Recent content by flat_black

Mine kind of has spoiled me. =) I made a custom map for mine a while back, and flashed it with my Tactrix cable. It makes it much more fun to drive. But it wasn't the response/speed that bothered me on the 2.5L/'08's, but the total lack of tactile driver feedback. Felt like everything I was...

New WRX kinda don't do it for me. I drove 'em around, and it felt sloppy, slow and uninspiring compared to my '04 WRX. The bugeyes to the '07 style were pretty nice, but the new ones... Just blah.

Is THAT what color the tranny is s'posed to be? Wow.

Woah... Just looked at these pics. Uhm, change that coolant, like, a year or two ago, please. =) Looks really foul. You're in Texas, so I'd suggest 75% water, the rest coolant and Water Wetter. Other than that, what you're seeing, oil-wise, is PCV oils working their way into the intake...

Yeah, mine wasn't holding more than 50% charge when I replaced it. I weighed the stocker in at 37 pounds for it plus all the mounting hardware. The new one weighs 11.5 with it and all the mounting hardware. Better weight savings than a CF hood. =)

All back together, now!

There should be a little, tiny lip on the frontmost part of the bearing, so get yourself a REALLY hardcore three finger puller that can lock (Sears sells them, and they're about $70 for a puller that will work really well.) Get it around the lip, tighten the fingers down, tighten down the arm...

Uuuuhm, if you don't have a cat, then... Install one? =) It doesn't really reduce power. Just noise and emissions. If you really don't wanna have one in there, you'll need some other form of CEL eliminator, such as the resistor mod, or the anti-fouler trick on the rear O2S.

Steering wheel is on the other side. =) I'd say the stuff as been relocated, as likely the steering column comes through the US spec stock routing location of those AC lines. The US version terminates right where the steering column would, presumably, go on any RHD version of the car, whereas...

Yep, looks like it fits pretty tightly to the AC lines, according to the pictures I've found.

Okay, a few things to address here; One, yeah, it does matter which year it's from... The injector differences happened during a mid-year refresh on the IM. Go ahead and check the post above to see what to look for. You don't have to use the cruise vac line, if you don't want it. You'll...

Well, that's definitely an ECU for the Protege... Not sure if they've tweaked it at all. Pretty much, you can speculate all you'd like, but without calling the Mazda Race Team, to get an answer, all that speculation will be just that. =)

929 rims and 195/60R15 Nokian's for the winter work really well, by the way. =) I've got a set of four 929 rims that don't look pretty, and one is bent on the inner rim. Still holds air, just adds a little bit of vibration. Should be able to be straightened for a few bucks, but I haven't had...

Bingo. 1.2's. They're lighter than they advertise, based on my scale. These guys weigh in at 12.5 pounds (lighter than the 929 rims, at one inch narrower, and much higher offset.)

2002 Protege5 5-Speed Full exhaust (head-to-tip), full intake (new manifold, tb, and intake tract, CA style,) lightened, light flywheel, light clutch, light crank pulley (that needs to be replaced,) 12lb 15x7 wheels with tires at 38 psi, coilovers (lowered ~2-2.5",) ported/polished head...