Cold air intake question

[KentState]

Many times the gains come due to relocation of the MAF which can "trick" the ECU.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Agreed. That and better tires will make a huge difference that you can appreciate. Anything short of forced induction isn't going to make your car noticeably faster. Well, you could go full-tilt and build the motor for high compression but that's certainly not trivial either.

The TL-S bar should bolt right in to your TSX and costs like $50. Can't go wrong. Made a big difference in my Accord.

Yeah - I already have some Michelin Sport A/S Pilots on my car which are noticeably better than the stock tires, and when I'm doing sharp turns at speed, I can feel that my front sticks to the road well, but the back will start to slide some.

I don't care about engine noise...it's a Honda motor already. At 7000 RPM it's pretty noisy to boot.

 

[vshah]

doesn't a stiffer RSB induce a bit MORE rotation/oversteer? (in addition to making turn-in sharper)

 

[RampantAndroid]

doesn't a stiffer RSB induce a bit MORE rotation/oversteer? (in addition to making turn-in sharper)

It reduces body lean, and prevents the tires from ending up with positive vs negative camber, which reduces traction.

A sway bar prevents body lean, and can be tuned to remove both over and understeer.

 

[JCH13]

In this application, the TSX routinely runs up above the 17:1 range. While it's not quite as lean as Honda's stratified charge type systems, it's designed to run properly quite a bit above the stoichiometric ideal. It runs a NOx catalyst specifically for the lean burn.

Otherwise, I agree with the stoichiometric ideal for your typical 3-way converter equipped systems.

If memory serves, a stratified charge is very lean, overall, but over the small portion of the combustion chamber that sees burn it is nearly stoich. The rest of the air is just along for the ride and gets pumped out. I think that's how stratified injection reduces fuel consumption without significantly increasing NOx and other poisonous emissions.

doesn't a stiffer RSB induce a bit MORE rotation/oversteer? (in addition to making turn-in sharper)

Yep, a stiffer RSB reduces grip in the rear by increasing weight transfer, pushing the cars balance toward over-steer. I don't think it will really improve turn-in response, but it will make the car rotate a little more easily.

 

[Zap]

Many have measured a CAI for my MS3 as adding 25whp, and even larger off-peak gains. If the CAI improves over the OE design it might very well add noticeable power. FWIW my MS3's CAI is an AEM unit, and IMHO they know what they're doing.

ORLY? Are you talking about the "factory" Mazdaspeed CAI from their catalog? That's what I have in my MS6. It got rid of that anemic feeling at high RPMs and gave my butt-dyno a few more hundred RPMs of pull, plus added some noise. I didn't know it added actual measurable power.

 

[punjabiplaya]

the mazdaspeed cai and AEM cai are the exact same

 

[j&j]

adding CAI to a boosted car isn't a different story usually. trying to add a cai to an NA, small cube motor doesn't do hardly anything as it's just not pushing enough air through it on the back end to begin with.

 

[JCH13]

ORLY? Are you talking about the "factory" Mazdaspeed CAI from their catalog? That's what I have in my MS6. It got rid of that anemic feeling at high RPMs and gave my butt-dyno a few more hundred RPMs of pull, plus added some noise. I didn't know it added actual measurable power.

It most certainly does, 10-11% more HP and TQ. I also noticed a small bump in fuel economy too.

 

[m0r1san]

ClubRSX has done some fairly extensive testing of the different intakes available for the K20A2, here: http://www.clubrsx.com/cr/SSPTIT.html

Your K24 isn't terribly different.

Worth checking out if you are thinking about which one to get. I got the Injen SRI for my RSX and I can tell you that a 10hp top end gain is very noticeable in a 2800lbs car. Now that I am supercharged, it's kind of a bottle neck because, like JHC13 said, for every 10F reduction in temp, you can add 1% more fuel, and get 1% more hp. In the extreme case of lets say a 50f delta between using and SRI vs CAI, you would net approx 5% more power, which is 10hp for a 200hp car. Take my 300hp car and you are talking about like a 15hp gain.. which is no joke.

From what I understand, to hydrolock your engine, you need to suck up quite a bit of water. The engine can handle a little (people do inject water vapor to cool down the intake temps), but a lot will kill it. I think it'd be reasonable to get the CAI, just be mindful every time you drive through a puddle that more throttle = more sucking power

 

[stag3]

ORLY? Are you talking about the "factory" Mazdaspeed CAI from their catalog? That's what I have in my MS6. It got rid of that anemic feeling at high RPMs and gave my butt-dyno a few more hundred RPMs of pull, plus added some noise. I didn't know it added actual measurable power.

yea the ms3 takes to the intake well, i had the cobb intake and it was +14hp but it completely made 1st and most of 2nd gear useless as it reached redline quick, and 3rd gear pulls were a lot stronger. i also had the turbo inlet.

 

[JCH13]

yea the ms3 takes to the intake well, i had the cobb intake and it was +14hp but it completely made 1st and most of 2nd gear useless as it reached redline quick, and 3rd gear pulls were a lot stronger. i also had the turbo inlet.

I bumped my summer tires up to 225/45/18s (still RE050A) and on smooth pavement I can typically keep all the power on the road (MS CAI, Cobb TIP, ETS TMIC, 16.4psi). The TRZ RMM also makes a huge difference in controlling hop and keeping the wheels from spinning. With my winter tires on now... 1st and 2nd can spin at will :awe:

 

[Zap]

It most certainly does, 10-11% more HP and TQ. I also noticed a small bump in fuel economy too.

So that's why I was able to hit 30MPG. :hmm: It was pure flat freeway with cruise set to 65MPH (lots of laser enforcement on that stretch) for around 400 miles.

With my winter tires on now... 1st and 2nd can spin at will :awe:

I can't get my tires to break loose unless there's actual snow or ice on the ground. Then again... AWD.

Come to think of it, I can... but that's just a little chirp from the front tires, so that doesn't count.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Yep, a stiffer RSB reduces grip in the rear by increasing weight transfer, pushing the cars balance toward over-steer. I don't think it will really improve turn-in response, but it will make the car rotate a little more easily.

It prevents positive camber on the outside wheel, which means you keep contact with the road. In that sense, it prevents you from having the back end swing out on you, thus allowing you to corner better. It does NOT reduce grip.

 

[JCH13]

It prevents positive camber on the outside wheel, which means you keep contact with the road. In that sense, it prevents you from having the back end swing out on you, thus allowing you to corner better. It does NOT reduce grip.

Yes, a stiffer sway bar does limit suspension travel in roll and thus limit camber change, which generally helps maintain a predictable level of grip.

A stiffer RSB bar increases weight transfer across the rear axle (assuming the front axle isn't changed) which decreases grip on the rear axle, and improves grip on the front axle. This is how a stiffer RSB pushes the car's balance towards over-steer, because the front axle gains grip and rear axle loses grip.

I suppose it might be possible for a roll bar to improve grip if the camber curves were absolutely terrible, the suspension springs were incredibly soft, and the tires were immensely sensitive to camber changes (but not load changes). However, all of my experience says that tires are more sensitive to load than they are to small camber changes, and that most semi-modern cars have pretty darn good suspension systems.

 

[Apex]

ClubRSX has done some fairly extensive testing of the different intakes available for the K20A2, here: http://www.clubrsx.com/cr/SSPTIT.html

Short ram intake did well? Let me guess, they didn't bother to close the hood.