What have you done to your Mazda5 today?

Is that just because the seats sit so much lower than the stockers? Or do the RX8 rails allow more rearward motion? They look fabulous either way, job well done man!
My accomplishment for today was mounting my Well Visors that I got for Christmas. Super easy, took about thirty minutes total and I have to say they look really nice and feel like they are mounted into sheetmetal! Very impressed with them already, go get yourselves a set immediately...
 
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I made rails that matched the contour of the floor and then welded the rx8 sliders directly to them. This eliminated the risers from the stock mounting ears which were pretty substantial in height on the 5. The rx8 sliders offer more adjustment than the 5's, so I mounted them so the full-forward point was about an inch back from the 5, and the sliders gave me a ton more leg room.
 
You could make yourself a fair bit of money offering your services to those of us who are 6' or taller! I would love about three more inches of rearward travel on my stock seat, to get my knees off the dash. Kudos to you for making the RX8 seats work out, they do like really nice in there.
 
Sooooooooooooo been a while...

Did a few oil changes (boring)
Transmission fluid change (boring)
AC wiring problem fix, burned connector (boring)
HID conversion (less boring)
All belts (boring)
New battery (boring)
New tires (225/50-17 fits!)
Spark plugs (boring)
MAF cleaned (boring)
Mazdaspeed3 complete brake conversion with stainless braided lines and Centric/Stoptech rotors and pads all around. YAY! Writeup incoming. It's easy.
 
phunky.buddha said:
Sooooooooooooo been a while...

Did a few oil changes (boring)
Transmission fluid change (boring)
AC wiring problem fix, burned connector (boring)
HID conversion (less boring)
All belts (boring)
New battery (boring)
New tires (225/50-17 fits!)
Spark plugs (boring)
MAF cleaned (boring)
Mazdaspeed3 complete brake conversion with stainless braided lines and Centric/Stoptech rotors and pads all around. YAY! Writeup incoming. It's easy.
Click to expand...

I could just wait for your writeup but figured I'd ask which Centric and StopTech rotors and pads you went with?
I plan to replace all my OEM rotors with Centric High Carbon cryo (plain) when the time comes. As for pads I'm looking at the StopTech Street Performance para-aramid pads.
 
MarkVII88 said:
I could just wait for your writeup but figured I'd ask which Centric and StopTech rotors and pads you went with?
I plan to replace all my OEM rotors with Centric High Carbon cryo (plain) when the time comes. As for pads I'm looking at the StopTech Street Performance para-aramid pads.
Click to expand...

Without going back to look up the part numbers from my orders, I picked up the cheapie C-TEK rotors (the coatings on the hats are really the only difference before you get to cryo-treat), and the ceramic quiet something or other pads. The calipers were from Centric too- full replacement sets- but they're starting to show a ton of surface rust. :( I'll have to pull them one day in the near future and sand/paint them. Not looking forward to that.

I do have a picture with all the part numbers in one shot, so at least that'll be easy reference when people want to buy their own parts to do the swap. Maybe $600 total, all from Amazon.
 
As a New Years present a friend backed into the driver side front of the car. Looks like the bumper cover needs to be replaced, the front of the quarter panel is bent in but no paint damage. Let's see what the body shop says tomorrow.
 
Caught a screw in the 2000 mile old front left tire. Drove on it flat for a few miles before I pulled over at a Discount Tire to figure out what the hell the noise was- and then figured out that Discount Tire is closed on new year's day. Double swapped the wheels in the parking lot using the crapola screw jack in the trunk (spare to rear, rear to front, front into trunk), then drove the 250 miles back to Dallas on the spare. Painful. Going to DT in the morning to see if they'll replace the tire under the cert program. I don't trust a tire that's been driven on folded sidewalls for any period of time.

:(
 
It didn't happen today, but about a week ago I was rolling past an accident scene and got a headlight assembly from the rolled over car stuck under my 5.

I pulled over to the shoulder while blocked by other parked cars and tried to free the headlight by going in reverse and forward multiple times. No luck.

Then I pulled a 3 foot prybar out of my car and tried to bash it to pieces or out of the way. All I did was scrape my knuckles on the concrete.

Finally, the parked cars on the shoulder left the scene and I had no more rearward protection so I said to myself "F" it and drove away. I thought about pulling over into a parking lot and jacking the 5 up to get it out, but this happened in a bad part of town while it was dark and my daughter was with me.

That headlight scraped and scraped with different pressures as the suspension of the 5 went up and down. I was traveling on the highway at about 70 mph for a few miles when the thing finally broke free. It looked like glass sparkles flying behind my 5, with one huge chunk still making up the main part of the headlight assembly.

I drove on. Call me what you will for not stepping into 5 lanes or highway traffic to get the bashed headlight off the road. :D
 
aeroboy said:
Out with the old, in with the new. Fujitsubo.

e37c868a9be05012c02c1a31d993f607.jpg


Sent from my E6883 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

More ground clearance and better looking? I like it. :)
 
That's the stuff! Thanks for that, although I would still like to hear a sound clip of yours, if you get the chance. I think its all kind of moot as the Fujitsubo seems to be a unicorn here in the states, maybe I need more Google practice? LOL
 
Last night, I finally used my car in 6 seater mode to carry the family out to dinner.

Estimated total weight 825 lbs. Two guys and 4 ladies ages 16 and up.

I never had to go over 60 mph, and the 5 handled just fine.
 
Today I installed new NGK spark plugs, changed the oil, installed both belts, and installed the Ford E Focus trans mount. I also cleaned my wheels since I had them off. I also cleaned my winter wheels and put them on since we had some snow today and we are supposed to get more this week.
 
Wrapped rear speaker mounts in some butyl rubber, started working on the trunk area with some butyl sheets.
Installed fancy new wipers, rubber seal for the liftgate opening (prev. one torn by dogs), spark plugs...

Had a really baad feeling about the force required, getting the plugs out. Found the PS side plug drenched in oil. Bought a Felpro valve cover gasket kit (let me know if it has a bad reputation), some gasket silicone and aluminum anti seize paste...
On hold, it was dark and freezing by the time I was back from the store. Always something with a new-used car...
 
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Primergy said:
Bought a Felpro valve cover gasket kit
Click to expand...

I've had good success with Fel-Pro gaskets and heard mostly good feedback from others that used Fel-Pro products but I've never used them on a Mazda5. Fel-Pro valve cover and head gaskets on a Subaru boxer worked great.
 
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