Posts Tagged ‘DIY’
SURE Motorsports’ ShortCut Installation DIY
For the installation of the SURE Motorsports’ ShortCut you only need 10 minutes and 2 additional tools if you have a short-ram intake already installed. If not see the DIY on how to install the SURE Motorsports’ Aeros in order to remove the OEM Intake system to gain access to the shift linkage within the engine bay.
NOTE: It is best to do this when the engine is cold. The MAF housing of the SURE Aroes and the coolant pipe by the Shift Linkage get very hot to the touch. Even the counterweight gets hot. SO to avoid burning yourself wait for the engine to cool down before you install.
Where is it:
To access the shift linkage to install the ShortCut you will enter the engine from the top and it is located under the Intake.
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Tools Needed:
- Socket wrench
- 12mm socket
- Needle-nose pliers
- Gloves (not pictured)
- Hex provided by SURE Motorsports
- Loctite provided by SURE Motorsports
- magnet extension (because I always drop things!)
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What to do:
(1) First thing is to remove the linkage from the plate. Simply pry it off with the needle nose pliers. (2). Now detach the counterweight using 12mm socket wrench. (3-4) Once this is done, slide the ShortCut over the old linkage plate so that the holes go under the current plate.
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(1) Now we use the screws that were provided by SURE Motorsports and the loctite. (2-3). Coat the screws in Loctite and reinstall counterweight using the new screws and the supplied hex wrench. Tighten screws firmly. (4) Attach Shift linkage to knob on ShortCut plate by pushing it down on top. This does not require a lot of force.
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That’s all there is to it! You are all set and ready for a much shorter throw.
A word of caution. Due to the syncros of the Mazda transmissions this does not allow you to increase your shifting speeds. It shortens the shift throw and, in essence, increases your shifting speed. However, shift normally and you will not get that horrific clanking or grinding sounds. I will have a more detailed explanation on this in my review after further testing.
Mazdaspeed 3 Throttle Body Coolant Bypass DIY
For the Coolant Bypass DIY you will need about 30-45 minutes, depending on how savvy you are around an engine. Also, you will want to make sure that the engine has time to cool down since coolant temperatures reach 180 – 220 degrees. You can easily end up in the emergency room if you do not.
Where is it:
To access the throttle body coolant lines you will enter the engine from the top.
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Tools Needed:
- Socket wrench with extensions (long and short extensions)
- 10mm deep sockets
- Needle-nose pliers
- Gloves (not pictured)
- Anti-freeze to top off what you may loose when pulling hoses.
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What to do:
(1) Open up the engine as pictured above and remove the cover and top mounted inter cooler (1). To remove the inter cooler remove the three bolts, 2 in front and one in back, as well as loosen the hose clamps and bypass valve attached to the inter cooler (2-4). Once this is done lift the inter cooler off and place carefully to the side.
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MAKE SURE ENGINE HAS COOLED DOWN before proceeding. Coolant will spill during this process and can burn you.
Now we have access to the hot pipe and coolant lines on the throttle body. (1-2) Pinch the clamps and move them back on the hose. Then using needle nose pliers, twist the hose to loosen and pull to remove them. (3) This image shows the lines we want to remove and keep. The line towards the bottom of the picture is the one we will completely remove. NOT YET THOUGH! Detach the hoses at the throttle body only and then detach the throttle body pipe.
If you were as fortunate as me, and Mazda installed the clamp bolt under the throttle body pipe, use a deep socket 10mm and feel your way around until the socket is snug over the bolt, then loosen. When you reinstall this later move the bolt so it is easier to access in the future.
(4) You should now see your throttle body completely exposed, naughty throttle body! (6) Now you need to move quickly here or you wil loose a lot of coolant. As you remove the bottom of the bottom hose completely be ready to shove the top hose in its place. Clamp it down and SAVE the bottom hose. You may want to hook it back up in the winter if you live in the North or cold areas.
NOTE: Intake charge temps that are too cool can reduce horsepower because the combustion temps would be too low. Additionally, the throttle body blade can freeze and seize up which, is without saying, bad! However, this may not happen if you haven’t done an ERG Delete. ERG temps of around 1300 degrees keep things pretty warm in there anyway.
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You can either (1-3) buy caps to fit over throttle body coolant inlets or reuse the other hose to close off inlets. You don’t really want stuff getting in there.
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That is all there is to it! Now reinstall the throttle body pipe, inter cooler and top-off your coolant, if need be, and start her up!
SURE Motorsports’ TIG Installation
For the installation of the SURE Motorsports’ TIGs you will need about 2-4 hours, depending on how savvy you are around an engine. While the entire installation can be done without lifting your car there are many bolts and clasps that need to be removed or pinched and this can take a while. Also, you will want to make sure that the engine has time to cool down since it gets very hot in there!
Where is it:
To access the intake manifold and throttle body you will enter the engine from the top.
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Tools Needed:
- Socket wrench with extensions (long and short extensions)
- 7mm-12mm deep sockets
- 22mm open wrench
- Needle-nose pliers
- Flat head screw driver
- Universal joint extension (bending extension).
- Magnet in case you drop a bolt!
- Gloves (not pictured)
- Anti-freeze to top off what you may loose when pulling hoses.
- lock-tight
- Sea Foam to clean up some carbon if you want to!
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What to do:
(1) Open up the engine as pictured above and remove the cover and top mounted inter cooler (1). To remove the inter cooler remove the three bolts, 2 in front and one in back, as well as loosen the hose clamps and bypass valve attached to the inter cooler (2-4). Once this is done lift the inter cooler off and place carefully to the side.
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(1) Now remove the vacuum regulator, black box, from on top of the intake manifold. There are 4 screws. Now we start disconnecting some sensors. (2-4) The sensor in the front with a blue clip is a little tricky. Using a flathead or needle nose pliers push out the clasp in the back of the sensor. They separate outward. once they are started you can use your tools to pull back on it to slide it off. Once the clasp is removed you will pull up on the hose to remove it. (5) Squeeze and pull up on the big grey sensor on the left hand side of the intake manifold to detach it. (6) now detach and remove the sensor next to the intake manifold valve pump. This is located to the top right of the intake manifold. (7) To remove the sensor connected to the throttle body, slide back the red tab to loosen the clasp. There is also a MAP sensor attached to the left side of the intake manifold. Sorry, I forgot the picture but is is behind the big Grey Sensor and bracket. This requires a single 7mm socket. Once the bolt is removed, carefully wiggle out the sensor from the intake manifold.
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Now lets tackle the throttle body. (1-3) Remove coolant lines. MAKE SURE ENGINE HAS COOLED DOWN. Coolant will spill during this process and can burn you. Pinch the clamps and move them back on the hose then using needle nose pliers, twist the hose to loosen. Then pull to remove them. (4) Now remove the inter cooler throttle body pipe from the throttle body. If you were as fortunate as me, and Mazda installed the clamp bolt under the hose, use a deep socket 10mm and feel your way around until the socket is snug over the bolt, then loosen. When you reinstall this later move the bolt so it is easier to access in the future. (5) Remove 4 bolts that secure the throttle body to the intake manifold as seen in image 4. (6) Then remove metal gasket and maybe spray it down with some Sea Foam to clean it up. As you can see the MS3 is prone to crazy amounts of carbon buildup and oil overflow (but that is a whole other post!).
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Removing the intake manifold is the fun part! (not really!). (1) First we start with loosening the ERG tube. This requires a 22mm 0pen wrench. (2-3) Next we will remove the sensor mount from the intake manifold on the front left, the one the big gray sensor is attached to. There are 2 bolts. While you are here you can find the bolt where the dipstick tube mounts to the intake manifold and remove that as well (not pictured, you have to feel around for it).
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Finally, we get to the intake manifold itself. (1-3) Loosen the 5 top bolts. Do not completely remove yet. This is so you do not cause any unnecessary strain on the intake manifold. We will count bolts clockwise. Bolt one is pictured in image 2, Bolts 2-4 are easily accessible from the front-top of the intake manifold and bolt 5 is highlighted in image 3. (4) Remove bolt 6 which attaches the fuel rail cover. Bolt 7 is the tricky one. (5-6) This you will need your universal joint extension to get to and it is located at the bottom of the fuel rail cover. (7) Remove the 8th and final bolt. This is located under the throttle body inlet.
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1st Generation MS3:
You must loosen your steering pump. 2nd Genneration MS3s do not need to do this. (1) Completely loosen top 2 bolts and only loosen bottom bolt to swivel the steering pump out of the way to access the first bolt.
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Now remove all bolts and we should be able to lift out the intake manifold. Forcefully pull the ERG tube out of the way, out and down. (1) However, because there is still a hose attached, which you can remove if you want to, but don’t have to, it will not come out completely. You can see this hose clearly when it is removed. You do not need to completely remove the intake manifold to install the TIGs. But if you want to spray it down with some Sea Foam, you should completely remove it for better access. I detached the Spark plug sensors to move wires out of the way so you can see the hose better. (2) Get the intake manifold gasket ready to go. Also be sure to take warning off and grab the TIG washer for use on the lower mount point. (3) Remove the metal gasket and replace it with the SURE TIG. With the SURE engraved tab facing towards you and on the top left, slide the TIG into place.
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(1) Getting the bottom TIG washer in is a bit difficult. Gravity and the ERG tube like to fight you and make you wish you had 3 hands. (2-3) You can try an light adhesive or lock-tight to pre-mount the washer or finesse it in while you slide the intake manifold back into place. BE CAREFUL, because it can easily fall behind the starter and disappear! Do not worry though. If it is too difficult, just leave it off and DO NOT use the bottom bolt (8th) when you reinstall. Yes, I lost mine behind the starter and did not end up using it. Everything is fine!
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To get the intake manifold back on you will need to finesse it in. Slide it down carefully as to not break the studs, all the while, holding back the ERG tube. (1) Once that is done and you did not loose the washer 
, hand screw in bolt 8 and 3 with plenty of slack. (2) We need to tighten the ERG tube first. If you do not do this first the threads will not sync properly. Once the ERG tube is fully tightened proceed with install bolts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8. DO NOT install bolts 6 and 7 and bolt 8 is optional ( Do not install bolt 8 if you do not use the TIG Washer). Also, “Walk” the tightening process of the bolts. I went back over each bolt 3-4 times until they all were nice and flush. This allows you to evenly distribute the pressure as you tighten the intake manifold.
DISCLAIMER: You can easily crack the manifold if you over tighten bolts. I recommends no more than 18lbs of torque. To be safe I used some lock-tight to make sure the bolts stayed and I tighten them firmly by hand and I will check on them a little later to make sure they stayed tight. I hand tightened mine so it was snug but did not use leverage to tighten. Nothing cracked!
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Once your manifold has been securely bolted up it is now time to mount the throttle body TIG. (1) Place the TIG on the throttle body so that the SURE logo engraved tab is to the top left. Use a bolt to help it stay in place. (2) This tab is not only for design but allows you to easily position the gasket for the second bolt. (3) Then securely fasten the throttle body to manifold. DO NOT OVER TORQUE. If you would like to do the Coolant Bypass of the throttle body, now is the time. Go to the Coolant Bypass DIY now or skip to the final stages of putting you engine back together below.
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The hard part is over! Now we just wipe down any liquids that do not belong and start putting everything back into its place. (1) Replace the throttle body pipe and coolant lines. (Picture below shows throttle body pipe reinstalled with Coolant Bypass.). Also notice I made the clamp bolt easier to access for the future. Now start attaching all brackets and sensors as well as the oil dipstick tube back to their respective places. Because the second bolt of the Grey Sensor bracket was such a pain in the ass, I did not use the bolt. (2) If you did not use the bottom bolt of the intake manifold or the bottom bolt to the Grey Sensor bracket then you should have 4 Bolts remaining when done. (3) If you did the Coolant Bypass like me, your leftover hardware will look like image 3.
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Finally, be sure to top off your coolant if needed and start her up! If all your sensors are correctly plugged in and everything is securely fastened you should not get a CEL. If you do then you missed something! See my Review of the TIGs if you want more information on them.
SURE’s CounterShift Weight Replacement for MS3
Today I received my new SURE Motorsports 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 CounterShift weight replacement. Now many of you may be asking… “Why replace the counter-shift weight, what is it anyway?”. The theory behind this simple little weight is that the heavier it is the smoother the shifting. Although this is true it can make the shifting sluggish. Some of you may not even notice that your shifting is sluggish. However, being that I have had a short-shifter installed into every one of my cars up until now, I notice! By removing the stock weight the shifter will move much faster but will be a lot more harsh and clunky through shifts between 1st and 6th. Being clunky can cause you to miss a gear and that is never good in the quarter mile! So SURE Motorsports has created a nice “in between” which will add shifting speed while remaining smooth through the gears.
Below is how to replace the Stock 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 counter-shift weight with the SURE Motorsports Mazdaspeed 3 CounterShift weight and here is the product review for SURE Motorsports’ CounterShift weight.
Where is it:
The counter-shift weight is found under the (1) stock or (2) aftermarket air intake. Yes you must remove the intake to get to this part.
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Tools Needed:
- 10mm socket wrench
- 12 mm wrench or socket wrench
- phillips head screwdriver
- needle nose pliers
- Gloves
What to do:
Remove the shock Air box [10mm socket wrench, phillips head screwdriver, needle nose pliers]. (1) Remove screw, loosen fan Pipe. (2) Detach sensor and loosen Clamp. (3) Detach sensor wire mount with needle nose pliers. (4) Pull up and out! (5) If you want you can remove the rubber intake hose [loosen clamps and pull], however, you can still easily get to the counter-shift weight regardless.
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Loosen the screws on the top of the bar [12mm wrench]. (1) Be firm but gentle so you do not put too much pressure on the shifting linkage. (2) Here you can see the difference in size between the SURE Motorsports CounterShift weight [top] and the Mazdaspeed 3 stock counter-shift weight [bottom]. (3) Use the same stock screws and bolt the SURE Motorsports CounterShift weight right back on.
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Now all you have to do is replace your Intake and you are all set. Happy shifting!!!