Project: P5 Rescue! making a clean Daily from two cars.

so, im quite active over in the MSP section of this forum but last year my differential decided to blow up.

Not a huge surprise for owners of msps, its almost a badge of honor when they go.. and i expected it.. unfortunately, it coinsided with a clutch replacement and took out a bunch of bearings ect.. the shafts and gears are fine but i need to basically do a full trans rebuild to bring it back to what i expect of the msp. to add further to misery, compression test/leadkdown shows cylinders 1/2 to be at least 50 pts lower than 3/4. car has never had a timing belt done, head gasket any of that s*** so i basically decided to leave it parked..

the body is in great shape save a few minor scratches from daily life. Most importantly; aside from some rust in the trunk lid, the shell is rust free, dent free, paint isnt faded.. ect, ect. arguably the most important feature to retain on an msp is the factoryness of the body shell so ill leave it be until i feel like doing a proper, respectful build on it.

which brings us to the current project at hand.

Last year around october/november, i aquired my first p5 since 2006.. $800.. rusting, not very nice.. BUT the engine tested 195 across the board. aside from a bad actuator in the intake manifold, cause it to scream like a banshee at high rpms, the engine pulls well and has been very reliable.



i did the basics. oil change, plugs, tighten stuff, valve cover gasket, awesome.
clutch is going, brakes are going. trans has some weird rattle, exhaust going.. its falling appart. but has a good engine, clean interior. 311km


just this yesterday, i picked up this girl for $300.. engine has thrown a rod right after a timing belt change. has a new gates kit with bearings ect. clean shell, no rust. mold, which im taking care of now but no rust. 208km




So this is going to be a build log of these two cars coming together to make a babeh p5. I want a nice clean, reliable p5 out of this. its going to involve swapping a few body panels and painting them. cleaning the car obviously. swapping the engine from the black one to the silver one and having it generally detailed and ready for the road.

to follow, i have been considering pulling all the turbo guts from my MSP with 138km and mildly boosting this p5. it wont be fast but 8-10psi on an msp setup is tons for having a little fun cruising to work.
I not gonna lie. i drove my msp a little like an idiot for a few years.. im 33now, wife/kid.. i dont do that s*** anymore.

So day one with the car involved pulling out all the interior trim peices, pulling out the seats and getting to work on the mold cleaning.

after about 2 hours of scrubbing and vaccuming with clorox disinfectant cleaner, here are my seats.

Damn, I might just make a trip over to BC and pickup a clean P5 for myself, very hard to find in ontario. Also, your black P5 would be considered rust free here, from what I can see at least.

In any case, you got a steal of a deal and I would take a clean body over a good engine on these cars any day.

the black one has rusted out rear fenders and the front strut mounts are getting pretty rusty too. i was going to look into having some new fenders welded in and paint the car myself, but the cost of doing that, even all my own labour is way way more than what i just did here.

ill have to paint two doors, a front fender and maybe a hood if i feel so inclined, and do the engine swap. but two p5s for $1100? why not lol.

the average price for a cleanISH p5 around here is 4500.. some crazies wants 7000.. decent number between 2-3000 atm. high milage though. this one isnt too bad at 207km.

though. i should mention that i have yet to look UNDER it... that might be something else entirely lol... the black one was undercoated and pretty good aside from rusted out exhaust.. hopefully the suspension is good.. but new links from megan or gtspec are cheap. silver will eventually get MSP front bakes and hte msp will get mazda 6s front brakes. not gonna mess around with the rear brakes at all. just a mess to do so.

Got all that stuff back inside tonight. interior all buttoned up. of course previous owner lost one of the hvac cables so ill have to remember to fish that out of the black one when it comes apart. ill have to get the stereo out of the msp as silver doesnt have a headunit. or the rails or frame or anything for it.. never seen that before heh.

until i get a clutch, i dont really want to get too crazy pulling the bay apart. i look at lots of things id like to do like paint the headliner ect but i cant get too side tracked from the main priority... get the car drivable and get my $300 back lol.

didnt accomplish much today. gave it a good scrub down to assess the body condition and no rust at all. just lots of moss and leaves heh. started looking at the headunit but there was no frame at all in the dash. i tried to pop the msp headunit out but i forgot that when i installed it, ther was also no frame. the black p5 does have it, but i dont have tools to pull it out. so ill have to fassion some before it gets recycled. prob gonna try auto pumpkin for a headunit, but just need a radio for now.

it smells pretty potent from the mold delete so after i get it all running and able to move under its own power, its going to the detail-er for a full steam clean.



looks pretty good for a 14 year old 22v though. black vinyl roof yay or nay?

Started stripping the car last night. took the fender to my paint guy to get the color figured out. ill have paint tommorrow but prob wont actually get to the paint process til next week at the earliest.
quite surprised how clean the suspension is on the car at 208km. shouldnt have any trouble taking this one apart.





i havent ridden on those dampers yet but they might get my sportlines.. who knows. and i might actually be able to take those endlinks off and reuse them. always a plus.

oi.. long weekend of manual, exhausting work but accomplished what i tried to do.

we pulled the transmission out of the MSP to steal the new exedy clutch and fidanza flywheel from it. pulled the p5 trans to get its clutch and flywheel to put into the msp just so it could drive around.

the idea here, is to drive the msp for a week or two gently while i have the black and silver cars apart. so the silver 5 is gonna get the fidanza and exedy stage 1 clutch immediately.

we got a good chunk of the reinstall done on the msp, i just have to get under it a few times this week and finish putting stuff like crossbars, exhaust ect back on. but the bigger issue is that now the p5 is sitting there iwht one torn engine mount and a jack under the pan.. this is the engine that threw a rod, so im not trying to save it, but i have to be able to move the car if i want to arrange them for efficient engine swap.. ideally, the black one will be in the carport, but that means silver will have to move, and turn around without power.. awesome..

i guess simplest is to loosely bolt the front end back together enough to roll forward so msp can get out, then push it all the way back into the port so black can be towed once im done stripping it. but i kinda wanted to be driving the silver one before i committed to the recycling of black.

if possible, id love to drop the engine from silver on the ground and just fish it out. its going the the wrecker anyway.. so is it feasible to try to take the head off it with only one engine mount supporting it? or would I have to put the trans back in loose and work it as such? maybe a pallet jack? lol.

lots of logistics to happen here.

well.. it is said that there is no greater teacher than first hand experience, and with this project im getting it hand over fist lol.

good progress so far. on monday i got the msp all back together and lowered. all it needs to move is a battery.

tonight i finished pulling the engine out of the silver one and started to open it up. I had thought to keep the head from it, but i might not bother. im sure if i wanted to do headwork i could get one fairly easily. took out the brand new gates timing belt kit with new tensioner and bearings..ill keep the valve cover, alternator, both manifolds and the rest will go to recycle with black.



now, having taken all that crap off, its a little nervous about doing it in the black one and putting it all back. should i install the manifolds while the engine is out, trans too? how about the starter and alternator? do i want to just drop everything in as one thing or add the bits when the mounts are installed?

tommorrow we are going to put the front end back together so it can roll and get the msp out, push silver back into the port to get its new heart.

ac line sprung a leak while trying to gently drop the engine.. so i guess ill have to get a new one when i get the ac system reprimed, but thats ok, saved me the effort of cracking the bolts loose tonight. ill just remove the pump entirely tommorrow and leave it empty til its time to have the system fixed. hopefully i can get the pump off the black car without damaging it. i suppose i should test the ac on black in the next day to make sure it works properly though.
so if all goes to plan, tommorrow might be the last day i drive the black p5 before its death. its lived a full life though of 311km. its going to a better place.

Sucks to see more of these cars at the yard... I bet you can sell that car with profit here in Ontario, it has no rust! Or you should prove it to me otherwise XD (don't forget about the underbody)

Also, I would try to put the engine in with everything on it... I am sure thats how everyone does it anyways, worst case scenario, you pull parts off. I wouldn't like to put the alternator on the car when the engine is in.

Ill get some pics tonight but fenders rusted out. Strut tower rusted out. Doesn't look bad under but makes bad noises when starting to move.

Sub'd.

You're making great progress! I wish I wasn't in college so I could do exactly what you're doing. Like dill said, the black P5 does look rust free to me, especially being in Wisconsin. I hate salt...
Good luck with the rest man.

lol. i never did take pics of those fenders.. so busy.. basically there is a hole in one side and rust about 3" up on the rear fenders. because the car is black its less noticable but it bothers me. the car is also rattling and falling appart everywhere. everytime i take off from a stop i get a nice clanking that i had thought was heatshields, but i cut them all out and its still there.. prob driveline/axle related. struts are doomed, brakes are gone.. she is just not a happy girl and shows her age everywhere.

if the previous owners had taken as much care of the chassis as the engine, it would be a great car.

anyway, got the hoist today and im ready to start stripping black down. drove my msp today on the silver p5s clutch and HOLLLY man.. clutch could NOT handle boost and rpm together lol. my msp isn't modded a lot. id guestimate im close to the factory 170hp to the wheels, but i guess thats too much for p5 clutch with 200km heh.
ill just have to be gentle.

definitely decided that the msp turbo system is going to come to this p5 though. drivint them back to back, the black one is soo gutless. the msp just effortlessly accelerates onto the highway and dispite its stiffer suspension is a smoother, more connected ride.
ill finally have my sleeper.
oh, and phillip is giving me a pretty good deal on the RAYS he had on his silver p5. finished in bronze should look pretty good when its all built.

Do yourself a favor man. If you're planning to do the turbo system, do it before you install the engine into the p5.

also leave everything on the car except the intake manifold. that's easy as hell to put on alone, but the rear mount is a b**** with the IM on.

Lastly, i would install the trans to the motor and THEN install it into the car. trust me it's easier. I've done this countless times.

Valk said:

oi.. long weekend of manual, exhausting work but accomplished what i tried to do.

we pulled the transmission out of the MSP to steal the new exedy clutch and fidanza flywheel from it. pulled the p5 trans to get its clutch and flywheel to put into the msp just so it could drive around.

the idea here, is to drive the msp for a week or two gently while i have the black and silver cars apart. so the silver 5 is gonna get the fidanza and exedy stage 1 clutch immediately.

we got a good chunk of the reinstall done on the msp, i just have to get under it a few times this week and finish putting stuff like crossbars, exhaust ect back on. but the bigger issue is that now the p5 is sitting there iwht one torn engine mount and a jack under the pan.. this is the engine that threw a rod, so im not trying to save it, but i have to be able to move the car if i want to arrange them for efficient engine swap.. ideally, the black one will be in the carport, but that means silver will have to move, and turn around without power.. awesome..

i guess simplest is to loosely bolt the front end back together enough to roll forward so msp can get out, then push it all the way back into the port so black can be towed once im done stripping it. but i kinda wanted to be driving the silver one before i committed to the recycling of black.

if possible, id love to drop the engine from silver on the ground and just fish it out. its going the the wrecker anyway.. so is it feasible to try to take the head off it with only one engine mount supporting it? or would I have to put the trans back in loose and work it as such? maybe a pallet jack? lol.

lots of logistics to happen here.

Click to expand...

haha...From the angle it looks like your font end is sitting on a blue bucket

Sounds good. Should I crack the trans loose while its still in car? They getting swapped. Turbo gonna be a summer thing. I'm driving the msp atm and only thing ill swap to get silver going is front brakes now. Kinda the last thing I do.

meh. i did it anyway. all trans bolts loostened from the block, all electrical removed, coolant/ac ect. just have to move the power steering pump out of the way and the engine should come out. since it prob wont take more than an hour to pull, ill give it a purple power hose down, change the timing belt, clean/prep the manifolds ect and install everything with new clutch and transmission on the hoist. as long as the engine is in the car before the end of sunday, all good.

well.. after much cursing, head scratching, hammering, more headscratching and cursing, finally cutting... engines out. had to cut the shift linkage as the 12mm bolt was totally seized in place.. tried hammering, pressing with a clamp.. nothing made it work. so then i had to do what i didnt want to; take both subframe braces off which was another dirty wh0re cause the bolts had prob never been broken in 14 years and 315km.. took like 20 minutes to take the tranny brace off..
good thing i went out last night and freed the electrics ect.. well just the top.. i ended up cutting the entire alternator/starter branch right off cause i couldnt be bothered.

hav ea dinner to go to, when im home i have to start taking stuff off like the transmission, intake manifold ect. it has a block heater.. is that removable or would i need a plug of some kind? or just snip the wires i guess. ill never use it.

tommorrow the motor has to be bolted into the chassis so i can return the hoist.. but i want to get rid of the black shell by monday, which means i have to fish all the body panels ect i want to keep. lots and lots of work to do.. i really dont even have time to go to this dinner if im honest...



also found that the jpipe, though bolted securely was flopping around in the midpipe lol. everytime i took off or put load on the car, i heard this horrible clanking.. thats prob it.

managed to the the intake manifold off which was a wh0re and the trans/clutch. somone used some white what i assume is neverseize? but it was so seized i ended up shearing two bolts trying to get the trans loose. good times... rear main seal could use a replacement, but its not in the budget atm im afraid. i still need to buy brakes and other shyte i committed to so ill just have to monitor the seal and my oil level. was thinking of stealing it from the 200km motor, but it isnt a whole lot better. if i had thought of it, i might have stole it from the msp as there isnt a drop getting past it. but whateves.

clutch pretty badly worn. not surprised at 315km.

tommorrow i need to get the engine cleaned with purple power and the hose, install clutch, transmission, both manifolds. change timing belt, install alternator and motor mounts, then try to drop the thing in. as long as i get the motor mounts bolted into the chassis by days end, i will have accomplished what i needed this weekend. i didnt have any help today. hopefullly tomorrow i can get a hand at least to put the suspension back on the black car so it can move. id like to wheel the engine out into the driveway more to hose it off which means the black car has to move.
fun times. not a crazy rush or anything lol.

wife snap



ive never done anything like this before so im either incredibly balzy.. or incredibly stupid. lol.