Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Forced Induction Basic FI Questions Regarding a 3.0L

This is actually regarding a Mazda6s. So it's a tad bit different as far as what's available, but the same general experience applies, and that's what I'm looking for.

Until very recently I had planned on selling my Mazda6 and buying something 'better' to tune. But, faced with the prospect of actually listing her for sale, I found that was a little difficult particularly since the car has been absolutely flawless; it's hard to give that up for a car that could have problems, even if it is a new one. So I'm seeing what I can do with the 6 and would like to solicit some feedback from you guys.

Wagner Motorsports will begin selling their turbo kit for the Mazda6 in the very near future. This is a T3/T4 kit sold with or without an intercooler; you can read the full specs here: http://www.wagnermotorsports.net/turbo_kits_mazda_6.htm They have no dyno available yet and I was wondering what you guys think a T3/T4 kit was capable of. Or perhaps the better question is what can the stock Duratec handle before you've got to go upgrading stuff?

I've read through numerous threads here and have found that pistons are a common upgrade with FI. I've seen numerous names thrown around and Draxas carries Ross Racing pistons on their website. How necessary would pistons be on a stock T3/T4 setup, at what boost level would up upgrade your pistons if not immediately, and what compression ratio would be best for something that wouldn't be crazy powerful (not planning on 400whp or anything) but would give you a good range of opportunity to get power as other components were upgraded and you notched up the boost levels?

I had some more stuff I was thinking about, but I just blanked. So I'll have to ask them later. I appreciate any help.

Stock engine can do ~350/350 wheels safely. (intercooled!!!)
Probably a bit more. We should know soon.

i'll go ahead and ask.

Will this fit a cougar/contour?

from the looks of it....not sure if there is enough room under the engine in that area for a contour/cougar.

Maybe someone can chime in.

It may be because it's pretty late, but it looks like the turbo is only fed from the rear exhaust mani. I don't see them saying anything about headers or a crossover pipe..... just the downpipe. If so, that's taxing!

More or less, the idea would be pretty sweet for a Contour to place the turbo there. If designed right, the turbo could be fed from both headers fairly equally.

I analyzed those pictures for a while and here's what I think:
Looks like it can be fed by both banks since the front bank comes around to the rear right about where that turbo is facing and of course you can feed the rear manifold entrance into that. The turbine discharge is right down the rear of the car so that is also nice, no bends and large diameter piping can be used easier with no ground clearance problems.

The only issues are the low mounted position in terms of oil feedback into the pan and of course intercooler piping. They seem to show both a water to air and an air to air cooler option.
Our engine bays are a tad more cramped but the position of the turbo is possible for our cars. There is a significant amount of room behind the engine where the rear manifold precat is on our engines and it would easily accomodate a turbo there.
The drawback is the tight 90 degree turn and the intake pipe diameter required to get the intake piping into that area and onto the turbo as well as piping to get it out to the rest of the car. On our cars it would be extrememly packed and cluttered and would put limitations on the diameter.

The current setup I run has a large diameter intake with a wonderfully short distance. The discharge tube runs about 18" total distance from the turbo to the throttlebody including an intercooler in the middle! THis is exceptional for response time.
The very smooth intake and low restriction make it easier to supply air to the turbo and I can also use a draw through maf.
On a car with 20 feet of intake piping like an FMIC type car the draw through MAF won't work as good. THe blow-through maf like they have also has issues. We can see how it works out though.
Overall a clever design and should be lots of fun and still make a good bit of power.

Few things.

It is fed from both exhaust banks. The obvious indication being that the turbine outlet goes right into the exhaust midpipe. If the front bank didn't go into the turbo...where would that exhaust go! I think the "y-pipe" mentioned is before the turbo.

It will only have an air to water intercooler with the heat exchanger up front on the radiator. The "intercooler" piping listed in the stage 1 is a misprint.

They already did a twin turbo 6, with air to air. So they do have experience with the platform. But the tuning has been the problem. Unichip isn't coming through quick enough and SCT is dragging it feet to even start the project.

These are the same guys that did the headers for the 6 that were mentioned on this forum some months back, where some Contour guys were thinkin about seeing if they would fit. They have been great to our community, but they seem to be lagging on actually getting things done. My personal opinion is because they've taken on too many projects at once. Headers for both V6 and I4, motor mounts, and now this. Plus, the 6 isn't the only car they are making products for.

To answer Sigma's question, I don't think you need anything else. There are obviously drivetrain considerations to think of, but save for a clutch and flywheel, there isn't anything out there for our cars yet anyway.

Appreciate the comments, guys.

As far as drivetrain goes...

I've already got a Stage 2 clutch, so that's taken care of. I'd like to get an LSD and some better half-axles, but they're not offered.

In a thread a long time ago someone mentioned having a set of half-axles custom-made. I think it was that guy doing that big build-up that no one believed. Anyone have any idea what I'm talking about and perhaps where that work was done?

LSDs are of course a slightly larger problem. And there's no community interest in getting enough orders to get one made. I know that Terry Haines was working on a 6-Speed (not Getrag) ST220 transmission with Quaife that could be brought over to the US and prepped to mount on the Contour/Cougar. I have no idea what happened to that project though. Or I could see about using the MTX75 with some tweaking, but I'd of course like to at least 'upgrade' to 6-speeds if I was going to go through the trouble.

The A65M-R itself is questionable at higher power. No one really knows for sure. Guess we'll be finding out.

iirc, the person in question on those axles was svtprodigy
also iirc, the 6 speed conversion for the tour was said to be possible but cost prohibitive.