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2010 MS3 – Best Way to Get 40+ HP Without Becoming an Amputee, Divorcee, or Both

I recently received an email asking which CS part combinations would be the best way to achieve a 40+ horsepower gain in the 2010+ MazdaSpeed 3 without breaking the bank, or having your significant other make you call and cancel your order.

Your new MS3 breathes just like you do. Maximizing the intake of air and freeing up the expulsion of used gasses (exhaust) will help your vehicle breath better, and go faster.

On the intake side of things, you can get our Short Ram Intake which includes our mandrel bent turbo inlet pipe and custom designed MAF housing and silicone coupler. This will free-up flow into the turbo and allow your MS3 to breath deeper. The average gains seen here are 10-15 hp.

For exhaling, you want to expel all those used gasses as quick as possible. With the CS turbo-back exhaust, you are reducing the back-pressure and allowing your MS3 to utilize the potential of its turbo. The kit comes with Corksport’s full 80mm catback dual exhaust, racepipe, and downpipe. This setup will give the average MS3 owner 28-31 hp at the wheels for just over $1,000 for all 3 parts.

Shown below is our 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 with the CorkSport Short Ram Intake & Turbo-back exhaust compared to our car completely stock. The before number is 226 hp and came out to 272 with the SRI and Turbo-back exhaust. That is a 46 hp increase to the wheels with two products.

This is my suggestion on the easiest and cheapest way to gain 40 hp at the wheels. If you have a different/better way to do this using CS products, I would love to hear your comments.

For those of you on more of a budget, may I suggest just the Short Ram Intake  and racepipe , for an increase in wheel hp of upper 20’s to lower 30’s.

Any more questions feel free to shoot me an email.

– Jake

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Tools: Revisited

One question I get a lot is “Can I install this part?” My answer: “Do you have the right tools to do the job?” Depending on the part you are installing just about anyone can get the job done with the directions we supply, a basic idea of how the job works and the right set of tools. Looking back at a previous blog we did about tools, I thought I would add on a bit and tell you about what tools I would start with.

At my previous job, my tools paid the bills so it was a must to have the right tools for the job. There is a big difference between quality tools and the cheap set of ratchets and wrenches you find in the plastic cases at most auto parts stores. I have broken the gears in a number of cheap ratchets and rounded off bolts because the wrench is just not quite the size it says it is. I have always been a fan of Craftsman tools for a few reasons, but mainly because you can just take it back to the store when you break one and get it replaced with no issues. Snap-On has the same policies, but unless you can get the guy in the truck to come by your house you’re going to have to hunt one down to exchange the tools you need.

A basic set of tools is always a good thing to have around the garage. Tools will save you time and save you money. If you don’t have the right tools for the job it’s going to make the job very frustrating and hard to complete. Buying a good quality tool set to start with is a good idea if you want to start working on your car yourself. With a vast majority of cars, even domestics, using metric bolts you can save some money buying an all metric tool kit. I am not saying you need to spend thousands of dollars on a Snap-On kit or Craftsman Pro kit, but they do make good starter sets that will come with just about everything you will need to do normal jobs on your car.

– Chris

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Is My Intake Legal?

I recently received an email from a customer who asked me “I have heard the intake you sell is illegal, is this true?” That is a valid question to ask of any part manufacturer who offers aftermarket performance products.

On a federal level the EPA regulates the auto manufacturers which sell new vehicles in the United States. The EPA doesn’t look at which intake you have installed into your vehicle and thus there really isn’t any guideline to look at or follow.

On a local level, states, counties, or cities can regulate automobiles their own way, and their rules can vary. At a state level it can really vary. In the state of Washington our vehicle inspections for emissions consist of plugging in the vehicle for 1996-newer models to see if there are any check engine light present or pending. If the cars ECU gives a green light to no problems and the system readiness check has been passed you are given a pass. With our intakes being engineered and tested to meet the requirements of the factory ECU they will pass a plug in emissions test.

Some states do a visual check of emissions components and a tailpipe check in addition to checking the factory ECU to see if the computer has any check engine codes. With visual inspections it really comes down to the rules set by your state. Some states are fine with bolt on modifications like intakes and cat back exhausts. Some are not which means you need to check with your local emissions testing facility.

The tailpipe test consists of an exhaust gas analyzer checking the exhaust output of your vehicle and making sure the hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides are within EPA specifications. There is a small range of particles which are allowed. If the numbers are higher that what is allowed you will not pass the test. Intakes can also affect the tailpipe emissions if they are engineered improperly, and can cause the engine to run outside is original parameters. CorkSport intakes, because of all the testing we have put into them should cause no problems with the tailpipe test.

Now for the tough guys: California. California has its own emissions guidelines which is called CARB or California Air Resources Board. CARB has guidelines which are very strict for any modifications which can affect engine performance. To be a legal product for California the part must have an executive order number. Currently CorkSport intakes do not have an EO number. We are working on CARB certification for our intakes, so don’t worry California customers, we’re thinking of you!

If you have any questions about whether or not your intake is legal check with your local state emissions station to see what they have to say.

– Derrick

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Mazdaspeed 3 & Mazda 3 Rear Swaybar

When designing an aftermarket rear swaybar, there are two main concerns, the weight of the bar, and the stiffness of the bar. The design chosen for the bar needs to be strong enough to resist chassis roll, while being light enough to keep weight down.

To battle the weight issue, we used a hollow tube for the main shaft of the bar. Hollow tubes are able to provide a greater torque resistance than a solid tube of equal weight. In addition, the two arms that connect the bar to the end links were optimized for weight by using finite element analysis. This allows me to design a bar that is structurally rigid, while removing material from areas of low stress. The image below simulates a load coming from the end link of the vehicle and the stresses that it puts on the arm. The deflection is exaggerated to give an idea of how the bar flexes during cornering.

The increased stiffness of the bar comes from increasing the diameter of the tube. To allow this, we utilized a set of larger diameter urethane bushings with greasable fittings. This allows for a more rigid mount, while giving you the option of greasing the bar without having to remove the bushings. The whole system is topped off by having 3 adjustable mount points of varying stiffness from 20% to 80% stiffer, while offering roughly 3 pounds of weight savings. The bar is powdercoated to protect it from the elements and keep it looking nice.

– Jake

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The Method to Our Madness

Everyone wants the biggest number possible in terms of Horsepower/Money ratio. Therefore, when researching a new Intake system for your Mazda, you want to find out from the source, how those numbers were obtained. I have had several people ask me if our dyno numbers are accurate and how we get them, so I decided to pull back the curtain and show you what we do to get these numbers.

The image below shows two dyno runs with a 2010 Mazda 3 (2.0L). The lesser of the two is stock, while the higher of the two is with our Corksport Short Ram Intake installed. The gain shows 121.3 – 115.3 = +6 hp gain. These are real numbers that we have obtained from our personal testing.

Now you may be thinking “Well, you just took the highest run with the SRI on and the lowest run with a stock car and got a 6 hp gain.” This is not how we do things. That would be easy and good from a marketing standpoint, but also deceptive, which is not how we operate. We take several runs, keeping as many variables as possible constant, for each scenario to ensure that they are accurate numbers. The image below shows how we obtained the stock vehicle data using 3 separate runs of 115.3, 114.9, and 114. In this case, we used the highest stock number of 115.3, but all of them are very similar.

For the SRI runs, we obtained numbers of 121.3 and 121.8. In this case, we took the lowest number, but both are very similar.

In conclusion, we try and offer the customer unbiased numbers to help them decide for themselves what product suits them best. Obviously, more runs = more development costs = higher product costs, so we try and strike a good balance between obtaining accurate data, and maintaining a competitive cost.

– Jake