The cars in my school were no older than 2001, the K&N intakes and drop-ins either made 0hp 1lbs tq or 5hp 15lbs tq that was the range we got from the 10 cars that we flowed and dynoed both stock and FI. Im going to listen to the guy that owned a race shop before working as a auto teacher on whats bs and whats fact. One of the things he addressed was people who claim the K&N's damage the vehicle, he proved that to be the owners fault due to improper maintain of the filter, people would clean the filter and oil it but not let it dry for the proper amount of time thus all the oil/water/dirt would be sucked up. I procided to ask him on which cars an intake of any kind would make benifit to engines like mine, his reply was "typically on newer econo engines any small changes like an intake or cat-back exhaust will make little to no difference w/o a tune, if you had an older vehicle it would be a different story". You statement would apply to any intake not just k&n, btw its not that the aftermarket filters have bigger "holes" its that there are more of them and are alot more efficient.

 

0HP and 1 lbft of torque? That is so far within the margin of error that it means absolutely nothing. 5HP and 15lbft of torque? Hmmm, not saying it didn't happen, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

As for being more efficient, not to take anything away from your prof, but there have been many-many studies that directly contradict what he has told you. As I understand the results, K&N style filters pass WAY MORE dirt compared to OEM filters and have significantly fewer (but much larger) holes. I'll see if I can dig up a few studies. FWIW, some of the worst automotive advice I've ever heard doled out over the years came from "race mechanics".

Long story short, putting a K&N on a stock Mazda3 engine is likely to do absolutely zip for performance and economy while at the same time increase the chances of unwanted dirt making its way into the engine.

 

Ive said from the start its not worth putting a intake on these cars but if you want SOMETHING a drop in is going to do the same amount as an intake. the 1lbstq is just just saying you can spend $300 and get that "increase" which again is not worth. We had pics of cutaway filters for stock and oem (not just k&n) from manufacturers they all changed from the sizes to the amount of holes (APC was by far the worst). The bigger tq numbers came from the v8's (camaro,gto,mustang). As for the studies you can go on k&n's site and they have a section where they have tested cars with pics and show failures. Im not limiting this to just k&n btw, long story short putting any intake on a stock mazda3 engine wont do much if anything. Also just so you know, we dealt with aem, injen, bomz, and k&n.

 

This should be interesting......

All I know is that before I got my Mazdaspeed/AEM CAI, I bought a K&N drop-in panel filter. I just couldn't resist trying it for the <$50 it cost me. No noticeable difference

So then, being the seat-of-the-pants old schooler I am (HEY!! It worked VERY well on my old "carburetted" '80's Civic,) I created what I like to call, "the Poor Man's SRI."







No difference in mileage or noticeable power.

So I sez to myself, I sez, "Self!!" I sez, "You've always heard that horsepower costs money. Shop around for the best and decide on an CAI and see what that does."

So after a long, long search and a lot of soul searching, I find this guy on another forum that has received both the Fujita and a Mazdaspeed (AEM by another name) CAI as gifts, but wants to keep the Fujita.
We come to an agreement and I buy the MS from him. I install the Mazdaspeed CAI.


NO NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE IN EITHER MILEAGE OR POWER!!

In fact, I noticed a more immediate difference after installing a $600+ exhaust system which actually came before the aforementioned CAI!!

 

exactly what i was saying, just you had the proof ty Rich

$50 drop-in=Nothing

$200+ cai=Nothing with a chance of a cel, ruined maf (dependent on weather conditions), pulled wiring harness (on some brands)

Your pick buddy

 

Well, to be fair about it, my "tests" were far from scientific, except perhaps that I check my mileage EVERY TIME I fill up.
But in the every day world, they didn't seem to make any difference to the "butt" dyno at least.

 

So everyone has pretty much convinced me that buying an intake in not even worth it. im really torn between this.

 

all we can do is give you advice, ill try to make it a little more simple

What you (as in MazN00B3) want:
Power
Looks

What you get:
Looks
Noise

If that dont work here is my last advice *ahem* its your car, do what you want* (dont take as me being rude )

 

HA Ha understood and no its not rude your being blunt.

 

After much deciding i bought the fujita F5 CAI, and installed a MS3 cat-back exhuast minus one of the two resonators.I am pleased with my overall results. The car feels a tad slower, maybe, i cannot really tell that well.
As we spoke previously about making it look and sound nice i also put on enkei imola black 7 spoke wheels at 17X7.5 with 225/45/17's
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...d071/mazda.jpg
that is the end result. was taking with an Iphone 4 , sorry for the ****ty quality. When i have more time i wil post a better picture.