Modifications
Car Audio & Video
Interior
Exterior Styling
Page 1: Pictures
Page 2: Mods (You are here)
Page 3: Future Mods
Mods
-Cobb SF Intake
-Corksport Turboback Exhaust
-Cobb Sport Springs
-Corksport Motor Mount Inserts
-TWM Shifter Base Bushings
-Enkei Evo5 18x7.5 +45 Hyper Black Wheels w/ Falken 452 235/40/18
-Prosport Electrical Boost Gauge in Mearcat Gauge Pod
-Luminics "JDM Yellow" Fog Lights
-Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic Oil
-Redline MT-90 Full Synthetic Transmission Fluid
-Kicker CompVR 8" in Custom Fiberglass Sealed Enclosure
-Kicker ZX.300 300W Amplifier
-30% Llumar Tint All Around
Cobb SF Intake (Short Ram)
One of the first mods...gains power and sounds really nice! You can really hear the turbo spool with this intake. Recommend anyone with a MS3 to pick up an intake of some sort.
Corksport Turboback Exhaust
I went with this exhaust because it was out (Cobb's is taking forever) and it was also the cheapest option out there. Also, Corksport had a 10% off deal going when you bought the whole turboback together...sweet! Finally got the whole thing installed, along with a high flow cat welded into the mid pipe. The sound is amazing, I love it. It's also not too much louder than stock when cruising/idling which is awesome. The part number on the cat is Magnaflow/Carsound #59959 3" in/out.
Here's some stock vs Corksport pics
Here are some installed pictures of the downpipe...sexy!
Cobb Sport Springs
Been really happy with these guys. They have a 1" drop over stock and are 15% stiffer in the front and 25% in the rear. Car felt a lot better after the install in my opinion and I think it helped give some extra traction off the line thanks to the stiffer rear springs. It's a moderate drop but it's there. Here's a before and after shot.
Corksport Motor Mount Inserts and TWM Shifter Base Bushings
It's a known issue that the rear motor mount of this car is very soft and lets the engine flop around in the engine bay. For me, this made shifting at rpms really tough and I grinded into 2nd and 3rd a lot. It was REALLY annoying. The inserts basically fill all the holes of the stock mount. The engine moves around a lot less in the engine bay and shifting is MUCH easier and smoother. All of this with no increase of cabin vibrations! Probably the best $35-45 I've spent on the car. The bushings help take out some of the vagueness in the shifter. The stock rubber bushings are replaced by aluminum ones. Another cheap and good mod. Those 2 things along with MT-90 transmission fluid has made shifting much smoother and better vs stock. Doesn't really increase performance...but it really makes driving much more enjoyable.
Enkei Evo5 18x7.5 +45 Hyper Black Wheels
I like them. They are wider than stock wheels and weigh less. Let's wider tires fit on easier and better (235/40/18). Will be installing these tires in a week or so. Only got 15k out of the stock Potenzas :(.
Prosport Electrical Boost Gauge and Mearcat Gauge Pod
The price was right for this boost gauge and has proved to work consistently and looks nice...been very happy with it. For awhile I had it eletrical taped to the steering column....lol. Finally a good and moderately priced pod came out so I finally got that too. Mearcat is actually an Australian company (they have right hand drive cars there), and they made a special batch for us over here in the US. Glad I got in on that deal!
Luminics "JDM Yellow" Fog Lights
I like.
Kicker CompVR 8" in Custom Fiberglass Sealed Enclosure
I had a Kicker box and amp in my old Civic, but I hated how it stole my precious trunk space. It was also vented and I wanted to get a sealed enclosure this time around. Unfortunately, they don't make any "stealth boxes" for the Mazda 3 or Mazdaspeed 3. Luckily though, I found someone on Mazda3Forums.com who was making them for a good price. The box is made from fiberglass and takes the place of the jack in the side of the hatch. I still haven't found a great place for the jack, but oh well, I'm not really worried about it. One bummer about the box (actually the lack of space in the jack area) is that it can only accommodate a 8" subwoofer. I already had my 300W amp from before so I wanted something that went with it well. I ended up getting the Kicker CompVR DVC and running it @ 2ohms 300W. Had to play with the gain on the amp to make sure I didn't blow or overpower the sub. Regardless, it sounds good to me...a lot better than the Bose 5inch "subwoofer". I thin it has a hard time with some really low frequencies due to its size, but I mainly listen to rock and it works great for that. I took out the Bose sub and that's where I have my amp. I'm planning to eventually get it mounted to the ground under the passenger seat so it doesn't move around, but my amp actually fits quite nice in there and haven't had any problems so far.
Page 1: Pictures
Page 2: Mods (You are here)
Page 3: Future Mods
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