I have been one of the Product Development Engineers here at CorkSport for roughly nine months. During that time, I have helped complete projects that were already in the works before I was here, completed projects on my own, and have started projects that are still in the development process. One project that I have been working on (other than physical part development) since I started here has been getting some of our parts California Air Resource Board (CARB) approved. After nine long months, I can now check that off my to-do list (at least for a few of our parts).
Our 2010-up Mazdaspeed 3 Short Ram Intake (SRI), 2007-2009 Mazdaspeed 3 SRI, 2006-2007 Mazdaspeed 6 SRI, and our 2007-up CX-7 SRI will now be CARB certified. This is the full intake kit that consists of the filter, MAF housing, silicone couplers, and turbo inlet pipe (TIP) as shown in the picture below. In the next few weeks we will be receiving a legal Executive Order (EO) number assigned to these intake packages. That EO number will be affixed to the intake system which will designate it as CARB approved (50-state legal).
If you already have our intake system for one of these vehicles, DO NOT WORRY! No, we can’t legally send you a sticker to put on your intake, but when you go in to the smog check station, they will look up our intake and verify that you have the same intake system on your vehicle.
The process of getting a performance part CARB certified is lengthy and time consuming, but we feel that making parts that are legal in all 50 states is very important.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
Mazda took the wraps off a surprise in Milan this week and introduced the Shinari concept vehicle.
Ikuo Maeda (Head Design Chief at Mazda) really made a statement with the new concept vehicle showing the direction that Mazda is headed. The bulging fenders from the RX-8 and other newer Mazdas are gone. This is kind of ironic since Ikuo designed the RX-8 and set the fender style in motion at Mazda. To me the long hood design says Jaguar or Aston Martin, sort of a new age low slung E-Type.
E-Type Jaguar
Aston Martin DB9
I personally like the long hood look for the car. It means you have lots of engine room to play with. When I get bored with the Mazda 2 in the year 2030 I can pick up one of these and build a 4 rotor engine to install in it.
The rear of the car reminds me of the FD RX-7 with the small rear lights and the curves. The small lip on the back of the hatch is there is well from the FD, though it is not as pronounced on the RX-7 as it is on the Shinari.
The name Shinari means “resistance to being bent”. I find this pretty funny as the Nagare styling which is on the way out the door was “flow” which does imply bending.
The car is setup as a 4 door i.e. replacement for the Mazda 6. I am happy to see something new come out the door for Mazda which gives a sign of the direction Mazda is going since Nagare was pronounced dead with the 2011 Mazda 5.
If the Shinari was released as is now I would totally rock one. What do you guys think?
On Wednesday around noon I picked up my liquid silver Mazda 2 at the port in Tacoma, Washington. 10 miles is what the Mazda 2 had on it from the trip out of the factory, on to a ship, off the same ship, and around a really big parking lot. After an inspection of the 2 and peeling off a bunch of white protective stickers I was on my way to the gas station. Mazda doesn’t put much fuel in the cars at the factory.
The first things that jumped out at me: I love the clutch and the shifter. The clutch engagement is precise and you know when it is engaging. The shifter really reminds me of a Miata. It is precise in motion and the feedback from gear engagement is very clear.
After filling up with fuel I headed to I-5 and spent the next two hours driving south to CorkSport. With the light curb weight of the Mazda 2 the 100hp engine makes getting on the freeway was really effortless. I shifted at 4000 rpm going through the gears to get to 5th gear @ 60 MPH. The 1.5 liter engine has some pretty decent torque making freeway driving a breeze. I did not have to downshift at any point on the 136 mile drive back.
The Mazda 2 is really quiet in the cab on the freeway. Road noise is minimal and I have a feeling that most of the noise was from the tires. We will test out the noise down the road later when we upgrade the Mazda 2 with different wheels and tires.
The Mazda 2 really feels like a small Mazda 3. All of the interior, switch gear, gauges, everything feels really solid. The radio sounds good and is easy to use. The preset buttons are a little weird being on the right side of the face but it is easy enough to work around once your presets are in.
My verdict on the Mazda 2 is that this car is well worth the wait. When I arrived at CorkSport after the two hour drive I had a big smile on my face. This is a great car which has tons of potential.
Check out the Mazda 2 Project on our CorkSport webpage for updates on the car. We already have started development on parts and we will be updating the progress of the Mazda 2 as often as we can.
In early April I placed an order for a green, Touring package, 5 speed Mazda 2 the first day you could order one. I made it clear that I wanted to get one of the first shipment vehicles with the dealership. Several weeks later I received a call that I could not get a green Mazda 2 touring model with a 5 speed transmission before the end of July at best. The reason being is the first several productions of the Mazda 2 there were no green touring 5 speed models built. There were green models built just none that matched my criteria. They did have the crystal pearl white model in the 5 speed touring available in the vehicles coming to the US. So I chose the white Mazda 2 and after thinking about it for a while and seeing pictures of it grew on me.
Early this week I received a telephone call. The dealership was confirming the model I wanted and the sales staff there found a problem. The white car on order for me was a white sport model with an automatic transmission. I am happy they realized the car was not what I wanted except for the color. The bad news is my choice of colors was down at two now. I could get a black or silver Mazda 2 if I want one in July. If I want any of the other colors like white or green I would be looking at August at the best. I gave it some thought and I have chosen to get a silver car. Not my first or second choice but it should do the trick. It will make my Mt Dew style graphics job a bit more difficult but I think we can manage to make a show stopper.
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!
