Posts Tagged ‘short-ram’
Maryland International Raceway Quarter mile – April 2011
On April 3rd 2011 I went to Maryland International Raceway (MIR) in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. This is a nice and well run quarter mile drag strip. On April 3rd of 2011 I went for the Test and Tune event they have periodically throughout the year. I wanted to go early in the season to get a baseline for my car. As of this day the only power mods I have on the car are the SURE Motorsports Aeros Short-ram intake, Sidewinder turbo inlet pipe and a prototype test pipe. I was also running on 93 octane with no octane boost.
I decided to call this my baseline instead of stock because these are very basic and inexpensive bolt-on mods that most entry level tuners will have on their cars almost immediately. With this said, I showed up at 10am and headed over to Tech Inspection. Passed with flying colors, of course, and was assigned number 902. Be sure to look at the times under the column with Car #… 902 in the pictures below. I ran a total of 9 runs that day but I will only show the 3 important ones!
My First Run was at 10:30am and is not pictured here because it is not very good. I had to use this to feel out the power band, when to shift and, of course, shack off the first run jitters! I ran a 14.876 with a top speed of 100.61.
Second run at 10:36am. It wasn’t very busy in the morning! Other than the horrific reaction time of .387 the run was my best run of the day. Found the shift points and sped through to the finish with a 14.151 and a top speed of 101.55. Not too bad, but I felt I could do better with the reaction time.
Well, needless to say, That wasn’t the case. I did 2 more runs between 10:36 and 11:07 and they were horrible. I guess I got too anxious or the fact that I was next to a 9 second dragster and couldn’t hear my engine may have had something to do with it. Although I did beat a old Civic hatch, which was fun. However, I only ran a 14.384 and he ran a 14.892. That would have potentially have been my best run but my reaction time was .628 and his was .266. I am amazed I even won that one.
So after that, I broke for a bite to eat and let my car cool down for an hour. At 12:05pm I decide to get back on the track. My nerves are calm, I am feeling good and… Dear god I am next to another dragster pictured to right. The tree lights up and I nail the reaction time! but the wheels spin a tad. That’s okay, feeling good… I go into third gear and EEERRRRR, miss shifted… Worst run of the day as you can see.
I raced three more times after that but I couldn’t break 14.7 seconds, no matter how well I launched or went through the gears. The car just got too heat soaked to get any more power out of it. So I shut her down for a few hours and watch others race for a bit.
I decide to go for one last run for the day at 3:51 pm. The car had plenty of time to cool down and I was as ready as I would ever be at the point. It wasn’t a bad run after all, I just have to work on my reaction time a bit.
So as you can see from these slips, with the Mods I have on my car and a little more practice, at this stage it is a 14 second car. Three basic, inexpensive bolt-on modification and we are .151 seconds from needing a helmet when racing! Not too shabby if I may say so myself!
Mazdaspeed 3: SURE Motorsports’ Aeros and Sidewinder Install
For The installation of the SURE Motorsports’ Aeros Short-ram intake and the Sidewinder turbo inlet pipe there is no need to lift the car and it will take about an hour. Before you start this install, disconnect your battery. This will reset the ECU so when you install the new parts the car can adjust properly for maximum gains. You can find a Review of the Aeros short-ram intake and Sidewinder Turbo inlet pipe for more information here.
Where is it:
The Stock intake and Turbo inlet are located to the right of the engine in front of and between the battery box and engine.
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Tools Needed:
- Socket wrench with extension
- 8mm, 10mm and 12mm sockets
- Flathead and fillips head screw drivers
- Allen wrenches
- Needle-nose pliers
- Gloves
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What to do:
First, start ripping everything out. (1) Remove the intake by removing the bolt and loosening the clamp to the stock turbo inlet pipe. (2) Remove the MAF sensors and (3) wires clamped to the intake, needle nose pliers come in handy here. (4) You are left with the intake tube. (5) Loosen the rear clamp of the tube and (6) pull it out.
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Now your stock intake is removed. If you do not have the Sidewinder Turbo inlet from SURE Motorsports you can skip down to the part where we install the intake.
Installing your new Sidewinder turbo inlet pipe
To install the Sidewinder turbo inlet pipe you must remove the battery box and intercooler cover to make life a lot easier for yourself. I found this out the hard way! (1) remove intercooler cover, there are 4 bolts. (2) I also removed the intercooler to make it easier to access the intake manifold connection. (3) Remove battery tie, disconnect harness and remove front panel of battery box. (4) Then take out the battery and remove 3 bolts at base of box to (5) remove the box completely.
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(1-2) Now you need to remove all the clamps and wires connected to the stock turbo inlet pipe. (3-4) CAREFULLY remove hose from top of turbo inlet pipe. Do not break anything. (5) remove the hose connected to the bottom pipe of the turbo inlet and the recirculation valve. Then loosen the clamp connecting the turbo inlet pipe to the intake manifold, sorry no pic.
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Now with the Turbo inlet pipe removed you can start installing your SURE Motorsports’ Sidewinder. (1) Slide in and clamp up the end of the Sidewinder to the intake manifold. (2) reconnect hose at rear top of Sidewinder. (3) Reconnect hose to bottom of Sidewinder and recirculation valve.
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At this point you can replace your intercooler and battery box. If you bought the Sidewinder, hopefully you bought the Aeros short-ram intake as well. I am not sure about fitment of stock intake on the Sidewinder. If you purchased and are installing the Aeros do not replace the front panel of the battery box at this point. You will do this after you anchor it. See picture 4 below.
Installing your new Aeros Short-ram intake
First, (1) we must remove the old MAF sensor from the stock intake box. (2-3) Then we must attach it to the new Aeros short-ram intake MAF housing. (4) Connect the Aeros to the turbo inlet pipe and clamp it up nice and tight. (5) Position the anchor so that it securely holds the intake in place. Remove the stock bolt and replace over bracket to secure.
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Now you will notice there is a bracket and a plastic pipe leading no where. (1-2) Remove these. As you can see in picture 1 below, the bracket is way to sharp and close for comfort when the filter is on. (3) Now you can install the filter and close up the battery box and connect all sensors. (4) When installing the filter there is a slight edge on the MAF housing. Line up the edge of the filter to this edge and tighten. (5) Do a final check on all clamps and fitment, replace Intercooler cover and reconnect battery and you are done!
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When you initially start up there will be some hesitation in the engine. Do not worry, your ECU has to relearn the new air fuel ratios. This will take about 300-500 miles in total. It will also sound like a jet starting up as it pulls in all that new found air. Super cool!
These are your left over parts. Well, minus the shift weight.
I installed the SURE Countershift weight when I did this as well.
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SURE Motorsports’ Short-RAM and Turbo Inlet Pipe for the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
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SURE Motorsports sent me the Aeros short-ram intake and the Sidewinder turbo inlet pipe. I installed these parts as soon as I got them in. The install was relatively simple as you will see in my DIY. After the install I had to wait a few days for the ECU to relearn the Air/fuel ratios and get the true power out of the aftermarket parts. So after driving the car for 2 weeks I finally have something to report. (Right image: Stock engine bay of the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 [Before])
SURE Motorsports’ Sidewinder Turbo inlet Pipe
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Even though I had to wait for a little bit to let the ECU relearn, I instantly felt the change. When I first started the car it was a little shaky and struggled to idle for few seconds. It quickly smoothed out and all you heard was this wonderful sound coming from the engine bay. It sounded like a Jet about to take off as the Aeros short-ram intake sucked in massive amounts of air. Eventually the choke set in and it quieted down to a nice smooth idle. After the initial start, every time thereafter, I never felt the jittery startup again.
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To give you a sense of the way this new intake system sounds, image what a semi-truck sounds like when it accelerates. The hi-pitch hissing the massive turbos and intakes produce as they take in air. When accelerating normally you hear a vortex of air being pulled into the turbo. It’s a hollow, steady, powerful sound that makes you want to mash the gas pedal all the time! Under full throttle it produces a hi-pitched hiss similar to what the movies think a Raptor sounds like. Either way it sounds like Power!
When you release the gas and the throttle body valve closes all that air gets recirculated through the bypass valve. The stock air intake setup of the 2010 mazdaspeed 3 usually does not make a noticeable noise when this happens. With this new setup it sounds as though you have a modestly set blow-off valve. As of this installation, I do not have a aftermarket blow-off valve. However, I bet most people think I do now!
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As for the power of this simple, inexpensive modification… Instant gratification. These 2 simple modifications allow much more air to pass directly to the turbo and have created a very noticeable increase to my torque. Air is quickly, and much more efficiently, inducted to the turbo creating a higher air ratio for a larger combustion. This instant power creates a “stick to your seat” feeling you can’t get enough of. Second and third gear pulls are amazingly strong, and more importantly, steady and smooth all the way through the powerband.
SURE Motorsports offers the Aeros short-ram Intake and the Sidewinder turbo inlet pipe in a variety of colors as well. I chose black for a clean stealthy look and as you can see from the picture to the right, all parts fit perfectly within the confines of the original 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 engine. All sensors are accounted for so there is no annoying check engine light and all plastic fits back with no modifications as well. Nice, simple and clean!
Rating:
5 of 5
After driving the car for 2 weeks in a variety of fashions, overall the Aeros and Sidewinder are top notch products. Under normal driving it increased fuel economy due to the better mixture of air to fuel. More air and less fuel to create equal power always adds up to good! Under “assertive” driving conditions the direct and increased torque lend well to quicker 60 foot times or just an overall better, spirited drive. The price is right, installation is a breeze and the gains are amazing! These products come highly recommended if you are looking for an inexpensive and safe way to add more noticeable power to your 2010 Mazdaspeed 3.