Piston And Cam Info (and a question for you all)

I e-mailed Corksport asking about the FS-ZE piston set and the difference between that and their Mazdaspeed piston set for our engines. Here's what I learned about the pistons:

The FS-ZE piston set (also made by Mazdaspeed!) uses a 10.4:1 compression ratio

The aftermarket Mazdaspeed piston set advertised on their site uses a 10.7:1 compression ratio. I assume that would give more power!

Our stock compression is 9.1:1 (if I remember correctly).

I have e-mailed them again asking whether I would need anything else changed to compensate for the pistons to maintain the reliability of the car, and I'm waiting for a reply.

Now my question is: do higher compression pistons improve torque and hp all over the powerband, or is it just at the top like cams? Since I plan to do cams as well, I'd rather not lose any more low end than is absolutely necessary when modding, to maintain the daily driveability of the car.

On to cams:

Corksport tells me that the FS-ZE engine uses the same exhaust camshaft as the FS engine, and hence all Proteges have the same exhaust cam. The one advertised on the Mazda Motorsports site (with the unground lobes) is a race cam, and they did not recommend it for a street vehicle.

However, there is a Mazdaspeed exhaust cam at Corksport that is for our FS engine, and they tell me that it would be a good upgrade when switching to the FS-ZE intake cam (which would be especially good for us MP3's because we have the double runner intake manifold).

I've also asked them whether I'd need any additional mods to make them work properly ie. stiffer valve springs to prevent float and as above, I'm waiting for a reply.

If anybody knows any more info, please let me know! Just an FYI...happy modding!

Please post that info when you get word from them. I am very interested in the piston set mazdaspeed offers. I was also curious if you will need to swap the intake cams after the using the high compression pistons. The pistons they are offering on mazdaspeed.com are CHEAP!!!

can somebody please enlighten me in the intake manifold issue? whats that? would it help to improve the car performance too? i notice ppl talking about the pistons, camshaft, but not the manifold, so thats why im wondering.

i just noticed that the intake cams are not legal, or at least thats what it says in the mazda motorsports site... lets hope u have some news about the pistons

I'm not an expert on the intake manifold, but from what I know, the MP3 has the intake manifold from the Japanese Sport 20. It's supposed to be slightly larger (for better flow) and has dual intake runners, as opposed to the manifold on the regular Proteges. So, it uses one set of runners for low rpm torque, and switches to the other set of runners at high rpms for more horsepower. The intake cam would supposedly work even better on the MP3 than the regular Proteges because our manifold already has a higher 'potential'...in tandem with the cams it would theoretically produce even more power.

The intake cam from Mazda Motorsports is not smog legal, so if you live in an area with strict smog regulations ie. California, you might fail the emissions tests. That's no different than if you got the J-Spec headers, which would remove the first catalytic that we have. I'm fron Vancouver, Canada, and we have smog tests every two years as well, so cams are risky (though our smog regulations aren't as strict as CA).

I believe that is the case with most aftermarket cams. It's the nature of performance cams to produce more emissions. The question is only how much more...as with all performance mods, there's always a tradeoff somewhere.

If you really want the cams, I'd suggest removing them before the smog tests and reinstalling them after...for me, doing that once every two years isn't such a big hassle.

I'm only holding off right now because the car's still so new, and though cams won't expressly 'void' the warranty, it'll give me hassles at the dealership if I run into any engine troubles.

I totally agree with holding off for right now. My mp3 only has about 1100 miles so I'm not about to start ripping apart the engine. The new Ford Focus SVT has the 10.5:1 compression ratio in the 2.0 litre engine but I don't know what kind of cams it has. Anyways, their engine has 170hp at the crank and I think 162 at the wheels. I'm not positive about these numbers, I looked at it last night on the net and don't quite remember. But I know their close. I'm wandering what the HP n the mp3 will be after the 10.7:1 pistons and the intake cam. I'm guessing it should also be around 170. The only thing that would give the Focus more power is the variable valve timing. If anyone has more info let us know. By the way, I'm almost afraid of posting numbers of stuff I don't remember to a "T" because of they way some people on this site bash each other. So if I'm off by a few tenths on that compression ratio or the hp in the SVT, please forgive me.