New P5 owner and soon to be local postwhore.

[tonybonekhang]

Just an introductory post for myself and my car. I'm the new owner of a blue 03.5 P5 and figure I'd join up on a mazda forum. My other cars are a 93 del sol SI and a 92 protege LX. The del sol is the tuner project, the 92 LX is the winter beater, and the 03 P5 is the family car. The del sol was just recently finished with a body kit, garret T25 turbocharger and is currently pushing 10.5 lbs. So with that finally out of the way and the 92 LX slowly dying on my I figured I needed a new interest - hence the P5.

Got it for quite a steal. 33XXX miles, full leather interior, spare tire sub, manual transmission for.....$6200. It is a rebuilt title. It went through a front end collision where the air bags deployed so it was salvaged and rebuilt. Carfax is clean so I'm really hoping it's not a stolen car given the price. Pics below:

These are the previous owner's pics as it is now too cold here for my own photoshoot.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/TonyBoneKhang/blueprotege024.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/TonyBoneKhang/blueprotege027.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/TonyBoneKhang/blueprotege013.jpg


And pics of the del sol.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/TonyBoneKhang/DSCI0583.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/TonyBoneKhang/DSCI0166.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/TonyBoneKhang/DSCI0574.jpg

[NCZ13]

niiiice del sol

and i dont say that often

any plans for the p5?

[GMalatrasi]

What part of FL are you located in?

[tonybonekhang]

Plans for the P5 will be winterizing it! lol

Seriously, I'll be spending the next week looking for some rugged rubber floormats that fit, steel wheels, snow tires, and coating the entire undercarriage with armite. Come spring I'm thinking of a short shifter but those things are friggen expensive(anyone know of anything that's less than $100?). Not for race purposes but I think that thing just sits too high. Also the stock shift knob has to go. It's like grabbing a friggen baseball to shift.

Other than that not planning much else. This will be a family car so I'll leave it mostly stock. I'm interested in one of those double din monitor/gps/dvd/mp3 players too.


What part of FL are you located in?

I got the car in Miami I live in Wausau, WI.

[jersey_emt]

Welcome to the forums!

[GMalatrasi]

Figured you werent in FL since ur talking about steelies and such.
Good price though, mine was $9K and isn't in as good shape as yours looks.

[tonybonekhang]

Good price though, mine was $9K and isn't in as good shape as yours looks.

That was one of the worst things about these cars. The Blue book values were very high and then prices were marked up just because it was a gas sipping 4 cyl. 9k was actually my ballpark too and I was looking at a lot of them for that price. Then this one came up and I had to jump.

It is pretty much mint only thing is that the bumper is a little misaligned. The top part of the front grill that's supposed to sit flush under the hood sticks out on one side.

[Sliver5]

It has sedan headlights so it was deffinatley in a front end collision. Looks really clean though, and your del sol is sweet.

[tonybonekhang]

It has sedan headlights so it was deffinatley in a front end collision. Looks really clean though, and your del sol is sweet.

thanks. As for the sedan lights how can you tell? I didn't even realize that. What are they supposed to look like?

[Falango]

The Protege sedan lights are single bulb (H4) and the Protege 5 ones are double, separate bulbs for hi beam and low beam.

[tonybonekhang]

Is there a big difference in lighting output? I've noticed the light pattern is really irregular and I can't even drive without the fogs on. I know the lights are horribly misaligned but everything still seems very streaky as the light doesn't seem to be disbursed evenly.

edit: I'm wondering if he put these on as replacements. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-02-03-MAZDA-PROTEGE-DX-ES-LX-HEADLIGHTS-ALL-CLEAR_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33710QQihZ021QQit emZ310002751810QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
Maybe these ebay specials are the reason why the light isn't diffused properly.

[Riken]

Welcome to the forum. Nice cars you got there.

[mx-p5]

Is there a big difference in lighting output? I've noticed the light pattern is really irregular and I can't even drive without the fogs on. I know the lights are horribly misaligned but everything still seems very streaky as the light doesn't seem to be disbursed evenly.

edit: I'm wondering if he put these on as replacements. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-02-03-MAZDA-PROTEGE-DX-ES-LX-HEADLIGHTS-ALL-CLEAR_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33710QQihZ021QQit emZ310002751810QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
Maybe these ebay specials are the reason why the light isn't diffused properly.

Pretty good chance those are the reason. Hey, now that you've got crap headlights, tear em down and retrofit some RSX projectors in there now!!

As to a short shifter, the shifter out of an MP3 protege is shorter than the P5's, and, there's one selling for I think $40 shipped in the For Sale section. Only thing is the P5 shifter knob doesn't fit it, so, you'd have to get an MP3 knob or a "Universal" and stick it on.

Nice color choice and welcome to the boards.

Tylor

[tonybonekhang]

I dunno about a retrofit. I'm sick of all my side projects as is. This would be something that would be sitting on my work space for weeks.

As for the shifter I'm thinking of just hacking a couple inches off and then rethreading it. I'm not concerned with the throw just the height.

Any ideas as to what I can expect a set of OEM P5 lights to go for?

[CTt3P5]

Welcome to the forums!!! As for pricing on a set of headlights...that will depend. I suggest you start a WTB thread and keep browsing the f/s section. I was fortunate and picked up a set already painted black for $180 to replace my already painted black ones which were broke.

If you don't want to wait contact Jason at http://www.onlinemazdaparts.com IIRC they go for about $200 each