SRI | CorkSport Mazda Performance Blog

December 9, 2011

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

November 16, 2011May 10, 2023

Featured Car of the Month – Mackey’s Mazda 3

The CorkSport Sponsored 2010 Mazda 3, driven by Josh Mackey, photographer and marketing specialist by day and Editor and Chief of NWMotiv.com by night, has gotten a lot of attention lately (including a feature in the December issue of Import Tuner Magazine), and for good reason. Mackey started his 2010 Mazda 3i Sedan project in June of last year with the goal of taking the mid-range sport compact car to the next level using a variety of styles and showcasing realistic modifications that anyone could do while maintaining a practical everyday car.

Josh was attracted to the Mazda 3 because of the loyal community and followers, the price point and the suspension that, even from the factory, was sportier and more fun than anything else he had test driven. Even so, he immediately set to work improving the suspension of the 3 by adding a CorkSport Front Strut Bar, CorkSport Lower Rear Sway Bar, and Stance USA GR+ Coilovers. He also replaced the tires and wheels with Konig Lace 18×8” +35 wheels and Hankook V12 215/40/18 Tires.

Mackey went with the 2.0 liter base model Mazda 3 so that he could design the car from the ground up by starting with the most common package that the everyday tuner might select, so when it came time to upgrade the engine and exhaust, Josh knew to get the vehicle to the next level he would need the trifecta of I/H/E (Intake, Header, and Exhaust).

He added the CorkSport Power Series Short Ram Intake and opted for the addition of the CorkSport Performance Power Series Cat Back Exhaust that features dual resonators, a single tailpipe design and a 60mm racepipe. He finished off the engine modifications with a MSDS 4:1 Ceramic Header.

corksport mazda exhaust pipe and cat back exhaust

Once the Mazda 3’s suspension and basic engine modifications were complete, adding the proper equipment to stop it was a no brainer so Josh went to work on some brake modifications with the CorkSport Stainless Brake Lines, EBC 3GD Zinc Coated Slotted Rotors, EBC Red Stuff Brake Pads and Motul Brake Fluid.

Mazda brake lines and suspension products

A fan of clean lines, Josh has also done some tasteful exterior modifications that include a 3M 1080 Carbon Wrapped Roof, V-LED Platinum LED bulbs and V-HID lighting, a CorkSport Front Plate Relocation Kit, Mazda Accessory Side Skirts and a 35% Matching front and rear tint.

Continuing with the same exterior design, Mackey wanted to make a point by taking his interior to a whole new level with a full leather installation provided by Katzkin Leather. Two-tone leather interior combining dark midnight grey leather that is stitched together with dark slate perforated suede is installed in both the front and rear seats and the door cards. Stage 2.0 of the build will focus on finishing the rest of the interior by wrapping the headliner and pillars in the same material. The rest of the interior is accented with 3M carbon wrap installed by Graphix by Tex and soon-to-be-installed SRP Racing two-tone aluminum racing pedals.

This particular Mazda 3 did not come with the aftermarket BOSE system that most Mazda’s get from the factory. Mackey knew that if he wanted to take this project to the next level and maintain a competitive level with other Mazda’s in the industry, a completely new audio system would be needed. Diamond Audio provided a complete setup of front and rear component speakers, amps, and low-profile subwoofer. The entire system was expertly installed by James Anderson, all controlled by an Alpine In-Dash DVD/GPS Head unit.

What’s next for the NWmotiv Project 3? “Lots of tiny little things that need to be finished up, new bumper lenses, new wheels, front lip, maybe a dptune ecu upgrade” said Mackey “The NWMotiv Project3 takes everything that I’ve learned from the years. Clean lines, clean mods, nothing overdone, and everything tasteful.”

If you want to follow Josh Mackey’s progress on his project3, you can check out his regular posts at https://www.nwmotiv.com

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October 14, 2011September 13, 2018

Featured Car of the Month October 2011 – Will Buck

Former Army Sergeant and 25 year old Iraq War Veteran, Will Buck caught our attention a little while ago when he sent along an impressive graph from a dyno of his 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 that logged 314hp and 349 torque with a stock turbo.

This Speed 3 is his first Mazda, but this Buffalo NY native has been modding cars since he started driving. Even his first Honda Civic ended up with a Zex Nitrous Kit on it.

After blowing up a couple motors on his supercharged Scion TC, Will finally decided it was time for something with a little better performance and reliability and his research led him right to the Mazdaspeed 3.

Since purchasing his car some of the modifications he has added include a CorkSport Power Series Short Ram Intake, CorkSport TMIC, CorkSport Downpipe, and CorkSport Racepipe along with 50/50 E85 and 93 Octane, Autotech HPFP Internals, Forge V2 BPV and JBR EGR Blockoff. He also has a self-tuned Cobb Accessport @23 PSI.

He recently won the highest horsepower stock turbo MS3 in Georgia award, but is ready to upgrade the turbo to a GTX3071 as his next project.

“I live just outside of Fort Benning, GA now and there is not much of a tuning following out here so I drive the two hours to Atlanta monthly to stay involved with fellow NATOR Georgia members,” said Will. “I spend my free time split between working on the car, home improvement, the Army Reserves and I spend a fair amount of time being active on mazdaspeedforums.org”

He is also passing along his love for speed to his two year old daughter who loves riding in the Mazdaspeed and is often egging her dad on by saying “go, go, go, go,go!” If Will’s dyno chart has anything to say about it, his speed 3 doesn’t disappoint when she asks him to floor it!

Gwynne –

September 6, 2011September 13, 2018

Featured Car of the Month September 2011 – Domii’s Mazda 2

It’s not often that you come across women that take the modified car scene seriously, but if you’re a female and know your way around your car, from installing a performance exhaust system to spending your weekend’s auto-crossing, there’s a place for you in the performance world too.

Domenique first became interested in Mazda performance when she went to the NEPOC meet in 2009 with her boyfriend Jordan in his RX8. She was immediately attracted to the great cars at the Spring Clean Meet and met some great people that turned her on to a whole new world of modding and performance. By June of 2009 she was hooked and knew that she needed a Mazda of her own to mod.

Initially Domenique wanted a Mazdaspeed 3, but when she saw the 2011 Mazda 2 Sport, she fell in love. “The car was the perfect size. I loved how light and small it was and how well it handled” said Domenique, “This was my first manual, but the Mazda 2 was so easy drive, it was cake to learn.”

Wheels and lowering springs were the first priorities on Domenique’s list when she began her new project car. After talking with one of our CorkSport experts, she settled on the H&R springs and also decided to purchase a CorkSport Rear Torsion Bar to add much needed roll resistance to the rear of the Mazda 2.

“What an improvement in handling!” said Domenique, “The car not only looked much better, but the handling got much tighter and the turn response improved greatly.”

She decided to go with 15’s on the wheels to keep the weight of the car down and went with powder coated Kosei K1’s 15×7 with a +27 offset.

As her first power upgrade, Domenique installed a CorkSport Short Ram Intake which gave the car a noticeable gain in power and a nice grunt to the engine and has since added a Power Pulse Muffler Exhaust.

Future projects include a CorkSport Lightweight Crankshaft Pulley, CorkSport Front Strut Bar, CorkSport Rear Chassis Brace, tint, and a sound system.

Domenique’s new love for car modding has translated into another new love for autocrossing. On August 20th, she took the MZ2 out for the first time Auto-crossing at Renegade Miata and learned just what the car was capable of.

“I never really thought I would have been so interested in customizing a car. I guess I can blame it on my boyfriend, in a good way of course,” says Domenique, when asked about becoming a car enthusiast, “I love to go to shows and now my goal is to get better at Auto-Crossing.”

If you want to keep up with Domenique’s new and upcoming Mazda 2 projects, you can follow her progress on her blog, https://piinkdem.blogspot.com

Gwynne-

June 28, 2011July 1, 2011

A New Toy for CorkSport

As we continue to ramp up our CorkSport product line, we have been making some changes to our internal processes to increase delivery time and refine the look and design of the CorkSport brand of products. The latest investment we made is the Epilog Mini 24 Laser etching machine. Why, do you ask, would we get one of these? The laser etcher has a combination of flying-optic design and the highest quality engraving results. This provides a precise etch on a variety of materials and allows us to give you a larger selection of CorkSport logoed products with the highest quality results and precise imaging.

For example, we were originally having our MAF housings for the SRI intake machined, anodized, and then machined again for the logos. This increased the manufacturing time making it more difficult to keep it in stock and available for immediate delivery. Once we made the switch to etching our logo onto the MAF housings with the new laser etching machine, it sped up the time it took to manufacture, which meant keeping more in stock and reducing backorders and delivery times.

We also began using the machine to laser etch our logo onto the CorkSport Mud Flaps. Now, rather than applying a vinyl logo, we are able to offer the mud flaps with a durable etched logo that has a superior look that will never rub off. You can pressure wash our mud flaps without any worry of damaging the logos.

On a side note, if you want to have a custom set of logoed mud flaps made, contact Chris and he can hook you up with that.

Now that we have more flexibility with our branding process, if you have an idea of something that you would like to see branded, let us know!

– Derrick

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