Question, did you have just a stock paper air filter? aka a fram, stp etc paper filter or a "performance" drop in like k and n and aem and spectre etc make before doing this? I ask because I am interested in doing a CAI if it is worth the investment. I had the stock like paper one the dealer I bought mine used from put in when I bought the car (they had done oil change, filters and tires, the tires where cheap and I feel it all was but that's another story...) anyways like you I wanted more power and I put drop in k and n filters in all my cars anyways as they last longer then a paper filter would between cleaning (paper ones obviously cant be cleaned) and save money in the long run as I can clean my k and n drop in 3-5x with one $10 cleaning kit doing it once a year instead of needing a new paper one every 6 months or so. But I also ask because I notice a pick up in power from 3,000-5,000rpm (I have a 2011 2.5L hatch) with the k and n versus the paper ones. would you say its very noticeable or just slightly? mine seems to just be a hair more then slight as I can feel it needs less throttle to go with the k and n and once up in speed shifts better (mines an auto, I know could not find any manuals in buyable condition around when I needed a car) it also lets it go slightly higher in speed before the stupid governor kicks in. with the paper 116ish was when the governor kicked in but with the k and n its slightly after 120mph (the 2.5 could easily go 145 before redline if they would let it, dibbling the governor in the gen 1 was easy all you had to do was take out the abs fuse, maybe same here) my old 08 manual 2.3 hatch would cut at 120ish with the governor active(same drop in ka nd n did same to this car) if I removed the abs fuse it would go to redline and hit about 142mph and bounce the tach not bad for a small 4 cylinder hatch n/a motor. anyways would you say its more noticeable then my description with the drop in or about the same?
Injen CAI Overall Review
(disclaimer, I did not take any install pics)
Hi all! After doing much research and forum reading (thank you everyone). I decided to purchase the Injen CAI for my 2010 Mazda 3s 2.5. After driving on it for about 250 miles, I figured I would give a quick review for anybody else looking into getting a CAI.
After purchasing the Injen CAI through carsponsors.com (%20 discount, sweeet), I eagerly awaited the delivery at my door step like a puppy waiting for its owner to come home. Then last Monday, after coming home from a road trip, there it was. There it stood gracing me with its beautiful presence leaving my jaw to drop with awe and my feet to dance with excitement. Needless to say, I was anxious to install.
Because New England sucks weather-wise and I had to stare out the window at my car during rain, snow and slush until the clouds parted and made way for the sun to shine through this past Sunday. I zoom-zoomed over to buddies house, grasping the box tightly as though it was the planets treasure that I wasn't let get into the wrong hands.
At 9am in the morning, we began. We started with removing the stock air box (as you do). It was simple and easy.
Once it had become time to install the intake itself, we decided it would be easier to remove the bumper instead of opening up the fender liner as I have seen in another thread. And let me tell you, this was the most difficult task of the day. Because of the terrible weather the plastic tabs to separate the fender liner from the bumper had become very weathered making their removal extremely difficult. Luckily, with the might of fully grown men and the anxiousness of boys, we managed to pry them apart.
Now for the weird part. With the bumper removed we needed to slide the silicon tubing for the intake through a hole to get into the lower section behind the fog light. This hole seemed too small and the silicon tubing was distorted slightly making the pathway for air smaller. It doesn't seem to have a massive effect or hindering, just figured it was weird.
After fully installing this beautiful thing, it was time to drive and luckily I had a mini road trip planned. I picked my gf up and away we went to Northborough to get hella horns (thank god for FB marketplace). After grabbing those we scurried over to Plympton for some new wheels (FB Marketplace FTW).
On the way to Plympton there were nothing but open highways so naturally its time to go fast. And boy did I feel a difference!
The intake not only makes the engine sound 10x better but I can also feel it kick in (butt dyno) right around 3,000rpm. I'm very excited to see how this product with work in tune with a new cat-back exhaust.
I am thoroughly pleased with my purchase and encourage anyone looking for a great intake to go this route!
Hi all! After doing much research and forum reading (thank you everyone). I decided to purchase the Injen CAI for my 2010 Mazda 3s 2.5. After driving on it for about 250 miles, I figured I would give a quick review for anybody else looking into getting a CAI.
After purchasing the Injen CAI through carsponsors.com (%20 discount, sweeet), I eagerly awaited the delivery at my door step like a puppy waiting for its owner to come home. Then last Monday, after coming home from a road trip, there it was. There it stood gracing me with its beautiful presence leaving my jaw to drop with awe and my feet to dance with excitement. Needless to say, I was anxious to install.
Because New England sucks weather-wise and I had to stare out the window at my car during rain, snow and slush until the clouds parted and made way for the sun to shine through this past Sunday. I zoom-zoomed over to buddies house, grasping the box tightly as though it was the planets treasure that I wasn't let get into the wrong hands.
At 9am in the morning, we began. We started with removing the stock air box (as you do). It was simple and easy.
Once it had become time to install the intake itself, we decided it would be easier to remove the bumper instead of opening up the fender liner as I have seen in another thread. And let me tell you, this was the most difficult task of the day. Because of the terrible weather the plastic tabs to separate the fender liner from the bumper had become very weathered making their removal extremely difficult. Luckily, with the might of fully grown men and the anxiousness of boys, we managed to pry them apart.
Now for the weird part. With the bumper removed we needed to slide the silicon tubing for the intake through a hole to get into the lower section behind the fog light. This hole seemed too small and the silicon tubing was distorted slightly making the pathway for air smaller. It doesn't seem to have a massive effect or hindering, just figured it was weird.
After fully installing this beautiful thing, it was time to drive and luckily I had a mini road trip planned. I picked my gf up and away we went to Northborough to get hella horns (thank god for FB marketplace). After grabbing those we scurried over to Plympton for some new wheels (FB Marketplace FTW).
On the way to Plympton there were nothing but open highways so naturally its time to go fast. And boy did I feel a difference!
The intake not only makes the engine sound 10x better but I can also feel it kick in (butt dyno) right around 3,000rpm. I'm very excited to see how this product with work in tune with a new cat-back exhaust.
I am thoroughly pleased with my purchase and encourage anyone looking for a great intake to go this route!
1 - 4 of 10 Posts
ok that's good to hear, im actually getting way better mpg then you, don't ask me how because I drive hard. I average 27-29 usually with the drop in. I know this car with the auto has weird ratios and it likes to ride between 70-80mph on the freeway for 5th to really be effective at fuel saving 1st is good to about 12mph then 2nd to about 25 then 3rd to 40 and 4th to 60-65 is usually how I do it when I shift myself (manual mode, which is not "like driving a stick shift" as mazda says in the manual lol) its more like driving an appliance and being able to control it slightly that's how I feel about autos, well until you reach gtr type levels but again different story. no clutch and no gear grinding possibility and no roll back on hill starts does not give you the full experience of a manual. at least the auto still handles like a mazda 3 and drives great otherwise.I had the K&N drop in filter before. Definitely felt it more than stock but the CAI is on a whole new level. I noticed much more gains in the CAI after drop-in K&N, than I did in the K&N drop-in after stock air filter.
I also noticed a MPG uptick as well. With the drop-in filter it was sitting pretty at around 24 mpg but now (granted this is only after ~250 miles) is a steady 26 mpg
Worth the pennies for sure.
taking the bumper off is easy on these cars I had to change the passenger headlight due to moisture inside (it has the fancy HID auto leveling, afs stuff, fully loaded GT trim its rather nice for a 6 year old $24k when new car I got for $10,500 plus t t and l) and to that requires bumper removal, it was a drawn out thing I tried to fix the housing and it did not last long then realized it was leaking from where the ballast mounts on the bottom of the assembly (watched where it started to fog from, like watching paint dry lol) so silicone it up tight still did not fix it so got a new ballast new assembly new bulb and new ballast mount seal ($1000 shipped from zoomzoomnation.com parts(cj Wilson mazda) great place to get oem diagrams and parts cheaper then many dealers I have locally, check em out.) hell the local dealer wanted $900 just for the assembly they only wanted $667, only $100 more then refurbished from rock auto. anyways the ballast and bulb where ok still but the ballast had rust starting to collect from the water ingress so I figured better to do it all once then take it apart 3x again (and the autonation bmw dealer I bought the car from paid for my parts and let me install them myself!, theres more behind that but PM me if you want more on that, the service at that dealer was excellent highly recommend them, not so much autonation mazda in fort worth) so why not get all new while I can! anyways I had taken the bumper off 6x by then so I can pretty much do it blind folded with my hands tied behind my back now. took 45 minutes to get off and back on 1st time less then 20 each time after(including light assembly and connections)
I may go injen, did you get chrome piping? if so do they offer other colors? I don't like the way chrome piping looks under the hood after its been used awhile and k and n offers different colors for their CAI, and corksprt has multicolrs on their SRI (but I feel CAI is better as SRI does not really add much)
sorry if I missed it what was the total costAs far as I know they offer Polished chrome (which still has black silicone tubing) or all black. I went with the all black and it looks great!
cool, that's a great price on a CAI especially name brand, im going to look into that. Thank youTotal cost with shipping was $219. It was the best price I could find and I went through a company called carsponsors.com
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