Versatune Packages for Mazda MX-5 Miata

Despite not being the ideal season to pull the top down, we have been busy giving the CorkSport ND Miata some love. Unfortunately this love does not come in the form of another CorkSport Performance part, but instead better takes advantage of your CorkSport Performance parts thanks to the Versatuner Tuning Solution.

With that, we are proud to announce our partnership with Versatuner and the ability to provide to all models supported by Versatuner.

Back to the 2016+ Mazda MX-5; working with the Versatuner Tuning Solution we setup pre-calibrated tunes that are designed to work with the CorkSport Performance Cold Air Intake System, Cat-Back Exhaust System, and the combination of the two.

Jumping right to Power Pack 3, that combines the CorkSport Cold Air Intake and Cat-Back Exhaust; you see a power increase of 9 wTQ and 13 wHP using 92 octane fuel. These aren’t just peak gains either, power/torque increases from 3000rpm up to redline which has been increased to 7400rpm. If you are not ready to pull the trigger on the CorkSport CAI and CBE together, then check out Power Pack 1 and Power Pack 2.

Power Pack 1 offers a combination of the CorkSport MX5 Cold Air Intake and Versatuner Tuning Solution with a pre-calibrated tune.

Power Pack 2 offers a combination of the CorkSport Mx-5 Cat-Back Exhaust and Versatuner Tuning Solution with a pre-calibrated tune.

What’s great about the Versatuner Tuning Solution is its flexibility to provide data logging, tune editing and diagnostics troubleshooting with any installed parts and any fuel type. The CorkSport pre-calibrated tunes are designed for 92 octane fuel, so we do recommend having a custom tune performed for your MX-5 if 91 octane is the highest grade fuel available in your area. Those of you with 93 octane fuel need not worry, but there could be more to ring out of your little 2.0L Sky-G with custom tuning.

Lastly, you might be wondering why the Power Packs have any significance to you? Well along with power, aesthetics, and glorious noises, we are able to cut you deal when you get the combination of CorkSport Performance parts and Versatuner Tuning Solution. We’re here to make modifying your Miata easy and fun.

Thanks for tuning in with CorkSport Performance.

-Barett @ CS

April 10, 2018September 13, 2018

Garage Organization Tips and Tricks

Making Working in the Garage Easier Starts with Organization!

While we often discuss what’s best for your Mazda and how to make it more fun, we rarely talk about where you spend all your time while working on your Mazda: the garage!

Having a nice organized space to store and work on your ride will keep your Mazda’s exterior in better shape and help you get those CorkSport parts installed faster. After all, we all know someone who has a garage, but their Mazdaspeed lives outside because of how disorganized their garage is. Using the tips that follow should help you avoid being that friend.

Tool Organization

Tools are a vital part of any install, but they don’t do much good if they cannot be found and easily accessed. Below are some tips for keeping your tools neat and tidy.

Have a good quality toolbox that is big enough for all of your tools. Toolboxes exist in all shapes and sizes, finding one that fits your tool collection and suits your preferences will help keep you organized.

Organize your toolbox logically. Sort your tools by type but be sure you don’t have to dig to find the tool you need. I also like to put my most used tools in the drawers that are easiest to access.

Upgrade your organizers. The basic metal or plastic socket organizers work fine, but for a few bucks more, you can get well labeled, magnetic organizers that will keep your sockets in place. The ones below have the bonus of being magnetic on the bottom for even more versatility. Similar organizers exist for wrenches, screwdrivers, and pliers.

Pegboard is your friend. Using pegboard and assorted hooks for the large or otherwise awkward tools will help keep your toolbox easy to access. If you’re not into sifting through drawers, a large pegboard wall can even replace your toolbox!

Storage

Having a place to store extra parts, jacks, and other miscellaneous garage stuff will ensure your garage stays a clean and comfortable work environment.

Just having a place for everything can transform the feel and organization of your space. It may seem obvious but having a designated area for everything in your garage and ensuring it returns to its place removes a lot of the risk for a cluttered, unusable garage.

Keep things off the floor as much as possible. Anything left on the floor will be awkward to work around and will make your garage feel messy. Simple shelving units and cabinets to get things out of the way can make a huge difference.

Utilize your walls and ceiling as much as possible. Moving storage to the walls and ceiling allows you to maximize your usable floor space. Old kitchen cabinets can be repurposed to hang high up and out of the way until you need something. There’s a ton of ceiling storage solutions out there, be creative and finds what works best in your garage. If you’re lucky enough to have high ceilings, storage above the garage door works fantastic.

Making Working on a Project Easier

Whether working on your Mazda, it can be easy to get distracted and messy, leaving you wondering where the extra bolts came from after you get everything put back together. It’s especially important to stay organized if your Mazdaspeed will be out of commission for a little while.

Keep track of your hardware! We’ve said it before but merely using plastic bags and a sharpie to label where each bolt and nut came from makes it way easier when it’s time to put everything back together.

For a more short-term solution, we also use small plastic bins to keep parts and hardware together. If you have a pegboard, be sure to find some bins that will hang on the pegboard! Lastly, a fishing tackle box can be useful to neatly store extra hardware rather than having a random bolt drawer.

Give yourself a good work surface. Whether you’re cleaning parts, swapping some studs over to a new turbo, or putting together the head on an engine build, having a nice surface to work on will make your life easier. To kill two birds with one stone, some larger tool boxes come with a great workbench top already installed. Short on space? Buy or make a workbench that can fold out of the way when not in use.

Set up your parts in order of removal. This makes it easy to retrace your steps if you have to remove a bunch of different parts to get to whatever you’re working on. It’s extremely simple, but it’s saved me from having to retrace my steps because I forgot to install something.

Keep your tools in a tool tray. We’ve all lost that 10mm socket while rolling around under a car. A simple tool tray will keep all your sockets and wrenches in one place and easily accessible.

Miscellaneous Garage Improvements

While not possible for every garage, these are ideal improvements that take your garage to the next level.

Upgrade your lighting. Most home garages have a few dim light bulbs that work well enough but make it can be really hard to see when deep in an engine bay. LED shop lights can help you see what you’re working on, even after the sun goes down. Extra tip, strong zip ties can offer a temporary hanging solution if you’re unsure what locations will work best.

Epoxy the floor. While it can be expensive to apply, nothing beats the look of a high-quality epoxy coated garage floor. It also makes spills easier to clean up, and you won’t have to worry about staining the concrete. You can even match it to your ride with the colors you choose!

Install a garage fridge! Cold refreshments make any install that little bit easier. Plus, a garage fridge gives you a place to put all of your extra stickers!

Please share any other tips and tricks you may have down below; we are always looking for ways to improve our experiences in the garage. We’d also love to see what spaces you guys and gals are working with!

Cheers,

Daniel

April 3, 2018September 13, 2018

CorkSport Extras

Have you ever felt the love?!

Here at CorkSport, we are known for paying attention to the little things when it comes to our customers. Often, you’ll see we send out some extras like the following, to pass just a little bit of extra joy to our customers!

We do Little things, like notes, cards, drawings, and candies. Who doesn’t need a little extra fuel during the install?

We do Big things, like Christmas Packages for Deployed Soldiers, unexpected gifts for customers going through life changes, and surprise drop-offs when we’re in your town. Always looking for a way to give our thanks for your support!

We do Baby Things… to welcome the newest members of the CorkSport Family to the world, not to mention that little T-shirts are just plain awesome!

And Holiday Things, to spread joy, cheer, and love when the season is just right. Not just Christmas, we’ve been known to hit Valentine’s day too, (warning here that sometimes Girlfriends get jealous if they see the valentines we send out)

Sometimes there are silly things, like drawings, games, and toys. Of course, having a signed autograph from Derrick may be silly to some, but SOLID GOLD for others.

Really, we just love doing all the things. No matter what you get or see as an ‘extra WOW’ in your packages, just know we did it out of love and thanks.

That is Why we do it.

To bring that extra bit of joy to your day, as if receiving CorkSport parts wasn’t enough. It’s our favorite. Surpassing customer expectations and seeing their joy come right back to us via social media. As you can see our customers share the love right back when they post our simple little tokens of gratitude.

Have you been one of the lucky few to receive a bit of Corksport WOW in your life? We’d love to see you post it up with #CorkSport or tag us with @CorkSport.

Nothing satisfies the CorkSport Team more than seeing happy, satisfied customers!

March 29, 2018April 24, 2023

Transmission Motor Mount for Mazda 3, 6, & CX-5

TMM for Gen3 Mazda3, Mazda6, and CX-5

CorkSport is proud to introduce the first and only performance transmission motor mount for GEN3 Mazdas. It’s a simple upgrade that can really change how shifting feels in your 2014-2018 Mazda 3, 2014-2017 Mazda 6, or 2013-2018 Mazda CX-5. We saw how an upgraded mount can drastically affect the characteristics of your car with our Mazda 3/6/CX-5 RMM and wanted to take the next step in getting the best driver feel you can out of your car.

We followed a design similar to the OE mount to ensure proper fitment and function for all engine and transmission options. Whether you have a 2.0L Mazda 3 Auto, a 2.5L Mazda 6 Manual, or anything in between, the CorkSport TMM will bolt right in with no issues. We even retained the OE battery tray mounting location to ensure the battery stays stationary. Don’t be mistaken though, the CorkSport Mazda Transmission Motor Mount is a completely different mount than OE.

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Mazda motor mount uses durometer polyurethane

The OE mount uses relatively soft rubber to ensure the least amount of noise and vibration makes its way into the cabin. It also allows the engine and transaxle to move around a surprising amount while accelerating, decelerating, or changing gears. By using 70A durometer polyurethane, the CorkSport TMM helps to lock down the engine and transaxle for better throttle response, less wheel hop, and much-improved gear changes. When we first installed a prototype TMM in the CorkSport Mazda 3 racecar, we immediately noticed the lack of delay and slop coming from the transmission when setting off from a stop and changing gears.

Don’t think we forgot about vibration and noise though. The size and stiffness of the polyurethane pucks were chosen to help minimize the adverse effects of stiffer mounts. That being said, there is still some added vibration and noise, most noticeable in automatic cars, when lugging the engine, and/or when using the A/C system. Once you are up and cruising on the highway, however, the added NVH is virtually eliminated solely by road noise.

Much like the CorkSport RMM, the TMM uses billet aluminum for the main body of the mount. After machining, it is anodized black for durability and finished off with a laser etched CS logo. A zinc-coated steel sleeve is used through the center of the bushings so you can be sure that your mount is tightened to spec. Finally, stainless steel is used for the hardware, angled mounting plate, and side washers. All of these materials were selected for their strength and corrosion resistance so that your CorkSport Mazda TMM will stand the test of time.

GEN3 Transmission Mount with it unassembled

The CorkSport Mazda 3, Mazda 6, and CX-5 Transmission Motor Mount will liven up your Mazda GEN 3 whether you use it as a daily driver or racecar. The TMM is even better when combined with our RMM however, it works standalone perfectly fine. While not for everyone, those who are willing the sacrifice a little comfort for a boost in driver feel will love this mount.

March 27, 2018September 22, 2020

5 Tracks every Mazda Owner Must Hit

5 Tracks every Mazda owner must hit in the US.

Living on the west coast, we are pretty fortunate to have access to quite a few cool road race tracks up and down the I5. There is a good handful right in our backyard of Washington State a few in Oregon State and even one that is a city track and is all of 4 miles away. Yes that one kind of spoils us as Derrick himself has worked, drove there during lunch in his racecar, qualified for a race, and then drove back all in a matter of 45 minutes. I don’t care who you are that’s just bad ass.

As we were building some engines the other night, we got to thinking about all the cool tracks that we got to visit last year in 2017 and how many other cool ones we want to check out in 2018.

So, we decided to throw up my list of the top 5 tracks that I think every Mazda owner should drive in their lifetime. These tracks are not presented in any particular order, and we’ve only actually been to half of them. No right or wrong answers here but what follows is our list of 5 tracks we think you guys should all hit up. So strap in and let’s go racing.

We’ll start with the obvious here, and that’s the one that has our favorite manufacture in the title. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. This track resides in the landscape of central California and has been around since the late 50’s. Known best for its infamous Corkscrew section this 11 turn race track is world famous, and you can’t play any racing video game or simulator without this track being one of the featured races. We haven’t done this one yet, but you better believe it’s on our bucket list. Fun fact, or perhaps sad fact, depending on how you look at it; Mazda will not be renewing its sponsorship this year with the world-famous race track. So that means starting in April that Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will simply be known as Laguna Seca.

Next up is Road America. This one is a big one. Spanning over 4 miles long this is one of the longest road race courses across the World. The long straight that crosses the start-finish lets you put the pedal to the medal. We’ve seen many of cars run out of gearing on this long straight. That coupled with the fact that you have to go uphill first to start will really but that full load on your engine, but man is it fun.

For my next pick, we chose Hallett Motor Racing Circuit. Reason for that is we found it to be one of the most challenging circuits that we’ve ever driven on. And by challenging we mean it eats brakes. Granted we were always in a car that was not particularly suited for this track, but we did always find this to be a tough course. It was always challenging to lay down a clean lap, but we learned a lot from having driven on this one. We recommend this one to anyone that wants to get some good experience and refine their skill.

This next one has some really cool history and an even cooler track surface. Opening up just a few years after the end of World War Sebring International Raceway is actually built on a converted airport. The track used to be what was called Hendricks Field and was an airbase used to train B-17 combat crews. What’s even cooler is that part of this track still uses some of the original airport runways and makes for the craziest ride over the last corner. Combining a mix of concrete and asphalt this track is sure to punish even the best of drivers.

Last but not least we decided to go with Circuit of the Americas mostly because of two reasons. One it brought back Formula 1 to the United States, and we think that is super important for the sport and will help grow its fan base in the USA. 2nd because the track is new, modern, and cutting edge. Having only opened in 2012 this track is still but a baby. But like most children with time and patience, this track will be one of the worlds greatest we feel like.

There you have it. Our short and sweet lists of 5 tracks in the USA that we think are worth visiting. Maybe we will see you at one of them this year? Maybe we can trade a little paint too if you are up to it. Let us know what you think of this list in the comments below or share some of your favorites with us.

‘Til next time.

CorkSport