Install CAI/Exhaust before or after winter?

[wtom]

I\'ve yet to receive my CAI or exhaust from Draxas but when I do, should I install ASAP or wait until after winter?

BTW I heard on the news this morning that this winter there won\'t be much snow... there\'s an el nino effect going on down south which will bring a different kind of air mass up here causing less precipitation, but still the same BRRRRRR cold...

Back on topic... wait until after winter because;
- salt and snow will start eating away at the virgin parts (mainly exhaust pipes) even tho they are stainless steel
- with the cold temps, garages maybe cold and their work not as good as in warmer spring/summer temperatures

do it now because;
- come spring, everyone plus their uncle will be piling into the shops to get parts installed

[FLIPDADY]

I\'d wait Warren, keep the car stock until the weather is nice again. I wouldn\'t want the salt building up on my new exhaust system.

[mEtH]

i\'d wait, not like you will be able to use those performance gains with ice and rain. Or if you do you will just be kicking up all salt at the car. So its a lose lose situation. Well actually you\'d be faster :p

[wtom]

Faster to hit the snowbank since I\'m wintertireless :)
Thx for the replies so far, keep the votes coming in!

[majic]

i said now..

well are you gonna take CAI and dismantle the exhaust NEXT winter? no.. oh.. then what\'s an extra winter then (esp if u say it\'ll be \'snowless\')? also.. u have it now (or getting it soon) what\'s the point of waiting and \'wasting\' $ by not using it.. go have fun and WOT WOT it :p

[billyfo]

Originally posted by wtom

BTW I heard on the news this morning that this winter there won\'t be much snow... there\'s an el nino effect going on down south which will bring a different kind of air mass up here causing less precipitation, but still the same BRRRRRR cold...



You still believe the weather forecast??:D

I\'m thinking about CAI, but I\'ll wait until spring.

[///M]

Originally posted by majic


i said now..

well are you gonna take CAI and dismantle the exhaust NEXT winter? no.. oh.. then what\'s an extra winter then (esp if u say it\'ll be \'snowless\')? also.. u have it now (or getting it soon) what\'s the point of waiting and \'wasting\' $ by not using it.. go have fun and WOT WOT it :p

I second that. I don\'t see an extra winter making a difference.

[wtom]

RedRaptor mentioned a good point for those thinking of getting exhaust;

When you do install it, go get rustproofing ASAP to aid in preventing the salt from doing anything to the pipes.

I\'m still on the fence and it ain\'t comfortable, with regards to install ASAP or wait until Spring (for exhaust).

EDIT: Wait a sec ... if they spray ANYTHING on the exhaust pipes, won\'t the heat burn away the material anyway?

[mEtH]

well this is the line that everyone wants to hear...

YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!!!!!!

[FLIPDADY]

Aren\'t the Draxas exhaust polished s.s.? I wouldn\'t want rustproof on it if that was the case.

[RedRaptor]

Getting an undercoat on the underbody of your car prevents the salt of winter from damaging it. The underbody spray isn\'t a \"rustproof solution\" as much as its a thick black solution that coats your underbody.

I think either way whether you install it right now or next spring, in the long run its not going to matter. Its just a matter of when you are comfortable doing it. A lot of people mentioned you paid for it, you might as well install it. I would have to agree since after paying so much for a quality Draxas exhaust, I would want to be the first one in the GTA to have it installed.

And as far as I remember...the GTA highways are always clean enough for you to experience the exhaust performance gain. Since you\'re getting winter tires, I wouldn\'t be scared to \"push\" your Blue Blazer on the 401.

[majic]

Originally posted by methodyst


well this is the line that everyone wants to hear...

YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!!!!!!

but your blue blazer has 9 lives (well 8 now) :p

[M34ME]

Has Anyone seen any Dyno\'s for some CAI\'s? How much HP gain is there on average? Oh and when I was puting on my michelins alpines I noticed the tail pipe by the rear driverside doesnt look stainless, it\'s already rusted and I got the factory rustproofing done. If it\'s not stainless I want to change it to stainless, maybe some dualies like on the mazda 6, just make another cut-out in the bumper :D

[MazdaTree]

www.aempower.com and then search mazda3 intakes and they have a dyno graph there its somethin like 6hp and 10tq if i remember correctly

[chaser]

AEM CAI dyno graph (http://www.aempower.com/pdf/dyno/21-487%2004%20Mazda%203s.pdf)

[whodilly]

Man I just picked up my AEM CAI last week and I couldn\'t wait to put it in. Despite the cold i brought a heater into my garage and installed the damn thing. Took me a few hours cause I had to run out to Canadian tire to get a 10mm wrench to get to one of those damn bolts holding the lower resonator AAARRGGG! But when it was all said and done I was one happy camper :D Man does it sound SWWWEEEEEET!!!! I must have wasted a quater of a tank just gunning it up and around my area!!! Do it NOW!!!!

[wtom]

After almost four months of it sitting in my room, I\'ve finally installed the cold air intake into my car!!! Borrowed a friend\'s garage (cuz he has a 3-tonne jack and jack stands as well as all the tools needed for such a job) Thanks, Luis! We took over two hours to get things completed!!!

Basically, jacked up front of car and removed the driver\'s side tire. Removed the stock intake and housing. All simple. We spent the most time (over an hour) figuring out how to remove a final bolt on the resonator and what to do with my driver\'s side HID ballast that was installed/screwed onto a part of the resonator.

We couldn\'t get the socket wrench onto the bolt because a piece of the resonator was, interesting enough, guarding that bolt practically. We tried pushing apart that piece with no luck. We tried searching for an opening from the top but no luck. Finally we just decided to use flame and burn away that annoying piece of plastic! Made an opening large enough for our socket wrench to fit in and connect to the bolt and finally removed that.

Good thing for us the HID ballast had long enough cables. We pulled the resonator out of the car (from underneath) and I was able to remove the screw holding the ballast to the resonator. The ballast was pushed back up through the opening and we placed it on top of the fuse box for the time being (after the CAI install though I screwed the ballast against the battery compartment where there is already a small hole).

Everything else, from here, went smooth and I\'m sure we could have gotten things done in under an hour if it wasn\'t for the above two roadblocks.

After the intake was triple checked for completion, properly connected and tightened, we went out to test things out with a drive on the 404. I redlined it up to and including fourth gear. Sounds pretty good and can sorta feel the smoother breathing of the car. No CEL at all and even went through a Sunoco\'s supreme car wash before coming home, no probs!

I don\'t agree with Whodilly on the sound being sweet but maybe that\'s because the exhaust system has already done that job. I do hear the CAI at higher RPMs though, like 5K to redline. I normally shift at 4K max. I think if I had installed the CAI before the exhaust system, I woulda gotten more bang out of it.

Pixies here (http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2705515093&idx=74) (click on right arrow above pic to go to next).

[BETRTHNU]

nice job on the install! Can\'t wait to hear it at the next meet.

[wtom]

Thanks, man!
I only really hear differences when in the higher RPMs, like 5K or more. You hear it sucking the air in and the \"whining\" noise then. Lower range though, I don\'t hear any difference from stock intake. Butt dyno does agree on the minimal HP gain... at most like 5HP.

[Whos ur dadd]

wtom,

great write up. what kind of exhaust do you have?

draxas? regular, hi flo or off road?

[wtom]

That would be the Draxas with high flo cat.

I\'m starting to notice the difference now with the CAI. It\'s very slight but I can hear the whirring of the air being sucked through the pipe and ETB.

Damn mod makes the temptation for Turbocharger that much more!!! :p

whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr pssssssstttttt... oh baby :D

[Whos ur dadd]

Nice sounds = good... :D

How\'s the sound in the Cabin when you\'re cruising along? Any buzzing?

I\'m considering the Draxas hi-flo exhaust or the Vibrant one ...

[whodilly]

Cool i\'m glad you finally got it done!! I feel your pain with the install though!!!;)

Yeah I guess you don\'t really get as much enjoyment with the sound cause you already have the exhaust but I would love to hear how they sound together. Can\'t wait till next meet.

[wtom]

No buzzing from what I hear. For sure it\'s no where near the nastiness that sounds like a house fly buzzing by on the street that you see usually on Civics (not kidding here, every ugly buzzing car that goes by me is a Civic... only one time there was a 1.6EL but still).

Exhaust is very good... I would be a bit more happier if it was a lower GReddy growl but I\'m happy with the Draxas.