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
When most people think about purchasing an intake, they want it for the performance increases. While an intake is probably the best bang-for-the-buck modification you can make to add power and torque to your Mazda, there is another huge but often overlooked benefit, which is the improved gas mileage.
How is that possible?
Most CorkSport intakes use a conical dry flow air filter with 3” outlet that is much less restrictive than the factory filter. This directly translates to better gas mileage. We have also calibrated our precision-machined MAF housings and intakes to exacting tolerances and have designed them to work better and more efficiently than the factory intake system.
Where’s the proof?
We were beginning to get feedback from customers stating that they were seeing improvements in their gas mileage with the addition of the intake.
I have a brand new 2012 Mazdaspeed3 that is stock apart from the intake. With this new intake I have seen my average mpg for the last 12,000 miles of normal break in driving go from 28.4 to 31 miles per gallon while now driving in a much more aggressive manner during the last 1,000 miles. I am thoroughly impressed and I hope that this information can be of use to your company and other customers. – Alex B.
To be sure we needed to control the test conditions and make our own conclusions.
After testing the Skyactiv CX-5 with the factory intake system, we showed an average of 34.0 MPG. After adding the CorkSport Short Ram Intake, we have been showing an average of 38.5 MPG. This is a 13% improvement in fuel mileage just by adding the intake system.
We then went a step further and did extensive in town gas mileage testing. Though the results were not as impressive, they were still substantial. The baseline with the stock intake was 29.3mpg and improved to 31.2 with the CorkSport Short Ram Intake. This is a 6.5% improvement in fuel mileage.
Of course the CX-5 SkyActiv was designed with fuel mileage in mind so getting great MPG’s in this car was not surprising. This is when we decided to take our testing to the next level and see what could be achieved on the Mazdaspeed3.
As it turns out, the Mazdaspeed3 showed similar improvements in gas mileage in the city, but significantly less on the highway. We had a 6.1% improvement in city driving and a 4.4% Improvement on the highway, with a peak of 33.2mpg with the CorkSport Mazdaspeed intake installed.
Some customers have seen additional increases, but the results are generally subject to how a person drives. Remember, with that increase in torque and horsepower, you will be more tempted to have a heavier right foot, too.
What’s the Payoff?
With gas prices yo-yoing over the last couple of years, too, at some points topping $4.00 a gallon here in the Pacific Northwest, we estimate that the intake will be able to pay for itself in around 13,000-16,000 miles. With a national average of around 15,000 miles driven per year, you can expect your intake purchase to pay off quickly and then start getting money back in your pocket from the fuel savings.
Not only does less gas mean more money in your pocket, but fewer emissions as well, so you can tell all your environmentalist friends that you are doing your part!
To recap, better mpg, more money in your pocket and you a decrease in your carbon foot print. This all sounds good to me.
Project MS6 was purchased used off of Craigslist with almost 90k miles on it in early 2012. It is an ’07 Mazdaspeed 6 GT and was completely stock when it was picked up. Since this is not a new car and has been available for many years you’re likely already familiar with what the car was from the factory. It has the same turbo charged power train as the MS3 but is an AWD sedan and is larger and heavier than the MS3.
Our engineering department jumped straight into development mode and within the first couple of weeks we had a prototype CorkSport Short Shifter and Catted Downpipe on the car. Today, we are running a CorkSport Catted Downpipe with the factory cat back to keep it in sleeper status. It has a much better exhaust flow with close to factory noise levels.
With the intake and exhaust systems both already upgraded we started testing some other products on the car. We fitted it with a CorkSport Oil Catch Can which proved incredibly valuable at getting 90k miles worth of condensation and such out of the crank case. We also began prototyping a Rear Motor Mount (just released this week) for the Mazdaspeed 6 and have been running it on this car for quite some time now. The Rear Motor Mount made a noticable improvement in throttle response. Changes in the throttle are felt instantly now instead of a second later after the mounts have absorbed some of the torque.
With the speed6 now able to breathe in all of the cold air it wants combined with the free flowing exhaust we have seen some serious power improvements so we thought we’d move on to making some handling improvements to complement it. We added the ever so important CorkSport Front and Rear Sway Bars which improved the handling of the car exponentially. Next, we wanted to get the center of gravity down a bit which we accomplished with a set of H&R lowering springs. Now that the Mazdaspeed 6 had a proper stance we thought it looked a bit odd with the factory wheels so we threw on a set of factory RX8 wheels.
There is a lot more to come with this car as we’re currently working on more prototypes for her that I can’t talk about yet, but all of you CorkSport fans with MS6’s, we haven’t forgotten about you and there are great new products on the way!
Since the release of our Oil Catch Can we have had a lot of questions about how our set-up functions. Most understand the basics of what the OCC does, but want to know more about how our OCC does it.
The Basics
For the last 20 or so years, all cars have had some sort of PCV system installed to re-burn unwanted vapors from your crankcase instead of venting them to the outside world. This system is based on a vacuum. When the engine is running, the pistons are happily moving up and down. There is a small amount of compression that is lost into the crankcase passing by the rings. This excess air will cause pressure in the crankcase to slow down the pistons from going up and down and build up oil vapors that create frothing of the oil. There are also small amounts of condensation that get trapped in the crankcase and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know water and oil don’t mix.
An oil catch can is designed to “catch” unwanted vapors that are in your crankcase and PCV system and prevent these contaminants from entering your motor. With no catch can install, you have the potential to get build-up in the intake manifold causing dirty valves and poor compression.
How the Mazdaspeed 3 PCV System Works
A Mazdaspeed 3 has two PCV lines. One goes from the cam cover to the intake and one goes from the crankcase to the intake manifold. Why the two locations you ask? Well, they go to the closest vacuum source, but in a turbo car, you will not have a vacuum when you are in boost so a check valve closes and stops the crankcase from being pressurized and boost being lost.
Improving the Design of the CorkSport OCC
Most Oil Catch Cans include a PCV valve in the set-up for turbo vehicles, as ours did until just recently. So why does CorkSport no longer have a Check Valve on our Oil Catch Can setup? This is a great question.
We noticed that by adding the PCV check valve to the oil catch can, the OCC worked less effectively because when the check valve closes (the car is under boost) the catch can is no longer able to do the same job of “catching” the vapors. When your car is under boost is the time the catch can is working the hardest to prevent those contaminants from entering your engine. Instead, it is just sitting there waiting for the PCV valve to open back up.
We decided to cap the intake manifold and pull the vacuum through the intake so both cam and crankcase vapors are trapped in the OCC leaving your motor the cleanest it can be. Now, the CorkSport Catch Can will be working to eliminate those vapors all of the time without the restriction of a PCV valve to prevent it from being able to remove contaminates while your car is under boost.
So why not cap the intake and the intake manifold and have it vent to atmosphere?
There are several reasons this is a bad idea and being friendly to mother nature is only one of them. Yes, you might sleep at night better knowing you are not hurting the environment but this is not the only reason to plumb the catch can back into the intake.
1. The intake vacuum helps draw vapors out of the motor by creating a low-pressure system to force the vapors out. Without the vacuum, the vapors can only be forced out by the pressure in the crankcase. This is unreliable and inefficient. Think of how much easier it is to get air into the motor under pressure (ie turbo). It only makes sense that the opposite would be true about getting it out and it would be much easier to achieve under vacuum.
2. Metered air passes through the MAF sensor before entering the engine, then a small amount is passed by the rings and enters back into the intake or intake manifold. If you do not route the PCV back into the intake manifold then that calculated air is “poof” let out into space causing your fuel trims to be off.
If you think you can tune around this you are correct, sort of. As the rings degrade you will have a small amount of additional air passing by the rings. Time to re-tune. The rings degrade some more, then time to re-tune again. I think you get the picture. Eventually, you forget to keep up on this and your fueling is off enough to cause a check engine light or worse. Zoom-Zoom-Boom!
This is the nature of a MAF-sensored car. There is a good reason that Mazda has everything hooked back up to the intake. Your car will be happier, in the long run, doing this.
It has been awhile since we provided an update on the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3. Because we are in a constant state of development for Mazdaspeed 3 parts, our shop car always has parts moving on and off it.
We recently took the speed3 back to stock to baseline it on our new dyno. We have been building the car back out again with bolt-ons to determine our maximum power on the stock turbo. The car is efficient enough that it can only run 18psi at redline and makes slightly more power at less boost which is interesting see on the dyno. For the final tune, we are running 26psi tapering to 17psi by redline. The peak torque is up 100ft.lbs over stock and really comes on hard. Overall we have seen a 36% increase in peak power and 50% increase in peak torque.
The next thing to do is figure out where the factory injectors die off. With only bolt-ons we are at 85% duty cycle to keep the air/fuel ratio in the 11 to 1 range. Generally a good rule of thumb is to not go over 85% so I can see a huge need for aftermarket injectors or a secondary fuel system.
As for the suspension, not only does the car run our coilovers, camber arms, prototype toe arms, front swaybar, rear swaybars, front and rear endlinks, and a few other braces but also some upcoming suspension components that include motor mounts and some others we will be announcing in the coming months.
With the power up and the handling on point, we needed to address stopping. We currently use our prototype brake pads on the Mazdaspeed 3 and our Mazda 2. We went with a compound that is made for the daily driver. They don’t have to be heated up to work very well, will last longer, and stop better than the factory pads. They also dust less which is nice if you like keeping your wheels clean.
The interior is getting a prototype shift knob that should have come from the factory. How many times have you thought that the mazdaspeed3 or mazdaspeed6 shift knob just doesn’t match the rest of the red and black interior? After running a few aftermarket knobs, my biggest complaint was that most of them are made from machined aluminum. Aluminum is not only lighter than the factory-weighted knob, which makes shifting harder, but the first time you grab a metal shift knob on a hot summer’s day, and your skin is on fire, you will never forget it. Proper shift knobs should be wrapped and weighted, which ours will be, and made to compliment the interior styling of the vehicle. Other than that the interior has not much changed.
The exterior is back to having the AutoEXE front bumper and is about ½” lower than it was last year which really shows off the 19” Advan RZ wheels.
