I learned to drive in my mom's 1992 BG sedan. It was a great car to my family, many memories and road trips, and when my mom finally replaced it in 2005 I took it over.
I moved to AZ from MT and replaced the 13" 165 series wheels with 205/40/17 on cheezy alloys. It looked goofy without being lowered but it handled amazing on the stock suspension. I drove the crap out of it in Phoenix, getting 40 mpg with the A/C full blast and changing lanes at ridiculous speeds. Great car, the B8 SOHC is gutless but loves to rev and sounds fine.
Stupidly, after wearing the front tires out hooning around, I swapped them front to rear and kept driving like an idiot. I encountered some lift-off oversteer on a wet day on a one-lane freeway cloverleaf and smacked into the barrier backwards at over 65 mph. Luckily nobody was behind me or I would have been toast. I had bought a 97 Kia for the BP and G trans; the engine was at the builder getting ready to be machined when the wreck happened.
I looked for another BG, I even met up with a guy to check out a BF GTX that had been set up for autocross. Eventually, I found my BJ and the two other shells and parts went to scrap. I sold the Kia trans and axles to a guy in AZ at least.
I found the 2000 ES on craigslist (where else), and watched it sit around without getting sold. I came to look at it and found out why; it was a bit of a basketcase. The owner knew almost nothing about the car or the turbo swap. It was in rough shape, had mismatched suspension/wheels, CEL on, and hadn't been registered in AZ before. The front wheel bearings were totally gone. I figured the hubs would need to be replaced. It would take a lot of work to get it drivable. The owner was very shady, his house was teeming with other cheap and strange cars for sale, like a nasty beat lowered Volvo with alloys for $900.
It was a 2000 Green ES that received the swap, and it seemed to be an entire front end from an MSP, meaning from the hubs in, including the trans, short shifter, brakes, front struts and swaybars, and the whole cluster. When I bought it had 39k miles on the odo.
The "owner" was wary about a test drive even, as it had no registration. I got to drive it around the block basically. The wheel bearings thudding away nonwithstanding, I could tell there was some Mazdaspeed in there, the steering felt phenomenal and the shifter was tight and precise. The engine pulled strong and it really seemed like it could be a driver someday. Unlike all the other MSP engines out there, this one seemed totally stock and never upgraded, combined with the low mileage and cheap entry price....
At this point you may be wondering what kind of an idiot would buy this car, and the awnser is, this kind right here. I had just started working after being unenmployed for a few months, and had to stretch myself to the last penny to buy what amounted to a project car. A friend of mine in AZ owned an MSP, and I had driven it briefly and loved the steering feel and handling. I never liked the body kit and spoiler, which would be really out of step with my backroads antics, so this seemed like the best of both worlds. The mileage on the odometer didn't match the title, so the bank wouldn't give me a loan.
I emptied my account, cashed my paycheck in, took the 500 out of my line of credit, and borrowed 200 to make it happen. My Protege showed up on a trailer in the dark. I handed the guy the money in the parking lot. I felt like I was buying drugs or something.
I "got lost" on the way from the parking lot to my garage, and found myself on the freeway onramp right next to my house, pulling strong and fast in 3rd gear. There's an exit immediately after, I just wanted to run it up and take it right back home. No harm.
Pulled over just as I'm getting above the speed limit, about to get on the offramp. Oh crap.
No insurance, no title, no registration. I'm lucky I had my license with me; it's not like I was planning to take this thing on the road when I got in it.
The cop was more than fair; he wrote 85 on the ticket instead of 90, which he claimed I was doing. He didn't hit me with the $900 no insurance fee. I still had a $120 driver reeducation thing to avoid a ticket on my record, and a $150 for living in AZ for years without getting an AZ license. But there was a catch: I had to have the car titled and registered insuranced within 30 days or I would have to pay the noncompliance fee, which was huge. AZ license too.
I explained to him that I had just spent every penny buying the thing, and was planning to slowly work on it as time allowed to get it drivable. I told him it wouldn't pass emissions and I wasn't sure what needed to be done to get it ready.
Tough luck, shoulda thought of that before you took it on the road.
Then I drove home and got drunk.
I got my AZ license alright, and got a 30 day temp sticker so I could drive the damn thing to the testing center for emissions and whatelse. I poked around on this forum a ton, reading about the CELs I had. I posted some questions and got great responses. Thank you, mazdas247!!! One code was an inexplicably missing IAT sensor I was able to get from the dealership for $75.The next was the downstream 02 sensor. It turns out that in the swap they had bolted the J-pipe directly up to the ES exhaust. Because both cats are upstream from this point on the NA car, and downstream from it on the turbo car, I was left with no cats! I made a mad dash to find an OEM turbo exhaust in time, but no luck. I ended up replacing the missing downstream 02 sensor and using the spark plug non-fouler trick. I reset the ECU and hoped for the best. I knew I needed to drive a good 50 miles to get a valid result at emissions, so I left work early and took the winding road out of Mesa towards Tortilla Flats, (which is a great drive btw), had a blast, had a kid in a riced up Celica trying to keep up with me.
Amazingly, I passed emissions. Certificate in hand, I drove to DMV to register and title the car. On the way there the CEL came on. Pheewwwww. That was close. I got insurance online and headed to the courthouse. I had successfully got this car legal and up to snuff, without really being drivable, barely within the 30 days. They waved one of my fines, I paid the rest and went on my way.
Back to Autozone to check the CEL, glad I didn't assume it was the 02 sensor again, since this time it was a lean code! No more boost for me. Until I figured this one out I had to keep my foot out of it. It was weeks before I had paid my family back the money I had borrowed to get legal, and then I dropped the $700 on wheel bearings.
At this point it was finally drivable, and I toddled to work in it when I didn't feel like riding my bike. The boost would go past 7 all the way to 10 or 11 psi, and I realized that this was what was causing the code. As long as I stayed within the stock boost range everything was gravy. I drove it like this for some time before I finally replaced the WGA. .
100_2036 by sever!, on Flickr
100_2041 by sever!, on Flickr
No photos of the engine because it's always dusty.
Some stuff I've done:
Front Wheel Bearings
Autozone Front Brake Pads
New Drivers Side window regulator
New downstream O2 Sensor
New Intake Air Temp sensor
New ATP Waste Gate Actuator
replacement Mazda floormats
Trans fluid changed to Lucas Synthetic -
New Tailight
New NGK plugs
The body and paint are rough, the hood sits crooked, there's a crease in the top of the trunk, and little flaws all over. The green paint hides it really well. The interior is a terrible color/fabric to begin with and was treated really poorly before me.
This last summer I drove this thing up to MT for a kayaking/hiking/partying trip with some old friends. I found myself working at a ski hill on the trail crew and relocating back to MT, rallying this thing up and down a half-gravel half-tarmac mountain road everyday. It just recently went over 50k miles. I got 205/55r15 Blizzaks and it does great in the snow, minus the ground clearance issue.
The car has been unlucky lately however, my glovebox wouldn't open one day, the latch is broke. I finally pried it off the dash without damaging anything, but I'm gloveboxless for now. I've ruined two of my Blizzaks on the pokey gravel on this road, which I've had to replace them with mismatched snow tires since they don't make the same model anymore. Then somebody broke my rear window out. Greaaat. $180. At least the little flakes of purple window tint I couldn't quite remove are gone for good.
The jerks that replaced my window regulator didn't replace the plastic sheet that covers the inside of the door panel, or half the retaining clips. So it comes loose constantly.
Okay this is getting really long winded and short on pics, so I'll get to it. Thanks so much to Mazdas247 and you guys, I couldn't have done it without you!
Where I'm at now:
I still need to swap the rear suspension and hubs out for a 5 lug / disc setup. I have tried intermittently to track this down. If you have a parts car, or know of one at a junkyard, let me know! I need the whole assembly, and I know the shipping is crazy. I need to swap this:
For this:
I also need a glovebox, and many other parts. Lately I've been thinking about buying an entire parts car, and swapping over anything that's in better shape; body panels, interior, whatever. If you have a BJ sedan that's wrecked or blown let me know!!
Also, I would consider trading for any daily drivable NA B-series Mazda. BF, BG, BJ, whatever. I love my car but I also miss the mileage of my 1st gen Protege. I think the BJ with a 1.6 or 1.8 would be fine. No more speeding tickets! I would miss the suspension more than the motor.
Thanks guys!
I moved to AZ from MT and replaced the 13" 165 series wheels with 205/40/17 on cheezy alloys. It looked goofy without being lowered but it handled amazing on the stock suspension. I drove the crap out of it in Phoenix, getting 40 mpg with the A/C full blast and changing lanes at ridiculous speeds. Great car, the B8 SOHC is gutless but loves to rev and sounds fine.
Stupidly, after wearing the front tires out hooning around, I swapped them front to rear and kept driving like an idiot. I encountered some lift-off oversteer on a wet day on a one-lane freeway cloverleaf and smacked into the barrier backwards at over 65 mph. Luckily nobody was behind me or I would have been toast. I had bought a 97 Kia for the BP and G trans; the engine was at the builder getting ready to be machined when the wreck happened.
I looked for another BG, I even met up with a guy to check out a BF GTX that had been set up for autocross. Eventually, I found my BJ and the two other shells and parts went to scrap. I sold the Kia trans and axles to a guy in AZ at least.
I found the 2000 ES on craigslist (where else), and watched it sit around without getting sold. I came to look at it and found out why; it was a bit of a basketcase. The owner knew almost nothing about the car or the turbo swap. It was in rough shape, had mismatched suspension/wheels, CEL on, and hadn't been registered in AZ before. The front wheel bearings were totally gone. I figured the hubs would need to be replaced. It would take a lot of work to get it drivable. The owner was very shady, his house was teeming with other cheap and strange cars for sale, like a nasty beat lowered Volvo with alloys for $900.
It was a 2000 Green ES that received the swap, and it seemed to be an entire front end from an MSP, meaning from the hubs in, including the trans, short shifter, brakes, front struts and swaybars, and the whole cluster. When I bought it had 39k miles on the odo.
The "owner" was wary about a test drive even, as it had no registration. I got to drive it around the block basically. The wheel bearings thudding away nonwithstanding, I could tell there was some Mazdaspeed in there, the steering felt phenomenal and the shifter was tight and precise. The engine pulled strong and it really seemed like it could be a driver someday. Unlike all the other MSP engines out there, this one seemed totally stock and never upgraded, combined with the low mileage and cheap entry price....
At this point you may be wondering what kind of an idiot would buy this car, and the awnser is, this kind right here. I had just started working after being unenmployed for a few months, and had to stretch myself to the last penny to buy what amounted to a project car. A friend of mine in AZ owned an MSP, and I had driven it briefly and loved the steering feel and handling. I never liked the body kit and spoiler, which would be really out of step with my backroads antics, so this seemed like the best of both worlds. The mileage on the odometer didn't match the title, so the bank wouldn't give me a loan.
I emptied my account, cashed my paycheck in, took the 500 out of my line of credit, and borrowed 200 to make it happen. My Protege showed up on a trailer in the dark. I handed the guy the money in the parking lot. I felt like I was buying drugs or something.
I "got lost" on the way from the parking lot to my garage, and found myself on the freeway onramp right next to my house, pulling strong and fast in 3rd gear. There's an exit immediately after, I just wanted to run it up and take it right back home. No harm.
Pulled over just as I'm getting above the speed limit, about to get on the offramp. Oh crap.
No insurance, no title, no registration. I'm lucky I had my license with me; it's not like I was planning to take this thing on the road when I got in it.
The cop was more than fair; he wrote 85 on the ticket instead of 90, which he claimed I was doing. He didn't hit me with the $900 no insurance fee. I still had a $120 driver reeducation thing to avoid a ticket on my record, and a $150 for living in AZ for years without getting an AZ license. But there was a catch: I had to have the car titled and registered insuranced within 30 days or I would have to pay the noncompliance fee, which was huge. AZ license too.
I explained to him that I had just spent every penny buying the thing, and was planning to slowly work on it as time allowed to get it drivable. I told him it wouldn't pass emissions and I wasn't sure what needed to be done to get it ready.
Tough luck, shoulda thought of that before you took it on the road.
Then I drove home and got drunk.
I got my AZ license alright, and got a 30 day temp sticker so I could drive the damn thing to the testing center for emissions and whatelse. I poked around on this forum a ton, reading about the CELs I had. I posted some questions and got great responses. Thank you, mazdas247!!! One code was an inexplicably missing IAT sensor I was able to get from the dealership for $75.The next was the downstream 02 sensor. It turns out that in the swap they had bolted the J-pipe directly up to the ES exhaust. Because both cats are upstream from this point on the NA car, and downstream from it on the turbo car, I was left with no cats! I made a mad dash to find an OEM turbo exhaust in time, but no luck. I ended up replacing the missing downstream 02 sensor and using the spark plug non-fouler trick. I reset the ECU and hoped for the best. I knew I needed to drive a good 50 miles to get a valid result at emissions, so I left work early and took the winding road out of Mesa towards Tortilla Flats, (which is a great drive btw), had a blast, had a kid in a riced up Celica trying to keep up with me.
Amazingly, I passed emissions. Certificate in hand, I drove to DMV to register and title the car. On the way there the CEL came on. Pheewwwww. That was close. I got insurance online and headed to the courthouse. I had successfully got this car legal and up to snuff, without really being drivable, barely within the 30 days. They waved one of my fines, I paid the rest and went on my way.
Back to Autozone to check the CEL, glad I didn't assume it was the 02 sensor again, since this time it was a lean code! No more boost for me. Until I figured this one out I had to keep my foot out of it. It was weeks before I had paid my family back the money I had borrowed to get legal, and then I dropped the $700 on wheel bearings.
At this point it was finally drivable, and I toddled to work in it when I didn't feel like riding my bike. The boost would go past 7 all the way to 10 or 11 psi, and I realized that this was what was causing the code. As long as I stayed within the stock boost range everything was gravy. I drove it like this for some time before I finally replaced the WGA. .
100_2036 by sever!, on Flickr
100_2041 by sever!, on Flickr
No photos of the engine because it's always dusty.
Some stuff I've done:
Front Wheel Bearings
Autozone Front Brake Pads
New Drivers Side window regulator
New downstream O2 Sensor
New Intake Air Temp sensor
New ATP Waste Gate Actuator
replacement Mazda floormats
Trans fluid changed to Lucas Synthetic -
New Tailight
New NGK plugs
The body and paint are rough, the hood sits crooked, there's a crease in the top of the trunk, and little flaws all over. The green paint hides it really well. The interior is a terrible color/fabric to begin with and was treated really poorly before me.
This last summer I drove this thing up to MT for a kayaking/hiking/partying trip with some old friends. I found myself working at a ski hill on the trail crew and relocating back to MT, rallying this thing up and down a half-gravel half-tarmac mountain road everyday. It just recently went over 50k miles. I got 205/55r15 Blizzaks and it does great in the snow, minus the ground clearance issue.
The car has been unlucky lately however, my glovebox wouldn't open one day, the latch is broke. I finally pried it off the dash without damaging anything, but I'm gloveboxless for now. I've ruined two of my Blizzaks on the pokey gravel on this road, which I've had to replace them with mismatched snow tires since they don't make the same model anymore. Then somebody broke my rear window out. Greaaat. $180. At least the little flakes of purple window tint I couldn't quite remove are gone for good.
The jerks that replaced my window regulator didn't replace the plastic sheet that covers the inside of the door panel, or half the retaining clips. So it comes loose constantly.
Okay this is getting really long winded and short on pics, so I'll get to it. Thanks so much to Mazdas247 and you guys, I couldn't have done it without you!
Where I'm at now:
I still need to swap the rear suspension and hubs out for a 5 lug / disc setup. I have tried intermittently to track this down. If you have a parts car, or know of one at a junkyard, let me know! I need the whole assembly, and I know the shipping is crazy. I need to swap this:
For this:
I also need a glovebox, and many other parts. Lately I've been thinking about buying an entire parts car, and swapping over anything that's in better shape; body panels, interior, whatever. If you have a BJ sedan that's wrecked or blown let me know!!
Also, I would consider trading for any daily drivable NA B-series Mazda. BF, BG, BJ, whatever. I love my car but I also miss the mileage of my 1st gen Protege. I think the BJ with a 1.6 or 1.8 would be fine. No more speeding tickets! I would miss the suspension more than the motor.
Thanks guys!
