Next Upgrade

[aaronsewell]

i just put in a cobb sri and a forge pbv and i was thinkning the next upgrade i was gonna do a downpipe. but im kinda skeptical because i dont know if i would be able to do it by myself and if that the best thing to do. any ideas?

 

[VTEC8YA]

I had the same dilemma, I thought the DP would be a snap to put on, after reading a bit more, turn out it isnt. How much money do you have to spend?

 

[mndsm]

That depends on what you want out of the car. It's am ms6, right? IMO the next best thing you can do for ANY turbo car is a test pipe/mid pipe, eliminating the second catalytic converter. A downpipe is nice, but absolutely worthless unless you have the rest of the exhaust done. Personally, I'd look at a tuning solution and get a good tune into it, and then look at upgrading the known fault areas of the car, before you stick too much power into it.

 

[JohnnyT]

I can crank out a downpipe pretty easy now. Although it's extra work, taking out the manifold makes the job a bajillion times easier. There are some tricks that you'll need to do too. You will NEED two people, and a lift is a big bonus (I had mine on stands). You'll need to remove the bottom motor mount, as well as loosen the top left one. Have a buddy underneath the car moving the engine (carefully!) back and forth while you're on top solving the mystery of how Mazda got that fucker in there in the first place. Curse some more and you'll get it. Putting the aftermarket one in there is pie. The gains are bar none the best you'll get from a bolt-on. Do it. It sucks ass, but it's worth it.

edit: Definitely get a cat-back to go along with it. You've seen the cornmaze that is the stock exhaust, right? Once you get the downpipe though, you'll get into the stage 2, and will want/need an upgraded intercooler, fuel pump internals, diff. and engine mounts, etc. It's a vicious cycle...

 

[Viere]

hey look i put my downpipe in a few weeks ago....i had a lift so i did it from the bottom of the car....didnt want to remove a bunch of things. if you get a tune put the DP on before as it will add power and it would be a waste of money to tune your car twice