Have a Front Mount Intercooler and wondering how you can get even more out of it? CorkSport has the answer for you with the new Front Mount Intercooler Radiator Shroud for the CorkSport 2007-2009 Mazdaspeed 3.
Adding the radiator shroud will channel the air coming through the lower grille to cool your radiator more effectively. This will give you lower BAT’s and more efficient ECT’s on your ride by replacing the stock TMIC diverter with a more optimal FMIC diverter to complement your front mount intercooler set-up.
Made from durable FRP, this product will be a long lasting replacement for the OEM plastic TMIC diverter that can crack over time and can be easily painted to customize the look of your engine bay.
It has been designed to work with any Front Mount Intercooler kit on the market as well as the stock and aftermarket radiators.
Evan McIntyre used to stop by and visit us regularly at CorkSport (he lived just down the road at the time) and keep us company in the showroom while getting some mods added to his car. He has since moved to Honolulu, HI to pursue Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
We miss his company here at CorkSport but don’t blame him for trading the dreary rain of the northwest for sunshine and paradise.
It was great to watch Evan build out his Mazdaspeed 3. Shortly after he got his license, he found himself always glancing back and Mazda 3’s and knew he wanted to upgrade from his hand-me-down 1994 Accord.
New to driving, he didn’t know how to drive a manual so never considered a Mazdaspeed 3, but his brother kept telling him the speed was the way to go and the thought of a 400 Mazdaspeed 3 is a strong incentive to learn, so he picked up driving a manual and got his 2007 Mazdaspeed 3.
He had always been interested in cars because of his older brothers. He used to enjoy sitting around and watching them work on various cars with their friends until late into the night. He would always ask how he could help and how things worked, but his Mazdaspeed 3 was his first real experience modifying his own vehicle.
The next obvious modifications to add were handling modifications. He added CorkSport Lowering Springs to give his speed a more aggressive look and improved driver feel and rear motor mounts for improved shifting to help counter all the newly added power.
With improved handling and power came the need for improved braking so Evan added stainless brake lines. He also smartly added some protection for the undercarriage of his vehicle now that it was lowered by adding a skid tray.
A lot of people are happy to stop at this point, but Evan wanted more, so he took his build to the next level and added an aftermarket crankshaft pulley, a Front Mount Intercooler Kit to replace his Top Mount Intercooler, EBD GD Series Brake Rotors, Red Stuff Ceramic Brake Pads, and TWM Performance Full Replacement Short Shifter.
Watching Evans’s car come together the way it has and the smart decisions he has made along the way to balance his power, handling, braking, and styling is exactly what we like to see when we watch a build occur. He has put a lot of money into his build but has done it gradually over time and thoughtfully.
And as Evan put it, “I love how no matter what is going on in my life, I can always get in my car and go for a drive, day or night, and during that drive nothing else matters but the road that lies ahead.”
Cudos on a great build Evan and we look forward to your visit over the Christmas holiday.
You might be asking yourself right about now, “There are a lot of motor mounts on the market, what makes yours so different?”
Excellent question!
Improved Rear Motor Mount
Let’s start with the Mazdaspeed 3/Mazda 3 Rear Motor Mount. Designed as a direct replacement of the OEM motor mount, the CorkSport Rear Motor Mount provides improved handling and shifting by replacing your factory mount and rubber bushings with an upgraded mount and urethane thrust surface for added stiffness and improved driver responsiveness.
We designed the urethane thrust surface to be larger than other products on the market. We found this provides the added stiffness you desire while maintaining the comfortable ride you want and reducing the effect of NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) in your cabin.
Mazda 3 & Mazdaspeed 3 Rear Motor Mount
What’s more our CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3/Mazda 3 Rear Motor Mount is a 2 for 1! We have designed the part to allow customers to easily swap between our 70 and 80 durometer urethane for an easy transition between daily driving and track days!
Now, onto the Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount. This part has been designed as a single piece that again maintains your OEM fitment, but replaces the factory bushings with large urethane thrust surfaces for improved handling and shifting while maintaining ride quality.
Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount
Best Quality Mazdaspeed 6 RMM
This high-quality, great-looking part is black anodized with the zinc coated sleeves for a long-lasting, durable finish. Available in 70 durometer urethane, the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Motor Mount has also been designed with a larger thrust surface for better handling without all the NVH associated with other stiffer and smaller urethane surfaces on the market.
Since the release of our Oil Catch Can we have had a lot of questions about how our set-up functions. Most understand the basics of what the OCC does, but want to know more about how our OCC does it.
The Basics
For the last 20 or so years, all cars have had some sort of PCV system installed to re-burn unwanted vapors from your crankcase instead of venting them to the outside world. This system is based on a vacuum. When the engine is running, the pistons are happily moving up and down. There is a small amount of compression that is lost into the crankcase passing by the rings. This excess air will cause pressure in the crankcase to slow down the pistons from going up and down and build up oil vapors that create frothing of the oil. There are also small amounts of condensation that get trapped in the crankcase and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know water and oil don’t mix.
An oil catch can is designed to “catch” unwanted vapors that are in your crankcase and PCV system and prevent these contaminants from entering your motor. With no catch can install, you have the potential to get build-up in the intake manifold causing dirty valves and poor compression.
How the Mazdaspeed 3 PCV System Works
A Mazdaspeed 3 has two PCV lines. One goes from the cam cover to the intake and one goes from the crankcase to the intake manifold. Why the two locations you ask? Well, they go to the closest vacuum source, but in a turbo car, you will not have a vacuum when you are in boost so a check valve closes and stops the crankcase from being pressurized and boost being lost.
Improving the Design of the CorkSport OCC
Most Oil Catch Cans include a PCV valve in the set-up for turbo vehicles, as ours did until just recently. So why does CorkSport no longer have a Check Valve on our Oil Catch Can setup? This is a great question.
We noticed that by adding the PCV check valve to the oil catch can, the OCC worked less effectively because when the check valve closes (the car is under boost) the catch can is no longer able to do the same job of “catching” the vapors. When your car is under boost is the time the catch can is working the hardest to prevent those contaminants from entering your engine. Instead, it is just sitting there waiting for the PCV valve to open back up.
We decided to cap the intake manifold and pull the vacuum through the intake so both cam and crankcase vapors are trapped in the OCC leaving your motor the cleanest it can be. Now, the CorkSport Catch Can will be working to eliminate those vapors all of the time without the restriction of a PCV valve to prevent it from being able to remove contaminates while your car is under boost.
So why not cap the intake and the intake manifold and have it vent to atmosphere?
There are several reasons this is a bad idea and being friendly to mother nature is only one of them. Yes, you might sleep at night better knowing you are not hurting the environment but this is not the only reason to plumb the catch can back into the intake.
1. The intake vacuum helps draw vapors out of the motor by creating a low-pressure system to force the vapors out. Without the vacuum, the vapors can only be forced out by the pressure in the crankcase. This is unreliable and inefficient. Think of how much easier it is to get air into the motor under pressure (ie turbo). It only makes sense that the opposite would be true about getting it out and it would be much easier to achieve under vacuum.
2. Metered air passes through the MAF sensor before entering the engine, then a small amount is passed by the rings and enters back into the intake or intake manifold. If you do not route the PCV back into the intake manifold then that calculated air is “poof” let out into space causing your fuel trims to be off.
If you think you can tune around this you are correct, sort of. As the rings degrade you will have a small amount of additional air passing by the rings. Time to re-tune. The rings degrade some more, then time to re-tune again. I think you get the picture. Eventually, you forget to keep up on this and your fueling is off enough to cause a check engine light or worse. Zoom-Zoom-Boom!
This is the nature of a MAF-sensored car. There is a good reason that Mazda has everything hooked back up to the intake. Your car will be happier, in the long run, doing this.
Want your Mazda to handle like a track car? Add the new CorkSport Mazda 3/Mazdaspeed 3 Rear End Links to your suspension set-up to get the most from your rear sway bar. By dialing in your turn-in speed and stability you are able to make your end links a tunable component of your ride!
The CorkSport Rear End Links are a rock solid, precision designed piece developed to eliminate binding and preload on your sway bar and provide you with the highest level of adjustability.
We went with sealed 31 degree ball joints to keep wear and tear at a minimum for this essential part of your suspension tuning and used Depositioned Black Steel for a long lasting finish and durability.
With +/-10mm of adjustability, you can vary the lengths on either side of the vehicle to stabilize your car or allow for a particular handling set up for performance purposes. The bar can be pre-tensioned if you drive a track where there are more turns in one direction or you can lengthen the end links to help the bar from rubbing when moving to different adjustment settings that are closer to the twist position on your aftermarket sway bar.
Check out our product listing for additional details or to purchase today!
Product Release! CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3/Mazda 3 Rear End Links December 17th, 2018CorkSport
