Just ordered my first mods.
 

I just ordered an AP, internals, CS RMM and CS SRI w/TIP.

I have never modded a car before and I am extremely excited to see the difference in how my baby will perform once I have everything installed.

Honestly, I am a little concerned about installing everything because, again, I have never installed any modifications on a car, nor played around with an ECU.

There is a speed shop nearby that I know is reliable because I have had several friends have high end work done there. They said they will install everything, dyno and custom tune my car for $600. I guess the question I have is, is it worth the money to have everything done professionally or should I try it all myself? I am pretty skilled at figuring things out and following directions ( I could use the DIY posts), I am just inexperienced. So, to be honest i am a bit nervous about potentially screwing something up.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

All of that stuff is pretty easy to install, try and hook up with your local NATOR chapter first, they are some good guys. Also, hit up some etuners on here, they will give you a much better tune/experience for a LOT less than that. Good luck, you will love how the car feels! @bsilc;

No. Talk to your local NATOR, they may not do it for you. But will at least give you guidance while drinking your beer.

Don't pay a shop to do any of that. Do it yourself with a friend and get a custom tune from an etuner. It will save you $400 so you can buy a tmic.

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do it yourself. then send rich @ Home some paypal money and :)

Do the installs yourself, get an e-tune, EOT. :smokin:

Thanks for the advice guys.

Nice selection of mods, obviously did the requisite reading. Not only are there very in depth how-to vids for those installs on here and youtube, but Corksport will give you some very detailed instructions as well.

You will want to get familiar with your car - you've made the commitment to mod it, so you should definitely know what goes where. Shroud and TMIC / Intake / Battery Box removal are all pretty much the gateway to your maintenance and access to your EGR, throttle body / IM / plugs / O2 harness plugs / turbo, etc.

Getting your own hands on it is a *much* better way to be prepared for future mods or minor mishaps.

That stuff is very diy. Basic hand tools and you got it. Most of the DIY guides even list the tools you will need. Reach out to your local Nator chapter and let them show you the ropes. I guided a couple guys through their internals install at our last install day and even they said it's not as scary in person.

You can easily do it all yourself. I just did all those same mods in the past few weeks with virtually no experience and it all worked out fine. Just read up on it first and have a good idea of what you are about to do and you'll be fine.

Hook up with the local NATOR people. I had almost the exact same mods as you. They helped me install them.

Installing those parts is fairly easy. Make sure you have a pretty freakin' deep 18mm socket for the internals and you're set. I did my internals by only taking off the intercooler shroud and careful maneuvering of a large wrench. You'll be in a good spot if you already have the intake/tih off.

Fuck yeah I love when people mod their cars for the first time get ready to shit the pants

All your mods are very self explanatory easy installations good luck

Even if you do take the custom tune you should still read the diys just so you have the knowledge and kind of know what's going on.

E tune e85 will make you shit your pants thrice after you install the current ones!!

I wish there were a decent amount of E85 stations in my area, but sadly there's not nearly enough to be able to tune it for that.

93 octane is prevalent in this part of PA though, so that helps a bit.

after reading about how these "pro" shops have completely screwed people with their tunes, I would definitely recommend an e-tune. not to discredit anyone who owns a shop and tunes for a living, but there are several credible e-tuners on MSF.

good luck with your new toys! it'll be a lot of fun.

I met some local cats on here and those dudes are chomping to work on cars.

@bsilc; then you must do meth!! The car will transform

this is such a good mod post!! You are getting the major mods(ap/internals) required by most who mod speeds..
Definitely read up on the DIYs and tackle them yourself! Also, as above have said, get in touch with local nator for advice!
RMM is easy with the tools!
AP is pnp.
Internals are easy if you take your time.
The intake is very simple if you read instructions and read what other ppl have done to make installing it very easy! There is another thread on here where someone recently installed the cs tip/intake! Check it out!
Installing all of this yourself would save you loads of money and next on your list would be an e-tune! However, I'd shoot for a downpipe as well to make the most out of your mods :D

good luck and keep us updated!

Hey man , have you looked at NATOR PA? You are 30-40 miles away from our monthly meats.

I would not pay anyone anything to do those mods. As stated above you can tackle that stuff easily from the how tos' on MSF and guidance from NATOR PA.

Get with one of the etuners on the MSF...I promise you it will be the best spent monies.

There is a whole list of E85 spots in PA. Check out the PA threads.

Nice, I'm in your same boat right now. I ordered Cobb RMM, AP, Internals and am also getting a resonator delete. I am gonna have a local shop do the res, rmm and internals, their price isn't that bad, because of lack of free time to meet, I figured I'd just have them do the work, also cause I am too impatient to wait.

My next mods tho, I am gonna do myself or at an install day, I want to meet the local group and check out their cars, and also learn how to do this stuff myself.

we got a mini install day coming up...I have no idea what's on the list of things getting done...the host is a god damn angry irishman who doesn't tell me nothing @irishking03; but its possible we could help with the internals...with numerous helping hands who have experience it won't take long. The other items, specifically the intake stuff...do yourself man! best way to know your car is to tear apart yourself. Plus, it'll give you a understanding of it first hand just in case you need to stock out or anything...you won't need to rely on anyone.

I'm not that angry @WAMBUSHHHH!;

Po-Po tappin

Dont pay for someone else to do it. Look up the DIY's and enjoy the process. Half of the fun is getting your hands dirty, and getting the satisifaction of transforming your car. Use the money you save for your etune and a case of beer. Good luck!

dude look how angry you are..

Thanks for all the feedback and information guys.

Luckily my sisters husband has a brother who is a mechanic and agreed to help me install everything for a case of beer. So I am gonna go that route and that probably started with one of the maps that come with the AP until I look into a custom tune.

I definitely plan on hitting up a PA Nator meet sometime very soon, I have passed by Tonelli's many times and would love to meet some of the peeps from this site.

This place has been a god-send with all of the quality, trust worthy information it provides.

I'm pretty lacking in the same area, but did some of that stuff myself. Other's I had a buddy of mine help. After the fact though, I'm pretty confident I could have done everything myself, just taking my time and being careful. GL with your install, and make sure you don't break off the small nipple on the intake.

You could also spend 75 bucks and get "OTS +" map from freektune. It's a OTS he builds for your mods, then does one revision. A lot better than cob's OTS stuff.

You bought the ap no need for custom tune. Otherwise take the ap back and pay for custom tune. The ap is all you need..

Also everything that you buy is easy to install as far as bolt ons. I changed the turbo inlet, intake, and stage 1 map 91 octane and I dyno at 348 hp. That ap is your best friend. Enjoy

Yea ya did.... on a stage 1 ots? Lmfao

*takes AP "dynamometer" readings, sees 348HP - scratches head when 290whp speed blows his doors off*
@Richard; you're right, the AP is all you need, but if you think those numbers the AP gives you are accurate, you're in for a rude awakening. You use the AP to custom tune the car, bud.

I think you need to read... A lot.

lol I never said anything about whp bud. plus that's just stage 1 mods. nothing crazy. plus I have a 2013 speed 3. its different then gen1 and 2. I do know what im talking about.

Wish I could post a pic or vid to prove it to you guys. I plan on getting downpipe, front ic, hdfp, cat back, and then I can set to stage 3 map. wondering how much whp I would get without a custom tune?

Oh I didn't know the 2012 wasn't a gen 2? You must be on the new gen 3's? So where are you exactly on the whp? I can't wait to hear this.

:popcorn: and here we go!
@Raider; troll alert?

oops my bad man. your right man gen 2.

I wish I knew what the whp was.. But I don't know. Still learning that's why I was asking you guys for info.

I wish I knew what the whp was.. But I don't know. Still learning that's why I was asking you guys for info.

Check out youtube they have many videos showing just how to do these. There is a girl that does several intake and motor mount. Another good one is done by Cobb showing the internals for your fuel pump.
Doing this yourself will teach you about your car and that will be more fun! I am waiting for my intake fuel pump internals myself and a AP. I will go with the maps that are provided until I do the downpipe and exhaust then I will have it tuned. I would not pay the tuner until you get the downpipe installed.
just my .02
Good Luck it will be Fun

Instead of resonator delete do a racepipe you will get the better sound and more power. and as far as the RMM goes that is very easy to do and takes no time at all. Internals are not bad ether but if you have a shop do it make sure they know what they are doing some have never done the job or may rush it.

Thanks for you advice, I opted for the res delete strictly because of the cost, I wanted that little bit of growl and didn't want to wait til I get a race pipe, which I will get in the near future, as funds become available. I know there is no performance gains.

I wanted to get the RMM, HPFP and AP setup and out of the way to lay the foundation for future mods.

Had the work done by a performance shop who does work on mazdas's and the guy has a modded gen1. I simply opted to have them do the work because of time constraints, the next few weeks are extremely busy for me and I am impatient and wanted it done ASAP, so I paid. My next mods I will attempt myself or at the local nator meet.

You need the AP to do a custom tune.

If you're trolling, you're terrible at it. No such thing as "stage 3 map", but I would love to know what defines "stage 3". Please enlighten me?!

As far as HP goes, it's time for math class.

The most commonly accepted percentages of drivetrain loss fall somewhere between 10-15% for FWD cars. Divide 348 by 1.1-1.15. Tell us what you come up with. And then tell us if you really believe your stage 1 ots pump gas tune is giving you the same whp as custom tuned e85 cars.

Save your time if you're talking about posting a pic or vid of the AP dyno feature. That Shit throws up pie in the sky numbers that are nowhere near accurate. Go get on a real dyno and your heart will be broken. My guess is around 240whp max.

I just gave you some education. You're welcome. Now go donate to the site so you can actually learn everything else you need to know.

Duh @guitarzan134;
Everybody knows that 2013's have magical beans inside it that make have 90whp more than every other speed


Hell. Upload a correctly done datalog and throw it on VD (if you can figure out what VD stands for) and see how much hp you don't have @Richard;