The factory radiator core sits at a mere 13 mm wide doing its best while struggling to keep your coolant cool.
The CorkSport Mazda 3 Aluminum Radiator is here to stand up to the street and track driving use with our 100% all aluminum radiator. Standing at over two times thicker than the OEM radiator you can be confident that it will provide you excellent cooling for your Mazda 3 on and off the track.
The CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 aluminum radiator will fit all 2010-2013 Mazdaspeed 3, Mazda 3 2.5 and 2.0 models except SkyActiv models. Fitment and installation are easy if you are handy with some tools.
As a car enthusiast, I always want to make sure that my car maintenance is up to date. In general Mazda’s are very reliable but, whether modified or stock, the life of your car depends on maintenance. Taking good care of your car today can help you avoid paying out more in the future on repairs. Here are the top tips I’ve collected over the years and have applied to keep my Mazda in tip-top shape. Hopefully, they’re as helpful to you as they’ve been to me.
Gasoline – Find What Works for You
To find out what octane your engine needs, first check your owner’s manual. The recommended level is often 87octane. Some models have high compression engines that are designed to utilize the octane levels of 89, 91 or higher. Ordinarily, your vehicle will not benefit from using a higher octane than is recommended in the owner’s manual. If your engine knocks or pings at the recommended octane level though, you may need higher octane gasoline.
Knocking may occur under certain conditions. A small percentage of vehicles may knock because of variations in engines of the same model due to manufacturing tolerances, or because of an unusual build-up of engine deposits. Other factors such as extremely hot weather, changes in altitude or hard driving conditions may also cause knocking.
Are you planning on running alternative fuel for your modified car? More often than not gas alternatives for modified vehicles require tuning. Every owner/tuner has its preference, but keep the following information in mind when choosing between E85 or race gas:
· E85 will generate significantly more power than your typical recommended octane gas, given the same amount of fuel. The burn rate with E85 is faster than standard 87 to 95 octane, plus you get lower temperatures and more power. The downside is that you will get worse fuel economy, and your Fuel Pump will need more regular cleaning.
· The best thing about any race fuel is its consistency. You can count on the performance of the fuel and then tune accordingly. It makes things like elevation changes, ambient temps, etc, easier to incorporate into different maps.
Oil – Change it Religiously
Change the oil in your Mazda every 3,000 – 5,000 miles depending on the type of (regular, synthetic) oil you use. If most of your miles come from highway driving (driving at a set speed for long intervals of time), you may be able to change the oil every 5,000 miles, but if you do most of you’re driving in a city or suburban area, check your oil every 2,500 miles just to be safe. If the oil appears completely black, this is a sign that you need to have your oil changed.
If you change the oil yourself, remember to change the oil filter as well. If you take the car to a mechanic to have the oil changed, he should change the filter when he changes the oil. I always recommend the OEM oil Filter and Full Synthetic oil of your preference.
Tire Maintenance – Keep ‘em Rotated
Rotate your tires every 10,000 miles to prevent uneven wear (this means the back tires should be moved to the front wheels and vice versa). Also, keep a very close eye on your tire pressure. Mazdas use tires with a very soft tread, which means your car grips the road better, but its tires are more prone to leaks and breakage.
Look in your manual to see what the tire pressure of your front and back tires should be, and check all four tires’ pressure once a month to make sure no leaks have appeared.
Air Filter – It May be Cleaner than You Think
Mechanics will often try to convince you to change your air filter every time you change your oil. However, you shouldn’t have to change your air filter more than once every 20,000 miles unless it’s excessively dirty.
To learn about high-performance air filter’s go to:
To protect your transmission and keep your car running for as long as possible, have the transmission fluid checked every 40,000 miles. In general, you don’t need to replace it until you hit 100,000 miles, but if you don’t check it and the fluid does burn out, it can ruin your transmission, a job that can cost more than a couple thousand to repair on a Mazda.
As long as you are careful not to leave the light or any other battery-operated extras such as the stereo turned on when your engine is not running, your Mazda’s battery should last approximately three to four years. When approaching the five- to six-year mark, be sure to have it inspected. It is better to be prepared than to have your battery die unexpectedly when you need to be somewhere.
As a longtime Mazda enthusiast, I’ve seen the company evolve in many innovative ways. Most recently, Mazda has focused its attention on improving the current Skyactive Technology lineup, including the SKY-G 2.0-liter gas and SKY-D 2.2-liter diesel engines.
This technology is great for those looking for good fuel economy and better engine output. But what about the enthusiast who, instead of seeking MPG, is drawn to a fun, high-performance vehicle they can enjoy driving 24/7?
Here’s what I’m thinking.
Sure, the 2.3 MZR engine had its ups and downs and can be improved by the enthusiasts who own them. But, I imagine something beyond what we have now. Consider this. What if the next lineup of Mazdaspeed 3’s had a 2.5L MZR engine with an upgraded turbo and a High-Performance Fuel Pump (HPFP) to help with the volume and pressure to produce an ideal 320 HP beast that will scare your competition away?
But let’s not stop there. Let’s address the torque steer under acceleration with an all-wheel-drive (AWD) system. An AWD Mazdaspeed3 was shelved years ago; the automaker said the high price point wouldn’t be saleable and the hatchback style wouldn’t be attractive to consumers. But now, hatchbacks are growing in popularity and perfectly positioned to rival any competitor. This creates a great opportunity for Mazda to introduce this next generation vehicle. With that in mind, I ask that today we raise our fists in solidarity for this type of Mazdaspeed innovation.
Mazdas come with a good braking system but a simple brake upgrade will make a huge impact.
A great upgrade choice is the CorkSport Big Brake Caliper Kit. They work great in both hot and cold conditions. This 4 piston kit is crafted from an extremely lightweight billet aluminum and is made to last on and off track.
After shaving over 16lbs of weight and ramping up your stopping power the feel and look of these brakes will clearly make your Mazdaspeed look sick.
Here is a great example of deep corner driving & passing. Without some powerful brakes you would be pushing the limits of factory abilities. Much thanks to Steven Kritzberg for the video.
The Big Brake Kit is a sexy add on and very useful. The installation isn’t too hard to tackle, take a look at the video below . Perfect fit for the Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed.
With the news that has come out in the past few weeks about the next Mazdaspeed 3 and it being AWD. Takeo Mariuchi, the program deputy manager was quoted as saying “from a technical point of view it’s not difficult to install a four wheel drive system” for the next version. I took this as a non-committal response from Takeo to answer someone’s question. But in the interest of wanting to see a AWD Mazdaspeed 3 myself, I decided to take a look at the CorkSport 2014 Mazda 3 when it was up on a lift this week.
Checking out the rear knuckles you can see they are open in the middle which would make adapting rear axles to be pretty straight forward.
I took a peak at the rear suspension of the CorkSport Cx5 as well and it is setup the same. The next point which would have to be addressed is space for the driveshaft and transfer case for an AWD system.
Sure enough there is a larger amount of space at the back of the engine bay to clear a transfer case and drive shaft. The exhaust manifold looks to be the same from the CX5 AWD to give the clearance for needed systems.
In my opinion, the only thing standing in the way of this getting the green light is the bean counters looking at the past sales of AWD performance cars for Mazda. In North America, the 323GTX didn’t sell too well and the 06-07 Mazdaspeed 6 was not the biggest sales success either. Let’s hope they overlook those and give us enthusiasts the car we have always wanted.
-Derrick
Will There Be a New Mazdaspeed 3??? With All Wheel Drive??? September 27th, 2023CorkSport
With our fuel pump design complete (link to fuel pump blogs 1,2,3,4), we now turned our attention to the details. We wanted a coating to protect the piston and decrease friction during operation. After testing dozens of compounds, we settled on a very strong coating that is applied with a proprietary process. This process allows for an exceptional bond with the metal, lower static friction, and increases the surface hardness. Before applying the coating however, we wanted to make sure we had the best part possible underneath it. Imagine having an orange that is covered in titanium. The surface might be incredibly hard, but with no substance to back that up you will eventually lose the shape.
After choosing a very strong alloy for our internals, we then machine their tolerances to an incredible 6 microns! To make sure the tolerances are paired for life, we serialize the parts to prevent any issues and to track the life of the pumps. We then surface treat the pumps to achieve the alloys maximum strength; only after the maximum hardness is achieved do we apply our surface treatments to bring the overall durability to an even higher level.
Many companies would be finished at this point but, at CorkSport, our research has shown us that when a coating is applied it is very difficult to maintain a smooth surface. In fact, we found that the coating has many microscopic hills and valleys. There would be no reason for us to go through all the work of having incredible tolerances if we were just going to ruin them with an uneven coating. In order to correct this, the pistons are then re-machined back to their original single micron tolerance. The CorkSport Fuel Pump Internals are the lightest aftermarket kit on the market for faster response and decreased cam wear. At this point it may seem like we are flying this pump to Mars but we just wanted to make the best part on the market, and it worked.
Pump More Than Any Other Kit Available
All of this adds up to an improved pumping volume that is over 8% higher than all other pumps we tested and 50% larger capacity than the stock pump. When other pumps are losing efficiency because of their design or tolerances, ours is just hitting its stride. That difference in the real world is going to be higher HP numbers, safer air/fuel ratios and the ability to go that much further without worrying about your fuel supply.
Because of the increase in fuel we highly recommend that you get a new tune for your car we have made a combo deal to save some money here.
How to Buy the Best Fuel Pump Internals
Now that the cat is out of the bag we can let you know a few more things.
Our first batch is very limited and we want to give everyone that has been waiting a fair shot at getting one. We will release these parts for Pre-Order on November 1st. The Pre-Order will be limited to the first 100 paid orders or November 14th, whichever comes first.
The CorkSport High Pressure Fuel Pump internals include a collectable aluminum box with:
Full color instructions
Stainless Steel Installation Tool (That also doubles as a keychain bottle opener!)
Anodized Aluminum Installation Sleeve
CorkSport USB drive with Installation Video, Promotional Video and Other Bonus Material
The Pre-Order will go live on November 1st at 12am Pacific Standard Time and will remain up until the initial 100 orders have been placed. Unfortunately these are the only internals we will offer for 2013 so if you miss the pre-order you will have to wait until next year to get the best fuel pump upgrade on the market.
The Fuel Pump Finale… (Sort Of) January 4th, 2020CorkSport
To find out what octane your engine needs, first check your owner’s manual. The recommended level is often 87octane. Some models have high compression engines that are designed to utilize the octane levels of 89, 91 or higher. Ordinarily, your vehicle will not benefit from using a higher octane than is recommended in the owner’s manual. If your engine knocks or pings at the recommended octane level though, you may need higher octane gasoline.
Change the oil in your Mazda every 3,000 – 5,000 miles depending on the type of (regular, synthetic) oil you use. If most of your miles come from highway driving (driving at a set speed for long intervals of time), you may be able to change the oil every 5,000 miles, but if you do most of you’re driving in a city or suburban area, check your oil every 2,500 miles just to be safe. If the oil appears completely black, this is a sign that you need to have your oil changed.
As a longtime Mazda enthusiast, I’ve seen the company evolve in many innovative ways. Most recently, Mazda has focused its attention on improving the current Skyactive Technology lineup, including the SKY-G 2.0-liter gas and SKY-D 2.2-liter diesel engines.
