The best Mazda 6 tuning modifications

"I'm to Sixy for my car"

The Mazda 6 is a good attack on producing an executive car. The car is well thought out and has a good range of engine options and a good chassis design. However the 6 is not aimed a the performance market and lacks many of the interesting engine options available in other marques.

The drawbacks of the standard Mazda 6 is the lack of engine power and the soft suspension. Both of which can be easily addressed enabling the Mazda 6 tuner to build a good fun car.

Anything less than the 2.0 is a bit of a waste of time when it comes to tuning as the cost is quite high and the return in power is relatively low. You might look to the other Mazda engine options to source a suitable donor and do a 2.3 Turbo conversion from the 3 range. Alternatively take the 2.0 engine and get the head polished, ported and gas flowed. Then add a fast road cam matched to some larger valves (with a 3 or 5 angle valve job)and you already have a nippy rev happy car.

Get a good quality stainless steel sports exhaust with a sports catalyst and that will also free up the engines torque. If you replaced the paper air filter with a sports panel filter or an induction kit with a cold air feed you have a nicely increased Torque band across the mid to top rev range.

If you wanted to go a bit bonkers then you could look into forced induction with a supercharger being easier to add than a turbo. For best results you will need to lower the compression ratio or use water injection to avoid issues with detonation. If you wanted a forced induction option it would be better to source the older models 2.3 turbo engine and swap this in.

Looking at the handling we would suggest a drop of around 35-45 mm on some harder springs for the best handling. Also add an anti roll bar to keep the cars cornering grip. Some of our members who own the Mazda 6 have added larger alloy wheels but for the best performance stick with the standard size wheel or get a larger alloy and fit ultra low profile tyres to it. In any case we would prefer to stick to 16 or 17inch rims on the Mazda 6.

Remaps do not offer much of a gain on the NASP engines but when combined with other modifications it can really improve the acceleration and release the maximum power from all your other modifications.

A replacement aftermarket ECU seems to be the way to go on the Mazda 6 but join us in our Mazda forum to see what the latest recommended mods are. Tell us about your project and swap tips and ideas with our Mazda 6 tuners.