Just Some Basic MOD Inquiries

Hey I just started modifying my car (2004 Mazda 3 Sport 2.3 L 5-speed Standard), and to get this out of the way early, I am fairly ignorant as to everything car related and have been really trying very hard to learn, so please help and any constructive criticism or linking me to good threads is always appreciated.
I was looking for polyurethane bushings, a set of fast road cams, and an induction kit. I already have a k&n cold air intake and a few other mods. Also if it's possible to get any of these parts at local stores (Walmart, Crappy Tire, etc. I would appreciate knowing that first and then cheaper places to get the mods elsewhere)

Some basic questions:
Do I need a K&N filter as well if I have the intake?

Are high quality camber arms important? Or is stock ok?

My car is currently lowered about 1.8 inches but I head that 1.5 is optimal for handling should I have it raised or is the difference negligible? Or is that even correct?

Which would be more important when it comes to exhaust changes (currently have custom piping underneath for the stock straight pipe to resonate a lower sound): A sportier exhaust? Or a sportier catalyst? or both together? Also does modifying individual parts in the exhaust help at all?

Also would getting the engine head gas flowed and ported really lead to much improved engine gains? I've been debating that as well as getting larger valves and other head work. Which would you recommend?

Also do you recommend an aftermarket ECU? I will be getting the car remapped in the spring after I have finished most of the engine and suspension mods. After that I will start on the interior and audio and so on. THANKS IN ADVANCE. If I did something wrong posting this or if there's anything I should change or do differently please let me know as I am trying very hard to learn and get to know my car more. I am in awe of most of you :P

Now in closing, I do appreciate fuel efficiency so if any of these things are going to kill that completely please let me know. And while cost is important it won't necessarily kill the mod so just let me know in advance if it will be super costly, as I would like to start with a few cheaper things to get my head into this whole car thing a little slower.

Thanks again!!
Cheers,
ds08tf (Darien)

if you have an intake it should have a filter if not then you need one. not sure about your lowerd question but im sure someone is, or what you are really looking for with exhaust, if you want a bit more noise and flow its better to change to a high flow cat. if your happy with the noise you have then leave it as it is. never heard about anyone porting and putting larger valves in a regular 3 yet. so not sure if that is just a waste of money or not but if you do it let us know how it does, far as i know there is no aftermarket ecu for the 3, closest we get is the access port for the speed 3s.. and i wouldnt be so sure your getting your car remapped. i didnt think that was possible unless you have the piggy back system, which i havent heard many do so be carefull whos telling you they can "remap and tune your 3"

lastly.. if you care about fuel economy at all.. dont touch the car, dont mod the car. heck dont even drive the car ( thats the best way to ensure you fill up as little as you can :P) but if you want fuel economy the more you mod the less fuel economy you have. you will either have a car for fuel economy. or a faster car that doesnt have fuel economy. sadly you cant have a fast or faster car will good fuel economy. but doing any head work to the car( porting and larger valves) can become very costly. and like i said i dont think there is a way to tune that for a regular 3..

GOOD LUCK!

First off thanks for your speedy reply I very much appreciate it. Fuel economy is sorta important although I think mods are a bit more important right now :P.
This being said I heard that lowering your car, cold air intakes, and things like that are actually better on gas, and even high flow exhausts and what not, save gas. It might not be much but I thought this was the case perhaps I'm mistaking.

The head work on the car will come much later as will the tuning and remapping so I'll look into that in more detail when I get there. A high flow cat was what I was looking at.. probably one from magnaflow or Borla but that's a bit of money and not urgent for me so I've been looking around for a good deal and would like to work on some smaller mods first (Bushings and so on)

I will DEFINITELY get a K&N air intake filter as well then as I am almost 100% sure I just have the stock one. Whoever I bought from just put in the K&N cold air intake without any of the additional parts... or at least I am fairly sure. Does anyone know how to double check? Or is there a thread for that?
Thank you so much again and hopefully I will get more responses like this to help educate me further!
Cheers,
ds08tf (Darien)

A pic of the intake would help in that case

lowering the car yes a bit less resistance i believe, intake and exhuast you may get a gain but you usually get less economy as you like how the car sounds and want to hear it. im sure you have a filter on there now but if you replace it then make sure to get a good quality filter. if you want to know what filter you have then you need to take it off the intake.

I like your enthusiasm, but I think your getting a little ahead of yourself. first, what are your goals? do you want the car to look nicer, sound better, go faster, or be fuel efficient? will you be tracking, or will it be just a daily drive or both?

I must admit, I lol'd a bit when u said you were gonna put cams in but didnt know about the intake filter. cmon. :D we all start somewhere.

If your budget is low, stick with bolt-ons and engine mounts. best bang for your buck + fun daily drive value.

If your serious and can spend some decent cash in the 1000's$, you should decide between going naturally aspirated or boosted. and in this case it would be better to buy a speed if you were going the boosted path as the tri-point kit, or any decent turbo kit is around 3-5 grand. this is not taking into account the amount you will have to spend to get it working properly and preventative mods such as replacing the weak parts of the stock engine and replace it with forged parts, oil coolers, etc.

now if you have big money, just get a complete engine swap from either a different car or a cosworth n/a engine which i heard can make up to 300hp out of the box. correct me if im wrong.

like i said, what are your goals? as many have said before, you cant have cheap, fast, and reliable (fuel efficiency being one) in the same sentence.

so before you start spending your money, consider all the paths you could go and which one you would like to achieve if at all.

I took a look and the intake definitely does have the appropriate air filter and you're definitely right after looking into it some more I realize how much further ahead cams and how dramatic a difference there is between the two. Kinda ridiculous.

My goals are to have the car for a long time, take great care of it. I'm not going to track it, but I like to have fun and I definitely like taking pride in what I'm driving. I don't like looking ricey or anything I just want a car that will look nice and sound nice, drive smooth, and be lots of fun. And through this I would like to learn more about taking care of my car and how to do common repairs/revitalizations and what part replacements are smart and which ones are way beyond my scope (cams lol). Fuel efficiency isn't super important but I'd rather the car didn't lose 10 mpg just because I swap out exhausts, if that's the case then I'd stay away.

My budget is probably to start under 500 $ for most mods, and as I get more comfortable and develop a taste for what I like I would up the range to 1000$ with a max of 3 or 4000 for all modifications. I'm definitely not getting turbo as if that was my goal I would have just gotten a speed as mentioned above.

I think tomorrow I'm removing and cleaning my filter for the air intake (properly) and after I see the condition it's in I will decide if it's beneficial to look into buying a higher quality filter.

I know I sound kind of confused and I most definitely am. I really really appreciate all of your help, and any more advice will be greatly appreciated.
Smaller mods to start would be the best or simple repairs/revitalizations that commonly need to be done that may need to be done on my car would also be good to hear about.

Things like iridium plugs or poly urethane bushings and stuff like that... is it really worth my time? It's fairly inexpensive which is why I was interested and I could do it myself. So I'm thinking of doing it, but what are the real benefits? Hopefully this isn't too confusing for anyone. Again any info will help! Thanks.

ps. I will look into a complete engine swap once my engine has some more km's on it. The same is true as the car has 140000 km on the clutch I expect it to last but not for much longer and I will be looking into a clutch replacement (aftermarket) then (lighter flywheel) stuff like that... again more things I really don't understand but am trying to. Literally I google everything I don't understand but there's so much I end up getting confused, but I'll keep trying and hopefully with your help I'll get it and the result I'm looking for!

Thanks again!
Cheers,
ds08tf (Darien)

lol, okay. I would start with a rear sway bar, rear motor mount, and intake. best things to get imo which are fairly affordable and have great fun value.

Thanks for the response I'll definitely look into those. With the proper research are they all able to be done by myself? Or with the help of one other person? I'm not adverse to the labour or having to go buy specific tools and I would like to use this to learn more.
Thanks Again!
I'll post pics before and after and during every install in the appropriate sections.
Cheers,
ds08tf (Darien)

all of those mods can be done with a decent socket set, jackstands, and jack. all are fairly easy to do also :thumbsup

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Originally Posted by kilo4321

all of those mods can be done with a decent socket set, jackstands, and jack. all are fairly easy to do also :thumbsup

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Wicked. I'll be buying the parts as they come up!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ds08tf

Thanks for the response I'll definitely look into those. With the proper research are they all able to be done by myself? Or with the help of one other person? I'm not adverse to the labour or having to go buy specific tools and I would like to use this to learn more.
Thanks Again!
I'll post pics before and after and during every install in the appropriate sections.
Cheers,
ds08tf (Darien)

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All those can be done easily. Did them all at least once over the summer, if not 5 times. Send a pm if you have a question.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ds08tf

Hey I just started modifying my car (2004 Mazda 3 Sport 2.3 L 5-speed Standard), and to get this out of the way early, I am fairly ignorant as to everything car related and have been really trying very hard to learn, so please help and any constructive criticism or linking me to good threads is always appreciated.
I was looking for polyurethane bushings, a set of fast road cams, and an induction kit. I already have a k&n cold air intake and a few other mods. Also if it's possible to get any of these parts at local stores (Walmart, Crappy Tire, etc. I would appreciate knowing that first and then cheaper places to get the mods elsewhere)

Some basic questions:
Do I need a K&N filter as well if I have the intake?

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If you have a CAI - there definitely should already be a filter attached. You probably just can't see it. It would be hidden inside the fender

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ds08tf

Are high quality camber arms important? Or is stock ok?

My car is currently lowered about 1.8 inches but I head that 1.5 is optimal for handling should I have it raised or is the difference negligible? Or is that even correct?

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Depending on the system you're lowered on, some are not height adjustable. But at 1.8", I would use the camber arms to save the tires some unnecessary wear

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ds08tf

Which would be more important when it comes to exhaust changes (currently have custom piping underneath for the stock straight pipe to resonate a lower sound): A sportier exhaust? Or a sportier catalyst? or both together? Also does modifying individual parts in the exhaust help at all?

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Hi-flow cat is the better choice. You're exhaust flow is limited to the weakest point - which are factory crinkle bends and small pipe diameters/flanges

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ds08tf

Also would getting the engine head gas flowed and ported really lead to much improved engine gains? I've been debating that as well as getting larger valves and other head work. Which would you recommend?

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Personally, I wouldn't bother with this at all. Simply not worth the time and money UNLESS you are 100% dedicated to NA performance

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ds08tf

Also do you recommend an aftermarket ECU? I will be getting the car remapped in the spring after I have finished most of the engine and suspension mods.

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to my knowledge - there aren't any ECU Upgrades or flashes available for the 04's

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ds08tf

After that I will start on the interior and audio and so on. THANKS IN ADVANCE. If I did something wrong posting this or if there's anything I should change or do differently please let me know as I am trying very hard to learn and get to know my car more. I am in awe of most of you :P

Now in closing, I do appreciate fuel efficiency so if any of these things are going to kill that completely please let me know. And while cost is important it won't necessarily kill the mod so just let me know in advance if it will be super costly, as I would like to start with a few cheaper things to get my head into this whole car thing a little slower.

Thanks again!!
Cheers,
ds08tf (Darien)

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Performance driven, I would look into a better flow - Intake, intake manifold, header, and a custom exhaust set-up. Bump piping up .25", hi flow cat, resonator delete, mandrel bends, and try to keep a straight flow (minimal bends)

Also, beef up the grounding points. Search "Big 3" for that info. You need to remember this car is 95% electrical.

Suspension and braking is also key!

Look into performance maintenance. See what needs to be repaired or maintained and upgrade that first. No fun going fast when your brakes are shot

Other than that - just have fun with it. Take you're time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MZ3-Kiyomi_17

lol, okay. I would start with a rear sway bar, rear motor mount, and intake. best things to get imo which are fairly affordable and have great fun value.

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what about a strut tower bar? wouldnt that be good also?

and which brand motor mounts to buy?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mazda3-GT_

what about a strut tower bar? wouldnt that be good also?

and which brand motor mounts to buy?

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Strut tower bars on the 3 are mostly for show.

CPE is a good RMM

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mazda3-GT_

what about a strut tower bar? wouldnt that be good also?

and which brand motor mounts to buy?

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SURE or cp-e rmm

Start off with trading in for a speed3 or any year. It's hard to hear but it's worth it.

Haha when I have some more money I most certainly will. In fact in the next year or so I might just do that. But for now I'll stick with learning about cars by modding mine.

Thank you so much (Default User) this info is invaluable. I will most definitely look into the BIG 3 as I plan on upgrading my sound system soon. I already have a red top battery so that will help. Camber arms are going to be the only mod I think I do for performance right away and as you suggested, for the rest I will repair when something stock breaks with an aftermarket part.

To keep me occupied I think I'll tinker with the interior led dash lighting (red to blue and white) and vinyl coating some of the gray parts of the interior gloss black. I think it would look good with the blue.

Should I look into performance break pads? As in the spring I will need to replace my rear brake setup.

One last question.. what's an intake manifold and how is it different from an intake? I already have a k&n short ram so is that already covered. I googled it but was still confused.

Either way thanks for the help. Can't wait to go to the meets and meet some new people.
Thanks again!
Cheers,
Darien

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ds08tf

Haha when I have some more money I most certainly will. In fact in the next year or so I might just do that. But for now I'll stick with learning about cars by modding mine.

Thank you so much (Default User) this info is invaluable. I will most definitely look into the BIG 3 as I plan on upgrading my sound system soon. I already have a red top battery so that will help. Camber arms are going to be the only mod I think I do for performance right away and as you suggested, for the rest I will repair when something stock breaks with an aftermarket part.

To keep me occupied I think I'll tinker with the interior led dash lighting (red to blue and white) and vinyl coating some of the gray parts of the interior gloss black. I think it would look good with the blue.

Should I look into performance break pads? As in the spring I will need to replace my rear brake setup.

One last question.. what's an intake manifold and how is it different from an intake? I already have a k&n short ram so is that already covered. I googled it but was still confused.

Either way thanks for the help. Can't wait to go to the meets and meet some new people.
Thanks again!
Cheers,
Darien

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Hps brakes are often used as replacements.
If I read this correctly, you plan to desolder your dash, but don't know much about modding a car. I hope you're an electrician.
Intake manifolds contribute to the distribution of fuel and air and the delivery to other engine parts.
The intake is just the part that sits on the manifold and sucks up the air your car will use.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hyperion

Hps brakes are often used as replacements.
If I read this correctly, you plan to desolder your dash, but don't know much about modding a car. I hope you're an electrician.
Intake manifolds contribute to the distribution of fuel and air and the delivery to other engine parts.
The intake is just the part that sits on the manifold and sucks up the air your car will use.

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Not an electrician but I've been taking apart electrical things and putting them back together since a young age. I'll do it slowly with a friend and see how it goes. Wish me luck HAH.

So as far as the intake manifold is concerned... should I consider getting an aftermarket one or just wait til I need a replacement for the stock and then upgrade..?

Also I KNOW this is a lot of what ifs... all of this is just to help me learn and understand and it is already helping enormously. I'm slow as molasses about this stuff but I am getting it. So thanks again for all your help everyone!

Cheers,
ds08tf (Darien)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ds08tf

Not an electrician but I've been taking apart electrical things and putting them back together since a young age. I'll do it slowly with a friend and see how it goes. Wish me luck HAH.

So as far as the intake manifold is concerned... should I consider getting an aftermarket one or just wait til I need a replacement for the stock and then upgrade..?

Also I KNOW this is a lot of what ifs... all of this is just to help me learn and understand and it is already helping enormously. I'm slow as molasses about this stuff but I am getting it. So thanks again for all your help everyone!

Cheers,
ds08tf (Darien)

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You will be soldering and desoldering small LED's off a circuit board to change them. I suggest buying another circuit board first and extra LED's and practicing first.

You can't change the intake manifold. I mean you can, but there's no aftermarket parts available that I'm aware of. Just stick with your intake and don't get over zealous in your first month.

Fair enough. Will do. Appreciate the advice.
I will post up pics when I get the some mods done.. this weekend I will be doing some basic things because LONGWEEKEND! woo.
Aaaanywho, thanks!
Cheers