Matthew Kellogg almost got sucked into the American muscle car scene when he was 19. Thankfully his older brother owned a 2nd gen RX7and as soon as he got his hands on his brother’s ride, everything changed. He had an immediate love for all things Mazda.

He too was once the proud owner of an RX7 GSL, a 1984 model that he purchased with 189,000 miles on it and a rebuilt Rotary engine. He owned the car for five years before he could finally bring himself to part with it in 2002. He finally traded it in and moved on to a Honda Civic, which until 2007 put him on the fast track to success in the car world as a sponsored driver when he made the decision to join the ARMY in order to give back to his country.

Now that he is back in civilian life, he has moved on to a more sophisticated model with the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3. He describes it as having mesmerizing torque and power, which anyone who has driven one can agree with, and loves the car for its uniqueness, handling and performance.

He has recently gotten back into the show scene and started modding it out. For more power and speed he added a CorkSport Top Mount Intercooler, Short Ram Intake and Cold Air Box, Forge V2 BPV, KMD hpfp internals, test-pipe and cat-back along with a Dynotronics Piasani ECU Street Tune with all the restrictions removed netting him a tuner estimated 345BHP and 295 lbs ft torque.

Styling on the car has also been a focus for Matt. He went with 18×7.5 Drag DR-34’s, matte black wheels with a red edge stripe, and black Gorilla tuner spline drive lugs. He added DDM low beam HID headlight retrofit and red ceramic painted calipers, a CorkSport Stubby Antenna, CorkSport Mud Flap Set, and added blacked out baked headlights and tinted rear tail lights and turn signals, blacked out fog light surround rings and blacked out emblems.

As a commissioned officer in the Texas Army National Guard, Matt has had three and a half years of active duty including a one year stint in Afghanistan and in the meantime got married and had a son, but his goal, as his service in the military winds to a close, is to one day own his own speed shop in Texas.

For now you can find him back in the car show circuit with his first win coming in at the Hooters Car Show in Killeen TX 2010, or on Mazdaspeedforums.org, mazdas247.com or the rx7club.com. He is also working on starting a new Texas club and speed forum.

Want more information about getting involved in a Texas club? You can get in touch with Matt by dropping a line at teamximports@gmail.com.

Gwynne-

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-

Bye Bye Ford. Mazda has confirmed that the Mazda independently designed Cx5 chassis and engine technology will be the new platform for the next generation of the Mazda 3 and the upcoming Mazda 6 replacements.

So what does this mean for Mazda? This shows that the haters in the automotive press, which in 2009 said that Mazda doesn’t have the engineering capabilities to develop a new platform, once again have no idea what they are talking about. Take the quote from Aaron Bragman, Auto Analyst for IHS Global Insight, posted in a TruthAboutCars article in December 2009, “The reality is Mazda is too small to do it on their own…Ford may have other options. They’ve got a European organization that is very good at developing small cars.” In other words, Mazda might want to start looking around for another partner.

Fast forward to today and Mazda has launched a whole new platform that incorporates stronger, lighter, ultra-high tensile steel in its construction, brand new SKYACTIV technology that employs a range of green technologies to increase fuel efficiency, and a clearly defined goal of where they want to be in the next 10-15 years in the automotive landscape.

With news of the soon to be released Cx5, the concept car Mazda 6 replacement the Takeri being shown, and the drawings of the Mx5 popping up the future looks really good for Mazda.

(Picture Above Courtesy of Top Speed)

I am really looking forward to the news that Mazda is looking to offer a 2 door Mazda 6 in the future. It has been too long since the Mx6 left the Market back in 1997 and the only 2 door North America has seen since is the Mx5.

This just goes to show that Mazda is not a company to be underestimated.

-Derrick

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 http://www.corksport.com/corksport-underhood-led-light-kit.html

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

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.

The CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Downpipe is constructed from polished 3″ 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.

“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,” said Rich Harris, President of CorkSport, “and 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.”

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.

The new optional catted downpipe is available for purchase for $580 from CorkSport’s online catalog at http://www.corksport.com/corksport-mazdaspeed-3-downpipe.html

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-

It has finally arrived! The CorkSport 2012 calendar just came off the press. Now you have even more to be thankful for this holiday season!

The 2012 calendar is stock full of deals that include discounts, free stuff, extra rewards points, and more for hundreds of dollars in savings on CorkSport products!

We printed a limited supply of these calendars and the discounts will only be available to people that have purchased them so get the best prices on CorkSport product in 2012 by getting your copy today!

All proceeds from the sale of this calendar will be going to Hope for the Warriors, a national, nonprofit organization that supports wounded U.S. service members, their families, and families of the fallen.

We would like to congratulate the following customers who were selected to have their cars featured in the 2012 edition:

CJ Ramos 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Clement Chang 2004 Mazda 3
Branden Edwards 2004 Mazda RX8
Robbie Stiff 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Matti Kemppainen2006 Mazda 6 MPS
Domenique Impemba 2011 Mazda 2 Sport
Jean-Pierre Girardin 1986 Mazda 323 BFMR
Matthew Kellogg 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Marco Stanic 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege
Martin Chen 2008 Mazdaspeed 3

Gwynne-

CorkSport is pleased to announce a new product line designed at enhancing shifting and providing positive gear changes on Mazdaspeed vehicles. Our new line-up includes the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Shifter Bushing Kit and the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 and Mazdaspeed 6 Short Shift Plate.

An easy upgrade that will eliminate side to side compliance and remove the slack on your shifter, the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Shifter Bushing Kit replaces the rubber OEM shifter bushings with aluminum black anodized shifter bushings. By replacing the factory rubber bushings, which have a tendency to deteriorate and fall apart, with CorkSport shifter bushings, customers will see a noticeable difference in the way the car drives and improved shift responsiveness that will last for years to come.

The new CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Shifter Bushings are CAD designed and machined for exacting fitment and are made from billet aluminum for a long lasting durable finish. The shifter bushing kit comes with a two year warranty and easy to follow installation instructions for a quick simple upgrade that will dramatically improve you’re vehicles shifting responsiveness.

CorkSport’s Mazdaspeed Adjustable Short Shift Plate will further improve the shifter performance by adding precision and reducing the throw of your shifting while keeping the height of your OEM shifter unchanged.

The CorkSport Mazdaspeed Short Shift Plate is made from ¼” CNC Machined Steel Plate with a powder coated black finish. The adjustable setting allows drivers to customize the throw to their liking by a 20% to 40% reduction. The kit comes with a counterweight included for added responsiveness and self locking bolts for an easy installation that will take a mere 15-20 minutes to complete.

Both parts are priced competitively at $39 for the CorkSport Shifter Bushing Kit and $69 for the CorkSport Mazdaspeed Short Shift Plate and are available for purchase at www.CorkSport.com

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.

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.

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 front and rear seats and the door cards. Stage 2.0 of the build will focus on finishing the rest of the interior by wrapped 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 over done, and everything tasteful.”

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

Gwynne-