2 questions
 

1. What air filter is everyone running, and how do you like it?


2. How much do downpipes really help? About how many HP are you going to gain and what are some good ones?

guess that was more than 2 questions...

Myself and I know at least one other person run Spectre Hi-Flow PowerAdder Cone Air Filters With a Modular Air Intake tube (also by Spectre). I gained (dyno tested) 12HP off that. As far as the 3" downpipe I have not dynotested it but I noticed a substantial gain (huge gain for turbo models) in HP. Good Luck!

The downpipe will add quite a bit of power. It does this by increasing flow, And allowing more boost out of the the turbo because there is less pressure on the other side of it. Get a 3" dp, 3" hi flow cat or test pipe, and a good 3" exhaust, And youll boost high enough to hit fuel cut. Also about 280-290 hp. not a bad 1000 ish investment for 50-60 hp. I also have an ebay air filter adapter, with a K&N filter on it. Never got to test stock. You will also see a nice gain from 2.5" intercooler hardpipes. You can get cheap DIY kits on ebay for 80$, Or the 300$ cooleze kit. The stock IC piping is terrible tho. lol.

My car isn't a turbo. I have a cat-back 3" Blitz Nur spec system already so I was wondering how much would a downpipe help to my application. Also what about headers? i noticed that the stock manifold has pretty good flow already.

*sigh* you can get the adapter at pepboys for 5.99 USD. It is in the same place as all the modular air inatke stuff. So you don't have to wait and it isn't as expensive.

I already have a intake...

H8 you asked what filter we used. The mod adapter is part of that. Sorry alot of us answer the question and add info as the answers are for everyone. We get alot of people here :-)

Oh ok gotcha :) Ya I have the adapter and am currently running a tenzo R filter but its old. It was on the car when i got it.

downpipe
 

downpipes are for turbo models only.

Well dont I feel like a retard.....

I am not used to dealing with cars that mostly come in turbo. I had a eclipse and it was kinda the same situation but I never moddded it. Otherwise I have always been into muscle.

Most of your HP gains on a N/A are going to come from lightweight parts. Flywheel, driveline, wheels. It doesn't actually "add" horsepower to the engine, but it does get more of the HP to the tires. Flywheel weighs about 15 lbs I believe, you can get 11 lb ones. Driveline I think will lose you another 5 lbs. Stock wheels weigh in at 23 lbs, so depending on wheels, you can lose alot of weight there too... The ones I'm looking at are 17 lbs, so 6 lbs per rear tire. Front tire weight loss is negligible for a horsepower gain, but can gain you cornering performance and braking performance.

....uhhh wtf are you talking about? i have an N/A with a 3" downpipe...

downpipe
 

are you talking about headers?

because a downpipe is the exhaust that comes off the turbo elbow or can bolt right up to the turbo.

headers come right off the manifold of the n/a.

Man I really have to work on my english better. Sorry my fault I was confused about the names. I stand corrected. LOL at least now I can change my sig to correct.

Ok then what is the section of pipe called that goes from your headers to like the middle of the car?

exhaust
 

this would be your catalytic converter then your exhaust pipe?

i don't know what else it could be.

hmm, well I was all excited lol.

did you mean header

Yes, A header replaces the stock exhaust manifold, And connects to the cat. you will probably see a nice high end increase with a header/cat/full exhaust. As for the lightweight stuff, yes this will also help a lot. the key to making power out of an NA is getting the air in and out faster and more compression, whereas with a turbo its getting enough fuel and boost.

ive recently added a 3" exhaust elbow (bought from supra_girl) direct from turbo to custom 3" exhaust - made a BIG BIG difference, espeically in the low end.

The factory elbow is probably only 1.5 - 2" in diameter, very restrictive!
With the full 3" elbow the turbo spools up much quicker after shifts, i would def recommend to anyone with 7MGTE if youve got full 3" exhaust.

Air filter is a standard pod filter, which has worked well, you can hear the turbo working now!
It sounds mean in cold conditions and goes much harder, again would def recommend.
I have just installed heat sheild around the filter, as it was sucking in all hot air from engine until now, which wasnt helping...
Next will be piping from front of filter to inside of bumper to get purely cold air goin through.

How much did it cost? I would like to get that...lol.

^^^^
you mean the elbow right?

Supra_girl (suze) had a group buy going here in NZ, I paid about $180 i think which is around $120 US, but that was a special group buy for about 10 of us, so it will be a little more.

Check out http://www.supra.co.nz/TripleS/index.htm

Well worth it!