Tag: R&D

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When Products in Development Don’t Make the Grade

Things don’t always go as planned. We begin a project thinking our customers will be able to get good results out of a new performance product only to find, when we start testing, those results don’t show up.

An example of this is the CorkSport Cold Pipe. After investing months in the development process, we are choosing to abandon the product and put our development efforts elsewhere. Focus on products that will provide our customers with the type of performance benefits that inevitably did not show up during the testing of this product.

How it all began:

After seeing the great success of our Top Mount Intercooler and the amazing benefits it offered, we wanted to find a way to give customers who chose to stick to a TMIC even more performance. Looking over the TMIC system we noticed that when the air exits the intercooler it immediately hits a wall. It exits the intercooler towards the front of the car, but just after exiting it is forced to the driver side.

Once we identified this potential air flow restriction, we decided that it would be worth it to try and expand the stock cold-pipe to provide a better path for the air to flow, as well as a larger volume to accommodate the increased flow seen with a CorkSport TMIC.

The development process:

We scanned the stock pipe into a solid model so we could improve flow and still provide a great OEM fit.

Once we had a CAD model, we noticed the access to one of the four TMIC mounting holes became covered so we added an access hole to be able to tighten down this bolt as well as provide a NPT fitting to be used with water/methanol injection.

We proceeded with some virtual testing and discovered that the flow was more even and fluid as it moved through the redesigned pipe when compared to the stock pipe. Once we felt good about the revised drawing, we took the CAD model and did a 3D print to check fitment and conduct real world flow testing.

The part fit great and looked great. We were very happy with how the project was turning out, so the next step was to do some flow tests to determine the exact gains that the redesigned part offered.

The outcome:

We were disappointed with the results. The redesigned cold-pipe by itself offered a 15% increase in flow over the stock cold-pipe. When combined with a CorkSport TMIC however, both pipes flowed the same. Since the intercooler’s max flow (still significantly higher than the stock TMIC) was less than either of the cold pipes by themselves, the redesigned cold-pipe and CorkSport TMIC only flowed 0.7 CFM more than the stock cold-pipe and CorkSport TMIC, a negligible amount.

Knowing this, we now had a big problem. Why would anyone want to upgrade this part for a negligible performance improvement? Sure the option to do methanol injection would be great for some but we didn’t think most people would be interested, even at our target of $125.

We hit the forums, Mazdaspeed Forums to be exact, and asked what they thought of the product and if they would still be interested in the product with the minimal gains seen. The general consensus was that although it was a great idea and seemed to have a lot of development and engineering behind it, they didn’t feel like it would be worth the cost or that we would see enough sales to warrant producing the part.

With this feedback, we decided to abandon the project and cut our losses on the development time and money we put into the product. Unfortunately this happens occasionally. We work on a project only to end up killing it before we reach production. It’s just the way development goes sometimes, but each and every time we can take it as a learning experience to further our knowledge about what projects may or may not be worth pursuing in the future.

We want you to feel confident that our products do what we say they will do and though it’s not an easy decision to scrap a product after investing thousands of dollars on development, when the alternative is to release a product that has no performance benefit when our customers are expecting one, the choice is simple, abondon ship.

Andrew-

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Product Release! CorkSport LED Underhood Lighting Kit

CorkSport is pleased to announce the addition of a new Mazda Underhood LED lighting kit to its list of enhanced lighting options for Mazda and Mazdaspeed vehicles.

This brand new accessory builds on the success of CorkSport’s line of LED light kits for Mazda and Mazdaspeed vehicles by adding a lighting kit that will cast a cool white ambient light onto the engine bay when the hood is lifted and provide a brightly lit area for under the hood installs and enhance the look of your engine.

Connected directly to the battery, this low draw device includes 18 LED lights housed in a protective, durable, flexible plastic casing that will mold seamlessly to the underside of your hood with provided 3M adhesive tape. The kit comes all necessary hardware including a pin switch for easy connection to the battery and hours of uninterrupted light that automatically shuts off when the hood is closed.

“The demand for CorkSport’s LED lighting solutions for Mazda and Mazdaspeed vehicles has been immense,” said CorkSport founder Derrick Ambrose, “Now we have an option that enhances the look of your engine and is a practical application when you’re working on your car in dim lighting conditions.”

This user friendly accessory is priced at just $35.00 and takes only 20 minutes to install. A kit can be purchased today from CorkSport.com at https://www.corksport.com/corksport-underhood-led-light-kit.html

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10,000 Miles Later – CorkSport Mazda2 Update

Our CorkSport Mazda 2 hit a milestone today and turned 10,000 miles on the odometer. It has taken us a little over a year to hit this point in the cars life which brings up some interesting points.

Our Mazda 2 has been a test vehicle for all of the Mazda 2 products we have engineered here at CorkSport. We get questions about our products asking how well they work and how they are tested. Our northwest location gives us a full range of weather conditions including snow, rain for days, and 90+ degree weather that we can test our parts in and with the company vehicles being driven daily, we get a chance to do real world testing constantly.

The CorkSport Short Ram Intake was one of the first parts we installed on the 2. So far we have put just under 9000 miles of combined road use and auto crossing on this intake with zero problems and great results.

Next came the CorkSport LED lighting kit along with the LED DRL kit. Now I wouldn’t normally bring up the LED light kit as you would not expect any problems with this type of modification, but I have seen posts on forums about people who have purchased from e-bay or another vendor saying their LED lights are failing after only a few months of use.

I can confidently say you will not have any problems with the LED lights purchased from CorkSport. One added bonus with our Mazda 2 kit is the front turn signals have built in resistors so your turn signals will flash at the normal speed.

The last piece we have had on the car for the longest period of time has been the CorkSport Rear Torsion Bar. When we took the Mazda 2 out to an autocross a few weeks after purchasing the car, we discovered the 2 was really biased to under steer, so we immediatly set out to correct this and came up with our rear torsion bar. The torsion bar made the 2 more neutral in handling and I couldn’t imagine driving a Mazda 2 without one now.

We are looking forward to developing and releasing some great parts for the Mazda 2 in the coming year and our customers can have confidence that any CorkSport brand part we develop has been thouroughly road tested and we have real world experience with the parts and their ability to improve the overall performance of the Mazda 2.

-Derrick

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CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Downpipe Now Available with High-Flow Catalyst

Designed to replace the restrictive catalyst in the stock downpipe and deliver improved exhaust flow for significant power gains, noticeable improvements in turbo response time, and reduced backpressure, CorkSport is pleased to announce a new high-flow catalyst option for their popular CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Downpipe.

Mazdaspeed 3 downpipe

The CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Downpipe is constructed from polished 3 Inch or 2.5-inch 304 stainless steel piping for lasting corrosion resistance and reduced heat transfer to the engine bay. Unlike many downpipes on the market, the CorkSport downpipe uses a unique divorced wastegate design that will reduce boost spikes and exhaust flow disturbances due to waste-gate operation.

The new catted version of the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Downpipe provides gains of up to 21 WHP and includes a high-flow spun metallic 200 cell catalyst and three O2 bungs to allow for the addition of EGT or other sensors.

Mazdaspeed 3 racepipe

Our new catted downpipe option incorporates all of the popular features of our current Mazdaspeed 3 downpipe with the addition of the high-flow metallic flexible catalyst for cleaner emissions. We have included our popular CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Racepipe in the catted option to provide even more horsepower and torque to your exhaust set-up.

Downpipe is modular and a direct bolt-on

The CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Catted Downpipe is a direct bolt-on replacement for the restrictive factory downpipe and attaches seamlessly to the factory or an aftermarket cat-back exhaust set-up using a factory-style donut.

Modular bellmouth cast design allows for easy installation

In addition, we’ve added the modular bellmouth to the design. This development provides a vast improvement during installation. The fitment is so much better with a modular v-band-connected bell mouth.  You no longer need to fight the downpipe while trying to tighten it to the turbo!

The new optional catted downpipe is available for purchase from CorkSport’s online catalog at https://www.corksport.com/corksport-mazdaspeed-3-downpipe.html

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CorkSport Product Development Update

We here at CorkSport have been busy working on some new parts for Mazda owners and I’m excited to be able to share some of the features and benefits that you can expect from some of the newest additions to our catalog that we have been busy developing for our customers.

First up we have the CorkSport Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 3 Adjustable End Links. These end links are made from 5/8″ hex stock 2011 Aluminum which is stronger than regular 6061. The ultimate tensile strength is actually 10,000 PSI stronger. Compared to the stock end links the CorkSport Mazda Adjustable End Links are much bulkier and stronger, which keeps the link from deforming when subjected to extreme loads. The ball joints used are also more durable than the rod ends normally used in adjustable end links and come with a shield to help keep out the road debris and grit than can increase the wear and tear on the links.

Using adjustable end links will provide increased strength which is important when running a stiffer front sway bar. To those who are worried about corner weighting, adjustable end links allow you to remove any preload from your front sway bar after adjusting each corner’s ride height. Not to mention they also look great!

Also just released are the CorkSport Mazdaspeed Shifter Base Bushings. The aluminum bushings replace the factory rubber bushings. These bushings give your shifter a more solid and crisp feel by taking out any slop from the stock rubber base bushings.

Along with our Shifter Base Bushings, we have also just released a Mazdaspeed Adjustable Short Shift Plate which reduces the throw of your shifter by 20-40%.

The shift plate works by reducing the distance between where the shifter cable mounts on the shift arm to the pivot point. By reducing this distance, the shifter cable doesn’t have to move as far to produce the same movement at the transmission. In the car this produces a much shorter throw, which will reduce your shift times, and in turn will help you reduce your quarter mile times.

The short shift plate also includes a smaller shift weight to replace the stock weight. The stock weight weighs about 14oz and the CorkSport weight weighs about 5.7oz. The lighter weight will reduce the fort required when shifting, which again can decrease your shift times. If you still want to keep your stock weight, good news, the CorkSport shift plate will be compatible with the stock shifter weight as well.

Now some of you may be wondering about the other new parts we have in development, and while I can’t release any details yet on most of them, I can say we have some very exciting new parts coming down the line. Be expecting to hear more about our Catted Downpipe for the Mazdaspeed 3 and our Underhood Lighting, which should be out in a matter of weeks!

I also want to point out the importance of the product submissions we receive from customers. Development of the short shift plate was actually started from a submission we received from customer, Cale DeLeers. We approved this submission in August of this year and were able to get started on it pretty quickly. We would like to thank Cale for his product submission and note that it is because of his product submission that we were able to develop the product to meet the needs of our customers that were not being met by other similar products on the market.

To those of you out there with ideas for your Mazda, don’t be shy. Let us know what you want and we will definitely look into it.

Andrew-