Phil

Ok so I have a 2006 M3S 5-door, and I want to do some mods to it that I can get away with in the name of gas mileage. I am sure that there are some out there that will give me a kick as well as let me say i did it to save gas. Please someone help me or even just let me know that its a stupid idea.

Roddimus Prime

no such thing as a mod that gives you better gas milage. I'd suggest taking off the Turbo if you want better economy. Well, I guess technically you could always gut the car down...strip away anything useless and reduce the weight as much as possible. That's free and that will be a performance gain and an economy gain (when you stay off the go pedal).

I see you're from ATL. You need to meet up with our S.E. group. We're having a big campout meet here soon. Check the S.E. section for the details on the festivus.

KrayzieFox

Matt I don't think he has a turbo. He said M3S .. not MS3.

But anyway, as Matt (Roddimus) mentioned there's really not much you can do to the car to make it better on gas mileage, except weight reduction of course. The best thing you can do is take good care of the car so that your efficiency doesn't go DOWN. Setup a maintenance schedule and follow it religiously to make your car work at 100% .. change oil regularly, inspect spark plugs, clean/replace air filter, and check your tires on a regular basis. Under-inflated tires and a dirty air filter will eat your gas mileage like no other! Lastly, keep the foot off the gas pedal and drive like a grandma if you wanna get the best gas mileage possible.

Phil

heheh, I think you may have misunderstood me a bit. I want to mod the hell out of my car. I love it and want it to fly, faster than it already does. I had a friend back in Ohio tell me that certain mods like exhaust and intakes could be done and said that they would give me better mileage. He is kind of a bullshitter so I didn't know if I could believe him or not. But I was hoping he was right because if I can at least say it is for mileage then I can get my girl onboard and wont be sleeping on the couch over an exhaust system

Phil

oh and btw i have been checking out the SE group and would like to get involved in it just have plans already for all the stuff but definitly want to get hooked up with it

Phil

I guess should also add that this would be my first car to mod (for performance sake) at all. All other mods I have done have been to keep a car running not tune it up. So I really don't even know where to start. I suppose the best place to start is a cold air intake and header and exhaust. Am I even close to the right track?

KrayzieFox

Intake/Header/Exhaust is perfect, but the header is kind of a hit and miss mod for most people. It gives you a great performance gain but it's kind of loud and obnoxious at times so you might wanna just see if you like it or not.

Also, the best advice I was given when I first started was to set a goal you wanna work towards from the beginning and fire away at it. That way you don't spend any money on unnecessary mods and all. So if NA modding is what you have in mind, I'd say you're on the right track but if you're looking to upgrade to a turbo later on you might wanna just leave the header out. It just depends on what you're after ..

Phil

Sorry like I said completely new to this, NA modding?

And what kind of a goal should I set? Time? HP? Tq? Something else?
And how much do you think I should look at spending on these items and what are the best buys?

KrayzieFox

NA modding simply refers to modifying a "Naturally Aspirated" (NA) engine. That means no turbo, supercharger, nitrious or anything else of the sort. NA modding normally consists of upgrading your engine internals, maximizing air flow coming in and exiting the engine, etc. The result is a very sturdy and reliable engine, but costs a LOT of money.

FI on the other hand refers to "Forced Induction" (FI) so as the name suggests you are pushing in more air under force (boost) as opposed to using standard vacuum produced by the engine. Turbo & Superchargers are prime examples of this type of setup.

Although I said intake & exhaust mods are considered NA, they're just as important to FI upgrades as well so they go both ways. You always want maximum airflow no matter what .. less restrictive air flow = more power .. it's as simple as that.

dentinger

NA = naturally aspirated, so in other words, NO turbo or supercharger....
and most people seem to set hp goals, being hp at the engine, or hp at the wheels....

and intake will run ya around $200 us...ish... depending on the brand.
headers, im not so sure... $300 ish?? try asking Kargoboy
exhaust, probably around $4-500....

but im sure you can save money buying, or by doing your research first
you know, seeing what brands give you the gains your looking for and how much the price is.

KrayzieFox

As far as your end goal is concerned .. it can be any of those things. Just something you wanna work towards so that you know what needs to be done to get there. It also allows others to help you easier knowing where you're headed.

Here's some help to get ya started.
1. Is this your daily driver? If so, you should consider how modifying your car is going to affect reliability and keep that in mind for later on.
2. Do you crave speed or are you satisfied with something that simply looks nice and aggressive?
3. Maybe you want a car that handles well in the corners and don't really care about speed & acceleration .. if so that's cool too.

Figure out what fits your personality and set a reasonable goal according to your budget. I started off by wanting to make my car look nice on the outside before anything and then improve the handling. Then I decided to dress up the engine a bit too, and my last concern is speed. I'm not a speed demon .. I like rolling in something that turns heads and is fun to drive but isn't dangerous at the same time. Everyone's got their own thing, and you just gotta figure out what it is...

KrayzieFox

So next up is money. This is where it gets tough. In the world of automotive modifying, you get what you pay for. It's as simple as that. There are very few products out there that are cheap, and effective at the same time.

The prices Dentinger pointed out are about right. Intakes are usually $200+ but Kargoboy (Gary) sells them for way cheaper ($100 ish) and this is one of those few times you will come across a product that is cheap AND good quality.

Headers can be picked up for about $200 but will often cause a CEL (check engine light) due to the elimination of a catalytic converter so spending an extra dime or so on a header can be well worth your money. Yet again .. Kargoboy from this forum will be your best friend as he sells high quality headers at a fairly reasonable price.

And exhaust prices are gonna vary from one brand to the next. You can find them as cheap as $350 and as expensive as $700 for a catback. A lot of people prefer the Racing Beat catback ($550 or so) because it looks/sounds absolutely amazing. You can find others for less but they tend to be more noisy and annoying.


Quite honestly though the best way to score good deals is to keep an eye out for people selling used parts. Used intakes, exhaust, etc. usually work just as good as new. I got my intake from Gary for about $90 shipped, found a used 2.5" catback for $200 shipped, and had a chance to pickup a used header for $150 shipped but passed cuz I decided against it. It takes patience .. but it's worth the savings.


HINT: eBay is your friend when it comes to saving money, but don't fall for garbage products. If I'm not certain of something on eBay, I'll post a link on here and ask the crowd. 95% of the time these guys are right about everything ..

Roddimus Prime

It's almost like I'm not needed anymore...

Hey new guy...yeah, you. I see you're in the ATL area. You need to make it a point to come out to our Cheaha Weekend Festivus June 8-10. It's a bunch of us local S.E. mazda people caming out on the GA/AL state line. It's a ton of fun and you'd be among good company.

All you need is a tent, sleeping bag, food money, gas money and a mazda (you're excused Tyler).

Friday night is a marshmallow roast, saturday is a grill and chill with racing/cruising that night and sunday is pictures/videos/mountain runs.

KrayzieFox

K-Fox is taking over!!

Roddimus Prime

when you get 10k+ posts I'll hand the keys over. Until then, this is my sandbox!