Protege5: Harder, not Smarter!

Tamn

Member
Hey all,
Guess I'll post up my build pics and stuff here since their just taking up space on the PC :D

ATM I average 52-55 mpg highway on a EXTREMELY CONSISTANT basis. 50+ street driving. Maybe I'll make it to 60 someday...

Seeing that I would eventually be at basically a power cap with the stock engine/tranny I decided to do some weight reduction...and kept going...and going...now its something of a impulse. Eventual goal, 2000 pounds? (boom06)

Over the years I've added lots of things to my car, changed stuff around, trying to keep it clean and performance minded. I DO NOT ADD THINGS FOR SHOW. Anything I install or make is specifically for performance. No wings, carbon fiber fake wraps, flashy paint jobs, decals, gaudy rims, sub boxes or the like here.

Big fan of DIY, and I'm hoping to learn much more about aerodynamics, fiber glassing and some other cool stuff while I putter around. If I screw something up its my own damn fault and I'll try and fix what I did wrong and next time hopefully I wont do it again. *knock on wood*

Ok, now that my random rambling is done with....onward with the pictures...errr and modlist!!! :D

Future Plans:
Rebuilding engine with some forged goodies.
Installing the turbo and all the necessary parts I have laying about.
Megasquirt 2 full standalone ECU (also sitting waiting for turbo time)
LSD would be nice to eventually get.
Fiberglass Hood + pins
Lexan/plexi? rear windows + possibly hatch
Moonroof Delete in favor of lexan/plexi
Smaller Dash/possibly fiberglass
Underbody Tray and some Aero stuff for the front bottom end
Side mirror delete/Interior convex mirrors
New set of lightweight rims

My 2002 Madza Protege5 has

Lexan sunroof.
K&M Typhoon cold air intake.
SpooledUp racing 4-1 Header
Hawk brakes (I run different kinds at various points of the year)
AWR Hard Motor mounts.
TWM short shifter
Eibach Pro lowered springs
AWR Sway bars
AWR Adjustable end links
AWR Deep Sump Oilpan
Tokico Illumina adjustable shocks
Sparco WRX-STI Harness Bar
Sparco Competition Harness System (Red) - 6-Point Belt w/ up buckle (x2)
NGK Iridium IX Spark Plugs
Wedge Engineering Seat Brackets
Recaro LS driver and passenger seats
CORKSPORT 'Power Series' Exhaust System
CORKSPORT Front Strut Bar
CORKSPORT Rear Strut Bar
Sparco Mugello Tuner Steering Wheel (Red w/ Black trim)
NRG Quick Release Kit - Gen 2.5 (Red)
Sparco Steering Wheel Miata Hub Adaptor
Pioneer DEH-P4200UB CD Receiver (It actually weighed quite a bit less than the stock player)
Bell M4 Pro Racing Helmet
Fidanza 7lb Aluminum Flywheel
SPEC Stage 2+ Clutch
Garret Turbo from a Nissan (Rebuilding atm)
Greddy Rs type Blow off valve
CORKSPORT 'Power Series' Exhaust Silencer
Stripped Backseat/trunk area
INGA motorsports motorcycle battery HTX14 (HVT-8)
'Odyssey SAE battery Terminals
Mazdaspeed Protege Turbo Exhaust Manifold
CXRacing 2.5" Universal Turbo Intercooler Piping Kit
Greddy Profec B Spec II electronic boost controller
Factory Nissan Shorty Antenna
Altered customs FMIC 28" x 5.5" x 2.5"
AC removed, wiper fluid system removed, rear speakers removed, cruise control removed, rear power windows removed. EVAP removed. Airbags + computer removed.
Numerous other small mods, random lightening of parts, etc.
14990317817373220010810.jpg

Hanging out with a yellow P5!

Pacific Raceways with the BMW clubbers! :D






Exhaust manifold off a Mazdaspeed Protege

Sealing the edges of my Grill Block into place.

Making my Grill block out of Black ABS plastic.

Ripped out my sound deadening stuff against the firewall. MESSY.

Carpets gone :eh:

Messing around with the rear doors. Removed the power window assembly and the speakers. Replaced with wire to hold my windows up. :lol:

This is a "beforesh" shot of my rear wiper bracket.

And this is what it looks like installed. Might paint it up later.
I just got a craving for some cheese.... :lol:


Aftermarket shift knobs were like 50 bucks from TWM, so I drew this up on AutoCad and had my dad machine this at work for me! :D

I know theres some weight savings somewhere under here!


3 POUNDS OF DIRT OFF THE UNDERBODY!!!

BARELY squeezed the car into the garage when I got tired of getting rained on.


Drilled out my coolant bracket and then painted it up with the same paint color as my car.


Swapped that heavy stocker for a lightweight Harley Davidson Motorcycle Battery that weighs 9 pounds.





Just some turbo stuff for when I rebuild the engine this summer. :p
 
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Just purchased some AeroCatch Pins for the hood I'm gonna attempt making.

Went out and got 10 pounds of dry ice and used it to remove most of my sound deadening. I pulled out two 5 gallon buckets filled to the top of it. At least 30+ pounds, and then my ice all "melted" before I finished.

Used a few aerosol cans of uh....bottled air? to finish the rest of the stuff, works ok, but its still not as nice as the ice.

Gonna toss some paint over the spots where I removed the deadening tomorrow. :)

Also gotta start thinking about those lightweight rims. Mmmmmmm

It might just be my imagination, but my car seems to be rising higher on its springs as time goes on. (loser) I'm gonna need lower springs ;)

Heres some pics of the ice fun.





 
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Don't forget the coke!

Got my new hoodpins in today, mmmmm sexy...








Repainting the floorpans where I stripped the sound deadening off this week. Not an easy job once the dry ice is gone btw...(boom06)

Just wanted to paint the area's I removed the actual deadening. Popping a few coats of gray primer and then possibly some of my Classic Red spraypaint. (wiggle)

Good thing I was paranoid with the taping off and garbage bags....spray residue everywhere! Be super careful if you try this!

Gonna give my first shot at fiberglassing this week more than likely if the wind and rain will hold up. See how that goes :)
 
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This is my kind of build. awesome work man! youve got me wanting to take my weight reduction even farther.....

also, screw lowering springs man. i had some for a while and i thought they rode kinda stiff and what not but i got sick of pulling up to the line in autocross and slamming the brakes when i was told to stop at the start line, then having the car dip forward 2 inches.

if you wanna save weight, and love your car more than you ever thought possible, buy coilovers. your car is awesome so far. i highly reccomend my ksport rr coilovers with an 800lb/in spring rate in the front and 650 lb/in spring rate for the rear (each coilover of course). they are also significantly lighter than stock suspension. i held my coilover made of aluminum and some steel in one hand, and my stock strut/spring assembly in the other, and the ksports are about 10 pounds lighter per assembly. they are expensive new, but you can come across em for cheap. hell, i got mine for $160. i look forward to seeing progress in this thread!
 
also get rid of that air conditioning. you can shed the compressor, condenser, canister, all the lines, and the entire assembly under the dash. i pulled mine to put in the supercharger and it weighed out to about 40 pounds of s*** i got rid of.

consider pulling the power steering if youre up to the challenge
 
This is my kind of build. awesome work man! youve got me wanting to take my weight reduction even farther.....

also, screw lowering springs man. i had some for a while and i thought they rode kinda stiff and what not but i got sick of pulling up to the line in autocross and slamming the brakes when i was told to stop at the start line, then having the car dip forward 2 inches.

if you wanna save weight, and love your car more than you ever thought possible, buy coilovers. your car is awesome so far. i highly reccomend my ksport rr coilovers with an 800lb/in spring rate in the front and 650 lb/in spring rate for the rear (each coilover of course). they are also significantly lighter than stock suspension. i held my coilover made of aluminum and some steel in one hand, and my stock strut/spring assembly in the other, and the ksports are about 10 pounds lighter per assembly. they are expensive new, but you can come across em for cheap. hell, i got mine for $160. i look forward to seeing progress in this thread!

Yea someday I may look into some more suspension components and change what I got. But honestly its totally in a sweet spot atm. Fantastic to drive on the street or the track, when those BMW Z4's look up with a surprised expression on a hairpin....makes me smile :)

At the moment really trying to finish up my interior "setup" and working on some aerodynamics to hold me over while the gas prices rise.

also get rid of that air conditioning. you can shed the compressor, condenser, canister, all the lines, and the entire assembly under the dash. i pulled mine to put in the supercharger and it weighed out to about 40 pounds of s*** i got rid of.
consider pulling the power steering if youre up to the challenge

AC and all accessories have already been pulled. I was kind of 50/50 on the power steering, but...I think that's one luxury I will keep. I'll just make my passengers take off their shoes when they ride with me. (drinks)
 
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with coilovers i dropped about 3 inches of ride height, and got a splitter and picked up about 4 mpg on the highway
 
with coilovers i dropped about 3 inches of ride height, and got a splitter and picked up about 4 mpg on the highway

From my "research" going with a full "seamless" under body is the way I will be going. A splitter is more like a bandage to the problem. Its Good, works fine, but its not actually fixing the real problem. I've been stalking hypermiling sites for several years now seeing what those ingenious people think up.

There is a optimum ride height I will be needing for the under body and I'll probably end up testing that later on. Got a few idea's in mind!
 
Subbing for more ideas........not going full strip down on mine....yet, but will use what things I can. Car is lowered 1.4 all around, do have MP3 splitter. Have UDP and all lightened acc pulleys, int/hdr/hi flo catted midpipe/catback, VTCS removed, run 0-30w syn oil, syn ATF with cooler, long reach NGK zfr plugs, 1.8 coils, etc etc etc. Also have another header with 3rd o2 bung, MPI NA tuner, voltage clamp, Innovate wb02 w/afr gauge for future fuel map/timing tuning. Pulling 30-31mpg now, maybe 33-34 with roof rack removed...around 40 with the tuning would be great tho. My car is sportauto so not sure about lightened flywheel availability and not sure if standalone with oem ecu just doing the tranny is an option.

Interesting build and results here. Keep it coming...........Oh, and, welcome aboard
 
BrianMP5T
Look up his account. He has the lightest P5 I know of (2300lbs). One thing he suggest is to get the Sport 2.0 bumper. It weighs 40lbs less. Everyone is shocked by that number, but it turns out the stock bumper has all kinds of metal crap in it. Yes the Sport 2.0 is probably less safe in a rear in collision, but 40lbs is a drastic change for a car anorexic like you :D

Great build, great car, keep up the work!
 
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Wow totally awsome project you got there
I wish i'd have the money for a street car, damn i'd go under some serious weight losses like You did, props!!
 
Haha yes I have some serious weight problems. I do really love the sport 2.0 front end and have been looking at it for a while now. Add that sucker up to my future mod list :)

Sidenote: Tried to do some yarn and coastdown testing "DIY windtunnel" testing for the racks removal.

Did a few runs trying to get a baseline, then made some cardboard filler strips. Got back on the road and it started raining just then and ruined them. Derp.

I got the real things in the garage, but I forgot to order up the clips to actually mount them with at the same time. XD

Also thinking about ordering up one of those "fuel scanner" instant MPG response gauges for better tracking of fuel testing..which correlates into better aero testing once I start doing my underbodys and front end some more.

Pulling 30-31mpg now, maybe 33-34 with roof rack removed...around 40 with the tuning would be great tho. My car is sportauto so not sure about lightened flywheel availability and not sure if standalone with oem ecu just doing the tranny is an option.
Interesting build and results here. Keep it coming...........Oh, and, welcome aboard

Very nice. I averaged 35-36 with full interior and racks on my last spring trip to race at fontanna super speedway. Was pretty decent then and next time I go its gonna be quite more decent :)
 
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I would regularly get 35 mpg by driving at 60 mph and not tailgating... ;) I even added weight with the heavy azz sub speaker box... See my mods.
 
Talk to a machine/fabrication shop about cutting a piece of sheet metal and making a whole underbody skid plate. You can leave access points for things like the oil filter, and make it bolt on all around so it's not too hard to take off if serious work is needed. Hopefully the aerodynamics will out way the weight of the plate.
 
Talk to a machine/fabrication shop about cutting a piece of sheet metal and making a whole underbody skid plate. You can leave access points for things like the oil filter, and make it bolt on all around so it's not too hard to take off if serious work is needed. Hopefully the aerodynamics will out way the weight of the plate.

Yea from the hypermiling sites I've come across, theirs 2 trains of thought on underbodies.
Sheet aluminum or a material called cloroplast. Which is what like promo signs are made out of, a type of plastic material that is quite durable and super lightweight.

Usually the guys mock it up in cardboard as I did for my grill block, then they do a bunch of testing to determine the "best" combination they can, then they make one out of cloroplast and eventually metal.
 
That's awesome. Look into lightweight wheels also. You can get 16-18 lbs wheels. I know carbon fiber wheels exist. I'm not sure if they are super light or more for looks. I would suggest going up to 17's. More surface area will help out the slightest bit on mpg. If you up the ratio from your central hub to the outside surface that meets the ground, a larger circumference will cover more land with the same amount of work.
 
whats that cross bar in the "trunk" ?
The rear strut tower brace? Same thing as up front under the hood. Helps eliiminate flex of the strut towers.

That's awesome. Look into lightweight wheels also. You can get 16-18 lbs wheels. I know carbon fiber wheels exist. I'm not sure if they are super light or more for looks. I would suggest going up to 17's. More surface area will help out the slightest bit on mpg. If you up the ratio from your central hub to the outside surface that meets the ground, a larger circumference will cover more land with the same amount of work.
Running 205/40/17s on mine. The 17s were on it when purchasing new from Mazda dealer oddly enough. Car had 13 miles on it and already aftermarket wheels/tires. Made them leave them on it.
 
Yeah, they are Ace Mantas. 17x7.5 with 43, or -43 offset IIRC. Still rollin on them. Not sure why they were there other than some deal that didn't happen for some reason. There were 3 cars all spec'd the same other than these wheels on 1 early in 04 when the P5s were going away and the 3s were coming out. I chose the one with the spiffy wheels. Pic from the other day and not to threadjack.......they are fairly light and help with mpg. ;P

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