Miata Mailing List: November 1999, Message #294

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On Nov 5, 1999 "Alessandro Di Sciascio" wrote:
> After the $12 mod the tone of the engine changed noticeably and the car IMHO
> definitelly gained something especially in the 3k-4.5K range.  I love it!

Well, perhaps it's because I have a California car with the header
replaced by an exhaust manifold with secondary cat, but the dyno
suggested to me that there's not much in the way of gains possible
by intake parts in front of the mass airflow sensor.  I compared a
stock run with a home-made K&N cone filter setup (MAS to u-pipe to
cone filter).  The K&N filter setup lost 1 ft-lb of torque and gained
1 hp.  The curves were basically the same as well.  Ripping off the
entire air filter setup and leaving a bare MAS resulted in the same
numbers as having the cone filter attached.

So my advice is to not buy an intake with the goal of getting more
power.  If you want the sound (and I do like the sound of mine), then
go for it.

--Ian
'99 Emerald Mica LP (needs a turbo)