Ello All...

[Trace]

Just wanted to say HI!!! To all the MSP 2003.5 owners out there.

This forum has been a great source of information to me over the past few days....

I purchased my MSP 2003.5 on September 23rd, 2003.

It's a Yellow Bitch, and I miss second on several occassions...

Bought a Cobra 9100 Radar Detector today and ordered a K & N Air Filter and some really wierd spark plugs from Lordco as well, the guy at Lordco said that the Copper NGK plugs where a completely bad idea for a boosted car, so he ordered me in some some uridium ( ok, i have no friken idea ) plugs to try out.

I opened the hood tonight and I can't find a spark plug, distributor, or any spark plug wires to speak of....

Guess the service guy at Mazda is going to be installing those new plugs....and the ECU Flash Upgrade I informed them of today.
Thanks to this forum......

I am totally in Love with my new ride !!!

120 mph uphill is a joy to behold !!!

Owned it six days and no tickets yet !!!

I am very interested in the modifications that are discussed on these forums for my new car !!!

The dealer has been great about my ideas for modding the car and still remaining within the parameters of the warranty.

I loved the pictures of the Titanium 2003.5...Nice job....

Hopefully, I'll provide some nice pics of my ride shortly...

Thanks to all of you, you've provided me with a ton of useful information....

Regards,

Trace

[Dexter]

welcome

there is no distributor

[2K3 MSP]

Please, don't let the dealership charge you for installing spark plugs!! This should take you all of ten minutes to do yourself. Not trying to be an ass, but if you are going to own and upgrade a car, you've got to be able to do stuff yourself. Something could go wrong with your car while you're out somewhere and you'll have to try and fix it yourself. Better to have a little under the hood experience in case that ever happens.
To pull off the plastic engine cover over the spark plugs, there should be (4) 10mm bolts. Unscrew those, and you will see your distributorless ignition system. Unscrew (4) more 10 mm bolts hol,ding the spark plug wires in place, and gently remove the spark plug wires. Pull up on them, and lay them back out of the way. Unscrew the 4 spark plugs, and put in the 4 new ones. Make them just hand tight, then 1/4 turn more will do. That's it!!

[Dexter]

and make sure they are properly gapped

[pHase1]

Don't take off all of the wires at once. Do one at a time...

[jrodhotrod]

(hi) Welcome to the board! I hope you stick around and enjoy your time here.

Just like the other guys said with the spark plugs, no problem doing it yourself, you just have to remove the engine cover.

And I would check for a second opinion on those plugs. The copper plugs may be "cheap" but from what I have heard here the copper is going to be the best thing to avoid pre-detonation especially when upping the boost in the mazdaspeed.

And remember the search button is your best friend, if you have a question check it out and see if you can find what you need, otherwise enjoy!

[DJB00TS]

I have never heard of uridium plugs :(

[Black Majik MSP]

He means Iridium & everyone will try to tell you those are the best & sell them to you instead of copper. They did it to me too & the things cost like $30. I said no thanks. :rolleyes:

As for installing the plugs, I'm a n00b...how do you gap them? :confused:

[pdhaudio83]

measure with a gapper the spark distance. to make smaller gap, push metal closer to spark (VERY CAREFULLY AND GENTLY--> tap even).

gappers are $1

[Black Majik MSP]

What is the gap supposed to be? Isn't it like .4 or .44? :confused:

[FunkyCold5]

Gap is suppose to be .32
I noticed when you buy at a retail store, they come pregapped at .44, so you have to tap it to .32

[Stormtrooper77]

You've had your car 6 days and you're already doing 120mph pulls!? Have you broken in the car yet?

[pluto316]

Originally posted by Stormtrooper77
You've had your car 6 days and you're already doing 120mph pulls!? Have you broken in the car yet?



It is now. :eek:

[Newf]

wow. So much for easing it in slowly

[Trace]

Thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking about unbolting that black Mazda Speed cover to see what was under it.

I've worked on cars and motocross bikes for years, so ya, I will be installing the new plugs myself. Thanks for the note about the distributor, I'm not to up on new car engines at all.

Regarding the Copper or Iridium plugs.

I have about three pages of modification notes I've cut and pasted from the different posts in this forum. I showed them to the cleark at Lordco and he insisted that the Copper plugs were the wrong idea for my car. Here is the exact text I showed him.

K&N Panel Air Filter: Replaces the stock air filter only with a more breathable filter. Does not replace the entire intake. www.jegs.com (Part #599-33-2134)

Stock MSP spark plugs are platinum NGK PZFR6F's. Colder, copper spark plugs would be a wise investment if you're upping the boost in your MSP. Detonation (Pre-ignition, where the air/fuel mix in the cylinder burns before being lit by the spark plug) WILL cause damage to the motor. Why copper? Platinum plugs have a sharp tip and don't conduct enough heat away to prevent detonation at boost levels higher than stock. A copper spark plug has a wider tip that conducts heat much better, and may prevent you from messing up your motor.

Copper NGK BKR7E's (#6097) are cheap (around $2 each) and work well for our car. They are one heat range colder, and are bare copper plugs. You can have your local auto parts store (Pep Boys, Autozone, etc.) special order them for you, or get them from http://sparkplugs.com/more_info.asp?AAIA=&pid=3040.

I made him read the explaination, and he still insisted that it was incorrect. Now, I'm not very knowledgable on high performance car mods at all, so should I try the Iridium plugs or just go with the cheap coppers, or just leave the stock plugs in the car?

I do plan to up the boost in the car next summer, as well.

As for breaking in the car. I've been driving it fairly hard, but not being rough about it. I wind her up at a moderate pace and slow it down at a moderate pace. Any comments on how I should break it in or as one of the post states, Now it is ???

Thanks for the information on the plug gap as well.

Cheers !!!

[girth]

Best way to break it in IMO is "depress gas to floor. " New cars don't need a "break in" period.

[Black Majik MSP]

Originally posted by girth
Best way to break it in IMO is "depress gas to floor. " New cars don't need a "break in" period.

Everyone has their own opinion...my method was easy enough, so I think it was good even IF it wasn't necessary.

[Black Majik MSP]

As for the copper plugs, they are cheap & I'd trust the opinions of the 100 or so MSP owners on here who have NGK BKR7Es over some guy telling you to use Iridiums. When I asked about them at Autozone, the guy told me you only need them if you are running nitrous. My point is, most people out there are n00bs when it comes to turbo cars & they think that their NA knowledge applies the same way. He would probably tell you that you don't have to let your car run after you've been boosting a lot.

[Trace]

Thanks for the logic !!!

That's exactly the feeling I got from this guy and I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know what a Mazda Speed is ! I'll pick up the K & N air filter from them and I'll get some NGK BKR7Es at another shop. I will also tell the clerk that before I walk out the door.

Thanks for the tips Black Majik MSP

Regards,

Trace