We hit a great balance between a street and track setup so you can have plenty of fun whether your corner of choice is on a backroad or an autocross course and still be comfortable on the daily commute.
Along the same line as our Mazdaspeed 3 kit, we diverged from the normal spring rates chosen for 3rd GEN coilover setups. We really wanted to strike a good middle point between a basic street coilover and a full race setup.
With that in mind, spring rate selection was critical to ensure a stiff enough setup for good track handling but soft enough for regular roads.
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The final rates we ended up at were 7K linear front springs and 8K linear rear springs. We prefer linear springs so that the car will react the same no matter the corner or bumpiness of the road. This provides a ride that is stiffer than stock but is not harsh or uncomfortable. This is coupled with more neutral handling (less understeer) and a suspension natural frequency that is slightly higher in the rear than the front for added driver feedback and comfort.
Racing Inspired
To further add to the handling benefits, the CS coilovers have 15-way adjustable rebound damping in both the front and the rear. This allows you to tune your ride to exactly how you like it, whether you’re going for comfort or handling. It’s even easy to use one set up at the track and then soften things up for the ride home! The front also comes with adjustable camber plates for fine-tuning camber for handling or fitment.
Long Lasting Quality
Obviously, there’s one big component that we haven’t talked about yet: ride height! The CorkSport Coilovers offer approximately 2 inches of ride height adjustment, with the highest option being roughly 0.5” lower than the OEM suspension. This is enough adjustment to go from an “OEM+” setup to a low setup that will turn heads and everything in between. This isn’t just about looks though as a lowered ride height offers a lower center of gravity, reduced body roll, and improved driver confidence.
Optimized Spring Rates
One final unconventional touch is the inverted monotube design of the front coilovers. Instead of a more conventional and cost-effective design, this uses a 180° rotated damper design. This improves the rigidity and reliability of the strut while also removing a little bit of unsprung weight. You get great driver feedback from this style of design, which is why we specifically chose it!
Adjustability for Street and Track
The CorkSport Coilover kit is a great upgrade for whatever corner you want to throw at your GEN3. Be sure to check out the product listing for more details and images.
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Don’t hesitate to call us with any questions you may have as well, we’re happy to help!
Today is a huge day for the Speed community; one that has been coming for a long time with both celebration and frustration. Never the less time is up and this project is ready for the community as a whole!
We are proud to announce the Performance Exhaust Manifold for the Mazdaspeed 3 & 6! With over 2 years in development, the MPS exhaust manifold has been long waiting, but for good reason. A project of this scale does not happen overnight; many variables have to be considered, evaluated, and verified.
I’m confident you have seen “leaked” images from our 6 Alpha and Beta testers over the recent month, but we can make it official.
CorkSport
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But with so many options currently available what makes the CorkSport option compelling? Why should you care?
Those are great questions and can easily be answered with multiple great reasons. The most obvious is the design: this includes the overall shape and the type of material & manufacturing.
Mazdaspeed Exhaust Manifold
Material & Manufacturing: In our initial investigation and vetting of this project we strongly considered two primary manufacturing methods; Casting and Tubular fabrication (check out the blog here). In a nutshell, we opted for a cast manufacturing method because it reduced the chance of failure modes, reduced the overall size and weight, and gave us more flexibility in design.
Like most exhaust manifolds, we opted to use 304 stainless steel because it is corrosion-resistant, handles heat well, and is a common and cost-effective material.
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Following up is the Design of The Exhaust Manifold
The list of details that went into the design is far too long to list here, but we can cover the major items that define the CS Exhaust Mani. With investment casting, we had a lot more flexibility in design with the bend radius, diameters, and wall thickness of the individual runners. This allowed us to increase the inner diameter of the runners to 1.59 inches, achieve a 0.200-inch wall thickness, and fine-tune the path and bends of each runner to optimize runner length and flow.
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With that flexibility in design, we were able to increase peak flow and improve flow balance per runner. Overall we were able to increase peak flow 45% over the OEM manifold and 33% over the XS Power V3.
Next up in design, and arguably the most exciting and unique aspect, is the modular flange system.
Mazdaspeed Exhaust Manifold
This is unlike any other manifold available for the Mazdaspeed today…you can choose your flange between OEM Stock Flange, Precision V-Band, or T3. Sure all these options are available today from other options, but none are modular. Say you pull the trigger on the OE Stock Flange today, but a year from now you want to upgrade your build to a Precision V-band flange. With any other manifold, you would have to buy another $900+ manifold to get the new flange, but with the CorkSport Exhaust Manifold, you just have to get the new flange elbow for your setup. This is MUCH MUCH cheaper and easier to change!
CorkSport
Speaking of install, compared to the typical performance exhaust manifold the CS design is cake to install. With the modular design, you are not fighting the entire bulk for the manifold and flange at the same time. You can leave you turbocharger unmoved connected to the downpipe and intake system, you just install the flange elbow after the manifold is in and bolted to the engine.
Mazdaspeed Exhaust Manifold
Making life even easier…we opted to develop a pre-fabbed dump tube (screamer pipe) for the Tial 44mm EWG. This is an optional feature for the kit, but one we highly suggest because it’s just so damned easy. Designed for MPS 3 and MPS 6, it fits around most standard downpipes and dumps below the sub-frame right behind the drive axle. Also included with each kit is a SS heat shield that is required for the GEN1 and GEN2 Mazdaspeed 3. You Mazdaspeed 6 guys just get a cool garage ornament.
So how does the CS exhaust manifold stack up on power?
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First up is a fully bolted CST4 MS3 with a 6th port fuel system: Comparing the CS EM to the OEM EM, this drop-in test we found that the turbo was spooling faster, carried more mid and upper range power and held that gain through to redline. Overall it improved power under that curve which is what truly makes a car fast and fun to drive.
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Next up is a fully bolted and built CST6 MS3 with 8th port fuel system: Just like the previous graph, we saw an improvement in spool, mid and upper rpm ranges, and carried it to redline. The difference here is the exhaust manifold we are comparing. This is showing the difference between the CS EM and the XS Power V3.
With that being said, the CorkSport Exhaust Mani has been proven to 685whp on this same car and with the Mazdaspeed CST6 Turbo. We are confident the CS exhaust manifold has far more capacity to support; if we have anything to do with that we will prove it.
Mazdaspeed Exhaust Manifold
Lastly is sound…we’ve been asked a lot about the sound. How will it affect the sound? Will it sound like a Honda now? Will it be louder?
We knew the sound was critical because let’s be honest…we are all car guys/gals and Mazdaspeed has a great unique sound to it. We did not want to lose that so we did our best to hit performance goals without sacrificing the Mazdaspeed grumble.
One of our Beta testers put together a great video comparing the sound of OEM vs CorkSport. The car is a GEN1 MS3 with a built engine, full bolt-ons, CST4 Turbo, and Cobb Exhaust system. Check out this video link for sound!
In our design, we kept a varied length runner design to help maintain the Mazdaspeed grumble. We believe we succeeded in keeping that classic grumble, but also refined the sound a bit. We like to describe it as exotic. Either way, the grumble lives on, and honestly, none of our beta testers can stop grinning ear to ear with every WOT pull.
With that being said act fast! We know these are going to fly off the shelf and we are going to do our damn very best to keep them in stock for everyone, but don’t wait!
Hey Everyone, if you don’t know me already I’m the engineering manager at CorkSport Performance & @Halfmilespeed3. I want to make a formal greeting and invite you to follow along as I take the next huge step with my personal build. I drive a 2009 Mazdaspeed 3 that has been through many iterations. I bought it nearly 6 years ago and have since used it in excess to support CorkSport R&D. Hundreds if not thousands of passes on the dyno with so many parts…it’s been a beaten test mule. The time has come to set a focus.
2007-2009 Mazdaspeed 3 Crashbar
Now, with the 4th engine going in it, I’m setting the build focus for ½ Mile Drag Racing. Power, Aero, and some “Mad Scientist” R&D is going into this build. (see WTF is THAT)
My goals are 700whp on the CST6 stock flange (with Will @ PD Tuning giving it the sauce) and 180mph in the standing ½ mile. I plan to play in the 1320, but half mile is the focus. My first event was going to be Never Lift @ Coalinga Munical Airport in Late March, but with recent events, this was canceled and a new date has not been set. Fingers crossed the country gets through this and the next events hosted by Shift S3ctor Airstrip Attack in June and November hold.
Back to the build…I know that pushing a Mazdaspeed through the air at 180mph is a lofty goal and that physics are against me. With the help and advice of Aaron O’neal @ English Racing I am exploring high-speed aero design.
Gen 1 Mazdaspeed Parts
The primary goal is stability at high speed. I want to be safe in this type of racing so I need to do what I can to make the car stable and predictable at speed. This means I need the car to cut through the air as smoothly as possible, and if possible, generate downforce.
To do this I’ve made a prototype drag wing (which I will share more detail on in a later blog) per the advice of Aaron and my research. This wing is two feet long at the top! And with the closed sides, this should reduce the amount of lift generated at the back of the car.
There is still a lot more work to do here but you get the idea so far.
CorkSport
Upfront I am still very much in the conceptual phase of design. Nearly the whole front bumper will be sealed off with a single sheet of ABS plastic formed to the front of the car. The only opening will be a rectangle about the size of the intercooler for cooling airflow. I also plan to build a chassis mounted splitter. The red parts in the image above are the one-off brackets I designed to mount the splitter to the chassis and still be able to adjust the height (Again I’ll share more detail in future blogs as the prototype comes together).
CorkSport
The other less intuitive aero bit I’m doing on the front of the Speed is hood venting. Thanks to Jonathan Castro @ JC Speedworks for the hood vent I’m able to kill two birds with one stone here. If you’ve done any type of racing you know heat is a killer and must be managed. With this hood vent, I am both evacuating any high-pressure air build up in the engine bay and promoting more efficient airflow through the intercooler and radiator.
With the 300 miles I’ve put on the car, I can already see a huge difference in normal operating temps. Maybe more vents are in the works? 😉 Oh and shout out to @mz_rawr (Aaron Maves) for cutting holes in my hood.
CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Transmission Mount Blog
In the process of getting the engine and transmission together, I wanted to fix a 2nd gear drop out issue I had. Over a weekend @thatonepnwguy (Bryce Peterson) and I split my transmission and replaced the shift forks. We certainly did it the wrong way and had to chase some balls around and get them back into their respective locations; despite all that, don’t be afraid to tear into things and learn the hard way.
How To Achieve 400 WHP In Your Mazdaspeed Blog
The powerplant made it in the car and is running great. Right now I’ve got about 300 miles on the engine. I’ve been working out some little details with heat management and setup of the Vacuum Pump (WTF is THAT). I am just now starting to do logs and tuning with Will Dawson at Purple Drank Tuning. With these goals, I still intend to keep the car street legal and driven on a nearly daily basis (I wish you could see the stares I get from people). I’m putting this out to all of you as an invite to follow along with the build on Instagram @halfmilespeed3. All the inside info and goodies are there for you to see along with @corksport for other stories and build updates. I’m stoked for this season and to explore a racing series that has largely been untouched by the Mazdaspeed community. I will be finding limits and new challenges for the platform that I hope to overcome.
For the last four years, we’ve been asked countless times if the CST4 Mazdaspeed Turbo is a direct replacement for the OEM K04 Turbo. With the number of cars experiencing their 2nd, 3rd or even 4th owner, this question is being asked more frequently. While CorkSport’s intent is to freely share information across the Mazda community, we cannot be everywhere all at once, and we will most likely miss the exact moment the debate explodes on your favorite Facebook page. For that reason…
Today, we’re setting the record straight: The CST4 Turbo for the Mazdaspeed 3 is a drop-in UPGRADE from the ground up, and by no means is it an apples-to-apples comparison with the asthmatic Mazdaspeed K04 turbo.
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How Does It Work?
Before we dive into the dirty details, you might be craving more details on how a turbo works? You are in luck! Check out our white paper on the CST4 and what makes up the anatomy of a turbocharger, bone up on the importance of a “bolt-on” vs a “drop-in” turbocharger, learn the difference between an internal vs external wastegate and finally why the turbine wheel design/materials make a difference. Now let’s get back to what this means for the CST4 and K04.
Is The CST4 Reliable?
The CST4 Mazdaspeed turbo continues to prove itself as one of the best bolt-on options coupled with the needed reliability to withstand the additional demands of chasing 400 WHP – something the KO4 cannot accomplish. This is due to an upgraded center housing rotating assembly (CHRA) which has a larger center shaft and larger bearings than the OEM turbo. The CorkSport turbo also sports a performance journal bearing with a full 360° thrust collar, which is what allows the turbine shaft and compressor to spin freely. The OEM K04 turbo comes standard with a limited 270° thrust collar.
Does The CST4 Have Increased Airflow Over The K04?
Next comes wheels, which is where the CST4 really shines. As shown in the image above, we have the CST4 on the left and the OEM K04 on the right. The CST4 is 12% larger on the compressor inducer, and 21% larger on the exducer than the OEM K04. Combined with the use of a taller wheel (green line), every revolution of the CST4 not only brings in a greater quantity of air into the compressor but has a higher airflow capacity, thus moving a greater volume of air. For those of you that need a few more key specific numbers; The OEM K04 uses a 45mm inducer; 56.25mm exducer cast compressor wheel, while the CST4 uses a 50.5mm inducer and 68.1mm exducer forged billet compressor wheel.
On the turbine side, the OEM K04 turbo uses a 50.1mm inducer and a 44.5mm exducer 12-blade cast wheel. The CST4 turbo uses a 56.2mm inducer and 49mm exducer high-flow 9-blade design. Again, the CST4 outshines the K04 with the turbine inducer being 12% larger and the exducer 10% larger. The 9-blade design has two key benefits: more peak exhaust flow as there is less material in the way of flow, and 21% lighter for a faster spool time.
The final component is the compressor and turbine housings. The K04 turbo uses restrictive housings that cannot keep up at higher RPMs, and especially at higher boost levels. You can feel this as your stock turbo “runs out of steam” up above ~5200 RPM. The CST4 turbo housings may fit exactly in the OEM locations and use the OEM hook up points but that is where the similarities end.
Both the compressor and turbine housings were increased in size, increased in A/R, and optimized for the stock inlet and outlet sizes to provide better top-end capabilities. The compressor ended up at 0.53 A/R, while the turbine ended up at 0.66 A/R. This combo of housing and wheels keeps power all the way to redline, and in initial testing showed a 50WHP gain at the same boost pressure.
How Much Power Does The CST4 Make?
So what does all of this mean in terms of power? We’ve seen the OEM K04 pushed way out of its comfort zone and make in the 350-360WHP range with the right supporting mods. This is far out of the efficiency range of the little K04, and it’s a ticking time bomb when running at this power level. The CST4 turbo, on the other hand, is perfectly happy running in the 400WHP range all day, again, with the right supporting mods. We’ve even seen it pushed to its limit in the 450-460 range.
For those of you more interested in boost pressures, the K04 can hit a max of ~24-25psi in the midrange before it’s out of its efficiency range and starts producing just heat. At redline, the Mazdaspeed K04 is typically at a max of about 17-18psi. What you feel as your car seems to stop accelerating after ~5200RPM on the stock turbo. The CST4 does a lot better, hitting a max of ~29-30psi in the midrange but carries the high pressure into higher RPMs, with peak boost pressure at redline of ~26-27psi. This keeps you pushed into your seat with a smile on your face!
How Quickly Does The CST4 Spool?
We get a lot of questions on how fast this turbo spools, so let’s take a moment to discuss both. The Mazdaspeed OEM K04 spools very quickly since its housings and wheels are so small. If tuned incorrectly it can spool almost instantly and kill blocks with an extremely low-RPM torque spike. The CST4 also spools quickly, making full boost by approximately 3300RPM on most cars. The big difference is that the CST4 carries power out to redline instead of falling off as the K04 does. To be clear, you still have to be careful with the CST4 as it too can kill a stock block with too aggressive of a tune.
Is The CST4 A Drop-In?
So bringing things full circle, the “drop-in” aspect of the CST4 means you can run it with almost no other supporting parts, only a HPFP upgrade, access port, and a tune are required. It also means that it hooks up directly to the OEM inlet and outlet flanges so that there are no excessive modifications required to make the turbo fit your Mazdaspeed. We even include new studs, lock nuts, gaskets, a custom upper coolant line, new coolant and oil crush washers, and the correct oil feed banjo bolt so there is no hassle of finding replacement hardware, gaskets, or lines to make your turbo function. We strongly recommend picking up a CorkSport EBCS to best control the boost on your CST4 Turbo. We have also found that the stock intake size will be maxed out at around 18-19psi on the CST4. To get more power from there, a 3 inch or 3.5-inch intake will be needed.
By no means is the CST4 a K04 since it’s larger and has much higher horsepower capabilities. For those of you more familiar with Garett turbos, the CST4 is just a smidge bigger than a GTX2867.
If you want even more info on what makes the CST4 tick be sure to check out the white paper on the subject HERE. As a final afterthought, remember that the CST4 is getting an EWG housing option in the coming months, for added features (and noise!) that just don’t come with the K04. Stay tuned for that, and be sure to ask any questions you may have.
You may have seen some funny looking parts floating around on the CS channels that did not look like the typical aluminum or steel parts you install on your Mazda or Mazdaspeed.
These plastic parts are made through 3D printing, a method we use often in R&D to really understand the ins and outs of a part. We’ve been getting a lot of questions lately on our 3D printers so I thought I’d run through what they are, how they work, and what we use them for.
3D printing is quite a simple process even though it may not seem so to start. In normal manufacturing, you start with a block of material and cut away portions until you achieve the shape you want. In 3D printing, you add material (usually plastic) layer by layer until the shape you want is achieved.
For a lot of 3D printers, including both of the CorkSport printers, you can visualize a hot glue gun attached to a robot. The robot controls where the “glue” is extruded and once the first layer is complete, the robot simply moves the object downward slightly and another layer begins. The second layer attaches to the first and you slowly gain height and shape until your part is completed.
This method is uses plastic “filament” as the material fed into the machine. Think of a spool of wire but instead of being made of copper, it’s made out of a recyclable plastic. This material is fed into the machine where it is melted and extruded like the glue in the above analogy. Other 3D printers use liquid resin that is solidified layer by layer or a powder material that gets bonded together layer by layer. The image below shows an almost empty vs brand new filament spool for our large 3D printer. To give you some scale, that is a 4 inch inlet air filter next to them– 10kg is a lot of filament!
We have two printers at CorkSport, a large Gigabot, and a small MakerBot 2X. The Gigabot can print anything that will fit in a 2-foot cube which is more than enough space for the majority of CorkSport parts. The MakerBot is much smaller, only about 9.5” by 6” by 6”. We typically use the Gigabit for most of the R&D testing and the MakerBot for making cool stuff for you all! However, the MakerBot uses a different plastic material that is stronger and more resistant to heat, allowing the parts to be tested on a running Mazda (albeit for a short time).
Barett and I use our 3D printers as tools to aid in R&D. We can take apart directly from a design in SolidWorks to a physical object extremely easily. Once we are happy with a design, it gets saved as a “mesh” made up of hundreds or thousands of tiny triangles. This is imported into a “slicer” program that does just as its name says: slices the part into layers. The part information as well as the settings for the print is exported to an SD card, which we use to upload the information to the printer.
Once we hit “print” all we have to do is wait. Smaller parts like brackets and fittings can be printed in an hour or two while large parts like manifolds or intercooler piping can take multiple days. 3D printers enable us to start a print on a Friday afternoon and leave it like this:
When we show up on Monday, the print is complete, ready for a test fit, and looking like this (Mazdaspeed 6 FMIC Piping):
I can’t express enough how much easier it is to have a physical part to test fit than to try to measure in all of the awkward angles and spaces that exist in a Mazdaspeed engine bay and hope your design will fit.
Having the capability to make a quick and inexpensive prototype to throw on a car can save countless hours and headaches down the road. This is why we use 3D printers so extensively: it makes producing great parts for you all so much easier. Some of our manufacturers even use our 3D prints to help understand the part, help with quoting, and even use them for mold/jig making. At CorkSport, our 3D printers are used almost as much as our 10mm sockets!
I’ve just scratched the surface on 3D printers, their uses, and capabilities so, if you have any questions post it down below!
-Daniel
3D Printing at CorkSport September 13th, 2018CorkSport
