Bastian's P5 on a college budget

It looks seriously clean on your car, I'm just terrified that the paint has discolored and it will be a different color underneath (scratch)

Anyone done it recently on a laser blue?
 
Taking mouldings off was a bad choice for me.. Turns out the car had the drivers door re-clear coated. Lazer blue is safer for fade though, not nearly as bad as yellow or red.
Paint you headlight surrounds?
Tint tails?
Plasti-dip interior pieces?
Wrap interior pieces?
Buff paint?
Clean/degrease engine bay?
 
Nice work Swag. I've gone fishing many times in your town. Don't miss the weather or the salt though. Keep it going bud!!
 
looking good man nice to see another person from ma on here, i may have some wheels for ya in the near future if you are interested
 
Teeson - and now I have a to do list! good ideas, I'll probably get cracking on them

sealuva - somehow I never really got in to the fishing here, I've been a few times... I hear you with the salt though. I washed the car on Sunday and it's already a mess. Every single road in the city is ripped up right now too, and the dust is ridiculous.

Plx92 - yeah, not too many people from MA on here... but definitely let me know if you're getting rid of anything! (2thumbs)
 
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took the ski racks off and put the bike racks on today... I guess spring is here early.

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Haven't updated this in a while...

Some of you may bang your heads on the keyboard because of this, but I ended up throwing some new wheel covers on. I just couldn't deal with the rusty steelies anymore and there's no way in hell I can afford wheels and tires right now. I ordered some Mazda center cap stickers online for like $5 to put in the centers to give them a more OEM look.

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Tomorrow, I'm replacing my front rotors and pads after school... nothing exciting

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While I was at Autozone getting the brakes, I picked up some stuff to wire up footwell lighting. I also have an OEM gauge cluster dimmer en route so that I will be able to dim them independently of everything else. I'm going with blue in anticipation of possibly changing my HVAC controls to a blue backlight.

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Also just want to reiterate my goal with this car... I'm basically striving to maintain it to the best of my abilities and keep it up to date and modern where ever possible. I'm not looking to build a street tuner or track car, just a reliable and fun daily driver with modern amenities that doesn't break the bank.
 
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The brakes went smoothly, everything wrong with the drivetrain and braking systems has finally been fixed!! The car has a whole new personality.

I have the footwell lighting almost finished, I need a couple more bulbs and it will be done. I'll post up pics when it's done.
 
You have a caliper seize yet? Lol

Yes pics! And an idea of how you wired it would be great also ;D
 
The car looks good and I know what the high school budgets like cause I am on the same budget but some of my favorite mods on the cheap are my blacked out headlights, tinted tails, eBay intake and my headliner I upholstered myself and I u can save up lowered every car looks better lowered
 
when you remove your side moldings, paint isnt "fading"
theres just no clearcoat under there, I took mine off and clear coat is peeling, nothing too fuzzy ill just give them another coat this summer

i also changed my hvac / cluster light bulbs for blue ones, its amazing, you should go for it
all I need now is a headunit with blue backlighting, which im getting from a friend in a few days

thumbs up, we have very similar state of mind about our p5's and also have limited budget! :)
 
Thanks guys!

Teeson - No seized calipers yet, I hope... What would the symptoms of that be? Again, this is my first car, so some stuff I'm not 100% familiar with... And I'll draw out the wiring diagram this week, it's fairly simple (2thumbs)

slamedp5 - Thanks, I plan on blacking out the headlights soon too, upholstery isn't a bad idea. The PO put an Injen CAI in the car so that's taken care of (2thumbs) Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to lower the car, but not because of my budget. I deliver pizza, which practically involves off-roading in my town, that and my car practically scrapes every time I pull out of my driveway as it is :'( so sadly no lower for me

zhy - My head unit already has (blindingly) blue lighting, which is why I'm going for blue. I'd definitely recommend the blue stereo though, it's very classy. Red just looks dated to me... How difficult was changing out your HVAC lights? Any tips? And thanks for the heads up about the paint too!
 
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I have a crappy Honda :( but itl outrun the protege. I'll sub

Have you considered anything with the exhaust? Or anything for power? Stiffer suspension? There's a lot of cheap performance mods you can do
 
Thanks guys!

Teeson - No seized calipers yet, I hope... What would the symptoms of that be? Again, this is my first car, so some stuff I'm not 100% familiar with... And I'll draw out the wiring diagram this week, it's fairly simple (2thumbs)

I deliver pizza, which practically involves off-roading in my town, that and my car practically scrapes every time I pull out of my driveway as it is :'( so sadly no lower for me

Lol a raspy exhaust would nearly complete the cliche pizza delivery car.

I'm just curious where you tapped the relay (I'm assuming) signal, dome light? Individual door trigger?

Oh and as for seized calipers, checking pads is easiest. My e-brake stopped working recently, it just doesn't hold on a hill. Sooo jacked it up, the calipers are still tight, one pads worn to half of what the other is.. I'm about to buy my 3rd set. The design of the e-brake tensioner is to blame, there's an Allen key hole hidden behind a dust cover to adjust the pad, this often seizes and in my case tight on the rotor wearin my pad to nothing and glazing the rotor. Another sign was when I would release the e-brake and the light would stay on, oh I'm just low on fluid.. Until the fluid mysterious overflowed the next day when the caliper released. Then it started leaking on me.. Man I hate my rear brakes
 
Well I think I'm alright in the seized caliper department. My e-brake is a little less than perfect, but I think it's the cable. I'll look in to it though (2thumbs)

I haven't got it wired up to the doors yet, but I plan on tapping in to the ground on the drivers door switch.

excuse my bad diagram....
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So, when you have it switched to chassis ground, the lights are on all the time. When switched to the door switch ground, they'll only come on when the door is opened. In the middle position, they're off. I haven't wired it up to the doors yet, and I still need to get the other bulbs in there... I'd say I'm about 30% done. I just need to find time this week.
 
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I totally dig the steelies. I was looking for a pair for winter tires, but I couldn't find any with a high enough offset. If you are worried about the rust, sand/grind down the rusty spots then do a few coats of plastidip and follow it with the plastidip clear coat for ~3 coats. They will be shiny and new looking!
 
So I was washing the car and cleaning up the inside today and on a whim I decided that the shifter surround needed to be black, and so I made it so.

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I'm debating doing the radio and HVAC surround the same way. What does everyone think?
 

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