start in bumping up performance without going too extreme.

 

How big is the hit on mileage with this intake? I'm getting my new engine in the next couple of weeks, and thinking this would be a good time to make a change.

 

Honestly I'm not too sure, I know it's not supposed to be too much worse than a normal CAI, and I've managed 29mpg freeway driving @ 80mph between Houston and Shreveport LA before (I currently have the Mazdaspeed CAI).

 

Miles: 53,000
This is my plan:

Exhaust
Cold Air Intake
Turbo?
Lowering Kit
Sway Bars w/ it?
Paint Job
Rims
Car Kit

In order if I can.

 

29 MPG @ 80 MPH? I'm assuming you have the 4 cyl. My 6 only gets me 21-22 around town in mixed driving, maybe 24 on the highway.

 

Nope I've got the 6cyl. And I am rounding up a bit it was something around 28.8mpg if you want to get that precise. Trust me, I was surprised as well. Though I usually average around 24-26mpg mixed driving, and I'm not exactly light in the throttle. So I'm not sure what's going on, a factory freak of some sort maybe?