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Featured Car of the Month – Evan’s 2007 Mazdaspeed 3

Evan McIntyre used to stop by and visit us regularly at CorkSport (he lived just down the road at the time) and keep us company in the showroom while getting some mods added to his car. He has since moved to Honolulu, HI to pursue Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

We miss his company here at CorkSport but don’t blame him for trading the dreary rain of the northwest for sunshine and paradise.

Mazdaspeed 3 Hawaii scenic view

It was great to watch Evan build out his Mazdaspeed 3. Shortly after he got his license, he found himself always glancing back and Mazda 3’s and knew he wanted to upgrade from his hand-me-down 1994 Accord.

New to driving, he didn’t know how to drive a manual so never considered a Mazdaspeed 3, but his brother kept telling him the speed was the way to go and the thought of a 400 Mazdaspeed 3 is a strong incentive to learn, so he picked up driving a manual and got his 2007 Mazdaspeed 3.

He had always been interested in cars because of his older brothers. He used to enjoy sitting around and watching them work on various cars with their friends until late into the night. He would always ask how he could help and how things worked, but his Mazdaspeed 3 was his first real experience modifying his own vehicle.

He started modifying his car with the best bang for the buck power modifications and added a Stage II CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Short Ram Intake and a Turbo-Back Exhaust with exhaust hangers to keep that bad boy solidly in place as well as a VTA Bypass Valve and a COBB Tuning Access Port to remap his fueling and timing to keep it on point.

Mazdaspeed with Hawaiian Mountains

The next obvious modifications to add were handling modifications. He added CorkSport Lowering Springs to give his speed a more aggressive look and improved driver feel and rear motor mounts for improved shifting to help counter all the newly added power.

With improved handling and power came the need for improved braking so Evan added stainless brake lines. He also smartly added some protection for the undercarriage of his vehicle now that it was lowered by adding a skid tray.

Next, he focused on some transmission upgrades with the CorkSport Short Shift Plate and Shifter Bushings. He then focused on more aesthetic items by adding eyelids, a license plate relocation kit, and vinyl stickers from his favorite Mazda Performance company and upgraded all of his interior lights to LED’s along with his fog lights and added an LED underhood lighting kit.

A lot of people are happy to stop at this point, but Evan wanted more, so he took his build to the next level and added an aftermarket crankshaft pulley, a Front Mount Intercooler Kit to replace his Top Mount Intercooler, EBD GD Series Brake Rotors, Red Stuff Ceramic Brake Pads, and TWM Performance Full Replacement Short Shifter.

Mazdaspeed 3 2007 Black Hawaii

Watching Evans’s car come together the way it has and the smart decisions he has made along the way to balance his power, handling, braking, and styling is exactly what we like to see when we watch a build occur. He has put a lot of money into his build but has done it gradually over time and thoughtfully.

And as Evan put it, “I love how no matter what is going on in my life, I can always get in my car and go for a drive, day or night, and during that drive nothing else matters but the road that lies ahead.”

Cudos on a great build Evan and we look forward to your visit over the Christmas holiday.

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Project Mazdaspeed6

Project MS6 was purchased used off of Craigslist with almost 90k miles on it in early 2012. It is an ’07 Mazdaspeed 6 GT and was completely stock when it was picked up. Since this is not a new car and has been available for many years you’re likely already familiar with what the car was from the factory. It has the same turbo charged power train as the MS3 but is an AWD sedan and is larger and heavier than the MS3.

The first thing we did to it was what anyone modifying a car should start with, the CorkSport Stage II Intake with Turbo Inlet Pipe. Within a week we had also added an HKS BOV and well as one of our Top Mount Intercoolers.

Our engineering department jumped straight into development mode and within the first couple of weeks we had a prototype CorkSport Short Shifter and Catted Downpipe on the car. Today, we are running a CorkSport Catted Downpipe with the factory cat back to keep it in sleeper status. It has a much better exhaust flow with close to factory noise levels.

With the intake and exhaust systems both already upgraded we started testing some other products on the car. We fitted it with a CorkSport Oil Catch Can which proved incredibly valuable at getting 90k miles worth of condensation and such out of the crank case. We also began prototyping a Rear Motor Mount (just released this week) for the Mazdaspeed 6 and have been running it on this car for quite some time now. The Rear Motor Mount made a noticable improvement in throttle response. Changes in the throttle are felt instantly now instead of a second later after the mounts have absorbed some of the torque.

With the speed6 now able to breathe in all of the cold air it wants combined with the free flowing exhaust we have seen some serious power improvements so we thought we’d move on to making some handling improvements to complement it. We added the ever so important CorkSport Front and Rear Sway Bars which improved the handling of the car exponentially. Next, we wanted to get the center of gravity down a bit which we accomplished with a set of H&R lowering springs. Now that the Mazdaspeed 6 had a proper stance we thought it looked a bit odd with the factory wheels so we threw on a set of factory RX8 wheels.

With future plans for this car in mind, we recently decided to upgrade from the CorkSport Top Mount Intercooler to the CorkSport Front Mount Intercooler for Short Ram Intake. Oh, and I can’t forget the ever important CorkSport license plate frames and the vinyl across the windshield (I’m pretty sure the vinyl added +5 HP).

There is a lot more to come with this car as we’re currently working on more prototypes for her that I can’t talk about yet, but all of you CorkSport fans with MS6’s, we haven’t forgotten about you and there are great new products on the way!

Until next time,

Dustin

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Double Product Release! CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3/Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount

CorkSport is happy to announce a special double release of the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3/Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mounts!

You might be asking yourself right about now, “There are a lot of motor mounts on the market, what makes yours so different?”

Excellent question!

Improved Rear Motor Mount

Let’s start with the Mazdaspeed 3/Mazda 3 Rear Motor Mount. Designed as a direct replacement of the OEM motor mount, the CorkSport Rear Motor Mount provides improved handling and shifting by replacing your factory mount and rubber bushings with an upgraded mount and urethane thrust surface for added stiffness and improved driver responsiveness.

We designed the urethane thrust surface to be larger than other products on the market. We found this provides the added stiffness you desire while maintaining the comfortable ride you want and reducing the effect of NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) in your cabin.

Mazdaspeed 3 and Mazda 3 Rear Motor Mount
Mazda 3 & Mazdaspeed 3 Rear Motor Mount

What’s more our CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3/Mazda 3 Rear Motor Mount is a 2 for 1! We have designed the part to allow customers to easily swap between our 70 and 80 durometer urethane for an easy transition between daily driving and track days!

The Mazdaspeed 3/Mazda 3 Rear Motor Mount is powder-coated black and includes zinc-coated sleeves for a durable, long-lasting life.

The Best Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount

Now, onto the Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount. This part has been designed as a single piece that again maintains your OEM fitment, but replaces the factory bushings with large urethane thrust surfaces for improved handling and shifting while maintaining ride quality.

Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount
Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount

Best Quality Mazdaspeed 6 RMM

This high-quality, great-looking part is black anodized with the zinc coated sleeves for a long-lasting, durable finish. Available in 70 durometer urethane, the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount has also been designed with a larger thrust surface for better handling without all the NVH associated with other stiffer and smaller urethane surfaces on the market.

You can purchase your CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount today from CorkSport.com

Visit our site to check out all of our new and existing products for the Mazdaspeed 3, Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 6.

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CorkSport Invades Texas

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Northwest and there are definitely some advantages to CorkSport being located here, but the long distances from so many of our customers is not one of them. That is why CorkSport decided to take an event on the road and host one in San Marcos, Texas last Saturday.

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We often attend events that have been organized by other members of the community like OCC, EECMM, Mazfest and the like, but this was a first for us organizing and hosting an event away from the Northwest.

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Thanks in no small part to the help provided by our sponsored driver, Matt Kellogg and his group, The Texas Mazda Speed Demons, Dave Johnson at Roger Beasley Mazda and of course the Philipp and his fantastic team at Harris Hill Raceway, the first ever CorkSport and Mazda Speed Demons Texas Showdown Track Day went off without a hitch, we had a great turnout, and everyone had a great time (or at least that’s the word I have been hearing on the street).

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It started off a rather foggy day in San Marcos so we had to push the track start time a little, but by 10:30 it was blazing hot. Mind you, I speak coming from the 40-50 degree weather in the northwest this time of year. In reality, it was a temperate 80 degree day in Texas!

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We opened the track with a lead/follow on the 1.8 mile course located about 30 min outside of Austin and then continued with open track time for most of the afternoon. For the first three quarters of the day it was a Mazdas only event pitting Mazda against Mazda on the race track. By the afternoon, we allowed some non-Mazdas to participate as well.

EMS powered brought out their portable covered dyno to offer up dyno pulls for anyone interested in participating and there were plenty of Mazdas on hand to show off their rides.

Aside from Richards misfortune in his RX-8, who’s control arm broke on the track (as it turns out a recall issue) there were no serious off-roading experiences. Derrick even got out and took a few laps in a Roger Beasley’s Mazda 2 at the end of the day. I finally even went out (as a passenger) for a couple laps…I can see how that might get addicting. Felt a lot like a roller coaster ride!

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It was great to get to spend time with our customers in the great state of Texas and finally put some faces to names! A big thank you goes to everyone who pitched in to help on Saturday, Matt (teamxtaci) , Steve v1 (kritz), Bobby, Steve v3 (swsmailman), and the team at Harris Hill!

Gwynne-

Thanks to Mario Rios, Richard Reyes and Scott Redmond for taking pics and video and allowing me to use them for my post!

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Mazda Community Rallies in the Aftermath of Sandy

In the wake of what may be the worst weather related disaster to ever hit the northeast, many have been personally affected or know someone who has been by the events of last week’s hurricane Sandy. It’s time for all of us to pitch in where we can.

Our good friend and loyal Mazda enthusiast, Steve Kritzberg came out to Texas over the weekend to take part in the Texas Showdown (more on that later this week) and unfortunately, he was one of many who faced devastating losses during the events of the previous week including the loss of his car, wife’s car and damage to his home.

I was touched to hear how the Nator group and MSF have rallied to the cause and stepped in to help! Not only did they start a thread on MSF to collect donations for members affected, but over the weekend while Kritz was taking a moment to get his mind off matters back at the homestead, a crew of Nator members came out for an un-install day and helped to stock out his beautiful and now totaled speed3 and while they were there even helped to bail out a neighbors crawl space!

The response from the Mazda community to help members in need is truly touching and it is heartwarming to see how many are willing to help members of the community to recover.

CorkSport will be donating all proceeds from this year’s calendar to disaster relief for Sandy. Anyone else interested in contributing is encouraged to visit the thread on MSF and donate!

Gwynne-