Pro tips for the beginner!

[AdnanMazda]

New to the forum, although I have been driving my M3 for over 2 years now :)
I love my car, and have always wanted to throw in some performance mods, howeverrrrr I don't know where to start :(

I am a student so cheaper/efficient would be ideal haha
I noticed a video on youtube for an advanced ignition timing mod that is a do-it-yourself mod; things like that are great :)

Please if someone could give me a few tips -- cai vs sri, which exhaust, etc :)

Thanks a lot!!

[stevenma188]

You should check out this guide: http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?39704-Mazda-3-n-a-guide-beta-edition&highlight=NA+guide

[shu5892001]

search....

[Kwokalobster]

i wouldnt' go for an exhaust if ....by far the the most expensive and gives you the least amount of performance.

[gotak]

You should check out this guide: http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?39704-Mazda-3-n-a-guide-beta-edition&highlight=NA+guide

Some of those mods are questionable.

The throttle body grounding mod is, in my opinion as a Masters EE, highly questionable. No one's going to design a system that needs someone to stick a wire on to work. And people using giant gauge wires just makes the mod more questionable. At the voltage and wire lengths used on a car you can use thin wires and never notice any voltage drop.

K&N filters breeds oil and can foul up your MAF sensor. Badly working MAF will be more detrimental to your performance than a slightly more restrictive (but much better filtering) filter. A dead MAF will leave you on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck BTW. Read for some testing: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

Just a word of wisdom. The words cheap and performance goes hand in hand much like putting together cheap and cheerful or cheap and sex. We'd all like it to be the case that you can have something great for less but in reality you pay for what you get. As you are a student I think the best "mod" you can do is put your efforts towards studying. A better job's going to buy you better cars a lot easier then trying to add performance on the cheap.

[Jackal]

Some of those mods are questionable.

The throttle body grounding mod is, in my opinion as a Masters EE, highly questionable. No one's going to design a system that needs someone to stick a wire on to work. And people using giant gauge wires just makes the mod more questionable. At the voltage and wire lengths used on a car you can use thin wires and never notice any voltage drop.

K&N filters breeds oil and can foul up your MAF sensor. Badly working MAF will be more detrimental to your performance than a slightly more restrictive (but much better filtering) filter. A dead MAF will leave you on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck BTW. Read for some testing: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

Just a word of wisdom. The words cheap and performance goes hand in hand much like putting together cheap and cheerful or cheap and sex. We'd all like it to be the case that you can have something great for less but in reality you pay for what you get. As you are a student I think the best "mod" you can do is put your efforts towards studying. A better job's going to buy you better cars a lot easier then trying to add performance on the cheap.

+1
Study and then get a good job then get a good car. For now try making it look faster. I am not sure how much faster your car will go if you do cheap DIY performance mods. You may get an extra few hp after IF you do it right. How about exterior mods. Check out the member rides for ideas.

[AdnanMazda]

Some of those mods are questionable.

The throttle body grounding mod is, in my opinion as a Masters EE, highly questionable. No one's going to design a system that needs someone to stick a wire on to work. And people using giant gauge wires just makes the mod more questionable. At the voltage and wire lengths used on a car you can use thin wires and never notice any voltage drop.

K&N filters breeds oil and can foul up your MAF sensor. Badly working MAF will be more detrimental to your performance than a slightly more restrictive (but much better filtering) filter. A dead MAF will leave you on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck BTW. Read for some testing: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

Just a word of wisdom. The words cheap and performance goes hand in hand much like putting together cheap and cheerful or cheap and sex. We'd all like it to be the case that you can have something great for less but in reality you pay for what you get. As you are a student I think the best "mod" you can do is put your efforts towards studying. A better job's going to buy you better cars a lot easier then trying to add performance on the cheap.

I don't mean cheap in the sense that I would go to a scrapyard for parts :/
I just mean I don't want to put in extremely pricey mods like engine swaps and the like!

This is more for advice btw, I was hoping for a list (Sorry if there was one this is just the first response I read).
And even if it is only a couple horses I still want to pamper my car ;P

Thanks for the advice though

[Iceman_F1]

Some of those mods are questionable.

The throttle body grounding mod is, in my opinion as a Masters EE, highly questionable. No one's going to design a system that needs someone to stick a wire on to work. And people using giant gauge wires just makes the mod more questionable. At the voltage and wire lengths used on a car you can use thin wires and never notice any voltage drop.

K&N filters breeds oil and can foul up your MAF sensor. Badly working MAF will be more detrimental to your performance than a slightly more restrictive (but much better filtering) filter. A dead MAF will leave you on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck BTW. Read for some testing: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

Just a word of wisdom. The words cheap and performance goes hand in hand much like putting together cheap and cheerful or cheap and sex. We'd all like it to be the case that you can have something great for less but in reality you pay for what you get. As you are a student I think the best "mod" you can do is put your efforts towards studying. A better job's going to buy you better cars a lot easier then trying to add performance on the cheap.

In regards to the part in bold, where do you get that from? Are you getting that from the link you posted because I read that fully and didn't see anywhere where it mentioned that it did that. Only part closed to that was the following...


They claimed that the deposit on my test filter was oil (it isn't), and then they said oil does not leave the filter and damage mass air sensors. Honestly, you can't have it both ways. Either oil leaves the filter or it doesn't.

In all tests, it was claimed that it was oil on the 2nd filter but he kept saying it was dirt only and not oil. Just wondering where you got that specifically about the K&N filter

[MistaChin]

Since you're a student, save your money for maintenance. I'm assuming you purchased used so you never know when something decides to crap out on you and you start kicking yourself for adding that exhaust, cai, or whatever.

If you still choose to disregard my advice, then just throw in a SRI and slap some eyelids on the thing.

[stevenma188]

Or be like me, take the money for textbooks and blow it on car mods :)

[Default User]

I don't mean cheap in the sense that I would go to a scrapyard for parts :/



Nothing wrong with junkyard turbo set-ups, provided you know what you're doing and you're willin to pay the money

You get what you pay for
Either you pay $250 for a big name air intake or you pay $80 for a Cheapo one. $700 for a cat-back exhaust, or $200 for a universal muffler. What are the differences? Longevity and reliability, and the "claimed" HP gains

The one problem with the 3 is the ECU. It's too smart and relearns most mods.

[AdnanMazda]

Nothing wrong with junkyard turbo set-ups, provided you know what you're doing and you're willin to pay the money

You get what you pay for
Either you pay $250 for a big name air intake or you pay $80 for a Cheapo one. $700 for a cat-back exhaust, or $200 for a universal muffler. What are the differences? Longevity and reliability, and the "claimed" HP gains

The one problem with the 3 is the ECU. It's too smart and relearns most mods.

Can you explain the ECU problem further? Is there any way to bi-pass the ECU (if that makes sense)? Or do you have to replace it entirely?


If you still choose to disregard my advice, then just throw in a SRI and slap some eyelids on the thing.

Also, regarding the above, this is more like it :) I have looked around and seen a lot of CAI's but not too many SRI's (none, in fact) ... any recommendations? For an intake I would definitely go for prime quality so lay them on me :P I have halo's on order btw, so excited!!

[shu5892001]

INJEN, best engineered intake for mazda 3 !!! :headbang


Can you explain the ECU problem further? Is there any way to bi-pass the ECU (if that makes sense)? Or do you have to replace it entirely?


If you still choose to disregard my advice, then just throw in a SRI and slap some eyelids on the thing.

Also, regarding the above, this is more like it :) I have looked around and seen a lot of CAI's but not too many SRI's (none, in fact) ... any recommendations? For an intake I would definitely go for prime quality so lay them on me :P I have halo's on order btw, so excited!!

[alho]

If you want something cheap... I use Ractive and hadn't had a problem.