Ractive Heat Shield Air Filter Installation

[Len-Dogg]

I just replaced my stock air filter with a bright red (matches my car) Ractive filter. Wow, what a difference! I could feel a better getup, but the biggest difference was the sound! When you hit the gas hard it sounds like a race car! Here is how I installed it. I removed the top of the stock airbox, and the stock air filter. I then attached the new air filter right to the MAF. I have a 95, so I didn't need the adapter. I am using the bottom of the stock airbox to support the new air filter. At least until I put some kind of downpipe on it anyway. Lastly, the little hose that used to go in the airbox was left out. So I stuck a little filter on it, and then zip-tied it to a spot out of the way. Now it looks and sounds so much better! Not bad for $30. I thought it was pretty crazy that you can actually hear it sipping in air when it's idling.

[jamario]

Got any pictures of your air filter? I'm thinking I can do the same for my 1993 mx-3 sohc. Write back

[Moc5Mazda]

I have found that a 2001 Civic short ram will fit well if you cut it down a little. I have done this with a Akimoto air intake. I have also put a oil breather on it and i have seen a big diffrence.

[Len-Dogg]

It's my birthday this weekend, and so I will be out of town, but I will definitely put a link to my car's webpage when I get back, and by that time it will have pictures of my new filter. Also I have put the pacesetter exhaust on (that doesn't fit so well on a 95, but I made it work). There are pictures of that also. I can't stress how easy it was to stick a cone filter on, I don't know why Mazda doesn't do that stock, because it sure does make a difference! Probably the cheapest and easiest thing that you can do to improve the performance, look and sound of your engine.

[Timmyd865]

Hey, just to answer a few things. That little hose that goes into the stock air box is for emission's purposes. It really doesn't need to be filtered in real life... but you should try and hook it up to some point of vacuum. Otherwise w/out vacuum, it can't do anything. Also, the reason Mazda wouldn't do it stock is: A. too loud for a stock car for the mass public B. relativley lower life time of filter (due to much more dust collecting)
C. Danger of water injestion (it'd be hard to have a warentee on that)
Yeah it sure does feel better doesn't it? In all honesty though, I havn't seen any dyno results, but I doubt it does any more then 3-5 horsepower. If you think about it, because there's a bigger opening, it doesn't mean the engine is taking in more air. It's taking in what it needs. It's like saying that putting a big nozzle at the end of a water hose will increase the amount of water coming out. But, it sure doesn't hurt the performance, it's mostly the sound you pay for.

[Len-Dogg]

I just spent some time and put the down pipe on my filter, to make a cold air intake. It took me about an hour or so. You will notice I moved the coolant reservoir to the left side of the car (it actually fits surprisngly well there). The hardest part was probably removing that stupid resonator box. It's hard to get it around the metal pipe that is for the Air Conditioning. Anyway, here are some pics. They are they last ones on my car's webpage. If you have any questions just let me know!<p>Jason<p>http://www.msu.edu/~leonar40/Car.html

[The_Great_Tonge]

i have the same set-up, but i bought the part that came with the heat sheild ot make the CAI. check out ym car domain page for some pics. i re arranged it and will take updated pics 2mrw