Help this Newbie out

[EmeraldMICA03]

Well guys the title says it all...
This is my first post ever on this forum and i need you guys to help me out. First of all i would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about automobiles, but the problem is my expertise is in the American Muscle form. This is my first import i have ever owned. It is a 03' Lx Protege. I bought the car about a month ago from a local Mazda dealer. The car is equipped with what i think is a good bit of aftermarket parts and this is where you guys come in the picture. First of all the car has a Injen CAI and an exhaust system i believe it is a MAZDASPEED Exhaust system. Also it has Racing Beat front and rear sway bars. And a set of 17x7 Falken Curcuit Spec wheels. As i was cleaning the car the other day i looked at the struts and they were a light blue color and the springs are red, and i thought this to be a little odd for stock parts. Well after looking around i believe the struts are the stock parts off the MAZDASPEED, but i dont know about the springs, The car seems to be at what would be stock ride height. SO this is my first question, are the springs stock or aftermarket? My second question for now is, when i took a Protege5 for a test drive i saw they had stock location tweeters, does anyone have a good pic. of these? I would like to possibly get that interior part for my Protege so i dont have to do any cutting for my tweeters. Also i see that there are 3 different speaker locations, front and rear doors and rear deck, and i partialy took off the panel to one of the rear doors and it seems as though there arent any speakers in the rear doors??? If you guys could solve this problem it would be great, thanks!

[tiwing]

I know in the mazdaspeed the 6x9 spots in the rear deck are not used but we have 6.5" rounds in the rear door. It's because we have a stock 8" sub in the trunk. I remember driving a rental protege sedan that had 6.5" rounds in the door as well... I suppose it's different trim levels have different speakers but they just built all the spots in all the cars. It's kind of good actually because if you add a sub you'll be better off using the rear doors instead of the rear deck - too much noise will bounce off the back window if you use the 6x9s and the sound will suck. But if you don't use a sub the 6x9s will give you as much sound as possible. The rest someone else will have to tackle.

[2K3 MSP]

Your springs are probably Racing Beat springs. They came stock on the Mazdaspeed, along with the struts, but they were also a dealer option for the regular proteges. Chances are, yours were dealer installed. They are .75"-1" lower than a stock Protege spring/strut setup. Not a great visual difference, but you can feel it in the handling, especially with the sway bars you also have.
Tiwing pretty much summed up the speaker question. Either they come in the rear deck lid, or the rear doors, depending on the model you bought.

[EmeraldMICA03]

Ok thanks guys, now can these struts take sustain the drop of say Eibach springs to Tein springs?

Also any idea how i can get tweeter mounts from a protege with stock tweeters?

[hi-perf]

an LX will have 6x9s in the rear deck, and 5x7's in the front (6x8 will fit too).

from the color description and ride height statement, i can conclude that you do have racing beat or mazdaspeed springs. these springs dont drop very much, but are about 20% stiffer than the stock ones. afaik, stocks are black in color.

those struts are pretty much rebadged tokico non adjustables (HP), and will definately take a beating from any drop or spring you can muster. throw anything at it, it will likely last longer than any other part in the car, unless you rally it.

i dont think that any mazdaspeed parts can come OPTIONAL from the dealer on an LX...i presume you bought it used?

[parks853]

The sedans dont have speakers in the rear doors. the protege 5's do. the tweet located on the sail panel is an option. came stock on my ES. I am pretty sure you can prolly get the little piece that snaps on. no screws or anything.. just pushes on. post an add on the for sale non vendor section and mybae soemone has some. alot of people put aftermarket stuff in there car for audio. and if that don twork you can prob get them form teh dealer. the tweet that is in there is a very small. it is just a little .75 in tweet. no much will fit in there. alot of people will put the tweet in the same hole as the mid in teh door. just use and adapter that will fit a 5 1/4 mid with a tweet next to it. I mounted my tweet infront of the sail panel. on the top of the door.