Tag: Mazda Accessories

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10,000 Miles Later – CorkSport Mazda2 Update

Our CorkSport Mazda 2 hit a milestone today and turned 10,000 miles on the odometer. It has taken us a little over a year to hit this point in the cars life which brings up some interesting points.

Our Mazda 2 has been a test vehicle for all of the Mazda 2 products we have engineered here at CorkSport. We get questions about our products asking how well they work and how they are tested. Our northwest location gives us a full range of weather conditions including snow, rain for days, and 90+ degree weather that we can test our parts in and with the company vehicles being driven daily, we get a chance to do real world testing constantly.

The CorkSport Short Ram Intake was one of the first parts we installed on the 2. So far we have put just under 9000 miles of combined road use and auto crossing on this intake with zero problems and great results.

Next came the CorkSport LED lighting kit along with the LED DRL kit. Now I wouldn’t normally bring up the LED light kit as you would not expect any problems with this type of modification, but I have seen posts on forums about people who have purchased from e-bay or another vendor saying their LED lights are failing after only a few months of use.

I can confidently say you will not have any problems with the LED lights purchased from CorkSport. One added bonus with our Mazda 2 kit is the front turn signals have built in resistors so your turn signals will flash at the normal speed.

The last piece we have had on the car for the longest period of time has been the CorkSport Rear Torsion Bar. When we took the Mazda 2 out to an autocross a few weeks after purchasing the car, we discovered the 2 was really biased to under steer, so we immediatly set out to correct this and came up with our rear torsion bar. The torsion bar made the 2 more neutral in handling and I couldn’t imagine driving a Mazda 2 without one now.

We are looking forward to developing and releasing some great parts for the Mazda 2 in the coming year and our customers can have confidence that any CorkSport brand part we develop has been thouroughly road tested and we have real world experience with the parts and their ability to improve the overall performance of the Mazda 2.

-Derrick

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CorkSport Product Development Update

We here at CorkSport have been busy working on some new parts for Mazda owners and I’m excited to be able to share some of the features and benefits that you can expect from some of the newest additions to our catalog that we have been busy developing for our customers.

First up we have the CorkSport Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 3 Adjustable End Links. These end links are made from 5/8″ hex stock 2011 Aluminum which is stronger than regular 6061. The ultimate tensile strength is actually 10,000 PSI stronger. Compared to the stock end links the CorkSport Mazda Adjustable End Links are much bulkier and stronger, which keeps the link from deforming when subjected to extreme loads. The ball joints used are also more durable than the rod ends normally used in adjustable end links and come with a shield to help keep out the road debris and grit than can increase the wear and tear on the links.

Using adjustable end links will provide increased strength which is important when running a stiffer front sway bar. To those who are worried about corner weighting, adjustable end links allow you to remove any preload from your front sway bar after adjusting each corner’s ride height. Not to mention they also look great!

Also just released are the CorkSport Mazdaspeed Shifter Base Bushings. The aluminum bushings replace the factory rubber bushings. These bushings give your shifter a more solid and crisp feel by taking out any slop from the stock rubber base bushings.

Along with our Shifter Base Bushings, we have also just released a Mazdaspeed Adjustable Short Shift Plate which reduces the throw of your shifter by 20-40%.

The shift plate works by reducing the distance between where the shifter cable mounts on the shift arm to the pivot point. By reducing this distance, the shifter cable doesn’t have to move as far to produce the same movement at the transmission. In the car this produces a much shorter throw, which will reduce your shift times, and in turn will help you reduce your quarter mile times.

The short shift plate also includes a smaller shift weight to replace the stock weight. The stock weight weighs about 14oz and the CorkSport weight weighs about 5.7oz. The lighter weight will reduce the fort required when shifting, which again can decrease your shift times. If you still want to keep your stock weight, good news, the CorkSport shift plate will be compatible with the stock shifter weight as well.

Now some of you may be wondering about the other new parts we have in development, and while I can’t release any details yet on most of them, I can say we have some very exciting new parts coming down the line. Be expecting to hear more about our Catted Downpipe for the Mazdaspeed 3 and our Underhood Lighting, which should be out in a matter of weeks!

I also want to point out the importance of the product submissions we receive from customers. Development of the short shift plate was actually started from a submission we received from customer, Cale DeLeers. We approved this submission in August of this year and were able to get started on it pretty quickly. We would like to thank Cale for his product submission and note that it is because of his product submission that we were able to develop the product to meet the needs of our customers that were not being met by other similar products on the market.

To those of you out there with ideas for your Mazda, don’t be shy. Let us know what you want and we will definitely look into it.

Andrew-

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Product Release! CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3/Mazda 3 Front End Links

CorkSport is pleased to announce the addition of the Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 3 Adjustable Front End Links to our growing list of suspension upgrades developed to enhance your Mazda’s performance.

Made to fit OEM and aftermarket front sway bars, the CorkSport Mazda 3 Mazdaspeed 3 Front Adjustable End Links allows customers to tune any sway bar and remove the preload commonly associated with the suspension.

“Adjustable end links will allow you to properly balance and tune your suspension to give you the best setup possible” Said CorkSport Engineer, Andrew Gilbert, “Our end links will reduce link flex and fatigue, increase sway bar effectiveness and allow for corner balancing suspension.”

The CorkSport adjustable front end links come in a black anodized finish and include an etched CorkSport logo for a custom and long lasting finish.

The CorkSport Mazda 3/Mazdaspeed 3 Front End Links can be purchased for the competitive price of $109.00 making this an easy to install and affordable upgrade for your vehicle.

For more information: https://www.corksport.com/corksport-mazdaspeed-3-front-adjustable-swaybar-end-links.html

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Product Release! CorkSport Mazda 2 Front Sway Bar

CorkSport would like to announce a new addition to the CorkSport Mazda 2 line of suspension products, the Mazda 2 Front Sway Bar, developed to enhance Mazda 2 performance and handling.

The newly released Mazda 2 Front Sway Bar will reduce body roll during cornering and give the driver a crisper road feel. By strengthening the lower suspension connection across the front of the Mazda 2, the CorkSport Mazda 2 Front Sway Bar is able to reduce oversteer or understeer by complimenting other suspension upgrades and reduces body lean which keeps the outside tire in better contact with the ground in turns.

The Mazda 2 Front Sway Bar is made from CNC machined 7/8” 4130 steel tube and provides 60% more stiffness than stock front sway bar. The powder coated black finish offers long lasting durability and performance. The included polyurethane mounting bushings eliminate the sloppy handling caused by stock rubber bushings and offer long life and resistance to common contaminants that would destroy rubber bushings.

Thoroughly tested by CorkSport during autocross and recently listed in Mazda’s booth at SEMA 2011 in the concept Mazda 2 turbo car, the CorkSport Front Mount Sway Bar provides the Mazda 2 with a distinct racing advantage over stock sway bar and has been highlighted in publications such as Car Throttle, Autoweek, and Carbuzz.

The CorkSport Mazda 2 Front Sway Bar and has been tuned to compliment the CorkSport Mazda 2 Rear Torsion Bar and can be purchased as a kit for the competitive price of $268.20 or as an enhancement for your existing suspension upgrades for $199.00.

For more information about the CorkSport Mazda 2 Front Sway Bar, please visit the product page at https://www.corksport.com/corksport-mazda-2-front-swaybar.html

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The Time has Come – Project 2 Update

The time has come for what you say? The time has come to give our Mazda 2 Project Car a real stereo.

Instead of going with the usual tunes only deck, we decided to give the Mazda 2 a really big upgrade. We chose the Pioneer AVH P3300BT which includes DVD video, MP3 playback, iPod/iPhone direct control, and the option to listen to Pandora using the iPhone Pandora app. This top of the line system includes a 5.8” wide screen size with a 16:9 aspect ratio, touch panel operation, built in amplifier, rear view camera input and dual zone audio/video.

To install the system in our project car, we went with the Japanese made Kanatechs Mazda 2, 2 din installation kit. The Kanatechs kit uses an OEM quality, exclusive panel, designed to fit the Mazda2’s unique dash and includes pre-formed steel mounting brackets. The other kit on the market, the Metra, uses plastic brackets for a rather flimsy installation and gives car stereo thieves easy access.

The installation kit from Kanatechs is thorough and very easy to follow. After giving the instructions a once over I was ready to get to work. The interior in the Mazda 2 is surprisingly easy to take apart and came out with a Philips screw driver and an M10 headed bolt. The harnesses for the installation kit and the pioneer are all color coded so that was a snap to get connected as well. Overall I spent 2 hours installing the new deck.

The installed unit looks like it belongs in the Mazda 2. Too bad it wasn’t an option when the car was purchased.

There are a few notes from installing the unit which I would keep in mind for future installs.

1st – If your original set-up has steering wheel volume controls, get the steering wheel adapter unit from Kanatechs. It allows you to retain the volume controls on the steering wheel if your new audio unit supports IR control.

2nd – The information display selector will be disabled when the original stereo is removed. I recommend you choose your favorite setting and leave it there. With the stock unit unplugged you will have it set forever.

After a few days driving around in the Mazda 2 with the new unit, I am really enjoying the features. I can just plug in a SD card or a USB flash drive with whatever music I want and I am down the road.

-Derrick