Ouch, a brick wall? Lay off the chronic, bro. The new Mazdas are great cars and have solid, reliable engines. A good intake and exhaust can wake up the car's performance significantly. I would recommend a proven intake from the larger companies like AEM or K&N because they have thorough research and development (R&D) programs that usually yield products that perform as promised. I can't recommend any specific bolt-on exhaust, but adding one should give you some more power and enhance the sound of the car. Factory exhausts are generally restrictive and even chopping off the factory muffler and replacing it with a high-flowing aftermarket unit is sure to give you some more power. Headers can be a bit trickier and some of the no-name eBay crap can actually hurt performance. Since I have very little experience with the Mazda6, I'm not going to recommend a particular brand or part, but talk to some other owners or visit a Mazda6 forum and ask around. Just be careful and don't believe everything you read on a forum.
For The 14.7th Time...
Why is an air/fuel ratio (AFR) of 14.7:1 called "stoichiometric", and why is it the ideal AFR? Furthermore, why are cars never tuned to run 14.7:1? Even in absolutely ideal conditions, they detonate anywhere near 14:1 under wide-open throttle.
--Ken McCollugh, San Antonio, Tex.
I'm not going to bust out on formulas here, but an air/fuel mixture is stoichiometric when the combustion of a fuel and air mixture is chemically balanced or considered ideal-think back to high school chemistry to understand a balanced equation. So for gasoline the theoretical stoichiometric ratio is going to be 14.7 parts of air to one part of gasoline to yield a chemically balanced reaction. Different fuels have different stoichiometric ratios: diesel (14.5:1), methanol (6.4:1), liquid petroleum gas (15.5:1), and ethanol (9:1). Cars are in fact tuned to run 14.7:1 on gasoline, but typically only in cruise and light loads to provide good economy and clean emissions. Most cars will actually run leaner than 14.7:1 at light loads and cruise, but emissions will skyrocket. When cylinder pressures go up (more throttle), additional fuel is required to slow the process of combustion down to prevent pre-ignition (knock) and to cool things down so engine parts don't melt. A good book on the subject for beginners is Introduction to Internal Combustion Engines by Richard Stone. Check it out and learn.
Drift Accord
I have a '91 Honda Accord and it's a great car. The only problem is that I need a rear-wheel-drive to drift. Everyone I talk to just tells me to get a different car, but I want to convert the car that I have. If anyone could shed any light on the topic (parts needed, how to) I would appreciate it.
Honda_Tech1, Via Importtuner.Com Forums
Do it, or save yourself a ton of time and money and go buy a beat-up piece of shit S13 240SX for $1,000, and drift that into a wall. The reality is that to make the Accord drift, you will need about 10-20 times more cash than the car is worth. Oh wait, it's a '91? Make it 40 times more.
Hot Box
Eric HSU
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