Bought a P5! Introductions and advice/suggestions needed!

Hey all, I've been looking for a car to replace the my 90 miata as my DD. Needed more room, roof rack for kayak, bike, guitar/amp, etc. Protege5 seemed to fit the need exactly so for last few months I've been searching around craigslist (300 miles radius) and autotrade and ebay and a few places. I'm very picky about cars and have skipped over many for condition/price reasons etc. My goal was a 5-speed, low mile (ish), well-maintained, white, 2003, sunroof/rack. I posted a 'wanted' ad on craigslist a few days ago and was contacted by a young couple who were looking to sell their P5.

They drove it over to me and it checked out.

One Owner, clean title
115k Miles
60k service complete with timing belt, water pump, gaskets, etc (receipts)
Good brakes, Decent tires,
Sunroof/rack.

A/C works on 2/3

They had it detailed and inspected prior to selling it, shop says it needs a front right wheel bearing.
Only other thing wrong with the car is a cracked bumper and slight dent on the hood from a parking lot incident. Also one spot of touch up paint on quarter panel.

I plan to DD the car, but would like to make it a fun one. I do not plan to autoX or drive very aggressively, so keep that in mind when suggesting mods and stuff.

I would to install a short shifter, mazdaspeed seats (or whatever is the standard upgrade), wheels/tires (need advice on size/style), intake/header/exhaust (need advice on nice, quiet-ish setup), shocks/struts (need advice on standard replacement) kayak roof rack mounts. Eventually I'll probably fix the front bumper and hood, I assume replacing them would be the easiest? But looking for advice on that as well.

So...top 5 things I should do first?

And without further ramblings, here it is!

1990 Miata:







New Ride:

Damn man I love the white P5's, wish mine was white and std. Good buy, I would go obx headers, mazdaspeed p5 exhaust, leave the stock air box alone drop in a k&n filter. And a tein coilover suspension.

Congrats!

First thing: Remove the dealer emblem.

Plastidip the rear valance and tint the windows ^on removing dealer decal

Jealous of you southerners with no rust. Looks nice!

Plastidip the rear-valance for looks? I don't mind the white, what color would you do black?

Are there any preferred headlight/taillight replacements that look good?

^ What he said about the rust. So frickin jealous.

Anyways, I would definitely go with the headers, a mazdaspeed catback, maybe a cold air intake (or I could get you my K&N filter when I get my new intake ). As for the rims, I would definitely go with either some 1st gen Speed3 rims or (good luck finding them) some MSP rims. Stock struts are KYB's I think, and that's what I'm getting with some Tanabe springs, although Eibach Pro-Kits seem to be the way to go (I couldn't afford them and need to do a suspension swap ASAP). If you can find someone to get you some go with the JDM tails. Headlights you should paint the housing black (there are threads, not too hard to do from what I read).

But aside from those, congrats! Good luck with the upgrades you do!

Beautiful carr! Congratulations on the purchase

Bob_Bobber0 said:

Plastidip the rear-valance for looks? I don't mind the white, what color would you do black?

Are there any preferred headlight/taillight replacements that look good?

Click to expand...

yes black

Yes for looks Trust me u will like it and if not u can peel it off and Taillights are the JDM ones but hard to find Headlights use ur stockers or sedan lights but heat em in oven to seperate the plastic lens paint it black inside and install projectors and hid's

Valance http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv301/arpalerm/Protege/6b811d72.jpg
Lights http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/4427/s1id.jpg

Speed headlights with black housing

The previous owners had the timing belt done at 60k how long should I wait to do it again. Mazda says every 105k?

Do it at 170k . Or do it now if it will make u feel better.. but do the waterpump with it

Yea I'm thinking at 130-150k I'll do another big run through. See how it performs through these next couple years.

Congrats on finally finding one and she's a beaut!

I'll suggest that you bake the lights and paint the housings black and use this kit to restore them https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned) It's $20 at autozone and works great. Or to save some time you could just buy them off of ebay for around $400? You could use sedan lights as mentioned by others but be ready to do a little re-wiring as they use a single hi/lo bulb vs. the dual bulb set-up of the P5.

And JDM tails for the rear, if you can find them! If you do the headlight blackout you could get away with the black alteezas but please whatever you do, stay away from the chrome ones! lol

If you do replace the bumper, the MSP will bolt right on and does not have the parking lights.

For seats, upgrade to 1st gen MS3 seats up front. From what I've seen it's not a hard upgrade and well worth it.

As for I/H/E, OBX or ebay headers will be easier to come by. The Ractive comes up every once and a while in the f/s section and is better quality than the OBX. AWR or Autoexe are preferred but rare and expensive (think $800). A Probe/MX-6 header will work as well but requires a custom test pipe and relocation of the EGR, can be had for pretty cheap on ebay or you can buy from here with the test pipe and EGR done but a bit pricier http://www.racingmazda.com/protege_exhaust.htm Advantages to this are that it is a true 4-2-1 design vs. the 4-1 design of the OBX/Ractive. Downside is it's not going to be quiet unless you get a hi-flo cat put in and even then might be on the loud side. For an intake, I'd look for a good deal on a name brand, AEM, K&N etc. If you can't find one, just buy an ebay one (pretty much the same piping) and then upgrade the filter to an AEM Dryflo and call it a day. Quite a few options for exhaust and a lot of people like the Racing Beat, nice sound at WOT and quieter than most. I have the Thermal R&D and I'm very happy with it. You could also look for an MSP axleback. Will need to have 4" of pipe removed between the muffler and tip and then have the tip re-welded on but about $50 or so at a shop and a very nice sound as well. Had an 03.5 on mine for a couple of years. The 03 has a round tip and the 03.5 has an oval tip. There is P5 specific "Mazdaspeed" axleback out there that was available from the dealer but muffler is made by Bosal vs Racing Beat for the MSP version. Never heard one myself but quite a few people complain of droning at highway speeds with this version. Check out the exhaust thread here in the P5 section to get some ideas.

Since you have a manual, you should get an MP3 flashed ECU. SpicyorangeMSP on here sells them (check out the f/s section). Won't really give any noticeable performance gains but does smooth out the powerband. In order to take full advantage of this mod you'll need to run 93 octane.

As for wheels, that is more up to you. Your car and your money so what do you like? Do you want to keep 16's or +1, +2? MSP Racing Harts look great on the P5 but they are on the heavy side. Are you going to be buying summer tires or all seasons? If you are going for summer, I'll recommend the Conti DW. And if you decide to stay with a 16", 205/50/16 will fit just fine and give you a lot more options vs. the 195/50/16 stock size.

I'm biased towards the Tokico HP and Tein S-tech suspension combo. But like exhausts, there are a lot of choices out there so do some research and determine what you want from it. I was looking for something that gave a nice drop in addition to some more confidence when driving spirited, form + function. Might want to consider upgrading the rsb too. The Progress is a nice choice.

Off the top of my head I'm not sure what attachments will fit the stock cross bars but I'm sure there is something out there that does. Try http://www.rackattack.com to see what they may have. I sold my stock rack shortly after buying the car.

A couple of other mods that are nice are the Mazda6 rear wiper upgrade. http://www.onlinemazdaparts.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=AccessoryCatalog&catalogid=4010&siteid=214264&categoryID=78785 DaveB gauge rings (if you can find them) and an intermittent wiper stalk from an MPV or Tribute/Escape (forget the exact years) but nice to have those variable speeds and about a five minute swap.

Top 5:
1 - suspension (this is where the car shines)
2 - wheels/tires
3 - radio (might as well upgrade to something with iPod/MP3 controls and BT)
4 - MP3 ECU
5 - I/H/E (not a lot of bang for buck on our platform)

Bob, I think the worst thing owning a P5 will be being close and knowing me...I will spoil you with goodies!!!

PM coming your way on the other forum!!!

Sweet looking P5! If you did end up plastidipping your rear valance, you could choose a cool theme. Black means Stormtrooper, though. It's all I can think when I see white and black cars (besides the police...)

I like the look of a mesh type wheel on P5's. Go with any color but black on the wheels. Window tint is a must. Dealer logo has to go!

Peeled the dealer logo and pin striping off last night. Going to wash and clay bar and wax the whole car this week. Hoping to make this baby shine.

I kinda like the black Drag Dr-31's with red lip, that could look nice with the black valance: http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/interactive.do?v=008079|2003&pc=45291

I have 2 sets of Thule Hullaports that attach to the factory racks if you are interested in them. I haul mine with the truck now so I stopped using the P5 to haul them. Lemme know if interested and I can take some pics. Only thing that'll suck is shipping. Not too small of a box and not very light and 2 sets = 2 boxes. Congrats on the find, simple things to remedy on it seems like.

Bob_Bobber0 said:

Peeled the dealer logo and pin striping off last night. Going to wash and clay bar and wax the whole car this week. Hoping to make this baby shine.

I kinda like the black Drag Dr-31's with red lip, that could look nice with the black valance: http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/interactive.do?v=008079|2003&pc=45291

Click to expand...

I like those DR-55s in the center of the pic below the car..............