MotorGraphic's Mazda 3 Build

[Motor-Graphic]

MotorGraphics Mazda 3 build

My car: 2007 Black Mica Mazda 3 GT Hatchback







Engine
Fujita F5 CAI with K&N Filter
Vibrant 4-2-1 header (Not yet installed)
Corksport Power Series exhaust (Planned)
SURE Torq R3 REM with Track polyurethane. (Not yet installed)

Exterior
Shaved 2.3 badges
Windows tinted with 3M Color Guard 35% on all windows
Bosch Icon wiper blades
Partplaza eyelids, Black Mica (Not yet installed)
Mazdaspeed3 style rear spoiler - Carbon fiber (Not yet installed)
OEM front lip
OEM Mazdaspeed3 rear diffuser
Shark Fin Antenna
Rear fenders rolled.

Interior
Hardwired iPhone Power & Sound
Dashhawk
Broadway wide rearview mirror

Suspension
BC BR Coilovers
BC rear damper extender
Strut tower hole caps enlarged for easy camber adjustment.
Matsu Strut tower bar

Wheels & Tires
Summer wheel set
TSW Nurburgring Rotary Forged wheels, 18x7.5 et45
Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec, 225/40ZR18
Muteki SR48 Black open-ended lugs

Winter wheel set
Factory MZ3 17 Snowflake rims
Continental Extreme Contact DWS, 205/50-17

 

[Motor-Graphic]

Sup everyone. Been following the forum for awhile. I have had my car since new in 07 but have only recently started modding. So I thought I would chime in so you all could follow.

Last year I got Wheels & tires, an intake and BC BR Coil-overs.

This year is going to be nuts. Installing a full exhaust, starting with a Vibrant 4-2-1 exhaust mani. I planned on doing it all at once, but Corksport is out of stock on the 1st gen Mazda 3 exhaust. Plan on snatching one as soon as they are re-stocked. You can see in the above post the other items I have planned. Most of the parts are either bought or ordered.

All in all it's a mild build. The Mazda is currently my daily driver/AutoX car. Next year, I plane to pick up a 2nd car and I want the Mazda to be close to where it's going to be. Once I acquire the 2nd car, most of the project money will be going there.

 

[thejeans]

look forward to seeing all the upgrades and changes to the car

 

[hat1018]

Looking good so far. You might want to upgrade the rear sway bar as well. Great mod imo.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

look forward to seeing all the upgrades and changes to the car

It seems the list of things to do keeps growing. I should rename the thread, "Project Money Pit!"
Your car is constantly evolving. I especially like the black/orange combo you have in your sig. It's interesting to note that I may be plasti-dipping my rims and a few other parts blaze orange this summer.

Looking good so far. You might want to upgrade the rear sway bar as well. Great mod imo.

Yep. An RSB is on my list. Been eyeing the Tri-Point bar for a while. Need to get a set of rear camber links too.

Thanks guys for the comments. Will be posting more pics here soon.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

Thought I'd start a quick storyline so people can see where the car started.

This is what my car looked like for pretty much the first three years. I actually leased the car when I first got it. Was working at a Porsche dealership as a body tech and the dealership also sold Mazda's. To bad I couldn't afford a Porsche. However, as an employee, lets just say the lease deal I got was incredible.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

When the lease was up, I only had 23k miles on the car and the buy out was way below the current market value. Personally, at the time I didn't really care for the 2nd design, although with the right kit it looks awesome. (No hard feelings to the 2nd gen owners.) So I bought the car and loaded up with a ton of Mazda accessories.

Can you believe it all fit. The dealer didn't think so but I know my Mazda3.



So this is what my car has looked like for the past year and half.



I bought the OEM chin spoiler, the OEM Mazdaspeed3 rear diffuser and a few interior accessories. I also replaced the factory Goodyear tires that wear shot only after 25k and I was driving the car hard, well not extreme anyway. Bought the Conti's and I couldn't believe the difference. Especially durring the winter.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

It was shortly there after that a co-worker got me auto-crossing.

Just look at that front tire roll. The car needs sway bars bad.


I will say as an AutoX noob, I did very well. Always improving my lap times while maintaining good control of the car. I knew the Mazda3 had potential and thought I had pushed the car to it's limits but after my first AutoX event, I realized I hadn't even come close.

I also found that the 5 speed in the 1st gen 3 is well matched for AutoX. Your in 2nd gear for most of the race. A lot of the Six Speeders out there had difficulty on the longer straights as they constantly hit their rev limiters or shifted to third only to loose time.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

After auto-crossing for a season, I knew I had to upgrade my car. Thats when I got bit by the modding bug.

Of course in any form of racing, the most important mod you can do is "Tires." A lightweight set of rims won't hurt either. Electing to go the route of run what you brung, I bought some TSW Nurburgring's and threw on some Direzza Star Spec's for good measure. I wanted to go wider but in order to stay in the STF class, 7.5" was the limit. These tires are also decent in the rain so I can run them all spring and summer, although they are very loud.

Test fitting the wheels:


With tires mounted:


Before and After shots. New wheels - much better!

 

[Motor-Graphic]

All things considered, the new treads made a significant improvement at the track. Unfortunately, I only made it to 2 events last year but even though I move up a class, I still placed 2nd.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

It's odd, but even though the new Wheel/Tire combo matchs the overall height of the factory wheels and tires, it now seems like my car is jacked up? So, I did what any wise person would do on a budget. I scoured the forums and scored some quality used parts. I picked up a set of BC BR coil-overs, a Fujita F5 CAI and a Vibrant exhaust mani.

The CAI was the first to go in.



As the intake was used, the filter needed replacement so I bought a K&N unit that has worked very good. It was also missing the PCV hose so I bought a silicon hose and used the existing one, for now. All in all, I love the sound of this intake.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

Now some real fun. This is were I really tore into the car. I am fortunate that my car has low miles but I do live in the salt belt so a few bolts were not as eager to come off. However the most fun was going the extra distance.

Realizing the damper knobs on the rear shocks are not readily accessible, I called up BC and ordered the extension kit. This allowed me to route the remotes through some vents but they were not a bolt in deal. On 2007-2009 model hatches, there's a bracket on both sides that need to be cut, so interior came out and the cutting began.




Test routing it through the vents


This works without cutting but I may change this later


The extra work to install these have paid off 10 fold. Now to adjust the dampners in the rear, I just pop the hatch.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

The cutting in the back wasn't so bad. Keep in mind that I live in an apartment and although I have a garage, I couldn't rely on much in the way of electricity. Anything that pulls to much amps will blow the circuit and people would be pissed when they got home and couldn't open their garages. But I managed.

The real challenge was the fronts. If I'm installing adjustable coil-overs with camber plates, it be nice to adjust camber without removing the front struts. From the factory, the top hats on the strut towers have very small openings.


Anyone on this forum that has changed their suspension know that it's enough work to install your front strut, that it's really not worth pulling it back out to change the camber settings. So I did the next best thing.

I made the hole bigger!


What a difference and it looks close to factory:


For anyone concerned with reducing the strength of the strut tower by making the whole bigger, I found plenty of research including a study from Corksport that making the whole larger will not reduce the structural integrity of the strut tower. Just thought I'd mention that.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

Now the car sits better. Still working on the stance though.



URL=http://razzi.me/p/1076018]

[/URL]

At this height, I started cutting into my rear tires and pulling the inside fender lip down. This especially was the case when taking corners fast. Unfortunately this ment raising the car back up a bit until I could roll the inner fenders.

 

[Motor-Graphic]

Big install planned for this weekend. I've had a vibrant header for awhile and finally installing it tomorrow. While I'm at it, I'll be replacing the rem while I'm at it.

May do a few small things to. I also ordere an Tri-Point rsb and the end links but those won't be here till next week.

 

[xMazdax]

Why do your wheels look like 19's

 

[Motor-Graphic]

Why do your wheels look like 19's

Probably because I'm running low profile tires and I'm sitting on BC BR coilovers.

I thought about 19's and may still get a set for the street. The 18's I'm running are double duty (street and autoX) and 19's are not the best. At least not for my setup.

 

[xMazdax]

We are running the same tire size, but yours still look like 19's haha

 

[thejeans]

We are running the same tire size, but yours still look like 19's haha

your wheels also have a lip, that generally makes wheels look smaller than they actually are...
wheels like the OP or mine where the spokes go the whole way out to the edge of the wheel tend to look more true to size/bigger compared to ones with a lip

 

[Motor-Graphic]

your wheels also have a lip, that generally makes wheels look smaller than they actually are...
wheels like the OP or mine where the spokes go the whole way out to the edge of the wheel tend to look more true to size/bigger compared to ones with a lip

Well said.

Where did you get your rain guards thejeans? Do they work pretty well and not cause wind buffeting? I know that NextMod has a set for $50 but not sure if those are the true JDM versions which cost a bit more.

Got my Vibrant header and Sure Torq R3 mount installed this weekend. That header is a PITA to remove and I didn't even deal with seized bolts or O2 sensors. But wow! It was totally worth it.

Will be posting more picks here soon. Been crazy busy with work.