What have you done to your protege today, 99-00's only

Think I found the reason for the funny handling of my '00 ES on rough roads. This part is not hooked up -- think it is called the stabilizer bar link?

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Picked up a replacement at Autozone. Looks like a simple job to pull and replace, just two bolts. Any tips from someone who has done it before?
 
make sure to have an hex key that fits the threaded part and a wrench for the nut. It will make your life easier and dont forget some pb blast overnight to help.
 
make sure to have an hex key that fits the threaded part and a wrench for the nut. It will make your life easier and dont forget some pb blast overnight to help.

This. I helped replace a pair on a P5 once that was not nearly as rusty a suspension as your's and still ended up rounding the stupid hex bolt. Ended up having to use a combination of hacksaws, wrenches, and a pipe wrench to get them off. Hopefully you'll have better luck!
 
yeah i have had a couple of mine be at that point,I just used a dremel and cut through the thing and popped it out that way.
 
Just finished doing the sway bar link. Even after PB Blaster and a breaker bar, ended up having to cut both top and bottom! The one on the sway bar still wouldn't give (didn't quite get all of the wide flange on the ball side), so I had to grind on it a little bit with a Dremel until it finally loosened up. Took over an hour to get the old one off, the new one went on in five minutes. The other side should go much quicker, I'm going straight to the sawzall!
 
wal-mart special wheel covers, cost like $17. but, they look a lot better than having a non-matching set. hold me until I get some alloys next summer anyways.
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I pulled out my leaking radiator to install a CS one, only to find out that I need to get a ATF cooler since the CS one doesnt have that built in. I am also replacing the exhaust header with an AWR header while I am doing the radiator. Broke my "torque" wrench trying to get the rear O2 sensor out. Clearly not built for torque since it was set at 70 ftlbs and it is supposedly a 100ftlbm driver. Gonna try and get my money back for it and get a Precision Instrument dial indicating driver.


P.S. - I have gotten the header installed now, but I have to get my thermostat housing machined to get more clearance because my radiator hose currently contacts the header. Once that is done I will be installing the CS radiator and a ATF cooler the she will be ready to drive again.
 
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Today I drove my Protege for the first time since I got the thermostat clearance issue all resolved. The car is once again operable and I took it for a spin around the block. Only one problem. I had her sitting outside for the night after having installed everything and filling up the coolant system. It rained. Apparently the seal around my trunk side vent decided it would no longer do the whole sealing thing. I get out of the driveway and head to the stop sign only to have an onrush of water pour into the vehicle from the trunk when I hit the brakes. Needless to say I spent all day ripping out the interior, drying it out, and resealing the trunk vent with windo-weld. I have also found that the trunk weather seal is going bad in my investigations, so will be ordering a replacement for that. But for now the car is back together again, save the back seat (still drying) and without the floors cushioning. It was simply too saturated to save and would have started to mildew. Anyway, I have images of the interior being torn apart on my garage page. I will say though that the car drives with a lot more spunk after putting the header in. I had to put the CS silencer into the exhaust though as it was too loud without.
 
This thread is so old but I swapped rear subframes today on my donor car to my 99 😎 its rear end is five lug. Going to swap front subframe tomorrow.
 
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