im looking to get a cold air intake for my 3 hatch, im wondering how to install it properley?, will it cause problems?, and what brand i should get?

 

this was posted not too long ago...

https://www.mazdaforum.com/m_14581/tm.htm

im not sure which intake you should get...alot of people seem to choose Injen (Injen is also used on the Mazda3 showcar thats all decked out)

AEM is a nice brand...i think youre looking at just about the same HP/TQ gains no matter what you choose - look for a good deal


"will it cause problems"
- do a Google on problems with CAI, and ur bound to come up with the most serious problem - Hydrolock (when you suck up water through your intake into your engine..*highly unlikely in my area*) Assess the risk...think about the area that you live in, the rainfall, flooding etc...

 

I agree with mike, Cold Air intakes could even be customized, but not matter which one you get be carefull where u live, I live in FLorida, and here it rains alot during summer and hurricane season, Well honestly because of Cold intake i have a new CAR now
I had a Corolla very nicely suped up and one day it was raining, no too bad, and on one othe main roads was construction going on, the water wouldn't drain, well not seeing anything ahead because of huge trucks it looked there was not much water, but on occasion the other big trucks spread the water out and when it came back my car literlly was 35% under water, well cold intake immidiatlly sucked it all in in a matter of seconds, As a RESULT I was lucky not to accelerate after it shut down, did research online, got the water out myself, but as you should know if your engine gets water inside, DO NOT ACCELERATE, it will bend your pistons, 2000$ repair, Well than replace spark plugs and oil right the way, jump the battery. As for my frind who came to pick me up and had short RAM intake drives manual Celica, BENT his pistons because when the engine was sucking the water he was accelerating, SO at some point its good to own auto, it won't start when the water gets in there. But for all of you, on that day, no matter what car you had except for 4x4 trucks, any Mercedes, BMW's, INfinity's and so on were all on the road with thier engines filled with water, on the walk home me and a friend who owns celica helped to push about 10 cars off the road. BUT CAI - Cold Air intake gains better Tourqe on high RPM's and Short on Low RPM's.

 

even if your area has alot of rainfall... there are such inventions as splash shields and cone covers that allow for your intake to breathe while being protected to a certain point. the cover basically beads the rain off the cone thus allowing for no hydrolocking.

 

along with "by pass valves" that i hear mostly being used by the brand AEM.

 

Injen has this product called Hydro Shield and apparently it has polyestor covering the cone, check it out.

http://www.injen.com/hydroshield.html

 

I am in AZ and would probably have not to worry about the water issue that so many people have. but my problem with the Injen intake is the amount of bends from the filter to the throttle body in the piping. All those bends make for less air getting to the engine, same as on exhaust, you want the pipe as straight as possible. I am considering having a pipe custome made with only 2 bends, both at 45 degrees. with all the plastic removed when a CAI is put in, there is plenty of room, and it would probably be a slight improvement over the Injen or AEM intakes. Something like this,

[IMG]local://upfiles/2492/5E923099ED49493B8846746BAA117E25.jpg[/IMG]

 

i'm very tempted to get that hydroshield and take my splash shield off...

 

can these intakes come with the guards against hydrolock? or do you have to buy it seperatley

 

injen kits (at least the one i purchased) came with a splash guard shield... but if you want the hydroshield... you will have to purchase that separately because that does not come in the kits.

i'm not sure about other kits.. by the hydroshield is made by injen