In case you haven’t heard, Mazda officially announced on November 15th that they are bringing the turbocharged 2.5L CX-9 engine to the Mazda 6.
Now, this announcement did not come with a huge amount of information, but it got everyone here at CorkSport all sorts of stirred up. This fantastic news comes coupled with a new facelift, better quality interior, and a few extra options. Check out the teaser shot down below, in my opinion the CX-5 grill looks great on the 6.
While we do not know if this new turbocharged Mazda 6 will carry the Mazdaspeed badge, we do know it will sure feel like a Mazdaspeed.
The SkyActiv-G 2.5T produces 250hp and 310lb-ft while on premium fuel. That power and torque are more than enough to move around the big CX-9 so it will definitely be interesting in the Mazda 6 that weighs almost 1000lbs less. Two more factors remain for the new 6 to truly be a Mazdaspeed6: manual transmission and AWD.
Since the CX-9 and Mazda6 are based on the same platform and have similar chassis, carrying over the AWD system with the engine is a distinct possibility. Plus, Mazda already offers the 6 in AWD in the European and Japanese Markets. The big question remaining then is the manual transmission. While the manual mode on the CX-9 automatic is nice, it is just not the same as a full-bore manual gearbox. It’s not looking too good as the CX-9 only comes in auto and the teaser images just show an automatic but hopefully Mazda can surprise us with a manual transmission.
Since this 2.5T has been in the CX-9 for a few years now we at CorkSport have had a few opportunities to check out the engine, see how it’s packaged, and look for potential performance gains.
What follows are simply observations that we have made, don’t get too excited (yet):
The turbo inlet pipe gets quite small on its route from the airbox to the turbo. Enlarging this would definitely help the turbo breathe better.
The exhaust is fairly restrictive at about 2 3/8”.
There is a good amount of space where the turbo lives for a high-flow downpipe and even turbo upgrades.
Additionally, this engine was designed to fit in the same compartment as the naturally aspirated 2.5L so we may even get some Mazda 3 love down the road if the SkyActiv-X doesn’t steal every engine bay.
This new Mazda 6 may be coming sooner than you expect.
All Mazda models have gotten a 2018 model year, except the Mazda 6 which is currently at 2017.5 and the Miata that’s stuck all the way back in 2017. Hopefully this means the 2018 model year Mazda 6 has the turbo option. Maybe Mazda is even planning a 2018 Miata update but only time will tell.
Look for more info on the new “Mazdaspeed” 6 during its full unveiling at the L.A. Auto Show on November 29th. We’re just as excited as all of you and to be honest, if a manual option gets announced, one will likely find its way into the garage. Stay tuned to the CorkSport Blog, Instagram, and Facebook to make sure you don’t miss anything!
New “Mazdaspeed” Finally Coming Down the Pipeline February 21st, 2018CorkSport
We wanted to take some time to give you all a quick update on one of the many projects we have brewing up here at CorkSport Headquarters.
The project I’m referencing, in general, is our 2nd turbocharger upgrade for the Mazdaspeed 3, Mazdaspeed 6, and CX-7. This unit is a substantial upgrade over our current 18G turbocharger. This Turbo will cater to those looking to take their performance and power goals to a higher level.
Not only will it be capable of putting you well into the 465whp range but this CorkSport Turbo upgrade will be able to do it without giving up on reliability and throttle response.
It will be very beneficial to those who have mildly-built blocks and a supporting fuel system that will allow them to get higher in the HP range.
So, let’s talk about some of the features you can expect on the upgrade and why we decided to utilize them.
Let’s start at the heart of the Turbocharger.
The new CorkSport Mazdaspeed turbo will take full use of a GTX3076R center housing and rotating assembly (CHRA). The unit is equipped with a fully sealed ball-bearing cartridge, which is a nice upgrade when compared to a standard journal-bearing unit. We chose to go with a ball-bearing unit for a few reasons.
The enclosed design of a ball bearing system allows us to eliminate the need for a thrust bearing, which can account for about 40% of the bearing system drag on the turbo rotor assembly.
Ball bearings reduce the viscous drag, which allows a ball-bearing unit the ability to spool up about 15% faster than its journal-bearing equivalent.
The next thing you will notice on the new Mazdaspeed Turbocharger upgrade is the holes that are drilled into the compressor cover. These little holes are known as anti-surge ports and are intended to expand the turbochargers compressor map. The ports function to move the surge line further left on the compressor map which gives the Mazdaspeed turbo some more headroom before it falls out of its efficiency island. Anti-surge ports are becoming increasingly popular in modern performance turbochargers and with great reason. They offer some unique benefits as mentioned and will be fully integrated into our unit.
Last but not least, as with our CorkSport Turbo, this bigger Mazdaspeed Turbo will once-again be a true drop-in unit; minus the 4” compressor inlet.
There will be no cutting, modifying, sourcing oil and coolant lines, running to the store to buy couplers, etc. This unit will come with everything you need to have a trouble-free install. As with the current CorkSport 18G turbocharger, the new Garrett-based design will come with all studs, gaskets, washers, and knowledge that you need to have a nice weekend install.
So keep your eyes peeled as we get closer to delivering more performance for the Mazda community!
– The CorkSport Team
SOURCES: Miller, Jay K. Turbo: Real World High-Performance Turbocharger Systems. CarTech, 2008.
CorkSport BIG Turbo for the Mazdaspeed & CX-7 April 17th, 2023CorkSport
I have been thinking about how much my Mazdaspeed3 has gone through in the past couple weeks; I figured I would allow all of my CS crew to enjoy the look back on my journey with me!
I have always had a love for cars, due to my dad always owning some sort of sporty car throughout my childhood. My love of cars started because my dad would let me control the steering wheel in our BMW 318i while cruising on the freeway. That continued as I got older, and as my dad bought faster cars, and of course as I was allowed to start learning to drive.
My very first boosted car was a 2003 Mini Cooper S.
The Mini Cooper S in that year came standard with a 1.6 liter, inline four cylinders, with a supercharger on roughly ten pounds of boost stock. As soon as I bought the car, I was instantly hooked, and had a need and desire for more power. In the time that I owned the Mini, I was able to do a few modifications to it, including: 15% reduction pulley on the supercharger, cold air intake, upgraded top mount intercooler, and a catback exhaust. Those modifications bumped the boost up to about 15psi. For what the car was, it was pretty quick. I owned the car for about three years, and along the way, the car started to have small issues here and there, and eventually, it was time to part ways with the Mini.
When I went looking for my next car, I test drove a 2005 Subaru WRX. Let’s just say that I didn’t know what was best for me at the time.
I took the WRX home to let the girlfriend see it, and instantly got a “HELL NO!” The interior was too basic, and the mileage was pretty high for the price the dealership was asking. I took the car back the next morning and looked around some more.
All of sudden there she was, my Mazdaspeed.
The car showed up overnight, and as soon as I saw it, I had to drive it. I called the girlfriend, and instantly got a NO NO NO. I told her this car was different, and that I thought she would like this one. Took the Mazdaspeed3 home, grabbed the girlfriend, took her for a test drive and got the approval (I know I sound a little whipped here… but, I knew it was going to be more than just a car, so having her approval meant it would be easier in the future when I asked for more). I signed the paperwork, and took the car home. When I acquired the Mazda, it was pretty much stock. It had a short ram intake, and a downpipe installed, other than that it was mine to build and enjoy.
Fast forward about six months, and I had decide to buy a Cobb AccessPort after reading all of the forums. I did that to make sure I could monitor certain things like knock and fuel pressure. Two essential things to keep an eye on. While I was reading the forums, I noticed that people kept bringing up making sure you had your fuel pump internals upgraded. I had no idea if mine had been done. The only thing I knew was my fuel pressure never dropped below 1600psi under wide open throttle. Bought the internals, and sure enough, I had stock ones in there still. After that happened, the modding bug took full effect. Soon enough, the car was fully bolted running e85 for all of the timings. Tuned by Purple Drank, the car went 12.8 @ 110mph in the 1320. I was impressed with the stock turbo at this point and considered my car to be “fast.” Little did I realize there was much more to be had.
I landed the job at CorkSport, and as you can imagine, the car almost instantly got a turbo upgrade.
I kept running the stock block but decided to no longer run e85, and just run pump and methanol. Using the additional fueling, the car made 400whp and 400wtq. My tuner even warned me that I was dancing with the devil at this point. I cared, but not as much as someone else because I secretly wanted a built engine anyways. Took the car to the track one night, and sure enough, on the last run, the car blew a quarter size hole in piston 3. I knew I had a chance of ring land failure, and it failed hard! I guess that meant it was time for a built engine right?
So it was, I decided to rebuild the engine with forged Manley goodness. I had beat the crap out of my MS3 so why not?
I put the car back together towards the end of 2016, slapped the CorkSport turbo on and started the break in/ tuning process. Once the engine was fully broken in, it was time to turn up the boost. Ryan Martin, at Purple Drank Tuning, was excited to give me more power than I had ever had before. The car was making 25psi of boost at 3500rpm, and on the top end, the car was making right around 420whp. Impressive turbo, considering it’s not the biggest snail, but on a built engine it sure packs a wallop.
As more time went by, the more my coworker Brett kept saying that I needed to be way faster than him if I was going to have a built engine. I should have just ignored him, but I caved into the peer pressure and bought a used Gt3582r!
I should have just stuck with the CorkSport turbo; only a couple months later, this turbo decided to destroy its oil seals and turn my car into a diesel truck.
So what am I currently running you may ask??
The new CS Mazdaspeed CST6 prototype turbo may be a thing of our future, but for now it’s keeping me going. Some of you may have seen its development posted in places on Facebook, for some of you this might be the first time. Check out this beauty though! Still in testing phases, but results are looking good! The current plan is to finish the pump gas tune, and then turn on the meth and see what the turbo will do.
I have owned my Mazdaspeed3 for a little over four years.
When I first bought the Mazda, I thought it was the fastest car ever. Now I look back on those days and think how slow the car actually was. I have put back-breaking hard work into making my car as fast as it is today. It really just goes to show you that hard work and dedication allows you to reach your goals with your car.
For all of the Mazda Enthusiasts out there, it doesn’t matter where you are with your build, just stick with it.
At some point, you will reach the goal you have been working towards (or find that you have new goals once those are reached). I know this because I have done it! If anyone reading this ever has any questions, feel free to contact me at CorkSport! Until next time!
Cheers,
Luke
Luke’s Build: My Mazdaspeed 3 Journey April 10th, 2024CorkSport
He’s pretty well known on Instagram, and across several social media groups. We had a couple requests from customers to do an interview with Larrison aka @blkaut3 and his Mazdaspeed 3!
Luckily, he’s a friend of mine so I was excited to do a little write up on his car. I gave Larrison a questionnaire to answer about the modding process he took with his car.
Hope you guys enjoy the read, and seeing a bit of how this beautiful machine was put together!
Question 1: When did you buy your car?
“It all started in the summer of 2014. I bought it from Carmax, and had to have it shipped from Texas to Las Vegas. I ended up trading in my 2013 Mazda 3 for this. I used to have a slammed Mazda 626, after owning that, I knew I wanted something faster.”
Question 2: What took you down the Mod path you went with and why?
“With the 626, I was limited on how much I could modify, so I was excited to really do some things with this. I started doing minor mods here and there, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted my end result to be until my K04 Turbo blew. From there, I threw in a new turbo and all the supporting mods. I was ready for something more powerful! This is what really started everything.”
Question 3: What made you want to go with a track-inspired look?
“At first I just wanted something simple and clean. But then I saw Brian’s Car (The owner of BMSPEC) When he started producing his V1 wing risers, I knew I needed to jump on it. I put on the wing and splitter, and after that, it was clear this was the path I wanted to go with the car. After a bit, Brian and I established somewhat of a partnership. Promoting his products is what really made my car look like it does today. There is more to come, as I am always working on it.”
Question 4: What do you enjoy most about owning this Mazdaspeed?
“My favorite part would have to be owning something that is one of a kind. Something that has my own personal touches that make it mine. There isn’t another car that’s exactly like it, which is what makes it so fun. Getting to work on something that reflects my personality and style is what it’s all about.”
It was awesome of Larrison to share with us a bit of history on his Mazdaspeed 3. We look forward to seeing his progress continue!
Recently, we’ve been posting a lot of blogs on clubs and connection in the community, and I’m sure you’re wondering what that’s all about. We’re hoping to help people get connected in their local areas and start throwing more meets!
What way to better understand how to get a HUGE group of MAZDA ENTHUSIASTS together than ask a Mazda Meet Organizer?
Keith Eggert has been an influential event planner for a lot of West Coast Mazda clubs. Below, he walks us through how it was for him setting up the first couple Mazda Takeover events. We hope it inspires you to start the process of creating your own!
KEITH:
Let me start off by saying that I am by no means a professional at getting a large gathering of people together, nor am I very organized. However, I love the Mazda community and enjoy connecting with fellow Mazda enthusiasts.
A unique opportunity was laid out before me: Get as many people with Mazdaspeeds together here in my area. (For those of you who don’t know where I’m from, I currently reside in the greater Boise, Idaho area.)
Dale Owen, head honcho of the Mazdaspeed Idaho group on Facebook, who also runs Gem Tuning (yes, he tuned my car), approached me with a yearly meet idea.
He explained how it’d be a huge help if I lent a hand in helping organize our yearly Mazdaspeed group meet, since I live in the epicenter of the majority of the Idaho members. Of course I said “Yes”, and just minutes after I told him yes, I had an idea: “Let’s do it big!”, I said to Dale:
“Let’s make this thing huge, not just a simple one-day hangout, let’s put this party on the map!”
He reluctantly agreed to that, and since that day over two years ago, I took the reins and ran with it. I figured I had to give it a name, but more importantly, I had to figure out what we were going to do for two whole days. It had to be exciting, it had to fill empty time, it had to connect Mazda Groups from all surrounding areas. Most importantly, it needed to be fun. I decided to call it the Mazda Takeover because that’s how I envisioned it; Mazda after Mazda after Mazda, driving down the road to locations in the valley where events were set up. It was a beautiful thing to see.
I invited anyone in the Mazda Community willing to make the drive from as far as Utah to come up. I invested about three months into getting known, talking to people, and helping members with their questions on the Utah Mazda Enthusiasts Facebook group. It paid off. As luck would have it Cody Allington is kind of the go-to guy down in Utah, and with his help he generated interest, and brought up 7 cars with him in the first year, which blew me away given that the planning span of 3 months was all the time I gave him to gather a group willing to drive up.
Friday through Sunday. That was the game plan, come to find out, clearly waaaay too short of a time frame.
Between the Friday evening’s Line the Streets meet, Saturday mornings dyno day, Saturday nights drag racing, and Sunday’s farewell, I think everyone managed to get about 3 hours of sleep each night. That needed to change. We absolutely needed an extra day; that way people wouldn’t feel burned out, and would have time to relax and just talk to people. So, for Year Two, we did just that.
Mazda Takeover’s second year was much more organized, spanning from Thursday night through Sunday.
Three days to dyno, race, and have a scenic cruise. It was perfect, and even had people making the trip in the late evening on Saturday just to make two passes down the drag strip before the lights went out and everyone went home. We now have a perfect amount of days, but there was still quite a bit of downtime that we attempted to fill with a garage day, which was way too stressful given that it was hours before we all left to go drag racing. That won’t be happening in Year Three.
So what did I learn in all of this?
Two successful years, triple the amount of attendance from people outside of Idaho, states I never contacted via Social Media wondering about the event and contacting me directly… I think I have a recipe to keep this thing going.
Here is just a little bit of wisdom should you find yourself wanting to have a huge meet.
First things first: PLAN PLAN PLAN.Do not fill a day with too much. Two events per day spaced out is perfect. Dyno in the morning from 9-2, then have everyone meet for a BBQ from 4-7. However, you wish to fill the day, keep in mind: the key to a successful meet is to utilize the reason you are there. If you get Mazda people together, do Mazda stuff. Go for a cruise, schedule time for how long that drive will take, and any pit stops needed for photo shoots, fuel, etc.
Second. When doing two events during a meet, NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO TWO CAR RELATED EVENTS IN THE SAME DAY. Meaning, don’t schedule a dyno day and an evening of drag racing in the same day. Can you? Sure you can. Should you? Probably not. Cars are like people, too much stress and they break. Don’t need to go breaking any cars; this is supposed to be fun. And if you do, know your groups of attendees. Scheduling an Autocross event and a drag event on the same day is far more acceptable, since autocross drivers are less susceptible to drag racing, and a drag car sure as hell won’t ever see an autocross course.
Third. Keep in mind, you are doing this for a group so that everyone can have fun, yourself included. Call ahead, give businesses a heads up that a group is coming on a certain day, that way it alleviates stress on the business and on you as the administrator. The less stress, the more fun everyone has.
With those three key ingredients, you can build the foundation for a successful meet.
Keep in mind, if you are planning on doing a multi-day meet, the more notice the better. Also, keep in mind that not everyone can make it, even with six months of notice. Life happens fast, and things change quickly.
I think the biggest thing I learned is to not fear failure.
The first year of the Mazda Takeover, THE DAY OF the start of the meet, I had doubt, fear that no one would show, a sinking feeling that three months of phone calls and planning was all for nothing. Push that aside, people will come. Hype up your meet, make it sound like the best weekend people near you with a Mazda could ever have. I did just that for two years worth of events. Last year Corksport sent Luke McCarvel and Barett Strecker to the event. This year I got Luke and Barett, and Brett White got the chance to join them.
Evolutionary Performance out of Salt Lake even shut it’s doors for the weekend to relax and have a good time.
So that just goes to show: If you never settle for OK, and constantly push to have bigger and better meets, performance shops will come to your meet, retailers can come to your meets, tuners can come to your meets, but most importantly, people will have a good time.
Lastly, a shameless plug for the Mazda Takeover 2018. – June 7th-11th in Boise, Idaho.
Dyno, Drag, Karting, BBQ, Scenic Cruise. Whether you drive a Mazdaspeed, Miata, Protege, or just regular Mazda that you’re proud of, you won’t want to miss this year’s event. We hope to see you there. Camping is encouraged!!!
If you’re looking for an excuse to connect with your local Nator Club, Mazdaspeed Group, or Mazda community, Keith has shown you how to stick with it and come up with a great event. However, if you don’t want to plan your own, stay tuned as we’ll be working with clubs all over the US to promote events and meetups throughout 2018.
If you’re a club and you have an event page, email ki*@co*******.com
so we can be sure to get you on the calendar!
Guest Blog – Mazda Takeover Event September 13th, 2018CorkSport
