KingOfSpades' "Build Thread

[31N007]

Well, this is my first thread I've started and all... Don't expect it to be a massive one 'cause I'm only in high school and well, school comes first.
As of now the only mod I've done to her is the fog light mod which took all of ten minutes. Other than that, I plan to get her up to 100K at least before thinking about doing an engine swap (got the idea from Lewis7789) (and just about everyone else that went and swapped their engines). She's currently residing at my dad's alone in a garage while he's out of the state (work). For that reason, I can't do anything to her- not even drive her (got his Altima as my form of transport). The plus to that however is that I get to keep the miles off her and fix her up before she sees any road time. It's my first manual motor and I only drove one the first time the other day. Only stalled it three times trying to pull up my dad's drive (got there perfectly fine ). I'm probably chuntering on now... Plan on asking for a CAI or STS from my dad as a birthday/ xmas present cause both of them are coming up! Prior to that though, I want to try and clean the disaster pit that is my engine bay out first. That means hopefully this weekend I'll be working on that.

Enough of the life story, I'll give a bit of history I suppose... I was originally supposed to be getting my dad's friend's P5 June of this year but his motor went bottoms up prior to that... Saved myself 2K. I moped around all summer although not really 'cause I had my dad's old Altima to drive while I did an internship (saved $$$ on gas and insurance). I looked around in the past month and saw a few P5s come and go. Found one from FL w/ 100K on it, probably no rust, had to let that one slip away. Well, last week, literally, I looked on CL and found one, $3150, 82K on it, leather, lots of rust, 5 speed... I called the guy up, looked at the listing, gone. So I moaned till, I looked on CL a few days later. Guess what I found: that exact P5 that had escaped me a few days before... Called the guy up, Mike was his name, and arranged to meet him that Saturday morning. Went out to his place and bought it that day. Dad drove her home and she reeked of oil. That's probably going to be the first ToDo on my list, find the source of the mysterious oil smell!

If I haven't lost you yet, sweet! I'll try and update when I do things. It'll be sparse but I hope to be able to contribute to the forums!

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The first night I got her, all cozy in a garage! I couldn't stop sitting in her (that sounds gross)...

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That's my momma's Jeep, 15K on it and it's an '07. Yeah, she barely drives it!

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The inside, Pioneer radio installed by PO. Also I got my graduating tassle thingy in there

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Here's the murder scene (or more commonly known as the engine bay) Like I said, hope to clean it up this weekend!

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The marking (rust mark) I used to figure out she was the one bought only days before...
And the fog light mod too! I'll probably try and clean the headlamps at some point!


Here's a link to my Skydrive file:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=50C06A9C62DCD437!561&authkey=!AD7scHjFIimdEJE

Hopefully it'll work... It's all the same pics I'll upload to my thread just condensed

Here's my list so far. I'll probably add and remove stuff as I think of things

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[31N007]

Quickie: how do i take the headlamps out... I see the screw at the top but... what else?

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I found this on the driver's lamp... And I just wanted to take them out to look at what's behind there.

Also, outside of that, what's the best way to go about cleaning the engine up a little? I got degreaser, I just don't want to spray the hell out of the other good components... Should i try taking the VC off or leave that on? I think I could take it off and give it a good scrubbing?

While I'm on the VC, I'm seriously burning something. Got a nice whiff of oil maybe? Nice cloud accompanying it... Don't think that spells "great running car"

PO had a CEL, said it's something to do with emissions. Could that be the cat producing that cloud?

 

[xxxmonoxidechil]

looks like a good start!

and damn your mom never drives her jeep! my 2009 sportage ive already put 142k miles on. lol

 

[31N007]

looks like a good start!

and damn your mom never drives her jeep! my 2009 sportage ive already put 142k miles on. lol

glad you think it looks good im trying to get it running straight... Bleh, I wish I was more of a mech head.

She's got a 4 mile round trip to work and back, its babied you must travel, just a guess farthest the jeep has been from home is the Detroit metro airport. Hardly a stretch!

 

[azuelke]

To get the headlights housings off, you need to remove the front bumper.

 

[31N007]

To get the headlights housings off, you need to remove the front bumper.

How do I go about doing that? I thought that's what I'd have to do but I didn't want to take anything apart that I shouldn't have...

Also, here's my not very much cleaner engine bay...

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I only took off the bits I knew how to- strut brace, air intake (the front bit) and wiped those down with a bit of soapy water... I took the spark plugs out of the VC and gave it a bit of a scrub but that didn't do much I don't think. I was going to take the VC off but 1. I guess I should've taken some oil out first (didn't want to muck about there), and 2) I'm glad I ddin't b/c I would've needed a new gasket. (I know, I'll get one anyway when my dad's back for a weekend. I wanna try and paint the VC the wrinkle black that looks nice. Maybe I might try and detail the letters in red?

My pal mentioned about the exhaust manifold/ header looking atrocious. I'll probably ask for a header for a birthday/ xmas present as opposed to a CAI. With that said, that do I need for the header? I forget what it's called buit everyone gets a different bung thingy for it? Anyone care to articulate please?

On that note, what're some good headers? I know the OBX one is used by some people? Any others comparable in price range?

Oh, and my pal came over last night, I wanted to show him the new ride. I told him I thought it was burning oil and all and he said it just smelled like a lotta gas. What could be doing that? Would there still be a cloud accompanying the car in that case?

 

[azuelke]

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123782943-How-To-Bumper-Removal-for-Protege5-w-pics!!!

 

[31N007]

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123782943-How-To-Bumper-Removal-for-Protege5-w-pics!!!

thanks much

 

[31N007]

Found out why my dome light doesn't work...

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Didn't need to tug or anything. Looks like it's been cut in the past... That also explains why one of the screws was gold and the other silver.

Anyone happen to have a diagram of how to remove the headliner???

Also, my battery is toast. My playing music might have something to do with it... Also my lack of driving it might explain too. Only reason why I'm gonna pick a new batt up is because the thing's 5 plus years old and looks hideous!


Disregard the inquiry about the headliner. I just downloaded the workshop manual... I had a disc of it somewhere but I misplaced it. Either way, I'm all set!

 

[31N007]

Not really a build but something I'm kind of proud about: I fixed my stinking dome light!

Started with this...

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... as my battle zone...

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... and finally got my headliner off enough to where I found this...

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... Not sure if it was cut or just yanked... Only thing that leads me to believe that it was cut is this...

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... I think that the headliner was removed before... Only other reason I say that is because I found out that the rear washer fluid line was pinched behind the front grab handle... I'll save fixing that for another day.

Also cleaned the sunroof...

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Looks a little cleaner now, yeah?

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And the thing I originally set out to achieve shining nice and bright:

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Not too bad for a day's work (idhitit)

Now to set up my freaking PayPal account so I can buy some stuff from some members off here

 

[31N007]

As I look more and more into my car, the more things I uncover...

Just realized I've got the sedan headlamps on the car... And it looks as if the bumper's been pulled off before... And resprayed too...

No complaints though, just saying

 

[azuelke]

Well, if you have sedan lights, the bumper had to of been off at one point in time. Sedan lights on a P5 usually mean front end damage, and a previous owner cheaped out.

 

[31N007]

Well, if you have sedan lights, the bumper had to of been off at one point in time. Sedan lights on a P5 usually mean front end damage, and a previous owner cheaped out.

Yeah, you could well be right. To tell you the truth, I didn't get a carfax or anything...

I took the front end off tonight.

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That's what I found (Obviously I took the headlamps off part of the way... The relays to splice the headlamps so the highs would work looked like this:

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I don't know whether or not that's good or bad. I also noticed that the front bumper looks like it's been resprayed but the back end of the thing seems to have been silver before. Any telltale markings to deem whether or not it was hit?

Also, when I started her up, she looked outta wack with the smokescreen exhaust fumes...

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Far smokier in real life...

 

[31N007]

So I went round and wiped the bay down a bit today. I was going to clean the front bumper up while it's off the car but I'll probably do it this Saturday instead. I've got a few questions though. I know I could probably read the manual and find out what these parts are but I'm sure you guys could probably tell me far quicker...

This is near the front bumper. It has wires coming from it and runs into the firewall. I havent traced where it goes from there...

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This was under the car, I think by the exhaust, I'm not really sure if anything is supposed to be threaded into those two bolt holes...

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I hope I don't need to say where this is but still, another open hole...

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Oh, and my airbox, the bracket (plastic bit) is knackered. That explains why the lid won't go on 100% of the way. I don't know if that's a common problem but I was just wondering what may have caused it to crack? I'll get an aftermarket CAI eventually. The header's on my list first though. Second to getting the fluids all renewed.

Also, I had my friend give it a bit of gas today, back liquid came out the exhaust, I can only assume it's oil? Either that or exceedingly dirty gas but I doubt that... Thinking, as a few peoples have said, maybe valve seals or, I stumbled upon a thread today that said piston rings (though I think that's been mentioned too).

Battery is well on it's way out but I'll have to charge it up properly some time... The charger said it's sitting at 25% which could explain why I can only get a start out of it seeing as I'm not actually driving it anywhere!!!

And to round it all up, I made a list of things to get for her. In no particular order. I tried to think of all the mods and preventative things. I'll add it to my top thread if you guys actually want to read it.

 

[tweety2300]

If its oil coming out if the exhaust it's head gasket, piston rings or valve seals.

Probly all it is is carbon and moisture, but you said it reaked of oil bringing it home it might be oil.

If I were you I'd paint the valve cover red. Makes it stand out more and will look better with the header

 

[31N007]

Didn't really get all that I planned on getting done, done... I did get few things done though...

I saw on here somewhere, deep down in the depths that someone painted their stock heat shield black. I thought it looked rather nice so, I followed suit

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I have yet to run the engine at idle to bake it on and all that... Dad doesnt want me using his oven. I think it looks decent. In all honesty though, I thought it looked quite good with just the high temp primer on it!

I took all of my stock air intake tubing out and gave that all a good scrub. Took off some other parts here and there to kind of clean the bay out a little more.

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I did a little "DIY" to fix the broken airbox mount... It's not 100% solid but it's doing a better job than what had clearly failed previously...

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I've decided on asking my dad for a HID kit for my birthday- ballasts and the projectors. I think that'll be worth it seeing as I can keep those parts if I change the engine out. I really just want to keep this motor going till it's gone so I don't want to drop a bunch of money into it... I need to bother my dad to help pay to fix the rust on the body first!!! I'm thinking maybe a STS for xmas or something. I'll pay for the preventative maint. myself. Looked at head gaskets today, local auto parts store wanted $60 for a non-oem one!!! I checked online on onlinemazdaparts, $35 I think for the oem one. I think I know which one I'm picking!!

I had my dad smell the exhaust, not in the stick his nose up the pipe way but just tell me what he thinks. He said it might be becuse I dont have much gas in the tank. I'm hella low and I didn't want to fill it up cause I'm not driving it anywhere. It didn't smell nearly as bad as it did the last time I started it up though...

Last part of this update, I found a Stanley blade thingy just chilling out on this ledge thing in the engine bay, it was well rusted... That, and I found a hershey kiss wrapper too. Cleaned that out and well, yeah, I'm more and more proud, even with the little things

 

[tweety2300]

You will also need new head bolts to do the head gasket, they're not re usable

 

[31N007]

You will also need new head bolts to do the head gasket, they're not re usable

I saw that too. Cheers for the reminder. On that note, I have a bolt that got sheared... Looks like I'll be getting that out first :S

 

[31N007]

Well, it's official, I'm burning oil. I started it up once more before I left for my mom's for the week and a nice blue cloud spewed out, debugging the immediate area. I'll probably source a head gasket and bolts and get to taking the VC off. I take it i'll be able to see the valve seals by taking the VC off? I've got a manual so I'll have a poke around through that to see if I can see what to do. Of course, my momma says I should take it to a mechanic but, in my typical fashion, I'm going to do it myself

 

[31N007]

So, Cylinders 1 and 3 are down on compression and I'm still burning oil... Let the teardown begin! I know I'm in for a lot of work but ya know what, I'll learn something about motors

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This is how she looks right now. While I've got the VC off, I'll be painting it. I don't know what paint to use... High temp I'm sure.

I'm going to pick up the whole overhaul gasket kit, head bolts, and piston rings. $400 out the door, more power in

On the bright side, I've got an intelligent friend whos helping me; the bloke who blew his Scooby motor. I gotta say, as much as I may have laughed at the sheer fact the thing blew, I trust that he knows what he's doing.