Tag: MazdaSpeed 3

Posted on

Travis Goes Racing

After over-sleeping for the second event I decided to make a run to Packwood, WA for event #3. Chris had out of town plans so I convinced a friend/local Mazda geek to come with me the night before. Thanks Kyle. The drive was relaxing at about 2 hours and I could scarcely have gotten lost if I tried, take I-5 north to Highway 12 East and continue on to Packwood. I forget the name of the place we ate breakfast at (1 of 2 places in town I believe) but the portions where huge nap inducing offerings and the view was magnificent.

Weather was perfect on that Sunday and the course size was significantly larger than PIR events allow for. Indoor parking was a huge plus but the birds coming through caused me some concern. Sure enough a bird marked the top of my car during its wait for what I hoped would not be a laughable assault on innocent cones. Kyle and I walked the course several times but there was no map available so I kept a good eye out trying to keep the course in my head. Also, I got a ride-a-long in an FC with a V8 swap during the morning session to help get a feel for things, fun!

The 3 is equipped with MS coil-overs set on full dampening and rebound in front with full dampening and 2 clicks short of full rebound in the rear. I set tire pressure, marked the side walls, applied numbers and class magnets, loaded my lower boost MAP into the ECU then proceeded to my work assignment. After working first group my farmers tan was complete and it was time to run. I used an instructor, the same guy that set the course, to help me get through the problem areas I was fighting with. Smooth runs, looking ahead and course knowledge paid off……….. after the first three “official” runs, which sucked as I managed a 55 second run to demolish my previous 1 minute plus runs while coming out of 2nd gear twice. The car comes out of 2nd gear in the same areas on every run I made, which is the same thing that happened at PIR during the first event. I am looking at competition style engine mounts for the weekends to see if they will help. Most of the guys out there use R compound or competition tires and wheels, me, I am sticking with the street tires. After comparing my last lap time to others I found the MS3 to be more than capable of competing in this venue despite my lack of traction and experience. At the end of the day I was glad I came out and I am anxiously looking forward to the next Packwood event. I’ll be working on a little more throttle control and left foot braking in the mean time.

Somewhat surprising to me is the number of families that come out to these events, some times as support for a driver yet often enough couples or parents and kids (18+) are driving the car. Two drivers per car is a regular thing.

– Travis

Posted on

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

Posted on

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

Posted on

May-June Event Wrap Up

I’ve attended quite a few events over the last two months, everything from a pre-release Mazda 2 measuring session in LA to the All Mazda Meet in Newburgh, NY. Take a look at where else we have been:

May 12th, MazdasNW

There was a really big turnout at the May monthly meet at NorthGate mall in Seattle. There was a huge range of vehicles, RX-7s, B series trucks, Mazda 3s, Mazda 6s, MX-6, etc. This meet was surprising simply in the quantity of people and cars. There were several notable vehicles at the meet. A really nice FD RX-7 showed up at the event, which was all built by the owner. The whole car was well thought out and looked amazing. There was a really nice B Series truck with quite a long list of modifications as well, which I liked.


The whole range of Mazdas


Really nice FD RX-7

May 19th, Mazda 2 Measuring Session.

For the first time ever Mazda put up a vehicle and let companies get a chance to look at a new model before it is released through what they call a SEMA measuring session. This gives companies like CorkSport a chance to get measurements and start getting parts built and ready to sell as soon as the car is available. We flew down to Irvine, CA to spend the day collecting information to make new parts. Mazda provided two cars to look at and get information from.

While we were in Irvine we stopped by Tuttle Click Mazda, a Mazda dealership that offers our CorkSport brand products. If you’re in the greater Irvine, CA area stop by and check them out!


Tuttle Click Mazda

Their parts department showroom was in the middle of a remodel for better product displays while we were visiting so we couldn’t check out their awesome CorkSport display. If you are in So Cal and want to pick up CorkSport products locally give George a call at 949 421 3200. He is the parts manager for Tuttle Click Mazda. They had a good selection of Mazdas on the lot including a Red 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 with powder coated wheels and no front plate.


New and black powder coated wheels and no front plate

June 9th, MazdasNW

The June MazdasNW monthly meet had a smaller turnout than usual due to the Junuary weather the NW was experiencing. Despite the threat of rain we trekked to Federal Way, WA to attend the meet. One lucky customer was able to have their CorkSport Mazdaspeed6 cat-back exhaust delivered, saving him quite a bit in shipping costs.


Ecstatic new owner of a CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 Exhaust

We also got a chance to do investigative work into the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 as to why the factory keyless entry system was not working on our Project Mazdaspeed3. More details on that adventure can be seen in my blog post about it.


Troubleshooting the elusive keyless entry problem

June 5th, OCC All Mazda Meet

One June 4th at 9:30pm Chris and I hopped on a plane headed to for Newark, NJ to attend the OCC Mazda Meet. The plane landed at 5:30am local time (Sleep?? What’s that?) and we jumped in our rental and headed north to Newburgh, NY. Heading up the freeway we got passed by a train of Mazdaspeed3s on their way to the meet.


A train of Mazdaspeed 3s

The event didn’t officially start until 10am but people started showing up early. When we arrived at 7:30 people were already getting cars parked in the lot. Due to an unexpected surprise our parts we had shipped to the event via UPS did not arrive so we were limited on the parts we had crammed in our carry-on bags to show at the event. This was one of the bigger all Mazda non-rotary specific events which I have attended. The RSVP list had 532 people signed up and 273 vehicles. Here’s a few pictures from the event, there were lots of cool cars there.


Really nice and rare yellow MP3 Protege


Rotaries including a really clean RX-3


Chris milking a giant NY cow

June 19th, MazdasNW Summer BBQ

MazdasNW hosted their annual summertime BBQ in Carnation, WA at Tolt McDonald Park. MazdasNW provided the food, drink, and cooking (thanks!) for the BBQ. The weather was unusually kind to us and there was no rain all day.

In true MazdasNW style, a parts installation immediately took place. A CorkSport SRI was installed at the event on a Mazdaspeed 6.


Installing the CorkSport SRI


Installation complete

Well, that’s it for events for the last two months. We have plenty more events lined up for the next 3 months, so stay tuned here for all the updates!

– Derrick

Posted on

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting problems in a car can be a daunting task for some people. I got a reminder of how interesting it can be to chase down a problem and find a solution. The situation came up recently where our project 2010 MazdaSpeed 3 had a problem with the keyless entry system. The remotes would not operate the door locks and you could not start the car normally with the push button start. You would have to hold the remote close to the start button or use the key from the remote to activate the system so the start button would work. The outside push button door locks would not work either. The whole car acted like the security system had been activated as the stereo would not work as well.

The first step I took was to check out the owner’s manual. If there is a manual or users guide to the part you have installed, or a service book for your car this can be very helpful for finding the place to start your investigation. The MazdaSpeed 3 was flashing the red light above where the key goes when the clutch was engaged. When depressing the clutch pedal in the MazdaSpeed 3 the system checks to see if a remote is in close proximity and allows the car to turn on which prompted the red light. After going through the alarm section and keyless entry areas the solution for the problem I had the only solution was to take it to the dealer according to the owner’s manual.

Not being a big fan of hauling the car to the dealer. I did a quick check through the fuses related to the keyless entry system to see if something had blown out causing the problem. I could not find a blown fuse in the system for the security system, stereo, or Bose equipment. The MazdaSpeed 3 had been jump started a week prior so my next thought was maybe the logic units for the alarm got knocked out of whack. So I disconnected the negative battery cable from the car and hit the brake likes to drain the power from the system. After a minute I got everything connected back up and gave it another try. Still nothing responded the way it should.

It was getting later into the evening at this point so I was going to give the owners manual one more shot to see if there was something I had missed. I reached up and hit the map light which I found was not working. I hit the interior manual light switch and nothing there either. When the lights did turn on it set off a memory of an experience I had in the past in my 2001 MP3. Sometimes the interior circuits like the lights are connected into other interior systems since the lights are always live. This was the case with the MP3 where the factory stereo was not working but the fuse was good. The power feed for the memory was tied into the interior lights which had blown a fuse causing the stereo to not power up. I found the section with the fuses in the MazdaSpeed 3 owner’s manual which pointed me to the fuse box in the engine bay. Sure enough the 15 amp fuse for the interior lights was blown. I popped in a new fuse and hopped back in the car. I hit the start switch and car fired up like it should with the stereo working.

One person’s theory:

“The actual cause of the fuse being blown was one of our product engineers was checking out the visor light bulbs to see if there was a part we could supply which would work in that location. The fuse for the lights was tripped during the work which was not noticed since the car was not running and it was daytime. It wasn’t until the next day when a different person tried to move the vehicle that we noticed the problem.”

Another person’s (a person implicated in the above theory) theory:

“It was related to the dead battery and jumping the car.”

No matter what caused it, in the end the problem was pretty small and it took about 30 minutes to figure out. Remember if something electrical isn’t working, check those fuses.

–Derrick