Corksport Q&A
In January, we wrote a post answering questions our fans asked. It went over so well we wanted to do it again. Here are the top 7 questions we found on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter:
Question: Would you guys consider making a turbo kit for the SkyActiv engines? What challenges would you face with that engine compared to the MZR engine?
- Questioner: Michel Balk
- Answer: There are a few key factors that would prove difficult to overcome when turbocharging a Skyactiv-G engine. First is the extremely high compression ratio of 13-14:1. High compression ratios and boost don’t mix well, and the supporting engine design to run that high of a compression ratio is very sensitive to major engine changes. For example: The exhaust manifold is a very well-engineered 4-2-1 design that is critical to running a high compression ratio on 87 octane fuel without pre-detonation. A typical turbo kit would replace the exhaust manifold which could cause many unknown issues. Second comes down to the overall design of the engine. Mazda has made it very clear they are chasing fuel economy, not white knuckle power. So, looking at that goal from a business standpoint, why would Mazda design the engine to handle 250+hp? That would only cost them more money. The engines are lightweight in every aspect: bearing size, connecting rods, pistons, crank…the list goes on. The SkyActiv-G engines are not built for power. Lastly, what good is a turbo kit if you can’t tune it correctly? As of right now there is not an effective method to tune the SkyActiv-powered vehicle. It’s unfortunate, but a turbo SkyActiv-G is a long shot.
Question: Give us all the info about the new CS turbo in production!
- Questioner: Jeromy Williams
- Answer: Well I can’t go and spill the beans, but I can give you a few tidbits of information. The goal of this turbocharger is not huge power numbers. Actually I would be in shock if anyone could get this to push 400whp with meth. The goal is to provide a turbocharger that cost only slightly more than a new K04 Turbo and is 100% bolt on. When I say bolt-on, I don’t mean “bolt-on” like BNR and ATP define it. This turbocharger requires no modifications to your current intake and exhaust systems; and no modifications need to be made to the oil and coolant lines. It’s like swapping in a new K04, but with much more power potential and no blue smoke. This effectively makes the turbocharger cheaper for the customer because none of the supporting sub-systems need to be upgraded or modified. As for some specs: Power is comparable to a BNR S3, and full spool is in the 3000-3200RPM range—depending on vehicle components. The current tune on my car is reaching 21PSI at 3200RPM with the CS EBCS running in bleed setup, and that’s on the prototype turbo without the billet compressor wheel.
Question: Will you be doing more products for Miata?
- Questioner: Steve Linnehan
- Answer: We are very excited about the new MX-5 Miata hitting our shores in the near future. The CorkSport sales manager is going to buy one as soon as possible. We plan to produce a respectable lineup of performance products for the new MX-5 Miata. From suspension to power, we will help you put some more pep in the Miata’s step, so stay tuned!
Question: What do I need to put more HP on my 2012 Mazda 3 2.0i SkyActiv?
- Questioner: Brayam Calo
- Answer: CorkSport has a couple options for your dilemma, Brayam. Combining our SRI, Cold Air Box, and Power Series Catback Exhaust System showed impressive gains for the little 2.0. On our dyno, the stock 2.0 made 118hp/110lbft, but when we added the components above, we saw power increase to 135hp/123lbft. This is a respectable increase in power for a naturally aspirated engine.
Question: What is an approximated max horsepower output that can be produced in an MS3 without upgrading turbo back?
- Questioner: Christopher DeCaro
- Answer: This is a difficult question to answer accurately as there are so many factors that play into the maximum power of an engine. The OEM downpipe is extremely restrictive on the MS3 and is commonly recommended as one of the first upgrades. Our dyno testing showed a 50hp increase over stock with only a Stage 2 intake, downpipe and racepipe installed. So as you add more components and eventually go with a larger turbocharger, the loss in power from the OEM downpipe will only increase.
Question: Is there a way to have the engine RPM drop faster while shifting or revving from an idle?
- Questioner: Matt Zoomin Brown
- Answer: The rate at which an engine can rev up or down comes down to simple physics: “Force = Mass x Acceleration”. You often hear of people upgrading their flywheel from the OEM steel piece to a lightweight steel or aluminum/steel two-piece flywheel. By reducing the weight of the flywheel and the rest of the rotating mass of the engine, you effectively reduce the amount of energy needed to make the engine rev up. The opposite works for revving down. The greater the mass of the rotating assembly, the more resistance need to stop the rotation—or the longer it takes to spin down. This is a result of the “Moment of Inertia” of the rotating mass.
Question: I would like to turbo my 2010 2.5 N/A Mazda 3, what do I need to know?
- Questioner: Cynthia Senger
Answer: Like everyone else I’m going to recommend you sell your car and buy a car that was turbocharged from the factory, but for the sake of argument and fueling the fire I can point you in the right direction. The 2.5 N/A engine and the 2.3 turbo engine are very similar in design. I would start with buying a blown turbo engine, removing the exterior components, and then modifying them to work on your engine. Now the easy part is done… Next, you will need some way to tune the vehicle because turbocharging an engine that was not designed to be turbocharged is not a simple bolt-on affair. If you get past these two major hurdles, then bravo! Unfortunately, unless you improved the engine internals to handle this power, the engine will probably not live long with the added stress of its newfound power. Back to the first option: Buying a Mazdaspeed 3 makes a lot more sense in many aspects. Reliability, durability, and aftermarket support make big power much easier to achieve. Granted, a Mazdaspeed 3 may be more expensive to buy upfront, but I am almost certain it will be cheaper in the long run and will come with far fewer headaches and days without a car. I wish you the best of luck!
Thank you for your questions and keep them coming. We’ll have a Q&A every month for your Mazda performance questions.
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You guys really need to keep up with the skyactiv community. We have a great tuner and even a boosted skyactiv 2.0… It’s really disappointing how fast you all are to write off the skyactiv drivetrain for performance when they take to tuning better than the MZR.. but to each their own 😛
Agree with the comment above. Skyactiv is now the new norm for Mazda. Please do some more research and develop more parts for ’12-’13 models
Yup what he said ^^ Orange Virus Tuning FTW! Step up your game CorkSport. Your rookie is making you look bad. Get in contact with OVTuning maybe you could collaborate to achieve greater goals.
With SkyActiv technology being the priority or Mazda, you would think CorkSport would start to research more in depth. For example, I have the 2012 Mazda 3 SkyActiv. And 1 it does not have a 14:1 compression ratio, nor does it have the 4-2-1. Yes the newer models have a higher compression, but even then; you cannot say that their is no effective way to tune these cars or boost them, that is absolutely absurd. Please CorkSport, do your homework, accept the fact that mazdaspeed is obsolete for now and focus on what Mazda does. Or just continue to give out bad information and watch the social media destroy your company because of the lack of education your engineer team has.
I have the boosted skyactiv. It runs 4psi which isn’t crazy, but planning on upgrading that here soon after I finished getting tuned (by ovtune) and getting comparison numbers. I can provide you with mazdaedit info if you so feel the need.
As for most of you other skyactiv info. The 2012/2013s have a 4-1 header (including myself, and an also tuned for 93 octane) and also the 12-13 has 12:1 ratio.
As for design, yes the parts may be lightweight, but they are extremely strong. The skyactiv engine is Mazda’s future engine. It’s going in every vehicle in their lineup, so it’s built strong and you will see power out of them as the current ones are severely detuned from factory to get such great gas mileage.
There are many many more points that could be made and corrections needed to your thinking on skyactivs but I’ll leave it to this. Please join forums and groups to learn more and get up to date with everything.
My question for the turbo would be, ball bearing or journal?
There is tuning via mazdaedit.. and it’s an even better idea if you are running an aftermarket exhaust or intake or other (c/s) bolt ons. Why not try to optimize the engine to run better with these products? Of course it’s not the same as tuning a boosted engine but the same can be said about the effectiveness of bolt ons on a NA vs a turbo motor.
OK, you guys are right. I didn’t do enough research on the subject. There are more tuning options available than I realized, I guess I have some homework to do. 🙂
I also wasn’t clear enough about the 4-2-1 exhaust manifold. 12-13 do have a 4-1 whereas 14+ have a 4-2-1 and slightly more compression.
Please don’t think we have written off SkyActiv-G vehicles as we haven’t, they have just been lower on the radar recently due to some big projects we are working on. We have alot of interest in the SkyActiv platform and had been using a tuning/editing software and worked with a tuner when we were developing parts for the Mazda USA SkyActiv-D racecar.
I’m actually glad you guys are calling me out like this because it shows CS that there are more performance oriented customers with SkyActiv cars than we think, especially people that want to push the engines to their limits. This will help push us to develop more products and work with a tuner for the SkyActiv-G engines. Eventually every CS part could have a matched tune to go with it.
I would love to talk to any of you in more detail about your tuning experience, performance goals, modifications, …etc.
Send me an email to
ba****@co*******.com
You can easily get over that 4 psi of boost if you choose to run and get tuned for E85. That’s really the only way to safely increase boost in a high compression engine where low compression replacement pistons aren’t an option.
Good stuff, guys. Keep up the great work
Nice response from Barrett after being called out on a mistake. Do you have any links to the claimed HP gains for your bolt ons? Would like to read more about it. Thanks.
Yes please more power for skyactiv. I just got rid of my Klze25 mx3 the 2.0 2012 mazda 3 skyactiv is all I have for fun now
As of today 9-16-2016 I am filing complaints against OrangVirus Tuning with Oregon States Attorney General and Califonia States Attorney General. OV DID NOT achieve my simple goal of improved MPG on my STOCK Mazda 5. After debating the validity of a refund, the owner finally agreed to do so on August 9th, when I informed him that I would file these complaints if he didn’t refund my money. He required that I send the Tactrix interface cable to him, which I in fact absolutely did. He stated in text that he did indeed receive the cable and would be Monda, the 22nd. Now 5+ weeks later, I still don’t have a refund even though he claimed to have sent one, but strangley the envelope nor the alledged receipt had a tracking number. Then on the 29th, when he finally got around to responding to my emails, he stated that he thought his wife had sent it, but must not have “gotten around to it”. Then he stated that either he or she would express envelope it to me ” as soon as they could get around to it”.
OV is unprofessional. If my situation is a rare occurance, it would have been way less ahssle for them and me to have just made the refund. I told him I would give favorable on various social media postings. NOT ANYMORE. Plain and simple, anyone who does business with OrangeVirus runs the risk of positive OR NEGATIVE experience. If it’s the later, YOU will get screwed. Mr Wilson appaerently does not have the integrity to stand behind his word. Let this be a cautionary tale to do lots of review research before you buy anyone’s product online
Favorable reviews, thatis. Even though it didn’t work. By the 3rd round of “tuning” my stock 5 drove like a beat rental car. It normally drives pretty decent, as most 3’s/5’s do.