Coming soon: Charley's slow Mazda

[Charley Darwin]

I have a 2013 Mazda2 Sport with a touch over 5,000 miles on it that I purchased new. I plan on driving it enthusiastically on the street and non-competitively in STF.

Current mods on the car:
1 lb custom steel shift knob
Ultragauge mounted on steering column
dressed-up steelies and white letter Yokohamas
bullet antenna delete

Coming this weekend:
CorkSport adjustable struts and shocks
H&R springs
Racing Beat front and rear sway package
CorkSport stainless exhaust and race pipe
Windo Weld-ed factory engine mount

Coming later:
dressed-up BMW bottle caps and 195/60 Azenis 615Ks

Coming much later:
CorkSport SRI and cold air duct

I'll post pictures when I can. This is a busy weekend for me.

 

[inspekt]

Sounds awesome!

 

[Charley Darwin]

Here are a couple of older photos:

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

I think ultra racing makes sway/reinforcement bars for that, good quality stuff

 

[Charley Darwin]

1. Riding high on the Hunter alignment rack.

2. Looking down on an SUV.

3. I ended up with an even -1.4 degree front camber and .02 degree of toe on H&R springs and CorkSport adjustable struts without resorting to camber bolts. This is with me sitting in the driver's seat and 1/4 tank of fuel in the tank.

 

[16vPete]

Nice man! Glad to see they look good with bare steelies (at least to me).

 

[Danielcut]

Do you have center caps on those steelies?

 

[Charley Darwin]

Yes, I do.

I modified some Mr. Gasket #2486 dust caps with a dremel and a hammer, then I pounded them into the hubs with a rubber mallet. I haven't reinstalled the center caps after upgrading the suspension because I'm planning on pulling the wheels off again soon to spray them body color...at least, that's my hope.

In the middle of selling and buying a house, so I don't have much down time right now.

 

[aceaction]

Which ultragauge do you have, and what do you think about it? I just discovered them and I am very interested in getting one now.

 

[Charley Darwin]

I have the Ultragauge EM Plus: http://ultra-gauge.com/ZC/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=56

I am satisfied with it given the price. I have it mounted on top of my steering column between the tach and speedo. It obscures the warning lights, but I am pretty diligent about checking those every time I start the car. Also, the Ultragauge has customizable audible alarms for most readouts, anyway. I'll take some photos of how it looks in my car soon. Eventually, I expect I'll change the readout to "red" so that it matches the rest of the car. For the time being, it does what I want it to do.

 

[Charley Darwin]

Here's how I've chosen to mount the Ultragauge. It's just a bracket and some Velcro, so it's easily removable. The wire tucks away, so nothing is hanging out under the steering column or in the floorboard. As I mentioned, eventually I hope to change the display to red. I've already tried photographic gel sheets, but the color doesn't stay consistent in different lighting and it really dims the display more than I'd like. I expect I'll have to change the LEDs at some point if I am motivated to change the display to red properly.

The CorkSport exhaust and race pipe is very tame. I have had many cars with aftermarket exhausts, and this is one of the quietest. I can't imagine anyone objecting to the sound. It is comparable to the stock sound of my dad's Fiat 500 Sport.

Filling the engine mount with WindoWeld helped as much as I expected. I originally did this mod to my DSM about 10 years ago, so I knew that this would work well and be street friendly, too. Full throttle shifts seem more relaxed, and there is significantly less wheel hop when I'm playing around on wet roads with the traction control turned off.

The CorkSport adjustable shocks/struts, H&R springs, and Racing Beat front/rear sway package has really transformed the feel of the car. Even with modest alignment settings (-1.4 and 0 toe up front) and the factory all-season tires, the car really transitions and holds through the corners without drama. I expect that with some real tires, the car is going to really surprise some people. If anyone would care to chime in on how they've adjusted their own CorkSport shocks, I'd be interested in the feedback.

One of these days, I'll get around to installing some tires on the bottle caps and the CorkSport SRI with the cold air duct. For now, I'm enjoying the car quite a lot as-is.