Cubeaholic's build

cubeaholic

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2003 Mazda Protege5
Hi guys, my name's Addison, I'm 20 years old as of three weeks ago and I live in Fort Worth, Texas. I've had my Protege5 since March 2011 and have been a member here since May 2011. Though I've never really posted anything, I'm on here 24/7. Just about everything I've learned about my car, and a lot of what I know about cars, has come from here. I love reading through y'alls build threads and I've been wanting to make one for a while now. Since I've actually had some money lately for parts and I've gotten better about taking pictures of everything, now seemed like a good time.

These pictures are from the first day I got the car, back in March 2011:
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Got it with 83k miles, and not a single known thing wrong with it, besides a small tear in the driver's door weatherstripping. It's a 2003 sunlight silver five speed, with cloth interior and a roof rack. It was completely stock, but I changed that pretty quickly.


Since my stock stereo didn't have a cassette player, I had to upgrade to be able to listen to the music on my phone. I opted for the cheapest choice: a simple, single din Pioneer. Two years later and I'm still happy with it. It works perfectly and looks new (when I wipe it off, anyway).
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My next mod would be my first performance mod.


Before I got my MP5, I learned to drive stick in my friend's SVT Focus. He upgraded to a short shifter and when I tried it, I fell in love with it and had to get one. I ordered the TWM short shifter with the poly connector bushings, and Type R (maybe big, can't remember) knob. It's a very pretty piece and I love the way it feels. Plus, during installation I found 6 dollars cash hidden inside the center console/dash! (cabpatch) There were also a couple parking tickets for like Michigan State University or something, but I don't think I'll be paying those. Just ignore the lack of seats, carpet and sound deadening in the next couple pictures...
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A few months after I got my shifter in, I convinced myself to buy a catback. I found some really great clearance deal on something, I really can't remember what though, and placed the order. After not receiving anything for like 2 months, I finally called to find out what was up. Apparently the company I ordered it from was in the middle of moving warehouses when I placed my order and they had misplaced 7 things during the move, including my exhaust... (gah) So I cancelled that order and ordered the catback from SR Motorsports. I really like this catback a lot. It's super quite at idle, is deep sounding under throttle and the tip looks great! I don't have any decent pictures of it at the moment, so these will have to do:
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I didn't do anything else to my car for probably 5 or 6 months after that, but then i decided I wanted a header. I picked up an OBX header off craigslist for just 60 bucks and got to work. It totally changed the sound of the car, not in a good way. I hated it for a long time before I found out it needed a special gasket to seal it properly (which I only found out because I had to take it to a muffler shop cause my cat was clogged (eek2)). Since I got that gasket on it sounds so much better. Unfortunately, when the cat died, a piece of it got lodged in the forward part of the catback and now it rattles quite obnoxiously at 2400 RPM. Other than that, I love my exhaust!
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I reached 111,111 miles on the odometer the night of my girlfriend's prom. Coincidence? (hump)
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My buddy who helped me install the header owned a 2004 Mach1 Mustang at the time, and so afterwards we went to his house to see what his Mustang wheels would like on a Protege5, just for funsies. The wheels were 18x9 and 18x10.5 with zero offset (lol2). Needless to say, the 10.5's didn't fit at all, we couldn't even get the bolts anywhere close to the bolt holes, but we made it look like they were on. The 9's actually did fit and looked kinda cool (although ridiculous), but they weren't drivable due to the spring perches touching the tops of the tires. Here are the pics:
9's:
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10.5's:
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Of course, that made me want to get new wheels! I finally settled on a set of MSP Racingharts and just needed to acquire them. I decided to buy them individually off eBay, as that seemed to be the cheapest way to do it. I bought three of them and then ran out of money. Since I had 4 nearly brand new tires on my car at the time, I decided to just let them sit in my closet until I needed new tires.
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The next mod choice came shortly after reading through Tamn's build thread, "Protege5: Smarter, not Harder!" (http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123812526-Protege5-Smarter-not-Harder!), for the first time. It seemed like a pretty cool thing to do, so I started pulling everything out that I didn't need or want. I started with the most obvious thing: pulling out the back seats. Then I started taking out all the plastic stuff around the strut towers, and the seat belts too. I took off the rear wiper and the motor, all the plastic on the hatch, and the spare tire. Next I removed the front seats so that I could pull the carpet out. I took out all the light colored plastic pieces around all the pillars, and then down came the headliner. I scraped off as much of the crap as i could from the ceiling, and then moved on to the rear doors.
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I figured that with no rear seats, why do I need door panels? I removed the door panels and the plastic sheets that are under them. Now came the hardest thing I have ever done for my car: removing the black tarry crap that sealed the plastic sheet to the door. If you've never done this before, there's only one way to describe the agony you go through removing this crap: http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...iptions-due-to-black-s***-on-plastic-in-doors That's not at all how I did it, but it seems like a good idea, I suppose. I just got a bottle of Goo Gone and a couple rolls of paper towels and spent a few hours spraying and wiping. It takes FOREVER, but you feel so accomplished once you finish. Anyway, after I took care of that I decided I didn't like the way it looked with the handles and locking mechanisms and all the wires. I removed the handles and locking mechanisms, which is about the most frustrating thing I've ever done in my life, and then tucked the wires inside the door with velcro tape. Out of all I've done stripping the interior, the end result with the doors is still my favorite part.
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After tucking the wires in the doors I decided to try and tuck or remove an other ugly wiring that I could. I removed the sensors that detect when the rear doors are open and tucked the wires under the front door sills. I removed the antenna wire that runs along the right ceiling, as well as the wiper fluid tube that runs by it. Along with the wire, I removed the antenna. Obviously, this leaves a bit of a hole in the ceiling that needed to be filled. I put tape on the ceiling where the hole was and applied Bondo to the roof. I let it cure and just sanded it as flat as I could. I accidentally uncovered some bare metal around the Bondo and primed the whole area just to avoid any rust. It's certainly not pretty, but I don't really care and it does the job. The next thing to go would be the roof rack. I used nuts and bolts with rubber washers to seal the holes and I still need to get the filler strips. I keep meaning to call around junk yards and see if anybody has some, but I tend to be really lazy about this sort of thing. (shrug)
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Shortly after Bondoing the hole in the roof, I decided to delete some of the rear badges. I made an uninformed decision to Bondo the holes shut and have regretted it ever since. I found out about a week after that having the holes welded shut and ground down was the way to go. (hand) I've been meaning to get that done for quite a while now, but have just been too lazy once again. I also used bondo to fill the holes from the license plate bracket on the front bumper, but that actually turned out ok and just needs to be painted. Ignore the rear wheels...
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You can open your eyes now! I still had the three MSP wheels sitting in my closet and I finally needed a couple new tires. I got some 215/45/17 Kumho Ecsta ASX's mounted on two of the MSP wheels and ran staggered with the MSP's in back MP5's up front for several months. Eventually the tires on the MP5 wheels needed to be replaced so I finally ordered the fourth MSP wheel (surprisingly the same one I had been looking at stayed on eBay for about a year before I bought it). I got all the wheels mounted up and am still super happy with them! Unfortunately I am terrible about keeping them clean, but when they are clean they are so pretty! :D
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Next up would be the brakes. I didn't have nearly enough money for a BBK or MS6 upgrade, but some rotors, pads and lines were certainly in reach. I opted for the EBC sport rotors, EBC yellow pads, and Corksport SS lines. I also replaced the fluid with Motul 600. I had never done brakes before and changing fluid is a two person job anyway, so I had my buddy (the same one with the Mustang) help me out. Unfortunately we couldn't get the old lines disconnected and we were just stripping stuff trying, so we gave up on the lines and set them aside. I'll take them to my other buddy's performance shop down the street sometime and see if he can help me out. We were however able to get the rotors and pads on and the fluid changed and it's made a huge difference! They feel a whole lot smoother, are a lot stronger, and they certainly don't look bad either! I just cant wait to get the SS lines in to get rid of that play in the pedal...
Old:
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Vs new:
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Here's the problem:
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Random shots:
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Old:
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Vs new:
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Most recently I finally got around to removing the sound deadening. I mostly decided to start cause I accidentally chipped off a piece and realized that it wasn't so impossible to get off without dry ice. I went away chipping off bit by bit with a hammer and flat head. It was very slow and tedious work, but I felt like I was doing something. After about five hours I had managed to clear off the two patches under where the rear seats used to be, and I put down the tools for that day.
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A friend told me that it was tons easier with dry ice, so I decided to try that the next day. I think the reason I was avoiding dry ice before was I thought it was expensive and very hard to find; turns out I was wrong. Most grocery stores carry it and you can get enough to do a whole car for about 15 bucks. I took a trip to Albertson's and picked up a couple blocks of it. I got back and took out the front seats and center console so I could get to work. I placed one of the blocks under where the front seat goes and just used my hammer to break it into the desired pellet size and spread it over a patch. Waited a couple minutes, pushed some of the ice out of the way and started banging away. Instead of chipping away little pieces, you can break off large sections and it's so much easier. The ice freezes the glue underneath the sound deadening so when you break off the deadening, the glue comes with it and leaves hardly anything.
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The aftermath of my destruction:
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Threw in a couple blocks of dry ice and pulled out a bucket of kitty litter!
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Wait, I meant sound deadening...
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Pulled out all the bigger pieces by hand and then vacuumed the rest
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There are some sections around chassis seams like this though where they use a ton of glue and I just couldn't get it all off, even picking away with the flat head.
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And then there are some sections like this that are nearly impossible to get at and some that ARE impossible to get at with the dash still in, so I'll have to take it out sometime and go another round. Hopefully that'll happen in the next few days.
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In the process of removing all the deadening, I accidentally knocked out a little circle metal bit (that I have no idea the purpose of) under the driver's seat.
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I got some epoxy though and it's right back where it belongs.
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I just put the driver's seat back in for now, and left out the passenger seat and center console. I may end up leaving the center console out altogether if I don't hate not having cup holders. So this is how I'll be driving for the next few days:
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I believe that is everything I've done since I got the car... so I guess it's time to name my future plans!
Corksport rear strut bar on the way
Corksport front strut bar set to ship out on April 15
Finish removing sound deadening
Might prime and/or Plastidip all the interior metal
Tuck wiring on the hatch
Delete A/C
Roof filler strips
AWR 21.5mm rear strut bar and end links
AAC rear links
Poly front control arm bushings
AWR motor and transmission mounts
BC BR type coilovers
GT Spec chassis braces if I can find them
DG grille
Lightweight flywheel
LSD
Seam weld
Rear diffuser
Enkei PF01's (not sure on size, possibly 17x9 or something similar)
Sparco L360 steering wheel and hub
Sparco harness bar system
Sparco Sprint V seat and harness
Corksport cat-less exhaust and hangers
Cold air intake
And more...

I hope you guys enjoy my slow progress!
 
Good Read, and Awesome progress man.

I dont think you'll miss the Cup Holders too much, Their shallowness makes em' pretty much useless haha..

Doing it right imo though. Nice wheels, good brake set up, choice shifter, Solid exhaust.... Makin' me jealous.
 
So the plan is Track car or stripped daily driver?

Both. I want a fun daily driver that is also a solid track car. I don't plan on racing it at all until I've got another set of tires so I'm not eating up my dailys, but once I do I plan to start autoxing. Competing in time attack one day would be really cool
 
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After a couple days of a sort of grinding noise and vibrations at speeds above 40 mph, I realized we had forgotten to torque the lug nuts after we did the brakes a couple of weeks ago. (hand) As a result, all of the nuts were pretty loose and I am actually missing 1 each from both of the right wheels. I searched around my garage a bit and came up with nothing, unsurprisingly. Decided to order a new set and just had to choose one. I wanted some of these:
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but forged titanium is a little out of my price range (about 400 out of it...). I decided to buy some cheap steel ones, cause I know they'll last a lot longer than aluminum ones, which tend to warp. I ordered these today:
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They're just simple steel nuts, but heptagonal in shape, so require a key for each nut. The picture says they're Sickspeed, but I'm not sure they really are. Doesn't matter if they're name brand to me or not, as I figure it's pretty hard to mess up a "block" of steel.

Anyway, those and my rear strut bar should be here on Tuesday, so I'll post some more pictures then.
 
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So I got my Corksport rear strut brace and new lug nuts in the mail today. Installing the brace was pretty quick and easy, once I stopped being stubborn and loosened the bolts on the ends of the brace. Here are some pics:

The ends look black in this picture, but they are the normal blue:
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Before:
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After:
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Unfortunately, the mounting brackets were made a little funny so there wasn't room for the center nut to thread onto the bolt. For now I've just got the two outside bolts on each end holding it on and I'm gonna take a trip to Home Depot in the morning the grab some smaller nuts (it's hard lugging these huge ones around! (cryhard)).
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Besides that, I love it! I think it looks great, and hopefully I will feel a little difference in handling. I'll post pictures of the new lug nuts whenever I get around to installing them.
 
It doesn't look like you will even be able to get a nut onto that bolt. I looks like the bracket is in the way of a nut being able to turn. Good luck.
 
It doesn't look like you will even be able to get a nut onto that bolt. I looks like the bracket is in the way of a nut being able to turn. Good luck.

There's definitely enough room to get a socket centered on it, I just need a thinner nut because the stock ones are flared at the bottom.
 
removing the black tarry crap that sealed the plastic sheet to the door. If you've never done this before, there's only one way to describe the agony you go through removing this crap

Amen brother...amen

Good to see another weight reduction minded enthusiast! Nice ride!

I got myself some pretty nice forged aluminum lugs and I've had them on my new wheels for about 7-8 months now I think, probably taken them off/on like 10 times and they are still holding up good as new. Just something to keep in mind. Keep up the good work :)
 
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Amen brother...amen

Good to see another weight reduction minded enthusiast! Nice ride!

I got myself some pretty nice forged aluminum lugs and I've had them on my new wheels for about 7-8 months now I think, probably taken them off/on like 10 times and they are still holding up good as new. Just something to keep in mind. Keep up the good work :)

Thanks man, it's nice getting praise from one of my inspirations :)

As for the lug nuts, I've got a buddy who's had all sorts of problems with aluminum ones and I'd rather not take my chances. Of course the steel ones I bought aren't exactly perfect though... Two of them have a tiny bulge one side and need to be ground down a little to fit the key. I don't totally mind though, cause that just gives me a good excuse to buy a dremel :D
 
Keep the thread up to date on what you do with that situation since I a looking to get that same bar. Thanks.

In the few minutes I spent at Home Depot, the only nuts I could find that fit have a 17mm head vs the 14mm head on the stock ones, so there isn't any room for the socket. I screwed it on as tight as I could for now and I'll try to find some better ones later. If not, I think faulty construction should be covered by the warranty anyway, so I should be able to get a new one.

Besides that though, I freaking love this thing. I didn't expect to feel much difference, but the car feels totally planted when accelerating out of corners!
 
Corksport sent me a new right bracket a few days ago.
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The center nut can actually thread on now and there's even enough room for a socket to torque it down!
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