1993 Protege LX Project Daily Driver

All:

Here is my introduction thread:
So glad this site is here. I am stoked about my "new" ride. Minus the spot of rust it is perfect. Brakes need work, and the ac is very weak, but other then that the car is awesome. I will post up some more pics later of the inside and other parts. Silly but I just love the style of this car.


First things first here are the pics

More to come later!


The brakes are shot. This car must have sat for a while because the front passenger caliper is very sticky and drags very bad. And by judging the general condition of all the other brakes, I have decided to replace all calipers, rotors, hoses and pads. Not something to do half way in my opinion. And their conditions warrants it. As the rotors are warped a bit too.


Parts that I am using is simply O'Reilly's Parts. This will be a simple commuter car for me. Ceramic pads, rebuild calipers, and regular rotors.

Ok. I did the brakes this past Saturday afternoon and evening. Took my time and everything went great. This was my 1st time replacing most all of the brake parts. I have done rotors and pads on my 91 ford 2wd truck. Easy work. I also have done all the brakes on my 52 GMC truck, all drums.

I just bought this car for next to nothing, because the brakes "Didn't work very well"
My left front brake was very sticky. To the point it was hard to accelerate. Drug pretty bad. The pedal was very very firm, like there wasn't any power assist. As I took all the wheels off to access the brakes I came to the conclusion that I might as well replace them all. The overall condition of the fronts were bad, the rotors were warped as well. The rears weren't much better. Pads thin and wearing unevenly and very rusty and just didn't look good at all. Once I got everything off I am really glad I made the decision to replace them all.

So a trip the O'Reilly's was on order. I picked up new calipers, rotors, ceramic pads, and hoses for all 4 corners. The hoses were all dry, but some were cracking, and I have to bleed the brakes anyway, might as well do it right and be done with it. For the last few days prior to this I have been spraying down all my connections with PB Blaster. Awesome penetrating fluid!

1st off was the sticking front right. Got the caliper off and yeah it was impossible to move. So I took it all off and sure enough the back pad was stuck to the rotor. A lil tap and it came off. So I banged on the rotor for a while to get the rotor free from the hub. No luck. Then I notice a small screw or bolt threads on the rotor. I go get an old bolt, thread it in and wrench it down. The rotor pops right off! I'm sure that is why its there, but I was excited I thought of it. I'm sure you true mechanics will tell me DUH! I then remove the old hose. and all the old parts. I get the new fat shinny rotors on and new caliper and hose. Easy peasy to put it all together.

Next I do the front drivers side, and then move on to the rears. All my little clip / springs that hold the pads out away from the caliper on all 4 corners were busted and most were either half gone or gone.

Next was to adjust the parking brake, thanks for the write up on that guys! Very easy to follow and super helpful. I would not have known about that little hidden screw if it weren't for you all.
I then get my helpful wife to help be bleed the brakes. Took about 30 min as all my fluid was out due to me changing the hoses. But the end result is awesome. Perfect tight pedal, very easy to push in so my booster is just fine.

Oh while my wheels were off I gave them a quick clean. Some Power Purple and a green scotch bright pad on the back side and about 3 min and here are the results. Might as well since they were off right My tires are almost new. Old owner just replaced them.

Oh and this car is a blast to drive! I love the mazda and how it handles. It is off to the shop tomorrow to get the AC checked out it blows cold, but barely. Im sure its low, but I am having a guy evacuate it all out, put the correct amount of oil in and refrigerant. Cost for that is a little bit more then just buying a can of R134a. Its been converted over already. Next I will start on some other mods or maint items. I'm sure I will have some questions.

Now on to the pics!

Next up was the non working AC. Took it to a great reputable mechanic. I had him put in a new CV axle on my passenger side as well. I noticed the boot was torn when I was doing the brakes. He only charged me $100 labor for that. So I was very happy to pay that, as I don't have the tools to do that work. I could but I for my time, naw, I did the brakes myself saved a bunch of money there.

Also the AC works and it works great. He said it was low, so he evacuated the system, checked for leaks. There were none, recharged it with the proper amount and type of oil, and gas. For $80 bucks!!! The can of R134a was going to cost me $45 alone. And really without a proper set of manifold gauges you cannot get the correct level into the system. Also as I just bought the car I had no idea what was in there before. So it is nice to know that the system is working as it should with the correct "stuff" in there.

Also gave the car a good wash last night, and scrapped off all the stickers. There were 4 parking lot stickers, and a few silly ones on the truck. Much better now! I hope to get a chance to polish it and get some sealant on the paint now.

Polished the headlights, they are nice and clear again. Also polished the entire care and put a good coat of Zaino Z2 sealant on it. It shinned up very nice. Looks great.

Also ordered some cheep pre-cut window tint. $36 bucks shipped to my door. I installed it, and it looks fantastic now too. Other then that I have put about 2k miles on it in the last few months. Car is running better and better. Doesn't shake or vibrate as much on idle now. I flushed the trans fluid, and ran seafoam through the intake a few times. Also a full service of new plugs, wires, rotor and cap air filter.

Next up was new suspension. The old was just shot. Got 4 new quick struts in ordered from rock auto. Glad I went a head and got the whole assembly. One of the top mounts was shot. The boots were gone on the rear struts.

The fronts looked newer then the rears. Got all 4 of them replaced with the new units. It was really pretty easy. The fronts were much easier then the rears. The car now sits about 1-1.5" higher. The ride is like night and day different. 100X better! so glad I changed these.

Next up is the end links installed last night. I tried to get to the sway bar bushings, but couldn't get to the fronts. Any incite on these would be helpful! I could barely just reach the bolt with the wheels off. But the endlinks were really bad.

After the then struts and springs the car improved over 100% now with the new end links on the rear and front its another 50% better again. I just can't describe how much better it is.

One of the first jobs I usually do on vehicles with over 100k miles is the shocks/struts, and the sway bar bushings and end links. It always tightens everything back up! I love the poly bushings vs the rubber as I like that tight feel.
Sorry didn't get hardly any pics as it was dark when I was doing most of the work. I will try to get some more pics of the ride up soon. Here are my old end links. I had to cut most of them out. They were shot!




Aww new parts.

Rust fixed! I called up my guy that did my door on my 52 GMC Truck a few days later he came back with this! Cut out all the old metal and cut and formed a new piece and got it in primer and ready to paint for me. He did a great job!

So to paint it he gave me directions on how to paint it up.
Guide coat, 240 dry
guide coat 400 dry
guide coat 800 wet
guide coat 1500 wet

Then clean and paint. I am just an amateur but it did turn out good. This paint is very difficult to spray with a can as it is a gold champagne color meaning it has gold, brown, grey and silver plus flake in it. I had O'Rileys mix it up and put in in an aerosol for me.

Color came out darker as my car is 21 years old and has obviously faded a bit. But it looks much better then the rust hole. The color is a bit splotchy. I could see it coming out the can that way. Yes I shook it for over 5 min straight and often. My guy told me that is normal for that kind of paint coming out of a can. No big deal as I don't have a spray gun or equipment for this.

Last was 3 coats of clear. It is very shinny at least In the next few days I will clean the car and see what it looks like. But for now it is sure nice to be rust free!

Remember this is a car I bought for $700! I have less then $300 in the rust repair including paying my guy.

Doing this work really makes you respect the good body guys out there!
Ok now on to the pics

Started out as

New metal formed and put in. This wasn't me

Before filler


After filler and a coat of primer

After first stage of sanding


After a few more stages of sanding

Final stages

Continued
First coat of paint


after a few more coats of

Some coats of clear


You can see its a bit darker as my original color has faded over the last 21 years. Some shots after all the tape was removed.

Much better then this
Here are some pics after I got it all cleaned up after driving it in the rain for a few days and all the body work. It was pretty dirty. This color does hide it well though.



When I first got it!

Now Much cleaner and more shine, thanks to my PC and Zaino! And the best part, no rust!

very nice condition car, seem like the color is a bit off. if you blend into the door too it would be less noticeable.

Thanks, yeah the color is a bit off. I am a novice at painting and it was my first go around. Just out of a rattle can, filled from the factory color code on the door. Much better then the rust hole!

I just got back from an 800 mile trip with the car. It was a blast to drive. Very comfortable and quite. I was really impressed. I got 26-28MPG. That was traveling at 78MPH. Speed limit is 75. Car was turning 3250RPM. Took me a while to get used to that. As I drive a full size truck that turns maybe 1900 at that speed But it gets 19 on the highway so half the gas is great. And it was just me so I didn't need all that space.

Had a chance to grab a strut tower brace from a 2002 protege5 from the local pick n pull. I measured and sure enough I thought it would fit. So I grabbed one for a few bucks and tried it out. It fits just about perfect. I had to modify a few brackets and move a few lines around a bit but it fits great. I had to elongate one of the mounting holes by 2 mm or so. I also had to trim down the hood holder arm bracket about 1 mm.

So very small mods but for a 10 bucks I have a strut tower brace. Not bad.

This front sway bar stiffened up the front suspension a bit. It feels like it steers more direct now. Glad I put it on!

Looks good man.

Nice little project. The rust fix looks great, The paint is a shade off, but for being done yourself, and out of a spray can, id be more then happy with those results.

Hey thanks for the compliments guys. Yeah the color is a bit dark. I ordered the color off of the code on the door. So either it has faded that much or the color was off from the factory can.

But yeah it would be nice to have it match for sure! I paid well under $1000 for this car I really like this little car. And now that I have fixed most of the small parts on this it is very reliable and drives so nice.

Wow, under $1000. Thats a steal.

Specially for an LX. Thats the top of the line Protege in its day. Has the potent BP which loves the boost. haha



Or just KL swap it.

Yeah that is what I thought as well. I think I have just over $1200 in the car and that is paying my guy 250 to do the rust repair. I couldn't believe how many features this little car has. It is loaded! Power windows, locks, moon roof, Working AC Cruise control and power mirrors.

My wife and I love this little car. I have 2 kids under 4 yrs old and we can all fit in it pretty comfortably. It surprisingly has a lot of interior room. When we were looking at it we were just shocked at all the electronic stuff on it. Usually little old cars like these were just basic...

I like the little DOHC motor. It revs really nice and has good power. Smooth running and nice engine So far I have been impressed with it. I have put about 7k miles on the little car. It has yet to use any oil in between changes. 3K mile intervals.

I have no plans for boost or swap. I do enjoy that this car is pretty much 100% stock. Kinda rare these days

Just curious what options of rims do I have with this car? I would like to go with some factory mazda rims. They are 4 lug so I am sure my options are limited.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I could be some aftermarket ones as well. Just curious what is out there.

Just an update. Not much but the car is still running great! Have 11k miles logged on it now. My uncle even borrowed it for a few months. worked great for him as well

My older thread, but just an update. Car has been running great. Just did the timing belt, water pump, and anything else that needed replaced in there, which was just the idler and the drive belts. Also I had an exhaust leak, so a new kit from the cat back from Rock auto fixed that. The intermediate pipe with resonator new muffler and tail pipe. She runs and drives like new now. Also car got treated to some new tires!

Did have a small problem. My AC condenser fan wasn’t coming on, however the main cooling fan would kick on with the AC like it should. I thought it was the relay, because testing showed that it was bad. However that may have been the case, but the new relay didn’t fix it. The is a control wire that I found to be bad. So last night I replaced that wire, less than 6’, now the fan kicks on like it should. I found it wasn’t coming on because as I sat in traffic when the temp is 90 and above and super humid, I found the AC wouldn’t cool as well. So when I got home I saw the AC condenser fan wasn’t operating. Yep no air flow when sitting. Fixed it and now she cools ice cold again all the time.

You mention older thread. Does that mean you have a newer/current thread elsewhere? Just curious as I like this vintage of Protege.

No, no other thread, just the date is older now.

To further update, this issue actually persisted. Found that the fan motor was pulling way to much current. So I ended up having to replace that as well. Also Had an intermittent grounding issue on the control side of the relay. Got that figured out and now its ice cold again.