News | CorkSport Mazda Performance Blog

May 15, 2013May 16, 2013

Why Durometer Doesn’t Matter

What is durometer and what does it mean? If you know what it is, when does it actually matter? Every day at CorkSport we are asked this question. Many times, we are told that many of you assume that the higher the durometer or something attached to a car, the more noise and vibration will be transmitted into the passenger compartment. This however, is not always the case.

Durometer is the measure of the hardness of a material. The higher the number, the harder the material is. When talking about rubber or polyurethane, you will often hear durometer numbers between 60a and 90a. There are several scales for the measurement of durometer, in the case of bushings, you will almost always hear about the Shore A scale. The letter at the end of the rating will tell you which scale you are rating.

When designing engine mounts or suspension pieces, the durometer can be very important, but the shape and how the piece is used can be even more important. The overall durometer number will give you the first idea of how much vibration the mount or bushing might transmit, but this can easily feel different depending on the surface area used.

If you have an engine mount that has to fit a certain area and you decide to design it with a very small bushing, or a bushing that has to do more than just isolate the two parts, you can end up transmitting a lot more vibration. If you compare a 1” diameter bushing and a 2” diameter bushing you don’t end up with double the amount of surface area, you actually increase the surface area by 4 times! That isn’t the only way bushings work though. Depending on the direction of the force, you could use a bushing much smaller and obtain a much better isolation than one with a bigger available surface area subjected to more force. In many cases, only the durometer of the bushing is taken into consideration when many mounts are designed; not how the bushing is used, its size or the forces applied to it.

Recently I was asked by Kevin Pugh (the owner of MazdaSpeed Forum) the durometer of a mount we released. I replied to him; “it doesn’t really matter, but I will tell you anyway”. We had a good laugh and talked about many of these points; and because of that conversation this blog post was born. Much like many of the topics on the CorkSport blog, we recognize the market and what is important to you. This information is as important to you as it is to us, and whether you buy our entire catalog or just read our blog and stay stock, we always want to be of service to the Mazda community that we have been dedicated to since 1998.

Cheers,

Joel

May 9, 2013

CorkSport invades Orange County Choppers!!!

This weekend Derrick and I left the eerily sunny northwest on a red-eye flight and touched down to a sunny Newark (seriously, what are the odds?)
After collecting our Dodge Avenger from Enterprise we set off for Newburgh New York. A short 70 miles and many conversations about how Chrysler is still in business we arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn which thankfully is within stumbling distance of OCC.

A quick shower and a change of clothes later, we crossed the parking lot only to be met by some of the finest Mazdas in the area along with some of the finest tuners and tuning companies for the Mazda community. We met up with a few of our sponsored drivers (Steve Kritzberg and Matt Kellogg) and then touched base with the leader of the event, Storm Sasaki and set out to talk to some fine folks.

As you can see by the pictures, OCC featured almost every kind of Mazda you could imagine and really brought out a lot of cars. Obviously with the popularity of the Mazdaspeed 3 in recent years, that car was VERY well represented. The atmosphere at OCC is very laid back, with everyone anxious to see what the next trends are and hoping to meet some of the people they have befriended on the forums in real life. I personally was able to finally put some faces to names of some very incredible people and felt very lucky to encounter a few other that I didn’t know but now am proud to have spoken with.

After a short lunch at the OCC cafe (which has a surprisingly good Rueben sandwich) we were back out into the sun. With over 200 cars on hand, there was quite a bit to keep any Mazda fan busy.

After the raffle (where lucky contestants won everything from CorkSport gift certificates to a new set of tires from Continental) with the sun sinking low into the sky we headed to a restaurant and spent a good few hours having a great time with many other Mazdaheads. The rest of the night went very quickly with a parking lot roundtable discussion and somehow ended with us partying with a group of newlyweds at the Hilton.

The next day we hit the road to head to the famous Long Island (pronounced Lon Guyland) to hang out with Steve and Matt. Steve showed us the amazing repairs he had done to his house after hurricane Sandy and then showed us the destruction to the famous boardwalk that has yet to be repaired. It was truly amazing what that storm did to the town, but even more amazing was the way the town pulled itself back up and seemed to be just as New York as it had ever been!

Finally, before we headed back to the airport, no trip to New York is complete without a visit to a Kosher deli. Luckily, Steve knew just the place. The Lido Kosher Deli left Derrick and me speechless. The pickles, the slaw, the hot pastrami on rye… If you’re ever looking for a discount on CorkSport gear, you can get both of us to do just about anything to taste that food again.

It was with heavy hearts (and bloated stomachs) we got on our plane knowing that this was the last OCC meet and that we had to leave New York behind, but Storm is already planning the next meet and you can bet your short ram intake that we will be there! Thanks again to everyone who made this possible and everyone who came out… and anyone who wants to overnight us some Pastrami…

Cheers,

Joel

May 6, 2013May 6, 2013

CorkSport B-Spec World Domination!!!

Last weekend CorkSport headed to the second SCCA majors event of the season held at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in California. A “short” 15 hour drive and we arrived in sunny California with a full crew and a driver hopped up on Red Bull ready to go.

The competition for the weekend was stiff as Honda brought out a few factory backed B-Spec Fits to be driven by workers in the racing program, along with some T4 Civics to see how well they would do in the heat of battle. Our driver and fearless race leader Derrick had never driven at Buttonwillow and the track configuration did not favor the Mazda 2 which is down almost 15hp to the Fit’s; with that in mind, practice was of the utmost importance.

As you can see from the map, there are a few long straights that are an advantage for the Fit’s and the fastest portion of the track is Riverside which is taken flat out (if you have the guts).

On Saturday there was a practice session which Derrick took advantage of to learn the track and prepare for qualifying just a few short hours later. Right off the bat Derrick was laughing like a madman through the radio after spinning the car coming over Phil hill, which he seemed to think was hilarious. I suppose the thought of being able to actually spin a 100hp car on racing slicks is pretty impressive. After settling down he managed to set one of the fastest practice laps of the day.

After a quick inspection of the car we were back out on the track for qualifying. B-Spec cars are usually the slowest group of cars on the track and Derrick usually stays towards the back of the pack in qualifying so he can get a clean lap without traffic. Derrick used this approach to get a decent lap and was able to qualify in 2nd between two Fit’s.

After the green flag waved, Derrick was able to hold his position despite the power of the Fit behind him and challenged the faster Fit for the lead. With just one lap to go the CorkSport Mazda 2 B-spec car was reeling in the more powerful Fit and got within 3-4 car lengths before traffic got in the way. In the end, Derrick had to settle for 2nd place but learned Buttonwillow and a little bit more about the CorkSport Mazda 2 B-Spec car. Derrick is currently 4th in the standings for the entire west coast and we look forward to more quality finishes and more trophies in his office for us to shoot spitballs at.

May 2, 2013

Our Videos, Your Input

With the release of our new Passenger Side Motor Mount for the Mazdaspeed 3, we were met with some interesting comments on some of the forums based mainly upon the somewhat controversial design we used. With that in mind, Austin and Joel grabbed a camera and a mic to set the story straight.

What happened was very interesting, the video (while crude) almost instantly set many fears aside and made quite a few customers out of disbelievers. In just a few hours they were able to address all the potential issues brought up on the forum. At CorkSport we often talk about unexpected successes so that we can learn from them. We have always taken pride in the fact that we listen to you and always ask what you feel is needed in the market and what we could do for you; but with this video we discovered how quickly and definitively we could let you know that we did address not only your needs, but also any fears you may have. If you have a question you would like addressed or a video you want to see, let us know by contacting us here: https://www.corksport.com/contact-us.html . At CorkSport, you can expect to see more videos putting our products and your concerns to the test, and then to rest.

Cheers,

Joel

April 25, 2013February 28, 2018

Fuel Pump Comparison Part 2

In part 1 we discussed fuel pumps, their uses and what’s inside them. Now we can talk a little about what goes into making them and what the differences are.

Does size matter? When looking at the stock piston on the factory fuel pump you can sure say that it does matter. If you increase the piston diameter you increase the flow of the pump. We have decided to compare the similar internals first and then compare the APR pump afterwards. The Autotech/KMD internals use the same diameter piston head. At 9.8mm compared to the factory 8.0mm. When comparing the volume area they are both about 50% improvement with the KMD edging out the Autotech by a marginal amount. This slight edge comes from the shape of the end of the shaft being slightly different. The Autotech looks more like a piston from an internal combustion engine where the KMD is very similar to the factory design at the end. Because these are the older version of the KMD internals they are coated differently. They look to be a TiCN coating but we can’t say for sure. The Autotech internals are listed as a DLC coating which stands for Diamond Like Carbon. The newer KMDs are now PVD coated (Physical Vapor Deposition).

When we start comparing the sleeves that the piston rides in we notice they are all similar in shape and size. The Autotech has a coated sleeve that appears to be some sort of tool steel. The factory is uncoated and appears to be tool steel. The KMD is uncoated and appears to be stainless of some variety. Internally there is a relief cut that is ~3 times larger on the aftermarket internals which should help with the 50% improvement in flow. The sleeve shows the constraints for why you can not go much larger than the 9.8mm piston. The end that fits in the factory pump can only be so large and the wall thickness must maintain a certain size or failure will be imminent.

For a long time the CP-E pump was rumored to be made by APR. The CP-E pump we ordered actually came with an APR sticker on the side of it. Oops. We quickly disassembled it and documented the findings. The pump uses a 9.5mm piston which is smaller then the two internal only options. APR claims 40% improvement and we calculated about a 41% improvement so no issues there. They also chose a Stainless steel sleeve and DLC coating on the piston. The big difference comes when you look in the cap. They machine in an extra Seal to help with the oil deposit issue. Is this needed? We aren’t sure yet but it is an interesting addition.

Now for the one big addition that only one manufacturer saw fit to think about. APR added a spring that increases the ability to return the piston. This can be very important for wear on the cam shaft if you get any float from the spring at higher RPM’s; the more the pump worked, the more important this would be. Remember that the cam has three lobes on it so even though the cams spin at half the speed of the crank the pump spins at three times that of the cam. This makes a 1.5 times the crank difference. So what ever the RPM you are at the pump is at 1.5 times that. At a 8000rpm redline the pump is going 12000rpms. The pump also has to draw in 40-50% more fluid so a return spring plays apart in that as well.

Next time we will get these pumps on the dyno and check out how the hold pressures at the same load. Luckily we have an in house dyno that can vary load and the ability to log pressures.