Ok.. so I am past the introduction stage and all that, and I have some down time, so I suppose its time for another "build" thread.. or resurrection, or "saved" thread or whatever you wanna call it.
I will say however, that (and I suppose its due to the limited production of these cars) the MSP section of this site seems like its kind of dying.. I mean that with all due respect, but I feel like I am about 5 years late to the party..
That being said, I do want to document this car and what I am doing to it.
Day 1 - delivery
Couple of dings on the passenger side.. but this car has been in Charlotte, NC since 2003.. NO RUST. (maybe a tiny bit on the brake rotors.. but nothing regarding the body)
So I drove it for a couple of days just to listen and assess the car. (untouched with exception of the removal of the (horribly installed) HIDs. (no pics of that.. sorry)
So techincally NOW the car is stock (DAY 3)
The car is #1289 according to this site, although there is a piece of paper in the owners booklet.. well, hell I might as well take a pic..
It seems it depends on how you look at it.. this can either be #1289, or #3039.. and since 1289 is specific to the 2003.5's.. it would seem more accurate to refer to this car as 3039.. although this guy has 4000 written down for total MSPs.. when I was lead to believe it is 4500.. but I think this may be a bit trivial with the technicalities.. lol
The first thing I noticed is broken bolts
two in the exhaust cover and the other is the bottom right engine cover
Did someone steal my oil filler cap? That looks awfully "regular protege" to me
Cleaning
missing a bolt
broken bolt
and ANOTHER. THIS is a situation now (the top one is broken, the bottom one was just missing)
The exhaust leak is something I am going to have to live with for right now. I found an M8 1.25 bolt laying around and threw a bolt in that lower hole that wasn't broken
Moving on, I had gone to the autoparts store (before they closed) and got spark plug wires, and new plugs.. not pics, but that is done at this point. Started on motor mounts
I couldn't get to the transmission mount.. I am guessing you have to take the intake off? Or go through the passenger wheel well.. but it will get sone
Here is the engine, with new plugs, wires, valve cover cleaned, with a new gasket, and 3 of 4 motor mounts installed. (and it runs pretty good.. the exhaust leak is MUCH quieter with at least one of the bolts..) You can also see here I cleaned the battery and replaced both terminal connectors to the battery.
EXCEPT for 1 thing (I forgot the bracket thats holding the crankshaft position sensor.. the connector is just hanging there)
So I turn the car off, and unplug the CKS.. install the bracket and go to start the car..
Except I for got to plug this little s*** back in
SO now it won't start...
more to come in a few days..
I will say however, that (and I suppose its due to the limited production of these cars) the MSP section of this site seems like its kind of dying.. I mean that with all due respect, but I feel like I am about 5 years late to the party..
That being said, I do want to document this car and what I am doing to it.
Day 1 - delivery
Couple of dings on the passenger side.. but this car has been in Charlotte, NC since 2003.. NO RUST. (maybe a tiny bit on the brake rotors.. but nothing regarding the body)
So I drove it for a couple of days just to listen and assess the car. (untouched with exception of the removal of the (horribly installed) HIDs. (no pics of that.. sorry)
So techincally NOW the car is stock (DAY 3)
The car is #1289 according to this site, although there is a piece of paper in the owners booklet.. well, hell I might as well take a pic..
It seems it depends on how you look at it.. this can either be #1289, or #3039.. and since 1289 is specific to the 2003.5's.. it would seem more accurate to refer to this car as 3039.. although this guy has 4000 written down for total MSPs.. when I was lead to believe it is 4500.. but I think this may be a bit trivial with the technicalities.. lol
The first thing I noticed is broken bolts
two in the exhaust cover and the other is the bottom right engine cover
Did someone steal my oil filler cap? That looks awfully "regular protege" to me
Cleaning
missing a bolt
broken bolt
and ANOTHER. THIS is a situation now (the top one is broken, the bottom one was just missing)
The exhaust leak is something I am going to have to live with for right now. I found an M8 1.25 bolt laying around and threw a bolt in that lower hole that wasn't broken
Moving on, I had gone to the autoparts store (before they closed) and got spark plug wires, and new plugs.. not pics, but that is done at this point. Started on motor mounts
I couldn't get to the transmission mount.. I am guessing you have to take the intake off? Or go through the passenger wheel well.. but it will get sone
Here is the engine, with new plugs, wires, valve cover cleaned, with a new gasket, and 3 of 4 motor mounts installed. (and it runs pretty good.. the exhaust leak is MUCH quieter with at least one of the bolts..) You can also see here I cleaned the battery and replaced both terminal connectors to the battery.
EXCEPT for 1 thing (I forgot the bracket thats holding the crankshaft position sensor.. the connector is just hanging there)
So I turn the car off, and unplug the CKS.. install the bracket and go to start the car..
Except I for got to plug this little s*** back in
SO now it won't start...
more to come in a few days..
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