Preview: Apeximota intake (Apexi – Simota hybrid carbon fibre air intake for RX-8 4AT)

Air intakes for the RX-8 are notoriously expensive, with the brand name ones from Racing Beat, Autoexe and RE Amemiya going for an avg S$1.5k. But here’s a much cheaper option that could hit the sweet spot between price-performance n looks – the Apeximota!

I’m bringing it to my fav spot at Yishun to do some hard testing, but initial runs are very encouraging. There are noticeable performance gains esp in the mid-range, and man, can this baby scream…
But what’s the Apeximota? Quite simply:
– the famous Apexi open pod filter
– Simota’s beautiful carbon fibre airbox/heatshield
– specific rubber adaptors + mesh custom made for fit
– silicon sealing finished via superheated airjet
– 4th gen chrome intake pipe w maf sensor port

This is a variant of what RX8Club oldbird SQflyer did in 2005, who commented back then: “The intake works fine on auto RX-8s. No idling nor engine stalling issues and improvement in throttle response was noted. As for performance figures, an average of 2 runs using the new intake and an average of 2 previous runs using the stock intake on the same stretch of road gave VERY close figures. In fact, most timings were less than 0.1sec apart. Gains in HP were 0.8HP or 0.65kW and gains in Torque were 0.7Nm. Although a little inconclusive as the runs were done on a different day under different environment conditions, the results were not surprising. Gains were marginal for manual 8s and even thinner for auto 8s in our tests. Basically, don’t expect to see much improvement in terms of performance (as with other intakes). Just enjoy the improved throttle response, more “grunt” in the sound department and a nice shiny CF heat shield airbox when you open your bonnet.”

I’ll be posting a full review with pix these few days so look out for it!