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Hydrolock

After seeing several forum posts and receiving many emails asking about performance intakes and sucking in water I decided to write this bog, because I wanted to get this cleared up for everyone with questions.

Water is everywhere, as our planet is covered in it. There is water in the air. When you are driving your car down the road you are sucking in water. It may be water vapor but it is still water and harmless to your engine.

Open element filters in either short ram intakes or cold air intakes have water come in contact with them by splashing puddles or rain. With air passing through the filter the water gets vaporized (evaporates) and gets consumed by the engine during the combustion process. This process is like the hand dryers in a washroom that blow air across your hands to dry them. The water enters your intake as vapor which is safe for your engine.

There are several companies that sell water injection systems for combustion engines. The water cools the fuel air mixture resulting in less chance for engine detonation. This is helpful for forced induction engines running higher boost levels to control detonation and get more power.

The only time you will experience water damage/engine destruction is when the intake in your car creates a seal with a water source, as in complete submersion. The engine creates suction from the air pumping movement thus pulling more water into the intake towards the engine. This becomes a problem when the water gets to the cylinders and the crankshaft tries to move the piston up. Water does not compress like air and causes the piston to stop and catastrophe occurs. This is called hydro-lock, which is when the cylinder is too full of water and the piston moves against it effectively preventing, or “locking” the engine from further movement. The result of hydro-lock is bent connecting rods, broken pistons, etc. It is not pretty.


Hydrolock Damage

Cold air intakes normally get the bad rap for sucking up water and hydro-locking engines. You would have to move your vehicle into large water mass, like a very deep puddle and submerge your air filter for this to occur. If you live in a climate that has lots of standing water or floods on a regular basis a cold air intake is probably not the best choice. Short ram intakes normally have the filter situated up higher in the engine bay near the throttle body. The chances of water being deep enough to cause a seal and suck in water are pretty low. You would need the water to be higher that the filter location in the engine bay. This also applies to the stock intake airbox. If you see water cresting over the top of your hood you have more problems than water getting into your engine.


Sure fire defense against water in your intake

If you want an aftermarket intake and you are paranoid about hydro-locking your engine there is a solution. The sure fire way to avoid water getting into your engine is an intake snorkel. Most have the air pickup at the highest point on the vehicle to give you the best chance when fording a river.


Mazda BT-50 crossing a small creek

The best advice I can give is to steer clear of deep standing water if you have a performance intake installed in your Mazda. If you are not sure how deep the puddle or standing water is go around it.

– Derrick

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CorkSport Grand Prix

A couple weekends ago CorkSport held an impromptu Mazda competition at the last SCCA event this year in Portland, OR. A few of the guys from MazdasNW.com showed up to come have some fun with us in the Pacific Northwest sun (Rain). There were quite a few large puddles out there as Travis found:

We had two classes to compete in, Turbo Class and N/A Class. The weather made it difficult for any racers to turn in good lap times, and the MazdaSpeed3s were having the most trouble out there trying to turn in anything resembling a decent lap time. With the course set up the way it was they were not able to get out of 2nd gear and had too much power to put to use on the very wet track. Marty Chen in his Speed3 managed to keep it together for the win in the Turbo category with a time of 50.94.

Erik Getty got to run his Miata in the first run group before it started to pour down rain and turned in a time of 48.07 giving him the win for the N/A class.

Congrats to Marty and Eric, and thank you to everyone that came out and I hope we can do this again next year!

– Chris

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Back to the Track

The Oregon Region SCCA series came to an end last week and I made it to 6 of the 9 events, along the way meeting a number of people I look forward to seeing again next year and learning more than I had anticipated about SCCA and the people involved. I learned many things about my driving and the Speed3, both of which have room for improvement.

Most importantly I had a great time and I helped support the folks that run the tracks as well as a few of the clubs that sponsor these events. The fewer people that are willing to pay to play diminish the options or up the price for those of us that love motorsports. If you are interested in getting into motorsports, improving your driving skills, or are even just curious about it I strongly encourage you to participate.

You can learn a lot from watching the competition, and watching other people run is also an important part of improving your skills as a driver. Both locally and nationally, Solo and Pro Solo, there were some amazingly skilled drivers present. It was less surprising but still interesting to see how close some cars perform compared to others, classification aside.

For people wanting to get out and try a relatively inexpensive and safe afternoon of racing AutoX is a great option with a wide variety of cars competing at local levels. A few weeks ago some fellow Mazda owners came down from Seattle to play at PIR with a few locals and I would venture a bet that a few of these guys will be back, at least occasionally, or progress on to different venues including track days. In fact a few of us are planning for next year already.

The racing bug takes hold slowly for some and moves others from zero to obsessed in a mere few hours of play. My class (DSP) was an interesting story and not uncommon. Three was the average number of competitors in the DSP class I ran in and the two other gentlemen that show up regularly have been racing for a few years. I ended up finishing second overall. Second place is not bad for simply showing up and giving AutoX a go, so I am definitely OK with the results, I may even go get myself that 2nd place trophy (or plaque) if I remember to attend the year end banquet.

I would encourage anyone that reads this to take your car out, stock or not and have a good time learning your limits and those of your car or just practice and enjoy the company of some friendly folks. There is plenty of encouragement and the potential for an award if you make it out at least a few times a year. At the very least you help support racing in a safe, constructive venue.

AutoX runs rain or shine. Wet sucks, big time, but it exaggerated the limits of my skill and the limits of the car which gave me plenty to think about. Dry days are amazing, and I especially enjoyed the dry weather we had up at Packwood. I fought the street tires all summer while most folks around me had dedicated racing tire/wheel combinations, a nice guy in a BMW that regularly plagued me (the way locusts devour crops) being one of those.

The biggest thing I got out of this season was finding a line, looking ahead and knowing where I had to be. Navigating a sea of little orange cones by ones self takes a bit of practice even when you think you know where you’re going. I watched plenty of folks miss cones, or gates, time and time again as well as people that just get lost mid course. Funny as it is to watch folks get lost I do not laugh too hard as I have been in that position. Other factors like tire pressure and suspension set up are also quite important, and I spent time exploring variations to assist with turn in and produce some modicum of over-steer. The problem I have with second gear has yet to be resolved and I encountered a couple people who experienced the same issue in Speed 3’s. The gas pedal, when to be on or off the gas and how to keep boost up with some finesse. I am not consistent enough yet to be able to use the pedal they way the car wants me to yet, unexpected lines or jerky driving throw me into my “drive angry” mode.

If people have to get their exercise chasing the cones I’ve mowed down in order for me to get better then I say practicing will be a win-win situation (as long as you’re not the cone). All in all there’s still lots of good stuff to learn and anything fun to learn should be practiced regularly.

I plan to run one last AutoX this year with the local Porsche club and after that more mods for the car and wait as patiently as I am able for next year. I feel some HPDE’s, track days, will be in order as well.

In closing I would like to give a big “thank you” to our good friends Bob and Randal for the pointers and getting me headed in the right direction, and to all the other folks along the way that helped or just hung out. I had no trouble finding someone willing to offer advice or share experiences with at the events along the way. Ride alongs are also fun I discovered, my favorite being a new Porsche Cayman S driven by a very aggressive but friendly fellow. What an awesome ride!

So, for those of you that are still unsure, come on out, get a ride along, or two or three, and decide if you want to be behind the wheel.

You’ll never regret it.

– Travis

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Engine Protection? CorkSport’s Got it Covered

Being one of the product development engineers here, I have seen many ideas submitted by customers. Some crazy, some very practical, some impossible and some of them eventually grow to become a part that we produce and sell. I have never seen more people interested and dedicated to any other submitted idea than a skidplate built specifically for their 3. Being that this is not something we typically sell, we thought, why not.

You wanted a larger opening for oil filter changes? Done. A one-piece aluminum design mounted to the sub-frame that won’t flop around in the wind? Whammy. More ground clearance? Shazam. An undertray that will protect against the elements better than the stock plastic one? You got it. (The lowest part of the skidplate is directly mounted to the sub-frame via two M12 and two M14 bolts to factory threaded holes.). Finally, something that won’t rip off when you reverse out of your parking spot in a foot of snow? Check.

The result of your input is the product below. A piece that reminds me of the many winters in Minnesota and the UP of Michigan where I would have loved to have had this on my car.

– Jake

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Remember When…

I have had quite a few “I remember you” moments this year. What I have noticed is that customers from back in the MX-3 heydays have been calling up and picking up parts for their newer Mazdas. Most of the cars have been Mazdaspeed 3s or Mazdaspeed 6s but there have been some RX-8 owners in there too. When I say back in the MX-3 heydays I mean 1998-2001, the early years of CorkSport. This was when the import market really was taking off. Back when drag racing imports seemed to be the trendy thing to do with your car.

It is fun to spend some time chatting about old events like the MxWest meets in B.C. or meeting up with customers at the import drag races in Oregon and California when people call or email.

It really makes my day to see a note on an order saying “long time customer” in the order referral field or getting a phone call from someone I haven’t spoken to for over 6 years who has questions about some of our new parts. I have a pretty good memory so if has been a while since you have called or ordered feel free to mention it. There is a good chance I will remember you.

– Derrick