LankyKiwi's Rally-flavored SP20

I'll be giving it a decent go! Not sure how well it'll turn out but it'll get the car on the road :)
Got a photo of your alignment tool?


Took the car for a quick shakedown spin on Saturday, nothing fell off and nothing caught fire, so that's a win! The car tracks nice and straight already and isn't too bouncy, I forgot how much more responsive the manual is compared to the auto too.

Performance is good! I obviously can't go and do a full rev range pull with the car being slightly illegal at the moment, but it's making about 6psi at 4000ish rpm, it pulls super smoothly and makes a hell of a noise :D I'm going to attempt a video sooner or later and will post it here if it works
Ooooh I'm very curious to hear what it sounds like! Please do keep us posted.
 
Well, best laid plans and all that...

Motivation to do anything to the car fell off the face of the earth a few weeks ago so there isn't much progress to report or video to share unfortunately :(

I have managed to paint the top grille and sand out all the weld burns in the headlights (oops lol) so it's looking more and more car shaped now
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Here's hoping the motivation bug bites soon and it's back to business!
 
Had a brainwave about the spotlight covers last week so I nipped down to the local $2 shop and bought some of those stick on push lamp things, which were just the right shape and size.
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Broke out the trusty CAD and got them sitting about right in the openings.
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I'm digging the look so far, not sure if they'll be red or black yet. Thoughts?

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Also, it appears the chassis is a bit stiffer now!
 
Took a quick trip up to Pick-A-Part in Auckland, partly as a break from my local town, but also to grab some spares and parts for the daily. This gem was waiting, virtually untouched!
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It's a JDM Familia Field Break, it came with a few goodies from factory like the front and rear lips, HID headlights, a 20mm lift and a sweet orange accented interior with fold up picnic trays in the back
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It's a cool, weird bit of Protege/ Familia history. There was also a Lantis Type R with the tiny V6 nearby (imagine that motor in a demio!)

I nabbed the starter, one spotlight and the rear lip from the Field Break. Considering good second hand spotlights are going for $130-150, grabbing a near new one for $20 made the 3 hour round trip a bit sweeter! The frond bar was too damaged for me to rescue and the HID lights were slightly out of budget for this trip. If they're still there in a few weeks I might grab them.

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Here's the Field Break lip on my car, it's a bit beefier and extends lower than the standard P5 lip, plus it has an interesting center section. It'll get painted red one day!

Here's a short driving video too, excuse the 6 year old camera phone quality!
Nothing crazy, 40-50% throttle at the most, I turn the supercharger off for a comparison as well.

20210206 151319 Trim - YouTube
 
Looks like the rear seats in the Field Break are split 50/50 instead of the usual 60/40

Also a cup holder behind the centre console can fetch a pretty penny
 
Looks like the rear seats in the Field Break are split 50/50 instead of the usual 60/40

Also a cup holder behind the centre console can fetch a pretty penny
Yeah, the seats are really nice, didn't even notice the split difference! They don't have the sliding base like the other JDM sport20 which is interesting, it's the flip up base like the 323/pro5
Cupholder was pretty busted up unfortunately :( It also had clear side indicators which can go for $70-80 a pair! (should have grabbed those, maybe next time)
 
Man I can not believe the Field Break in the yard... :(
It's still there, need any parts? :D
Wrecking Mazda Familia BJFW Facelift (pickapart.co.nz)

My daily driver's alternator died on Monday night so I slapped the plates on the red car and pressed it into service, it's first decent drive in over a year! I'm sure the neighbours appreciated me turning up at midnight with a loud whiney car :ROFLMAO:

It went really well, nothing fell off although I think I've wired the wipers backwards and there's a decent suspension clunk in the left rear. Soooo much more torque down low, it's a little skittish in the wet!
 
That is really interesting to see a two-tone "P5".
I kinda like the way the rear lip looks not being color-matched (y)
 
That is really interesting to see a two-tone "P5".
I kinda like the way the rear lip looks not being color-matched (y)

I dig it too, it's almost the same silver as the wheels so it kinda works.

Progress report:
- Alternator belt tightened to stop it squeeling on start up
- Wipers fixed, the little arm wasn't positioned right on the motor
- Rear clunk identified, it's the rose joint on the swaybar end link
- Lower grill splitter in primer ready for a good sanding
 
By the end of this month the car should be legal to drive on the streets!
Certification and Warrant of fitness booked, which are the two processes this car needs to get for it to be able to be driven (legally) on the road. It's an expensive process so I'm slowly going through and making sure everything is done up, tidy and (hopefully) problem free!

Been tackling a few small jobs as well;

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Finally painted the inlet piping, plain silver because I don't want it to disappear in the dark bay, and it kinda matches the strut bar. There's some gold heat tape on the bits closest to the exhaust which should help with heat management.

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Also added some little rubber mounts to try and isolate it from the rad. Last thing I want is to crack the rad tank!

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Fitted a junkyard dash mat (Out of a Ford, hence the weird lump over the passengers airbag cover. It really needs dying black to match everything else

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Aaand figured out where to put some stickers. I don't like heaps of stickers on the outside of the car, so this is a nice spot. Plus if I ever sell the car I can swap this panel out and stick it on the wall as 'art' (Need more stickers!)

Ditched the spotlight cover idea for now, it wasn't working as well as I'd hoped. Will revisit in the future! Stuck some good fog lights in for now.

I also need to figure out how to relieve some intake pressure, I'm getting around 10 psi at 80-90% throttle which is great fun, but not good! Might try and hook the supercharger relay in to the microsquirt and get it to turn off over a certain RPM figure.

Next up:
Bleed and adjust brakes
Spanner check everything
Hook the supercharger relay in to the Microsquirt
Replace the P/S lines as I don't trust them 100%
Book an alignment (required for Cert process)
Get a tire for the spare and fix a puncture

Getting close now!
 
Bled the brakes and adjusted the handbrake today, there was a bit of air in the rear circuit so it stops super sharply now.

Also pulled the rad and lifted the supercharger to fix an oil leak from the block behind the supercharger bracket. It's a bit annoying that the rad has to come out but it's so tight in there. At least the header didn't have to come out!
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Ratchet strap and some scrap wood to support the charger, then the mount can be removed and the charger can be lowered out the bottom.

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I'm getting oil seeping from these two threaded holes, anyone seen this before? They're the lower mounts for the AC pump. I'm wondering if I cracked something with the slightly longer bolts I'm using for the S/C bracket. Have cut the bolts down and added some sealant, which will hopefully fix this issue 🤔

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This is how tight things are lol. There is just enough space to get this nut on and a skinny spanner will slip on to do it up. I've made the mistake of forgetting fasteners when drafting stuff for work, it's not fun!

Hopefully the rain will stop tomorrow so I can go and test the brakes properly :D
 
Hi Mate,

Nice sp20, I'm also in NZ and after a towbar. Do you still have the original one and is it hard to install?

Thanks,
Harry
Heya Harry, the original towbar is gone unfortunately, it was on my blue familia when it got stolen and I didn't think to save it before the insurers took the car :(

They do turn up at pick-a-part occasionally, here's one in Mangere for example:

Easy enough to install, it's waaay easier if the rear bumper is off. From memory it used factory holes so no drilling required!
 
Heya Harry, the original towbar is gone unfortunately, it was on my blue familia when it got stolen and I didn't think to save it before the insurers took the car :(

They do turn up at pick-a-part occasionally, here's one in Mangere for example:

Easy enough to install, it's waaay easier if the rear bumper is off. From memory it used factory holes so no drilling required!
Sorry to pop in, but is that an OEM equipped tow hitch??

If so, I'm laughing right now because my USDM user manual has a whole page dedicated to trailer towing, but the only thing printed on it is "Never tow a trailer with your Mazda."
 

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