E-Bay MX5 Induction Kit - Are these any good?

E-Bay MX5 Induction Kit - Are these any good?

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Discussion

zippee

Original Poster:

13,558 posts

240 months

Tuesday 28th November 2006
quotequote all
My Father In Law is looking at the following induction kit on E-Bay - http://tinyurl.com/ylx576
Is it any good? Most induction kits I've seen go for around £100 and this one claims all the benefits for less than £20. My FiL seems to think it's pretty good - myself I remain to be convinced. Anyone here any comments?

trickywoo

12,234 posts

236 months

Tuesday 28th November 2006
quotequote all
From the ad "Will add 7-12 BHP "hehe


Don't know about this specific one but IMHO all induction kits are a waste of time and money.

Don't know where the air-flow sensor is on a MX-5 but if its not right at the front of the engine bay all that filter will do is suck in hot air.

Edited by trickywoo on Tuesday 28th November 11:57

steve bowen

1,268 posts

230 months

Tuesday 28th November 2006
quotequote all
Yep, all an induction kit will do sat in the engine bay is suck in hot air and loose power. It will sound nice but thats about it. If you make a cold air box for it to sit in fed from the front bumper then it'll be fine. The actual filters on most kits (assuming they are the same type) are the same, I know one lot of £25 ebay filters were made to the same spec as K&N but just unbranded, if you had a k&n in one hand and the ebay special in the other other than logo's you could tell no difference.

GregE240

10,857 posts

273 months

Tuesday 28th November 2006
quotequote all
Not worth the bother.

It'll probably LOSE you power, as the standard intake isn't too bad on a '5. As previous posters have said, all it'll do is suck in hot air.

Best bet is a replacement K & N panel.

benjc

677 posts

254 months

Tuesday 28th November 2006
quotequote all
Not very good at all to be honest. As trickywoo says, by bolting this on you will be basically sucking all the lovely hot air off the exhaust manifold. You will either have to fabricate a heatshield or butcher the intake track to move the intake away. That kit will also only fit a Mk.1 1.6 too.

In standard form the airbox has a snorkel that pulls air from just by the firewall so less hot air. You will also be getting rid of one of the resonance chambers to fit it, so a trade between low end torque and top end HP will be occuring.

So in short, it will make it sound better with little or no preformance gains.

A reasonable kit for a reasonable price:

www.mx5mad.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_35&products_id=144&osCsid=004c3ddb40a88fe7a0d90dbb7cbe2dae

Excellent kit for exceptional prices:

www.performance5.com/na_airintake.asp

Note that the ITG kit only made a MEASURED gain of 7hpfor £365. £52 per HP is very expensive, but then it shows that Mazda did quite a good job optimising the air flow on these little cars.

steve bowen

1,268 posts

230 months

Tuesday 28th November 2006
quotequote all
but in perspective something like a BEGI turbo kit see :- www.mx5mad.com will cost about £31 for every BHP..... so more bang for your buck, but you spend far more bucks. Most cost effective if you've a 1.6 is a greddy turbo kit again see mx5mad, that'll give about 1 bhp for every £25 spent.

MrFlibbles

7,706 posts

289 months

Tuesday 28th November 2006
quotequote all
I love JapChat:

zippee said:
Should I get an induction kit?


SteveBowen said:
Buy a turbo!


hehe You guys are a bad influence!

turbo-tastic

973 posts

250 months

Wednesday 29th November 2006
quotequote all
Interesting article about induction kits.

Well worth a read.

www.bmwe34.net/e34main/upgrade/Air_filter.htm