Cork Sport sells a very well made intercooler upgrade for MAZDA 6, CX 5 and CX 9 with the 2,.5 L. turbo motors. As well they sell an excellent piping replacement kit.

BUT... the intercooler is black, and worse than being painted black it is POWDERCOATED black, giving it even more insulative and less convective properties!. This black painting/ coating an intercooler to make it "better" is a true "Urban Legend". It goes against physics laws of thermodynamics and can (and has been) empirically proven with tests on painted and unpainted intercoolers.

SO, I asked Cork Sport if I could get an UN-powdercoated intercooler and the customer service guy told me he was "sure" that C.S. engineers "knew what was best" and, no, I could NOT get an un-coated intercooler. Well, so much for "customer service". And hey, this is an expensive part. Plus I told him I would also buy the piping kit, for a total of $750.

I may get just the piping and later look for a Mishmoto intercooler specifically made to fit my 2019 CX 5.

Eric B.
BTW, before you take off on how a black painted intercooler is better take a look at the subject on Youtube at the "Engineering Explained" video and the other video on the subject by a British mechanic.
THEN if you still "believe" in black painted intercoolers you are entitled to continue on in that non-scientific belief.

 

Zak (who I am sure is the one you talked to) and other sales people at CS only goes by what their products they offer are on their website and nothing outside those advertised parts. The phrase or phrasing about what their engineers is generic and intended to end the discussion of asking for something they do not offer normally. This concept is well used with better quality supplies of parts because in the hands of an unknown DIY should something not go well it will get blamed on the product.
I would not worry so much about the inner-cooler tanks being powder-coated if you read the information I already posted about it anyway!
Isn't this the second time you have questioned CS about one of their products....lets see wait I remember it was the Catch can and now the inner-cooler.... LOL

 

Yep "C", I asked them why C.S. had no OCC filter, as do most other OCCs at their exalted price point. A legit question they could not answer.
Seems it's the same with the black intercooler. I'm at a loss as to how this trend got started. More "UrbanLegend" stuff.

When a manufacturer omits something relatively important I question them directly. My Ruger American Predator 6.5 CM rifle had NO bolt lock when on safe. I questioned them and their answer was "That's the way we designed it." I sold that rifle and bought a Browning X-Bolt that DID have a locking bolt. My bad for not checking the bolt ontheRuger American before buying it. Ruger's bad for not providing a bolt lock wen it would have been so easy to do. Savage does it, Mossberg does it, and for the same price point.

Eric B.

 

Ok so the extra filter is not a common part of OCC's. Nuff said I engineer tested many and even designed one for another platform. Take this info or leave it! And what CS did not tell you is that those extra filters or basally steel wool will reduced and restrict the normal air flow (measured CFM) which in your MAZDA will cause a DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Code) Also the lower frame mounting area CS uses unlike most OCC is so the the breather or crankcase air will cool as it travels down the hose which will help to catch oil vapors better then some other universal OCC on the market. You need to read and understand both Fluid and Thermal Dynamic principals to better understand their thought process for their OCC mounting area?
Ok next.... The use of powder coating on an inner-cooler Black...well we go back to what colors will absorb and radiate heat. While powder coating is thick it does a couple things. One it looks great for a product, it does have some better cooling attributes at idle speeds and may even recover from heat soak faster, and it will vastly protect an inner-cooler over bare or a painted surface.
Not to get into this and it is not really a subject on this forum that I have seen but in combat a bolt lock is useful,buying a retail complete as is rifle in most cases have bolt locks but target plinking ,hunting, competition or single shoot single kill rifles a bolt lock is it is not needed at all and many that build custom rifle do not always worry about having them. IMHO and personally speaking having one more area that could jam a BCG in combat situation, I would rather an upper that did not have a bolt lock.

 

"C",
-> Good point on protection intercoolers aluminum material. I guess if I lived in an area that saw salted winter roads I'd want that black powder coating on my intercooler to protect it from salt corrosion.

-> With that RUGER American Predator bolt action rifle I lost 2 cartridges while hunting when the bolt popped open unbeknownst to me. THAT is just one reason for building a bolt lock into the safety mechanism.
Virtually all top end bolt actions have bolt locks. They never interfere with any aspect of shooting as they are integral to the safety. The very best designs like SAKO and Browning have a button to depress when opening the while on safe, keeping the rifle on "safe". (I'm not referring to semi-auto actions here.)

Eric B.