The rods are weak but your comment is a little off. Theres tons of guys making 400+whp on stock block, clutch and tranny and there's probably a 100+ going big turbo as we speak on stock block. The motor is very strong old blown engines are very much a thing of the past, I wouldve been another with around 450fwhp just decided to finally get my dream car!

Blown engines were due to a fault in the load cap. The tuning devices were hitting load cap and blowing. Plain and simple that has since been resolved with the Cobb AP making huge strides to bringing big power to the table. They should have came with a bigger turbo (GT28) stock as the K04 spools way down low and puts a tremendous load on the rods. Since all issues have been resolved there have been very few blown engines and I must say as a daily driver it would be a great car to buy! Cheap to mod and relatively easy to mod. It's no 4g63 but that's comparing apples and oranges. Don't get on it under 3k and ur fine. And meth is ur friend!

 

Welcome

 

never realized how much the 3 looks like the STI hatch, clean ride, welcom to the dark side

 

I will agree that COBB's progress has been very impressive with the MS3, I'm actually switching to one of their newer Stage 2 Alpha maps this weekend.

 

"Zoom zoom boom.." LOL!!!!!

-Josh

 

Hence my comment about power. ~400whp through the front wheels to me is a pretty low ceiling. That's already beyond the law of diminishing returns for FWD anyway, and restricts the car to a highway street racer or drag racing with a tire upgrade.

I'm not trying to hate on it, and I think they are fine with mild upgrades. I just don't understand the appeal of one if you want to go fast (like you seem to be interested in). You'll easily realize your goals with the Evo and not have to feel nervous when you run 27+psi.

 

I'm having a hard time understanding what your saying here... you got any good links that go into more details ???

 

Thanks man

Yeah it really does the white looks very similar to an STi. Thanks for the compliment glad I joined!

You'll love it man Cobb has been THE company to help the Speed's make great power. Everyone is ditching the Cp-e standback in favor of the AP now

LOL it's sad but true

Hate on it all you want I'm ditching the Speed for the far superior Evo and your right it's absolutely ZERO fun when u can't get traction under 50mph!

Yea sorry man I didn't explain it well at all. Another member here messaged asking the same thing haha. I tried finding the email from my tuner but I guess we talked about it on the phone. Sorry for the confusion i can't really explain in the way it should be cause I honestly don't have the knowledge to give good info without messing it up obviously lol

Here's a really good thread it's a very long read through

http://www.mazda***********.org/foru...attered-49009/

Another thread with a little info

http://www.mazda***********.org/foru...oad-cap-59909/


Hope some of that helps man! If not I'll email my tuner and get a more straight forward answer

 

So the reason all the old MS3s were blowing was cuz of this load cap that's fixed with an ECU tweak? I was under the impression it was a physical problem

 

^ This. I figured like the S/C SS balts their internals just couldn't handle the power.

 

Same here, I did read up a bit on the load cap and I fully understand an engine going lean when you max out the ecu's ability to track load... HOWEVER, i saw a lot of failures that had nothing at all to do with running lean or big turbo's or high load..... Not saying the 4B11 has the best track record in the world either... just saying I saw a lot of the 2.3 disi's pop at near stock power levels....

Anyway... My advice is to park that junk while it is still in one piece and hurr up and get the Evo.

 

Yeah I'm looking at the thread right now, a little hard to follow but going lean and maxing out ecu that much I can understand. The MSF crowd tends to be pretty knowledgeable about things.. and cruel to anyone who's not haha so I'm refraining from posting a question. Does merging to highway situations cause high load? I guess more throttle and low RPMs would?

And it seems strange that there would be a cap that would actually endanger the the engine - anything ecu restrictions on our car were ones that would protect it - ie rev limiter at standstill etc. Im not seeing a point to a load cap?

 

Lmao noted! Im stocking out this weekend and will run a tweaked Cobb OTS map until I can save up enough money to get any Evo!

Guys the internals are not weak it's as it is in any car the tune is EVERYTHING. there just want anything that could break past the load cap issues and now it's all good.

Lmao yea MSF is a tough crowd but if u can sift through all the bs there's some of the brightest car minds I've ever encountered on that forum hands down and when they want something done they will get it done no matter what the cost

It's the same with any car. You wouldn't slam WOT in 6th or 5th in an Evo even if u have the 4g63 going 20mph getting on the highway as this puts the rods under a tremendous amount of load. Most people were running way to lean and was another reason why people were going boom. Low end load is what kills these cars the turbo I'd simply not the best match even something like a 16g would be a better fit.

All in all this car is not a weak engine IF tuned correctly! A local guy made 496whp 487trq at 5500ft on stock block, clutch AND tranny on his Speed 3! And he's in the works of putting a GT35 on to see what the true limit of the stock block is with the help of the best tuner for the MZR engines. The guy who etunes most of the cars is legit! He made 447awhp and 521awtrq at 5500ft on a GT3071 and is currently building a block and will be running a twinscroll setup that will be RIDICULOUS when he's done. That's why im saying the Speed 6 in a couple years may be a rival even to the Evo although on a much smaller scale.

http://www.mazda***********.org/foru...-s300sx-71706/

 

They also seem fairly unwilling to share information with anyone that's not within a closer knit group of that community - kinda seems backwards for a forum. but anyway -

while that's great news I personally cant** jump on board and agree and say the MZR is a strong motor now - not saying you're wrong, just saying I think it's a little early to declare until those results, or even less extreme results become a little more regular.

I'm still not quite understanding how the load ecu is working - so if it cuts fuel or whatever under high load, why would anyone (including manufacturer) want that? Shouldn't the ecu be programmed to either cut throttle or something else to prevent high load? Why would they have it go lean? Of course if you floor it in higher gear low rpm its hard on any motor.

Also, it didn't seem like they were talking about it like it's the solution to motors being blown, but rather a method of producing more power @ higher RPMS WOT, though it's clear how it could be a solution. I just thought they'd make a bigger deal of it etc and go crazy about it if it were.

 

Yeah, the MSF requires you to donate which will give you access to restricted areas for more indepth tuning help, which is very handy for people looking to get into the gritty details. I'll be pitching in my donation as soon as pay day rolls around.