Having a Mazda 3 with a 6 speed is amazing. Having a Mazda 3 with an amazing 6 speed is AMAZING-er?? Whatever you want to call it, with the new CorkSport short shift plate, your Mazda 3 will shift with much shorter throws and with more precision that it ever did when it rolled off the factory floor.
Reduce the throw of your shifter and improve precision and performance with the CorkSport Mazda 3 Short Shift Plate. Providing a 33% throw reduction, the CorkSport Mazda 3 Short Shift Plate is designed for spirited driving and will reduce throw while keeping the height of the OEM shifter unchanged. The installation takes a mere 20-30 minutes with some simple hand tools and will provide a serious improvement to the quality of your shifting experience.
The CorkSport Advantage:
Made from CNC Machined Steel Plate with powder coated finish for a long lasting durability
Adjustable: Reduce the throw by 33% to customize your shifting experience
Self Locking Nuts: Pre-applied locking patch nuts included with shifter plate
CorkSport Support and Service: Receive a full 2 year warranty, all of the needed installation hardware, and knowledgeable telephone support. Takes 20-30 minutes to install
Adding power to your Mazdaspeed 3 and Mazdaspeed can be amazing and very rewarding. One of the most important decisions you can make when tuning these cars is which fuel pump to use. Since we have never seen a proper comparison of the currently available models we decided to test them for the Mazda community. In this multi-part series, we will talk about the basics, the differences and the advantages with all of the available options.
Most aftermarket fuel pump upgrades consist of changing the internal parts of the factory pump with an enlarged piston and sleeve. By enlarging the piston, you increase the volume of the pump; thus creating more flow and the ability to maintain pressure at higher power levels.
When you first start taking the fuel pump apart, the first thing you are met with is the sight of a strange black deposit in the cap of the pump. Shown above are the deposits common to most caps. The bottom is a machined surface that should be clear of debris. In order for us to more clearly understand the situation we sent the cap out to undergo chemical analysis.
The spectrum analysis shows that the buildup is made of motor oil and defoaming agents that are added to motor oil. The oil in the cap is from the camshaft case that drives the pump, a slight amount leaks by the seal and into the pump. When installing new internals it would be a very good time to clean that area as best as you can and possibly replace the O-ring that seals the area inside the cap.
Once we understood what the substance was we then set out to see the options available. We purchased a CP-E pump (APR), Autotech internals and KMD internals to compare and test. Next time we will be measuring all the internals and comparing expected increases while determining what the real differences were. If you already have a pump, are thinking about getting one or are still scared, you’re going to want to see the next blog in this series.
Cheers,
Joel
Fuel Pump Comparison Part 1 February 28th, 2018CorkSport
So after a long 5 month break it is time to get the CorkSport Mazda 2 and the driver prepped for track abuse again for the 2013 season.
For the Mazda 2 it is pretty easy to take care of being it is a relatively stock car still. Going over the car to check out the bushings, tire rod ends, and the whole chassis to make sure nothing is in need of replacement turned up zero items this year. There are only a few non stock components which we gave an extra once over to make sure they are up to spec as well. The brakes got a really close inspection being that take a huge amount of abuse on the track. The stock rotors and CorkSport pads are still in good shape so only a brake bleed was on the menu for work. With the car getting a clean bill of health it is time to move on to other things.
The next item on the list is to get the Mazda 2 through its annual tech inspection with the SCCA. The inspection covers the safety gear of the car and the driver to make sure nothing has expired in the off season. With our car being built last year the seat, harnesses, and other safety gear in the car passed the inspection with flying colors. They also check the drivers helmet, HANS (head and neck) device and drivers suit to make sure they are suitable.
During the off season our Mazda 2 has been a test mule for several parts which resulted in the suspension being removed from the car and re-installed several times. This has left the suspension out of spec for road racing which required a re-alignment. Thanks to a lifetime alignment at the local Firestone we had everything dialed back it to what we wanted with the -1.5 degrees of front camber and correct toe settings.
One last thing which we needed to do was go over the rule book to make sure there were no surprises for the new year which I did not find.
In the title I mentioned prepping the driver for the new year. Racing is a demanding sport and there wasn’t a trip out on the track where I didn’t come into the pits sweating. Being in good shape requires some out of the car effort which I put in over the off season. Starting in November at roughly 185 lbs I started training daily with cardio to do two things. First was to get my heart into great shape and second was to assist in weight loss. Over the past 3 months I have dropped to a low weight of 158lbs and lowered my body fat to roughly 12.5%. With the cardio work along with other training and change of diet I am in the best shape I have ever been in my life to attack the next season of racing.
We will see how the prep for the car and the driver pays off during the next season of racing. We will be posting updates as the season progresses.
-Derrick
CorkSport Prepares for Battle… Again March 21st, 2013CorkSport
Recently I have been getting questions about bolts and how important they are and why we use the parts we do. Here at CorkSport, the little things matter, we engineer every part to outperform not only the manufacturers specifications but also our customers expectations. When something important like a motor mount or an intake is designed at CorkSport we take great care to think about the little things such as: can we make our MAF housings one piece so there can be no sealing issues or possible failures? Can we use bolts that are as strong or stronger than the factory in every application? These are some of the many things that makes us different. Thinking of the little details can really mean the difference between the success or failure of a part. With that in mind, I wanted to just take a quick minute to discuss bolts.
Most bolts are classified by two very easy systems: Grade and Class.
Grade is for Standard (SAE) size bolts and the more common types are grades 2, 5 and 8. The higher the grade, the more that has been done to increase its strength such as quenching and tempering. Graded bolts will typically have radial lines on the face of the bolt to show the grade. No markings mean grade 2, 3 radial lines means grade 5 and 6 radial lines means a grade 8
Class is for metric and like many things metric… they’ve made it easy. The most common classes are 8.8 and 10.9. The class of the bolt is right on the face of it. So an 8.8 class bolt will have 8.8 on the face and a 10.9 will have the same.
Because these numbers can be similar it can be easy to confuse them. Many are using 8.8 class bolts in the place of grade 8 bolts not knowing that a grade 8 bolt is over 30% stronger than a class 8.8 bolt. Many may call this nit-picking but here at CorkSport we are obsessed with attention to detail and want to make things right the first time and if for some reason we don’t then we dedicate ourselves to figuring out why and use that knowledge in further development in the future. Thank you for letting CorkSport have a place on your car and in your life, we appreciate it and take that responsibility very seriously.
Direct injection engines are nothing new… for diesel lovers. The application of direct injection in gasoline engines in large volume is a much newer feat however. As far back as 1902, manufacturers have tried to inject gasoline directly into the cylinder, companies such as: Mercedes, Ford, AMC and many others all tried to perfect the technology. Ironically, the first company to roll out gasoline direct injection cars en mass was Mitsubishi. The long story short version is now most manufacturers offer a direct injection engine or many. The technology is extremely versatile in adding power, improving gas mileage, fine tuning and in many other areas. Who Cares?
So with all the hoopla surrounding direct injection technology why isn’t it in every car? Well, there are a few reasons.
1. Technology is expensive, DI engines require new heads, cams, and many more additional pieces of equipment.
2. The process is proven but un-proven.
3. Change, many auto companies can be slow to adopt newer technology.
With DI engines being the future, why are we talking about them? Well, there are certain problems that many are seeing as a direct result of this technology. The main issue revolves around the intake and the intake valves. In traditional engines, fuel is sprayed outside the combustion chamber into the intake manifold and passes the valves on the way to the chamber. The detergents in modern gasoline help clean the intake tract and the valves and can help prevent deposits left from debris or from the EGR system. With direct injection technology, the injector is directly in the combustion chamber and the gas does nothing but get instantly atomized and ignited. As such, we are seeing common failures in DI engines, there are two key steps you can take to prevent these build ups and increase the power and longevity of your engine.
The first is quality oil. With any modern engine, we recommend a synthetic oil. The benefits far outweigh the costs and in many cases you can actually save money in the long run with longer oil change intervals and fewer mechanical issues as a result of the better protection. Why Oil Matters
All synthetic oils are not created equal. Here in America we are at a disadvantage as to knowing what oils are synthetic and which are not. Due to a loophole in regulations and advertising, companies in America can advertise their group 3 oils (which start life as gasoline and are turned to liquid via hydrocracking) as fully synthetic. Many of these oils such as Royal Purple, Castrol Syntec, Mobil 1 cannot be called synthetic in other parts of the world where these things are taken much more seriously. As such, we recommend group 4 and group 5 oils exclusively. Many oils like Redline, ELF (Total), Amsoil, Torco, and Castrol formulations from Europe are all good examples of this. These oils are so important that every Volkswagen company (VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, etc.) REQUIRE their dealerships to use them exclusively. So when in doubt, you can always have your oil changed at one of those dealerships to make sure you are getting the best quality oil.
What You Can Do
The second way you can care for your direct injected engine is to use an oil catch can. Modern engines have to use EGR systems. EGR stands for exhaust gas recirculation. The basic purpose of EGR is to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions and it works by recirculating a portion of the engines exhaust gas back into the intake to be “burned” again. The unfortunate byproduct of this set up is that many of the things in your exhaust you do not want going in your engine. Unburned gas vapor, burned oil vapor, water contaminated with other different chemical compounds are just a few of the terrible things EGR can introduce back into your engine.
With the installation of an oil catch can, you can capture many of those contaminates and dispose of them before they ever get to the engine you’ve spent so much money on. The gains are easy to see every time you empty it.
So there you have it; to keep your DISI Mazda running strong and trouble free, follow those simple tips and you’ll have a long and happy life together.
The Dangers of Direct Injection February 21st, 2018CorkSport
