Newbie. Looking for Easy nd Cheap Mods.

[99ProtegeKV]

Hey i just got my White, 99 Mazda Protege LX. 1.6L 4Cyl, Auto. Its my first car. and i dont really have too much cash. I was wondering if anyone knew some cheap and easy things to increase the performance and maybe some interior exterior stuff. as of right now.. the only thing i have, is green neons under the both wheelwells that i put in myself, i got it hooked up to a switch, i got the install help from the HOW-TO section on here. good stuff. well yea im getting a new deck within the next week. If anyone has any ideas for some things that i can do to make my car look a lil cooler or run better, or any other suggestions for a new kid haha...that would be pretty sweet. thanks.

here are some pics of the car right now...its still fully stock.
http://i25.tinypic.com/r2qqyq.jpg notice...the mismatched hubcaps lol gotta get new ones.
http://i29.tinypic.com/23k44z7.jpg

[Deenoe]

First thing would be a SRI; Short Ram Intake, or CAI; Cold Air Intake. The lowest ones cost approx. 90-150$... And that's not a problem if they're cheap; you keep the tubing, that is pretty much commons for all aftermarket intakes (AEM, Ingen, etc...) and you just slap on a better filter on that sucker (K&N or what-ever).

It could also help if you state whether your car is a 1.6L, 1.8L or 2.0L engine, and whether it is automatic or manual.

[red99pro]

looks like a 1.6(doh)

[99ProtegeKV]

(smash) duh. added more info. my bad.

[Kaido]

Hey i just got my White, 99 Mazda Protege LX. 1.6L 4Cyl, Auto. Its my first car. and i dont really have too much cash. I was wondering if anyone knew some cheap and easy things to increase the performance and maybe some interior exterior stuff. as of right now.. the only thing i have, is green neons under the both wheelwells that i put in myself, i got it hooked up to a switch, i got the install help from the HOW-TO section on here. good stuff. well yea im getting a new deck within the next week. If anyone has any ideas for some things that i can do to make my car look a lil cooler or run better, or any other suggestions for a new kid haha...that would be pretty sweet. thanks.

here are some pics of the car right now...its still fully stock.
http://i25.tinypic.com/r2qqyq.jpg notice...the mismatched hubcaps lol gotta get new ones.
http://i29.tinypic.com/23k44z7.jpg


Hello!! I am driving a 1.6L too. Have a big problem into injecting more faster accel.
Any kind soul could give good advise?

[P-Funk!]

Easy cheap? Fabricate your own SRI froma K&N filter and some PCV.
Buy used MP3 springs and lower it a bit....

remove the hubcaps - let 'em think you have not swapped your winter/.steelies yet... [grin]

Take apart your headlights and black them out/remove the dorky orange piece...

Lightly spray tint your taillights

Have the windows tinted (don't go cheap on this!) if i see one more ghetto-tint--job with bubbles and gaps i'am'ah gonna' slap the taste out yo' mouff! [big grin]

Remove the door side strips.

[99ProtegeKV]

Easy cheap? Fabricate your own SRI froma K&N filter and some PCV.
Buy used MP3 springs and lower it a bit....

remove the hubcaps - let 'em think you have not swapped your winter/.steelies yet... [grin]

Take apart your headlights and black them out/remove the dorky orange piece...

Lightly spray tint your taillights

Have the windows tinted (don't go cheap on this!) if i see one more ghetto-tint--job with bubbles and gaps i'am'ah gonna' slap the taste out yo' mouff! [big grin]

Remove the door side strips.


ok. 1. ineed to find the How to for the SRI
2. i would love to lower it, but i live in an area with alot of hills, and a shitttt load of potholes, the car gets fucked up already, at the height it is now. damn
3. im gunna just go out and buy new hubcaps. so atleast they all match haha, not spinners or any of that shit tho dont worry, just regular new silver hubs from like autozone or pepboys or some shit.
4. i was planning on blacking out the headlights too.. i saw a tutorial on here for it... gotta find that again. that looked really good on white cars so ill deffinatly do that.
5. im gunna neeed help with the tailights, i heard all u do is lightly spray them with paint?
6. my friend jut got his windows tinted, so im gunna see how much he paid for them. his look good, but its an illegal tint, they are like cracking down on that stuff on Long island now. they pull people over all the time.
7. the door strips sounds like a good idea... once again.. i gotta find a tutorial for that.

o and im getting my Head Unit installed today.... so thatll help too. and possibly swappin out the front speakers.. so yea. my birthdays in 3 days so im gunna start gettin some cash for from that, then i can start doin more shit to it. thanks for ur help man.

[red99pro]

well its not gonna go fast. the best thing u cud do is and intake header and exhaust, drop it and get some wheels headlights n tail lights. u have to find a good intake that will work correctly.

[red99pro]

heres all of your answers.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77937&highlight=1.6l+intake

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123654542&highlight=1.6l+intake

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123694381&highlight=1.6l+intake

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123685547&highlight=1.6l+intake

http://siteground207.com/~protegeg/product_info.php?cPath=21_31_52&products_id=104

[IukekiniProtege]

Basically, with the 1.6 you mod it because you enjoy modding, do not expect power to magically appear, even with intake, header, exhaust you might net another 5hp, however if done right it will sound nice and look good.

Now where the protege accels is in handling.

Suspension
Springs: Eibach, Tein, and a few other options are out there, and with decent drops for looks, but not extreme enough to make the car no longer driveable. I live in NH and our roads are bad in winter and I have never had an issue with my Eibachs

Struts: KYB GR-2s are decent stock replacements, mine just finally wore out after 65,000miles with the eibach springs. Tokico HP(Blues) are a nice upgrade and matched with springs will really improve handling.

Sway Bars: the stock Mazdaspeed Protege rear swaybar is a nice upgrade from what I have read, and I am currently look for one as well and can update the result when I do get one.

Strut Bars: the strut bar from the MP3, Protege5, and MSP are decent stock pieces that will help. While, corksport and GTSpec are beefy upgrades.

Brakes: the 99-00 Protege ES front brakes are a direct swap, need calipers, rotors and pads. Great improvement over the tiny stock 1.6 brakes

Wheels and tires
Wheels: You have a wide variety and sizes available out there for wheels. you can go as big as 18s as long as u do not go wider then 7.5" and you need atleast a +48 offset. Of course you could go wider with modification to the wheel wells and fender lips.

Tires: Basicaly if you want nice performing tires for summer, don't cheap out, You might as well get your moneys worth. Just keep the steelies and some all seasons or snow tires, not sure how much snow LI gets.

Appearance
Door molding removal: Basically the strips just peel off then leaves some adhesive behind, goo-gone or 3m adhesive remover and a hair drier helped with this. Use a orbital buffer and buffing compound to gently remove scratches from scraping at the adhesive, then wax it and good to go

Removing the LX badging on the side will clean things up as well.

Clear Corners: Buying some clear corner lights fro the front to replace the amber colored ones is a nice way to clean the front up as well.

Protege Badge: Look for the nicer Protege badge from an 01-03 protege or MSP for the truck, improves the look greatly, just look at my sig.

Front Lip: Keep an eye out for a 01+ sedan front lip, with some slight modification it fits and I love how mine made the front look much better.

Side Skirts: the Mazdaspeed Protege and MP3 Side skirts will go right on with the proper hardware and installation.

Rear Lip: MP3, 03 MSP and 03.5 MSP lips are all options I thin the 03 MSP and MP3 lips are the same though.

Spoiler: You have the stock sedan spoiler which looks good without any of the lips. the MP3 and 03 MSP spoiler will match well with the MP3 and 03 MSP lip and the 03.5 MSP spoiler will match well with the 03.5 MSP lip and also doesnt look TOO bad without the lips.

Performance
Intake: AEM i believe still makes a SRI, Injen discontinued the CAI they had. Cosmo Racing has a CAI, and Simota has a CAI. Be careful when buying an intake though. Anything with a larger diameter then stock will cause you car to run poorly dude to the Mass Air Flow Sensor(MAF). To cure that issue a 00+ Toyota Celica MAF will do the trick.

Exhaust: Racing beat makes a nice cat-back exhaust for us. Also, the Mazdaspeed Protege Axle-Back is a nice and cheaper exhaust mod.

Header: OBX and Thunder both make headers for the 1.6. Protephile on here sells the thunder one, not sure if he has any in stock at the moment tho.

Motor Mounts: AWR Front and Rear motor mounts will help make everything more solid, however you have an auto so the normal benfits of easier shirting and less wheel hop will not benefit you.

Sorry for the long post, I'm bored at work and figured I would cover almost everything.

[99ProtegeKV]

thanks soooo much man. unfortunatly i cant do allll of these, but i will pick and choose which ones i can afford and want to do lol thanks man u are a god.

[99ProtegeKV]

ok i just took off the door moldings. although it doesnt make it look muchhhh different... it does give it a cleaner look and wasnt that difficult. u just pull and i used a lil widget razor blade thing, and some bug and tar remover. that stuff is amazing.. it cleans everything and it even did this. the guy at autozone told me to use a heat gun, i was like. ook. yea. not even necessary. just some elbow grease and that stuff is gone. it looks nicer. it gives it a more custom look. it doesnt look as stock as it already it lol