Another P5 on a College Budget....Meet Ozzie

I remember It took me forever to get my header in and scared my hands up pretty bad due to rusted bolts. Anyways was in a parking lot by myself and did the whole thing got everything connected. THen I started it up and absolutely hated the noise it made. I then remembered that I forgot the donut gasket that connects to the midpipe. And I broke one of those bolts too, so it was really loud because it wasn't flush with the midpipe. Next day I went to get two new bolts and couple of washers and the gasket. Installed it the next day in like half the time. But I swear the first time was a complete PITA.
Other than my personal story though, here's some advice I saw on this website. You didn't mention if you had troubles with the egr bung but if you did, what you do is follow that egr line back from the header a little and you'll see that there is a little 10 mm or phillips, idk, screw that holds the egr line to the side of your engine. It was hard to see the bolt at first but its under a few other rubber lines and stuff. Just follow it back a few feet, unscrew that and that way you can shift it a little more to install it. I had no troubles installing an ebay header and egr lined up just right.
-Next thing to do is get a mazdaspeed exhaust, its like $100, and a CAI.
 
I cut my hands up pretty good too-a great thing to show my manager when I went in an hour later. But those are definitely on the list of things to get, mainly the CAI. I wanna get one in the next week or two, cuz I think my stock air box might melt with my headers right there with no heat shield. I had the donut gasket on there from the guy who sold me the header, but only one of the new spring bolts I got fit on there. But that's better than neither of them. That sound is what I've been dealing with for months now and one of the big reasons I got a header, so I know exactly what you're talking about.

The EGR bung is the big part right now, cuz it's just barely out of reach of the EGR tube. The tube is resting on the bung at roughly a 45 degree angle with no real effect other than possibly melting stuff and sounding like crap. Someone else who was in the shop when I was there suggested removing that bracket too, so I'll give that a shot tomorrow in the lab. Or in my parking lot. Probably the latter.
 
Thanks Nocturin! I think I have it all figured out now! (dance)

My roommate told me to cap off my EGR bung on my header with a galvanized or black steel cap, so we did that. 18 miles of biking and 2 trips to Lowe's (we picked up the wrong size the first time) later my car is working almost like new, and my exhaust sounds great! I drove it to work (didn't do any delivering last night) and it worked amazingly, with only the slightest exhaust buzz from the fact that only one bolt is holding my header to my catback. Sounds a lot better than before though. The only downside is that now that I have no exhaust entering my EGR my car warms up a lot more slowly. Not quite sure about the heater warming up slow, because I only used it for a minute but hopefully it isn't affected (with winter coming up and all).

So here's my process:
Taking off the heat shield (when I got 4 of my 5 cuts, amazingly)

Heat shield off, attempting to remove everything else as one assembly (sorry, didn't have as many pics)

And the final product:

Here's that metal cap that I was talking about:


Other notes about the process:
-Used the non-fouler on my 2nd O2 sensor to clear my "cat below efficiency" CEL (had it as long as I've had the car)
-EGR tube is hanging out behind the metal cap on the EGR bung. Also have the bracket holding the EGR tube to the block hanging loose.
-Exhaust bolts connecting midpipe to catback were rusted in so bad I had to use an air gun to remove them, and they sparked when they broke loose finally.
-The second spring bolt going to the catback didn't fit with the nut rusted into the backside bracket of the catback. Didn't feel like trying to get it off.

So now I have an updated list of my to-do's, even though it will probably change in the near future anyways.
1) Cold Air Intake
2) HIDs to resolve my headlight issues (hopefully)
3) Snow tires on my stock rims
4) MZ6 brakes
5) Rust repair on fenders (taking it to a shop for a cut and weld hopefully)

My rust is to the point of me not having the time to repair it (working overtime and being a full-time student), so I'll probably have to take some time off work and get poor Ozzie into the shop during finals week or something for the rust repair. Let's hope it doesn't take too long to get in, but we'll just have to wait and see. I also am going to have to start washing my car almost every week once it starts snowing, so I'll need a car wash club or something to hook me up.
 
I would suggest maybe getting some internal exhaust manifold temperature paint. I forgot what its exactly but its some paint can thing with a hose attachment that you spray inside your header prior to install and leave it overnight to dry. It coats the inside of your header and holds in the temperature up to 1500 degrees. I noticed a significant decrease in engine bay temp. I think its better than heat wrap. Shoot I took some of the extra paint and even sprayed the outside of my cheap CAI, that way my intake does not get hot from the outside. I think its drastically reduced temp. for intake air, from keeping the exhaust heat inside the pipes and no heat transfer through the pipe and into the engine bay.

I've read that for every drop in degree on celcius is one added horspower. Not sure how true that it is but the cooler the air comes in the better for the engine. This being that the air is slightly more dense and therefore just slightly more power. Not much for a 130 hp engine but it prob helps out in terms of life of the engine.
 
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Okay I'll have to remember that. Idk when I'll be taking off my header next, but if I do I'll make sure to do that. And if nothing else I might just take it off to do that at some point. Maybe next week if I get time.
 
Time for another update. I've ordered springs so I'll be able to do my suspension swap, but there's a catch: They'll be here Thursday, which is the first day of my three 12-hour driving shifts for homecoming, and work is gonna be off-the-walls crazy. Great.....

On top of that, I've also decided to swap out my end links with Escape links up front and Moogs in the back. Unless someone has a better affordable suggestion. I also have to get to my brakes ASAP because they're making a lot of noise up front. Not squealing, but a loud mix of grinding and creaking springs, which leads me to believe that I've worn through one side of the rotor plates and into the ribbed part in the middle (gotten to the toppings of the sandwich, if that helps). I would try and get it done this week, but I have to have my car in good shape for homecoming and I don't want to end up like last time I worked on my car and mess it up even more, because I can't afford to have another issue come up right before that. Considering I'm doing a full brake swap, I think I'll just drive it as it is for that weekend, hope I don't managed to snap a rotor or something, and get started on fixing it that next Monday, along with my suspension.

But the good news? Even though I don't really have an EGR per say, I haven't gotten a CEL after 2 12-hour delivery shifts, and my air box hasn't melted yet! Whoop whoop! And I dare say that I may have gotten better mileage with this mod....maybe it's just me.
 
Got with rockauto to order the endlinks. Order MOOG endlinks for the P5 for the rear and MOOG endlinks for the Escape for the front. They're supposed tobe beefier than OEM in both applications. Look at where they ship from- I almost ordered a set that cost $15 in shipping since they would have been shipped from Europe. I installed mine today. I can't tell much of a difference, but they look a lot beefier. If the ones you get come with the grease spigot thing that you attach to it, put the one that will be attached to the suspension (the top attachment point) on before you put it on the suspension. There isn't much clearance after you put them on to get the spigot in the hole. I did both on the pass. side though. Driver's top doesn't have the grease fitting. Also, when doing the fronts, I took the bracket that held the wheel speed sensor wire off and moved it out of the way to get the clearance I needed in order to pull the old stud out of the hole and put the new one in. Not sure if you'll have the same issue. It's just two more nuts to unscrew. If you have that issue, you'll see what needs removing.

You should be fine when you go to do the brakes. I was lucky enough that PO drowned the caliper bolts in anti-sieze... Again w/ rockauto, I got my brake rotors and pads from there too... Just went with Centric blanks (IIRC). I'll be putting them on soon.

I write more on other peoples' threads than I do on my own. Lol
 
The shipping is something I'm curious about. I can't find where it says the warehouse it ships from, but for all four endlinks it's just over $9, but it says that it's 4-5 days to ship. So maybe it's still coming from Europe..... :( I'm not sure about the wheel speed sensor, but we'll see. I know I'm still gonna have some speed sensors, but since I don't have ABS, do you think it'll be as much of an issue?

I was planning on getting StopTech's, drilled and slotted, so hopefully it won't be too much of an issue. If you get your brakes done before me, lemme know with any issues!

And that may be true, but it's sometimes better. I feel like I might post on mine too much sometimes. ha
 
If you can wait until later today, I'll try and get the car in the air (need to do an oil change) and snap a pic of what I got hung up on. It isn't too much of a biggie.

The item with the flag on it means it's shipped from out of the country. Plus the "stocked in outlying warehouse"... I didn't notice that the first time around. Lol. Here's the part number of the endlinks I bought:K80104 They were for the Tribute, it shouldn't matter if you find the same ones for the Escape a little cheaper. If you do a part number search, there will be three results. Go for the MOOG one :)

When you look at your cart, there should be a truck with a letter in it for each part. They correspond to the chart below that will tell you how much shipping will be. It will tell you where it comes from if it's an international shipment. Put it this way, the internat'l endlinks cost $30 in shipping alone. The nat'l ones are $9 in shipping. You'll be able to tell. Lol. Also, see if you can find a coupon to save a bit on your order. Google it. If I remembered what the code was, I'd tell ya, but I forgot.

I would say put some penetrating grease on the bolts that hold the caliper to the mount a few hours before you go to do them... It'll probably save you a great deal of strain. If you have access to air tools, they might help. Double check if that's a good idea though. Don't want to snap any bolts. I used a mallet and a ratchet to get my bolts off :)

The front brakes get a lot more use than the rears so that's why I went with blanks for the rear. If I drove mine harder, I might have gone for slotted. It's all up to you though. I found out my rears didn't work for a while so I know my fronts got a lot more use. That's why I didn't want to go crazy on the rears. One other issue I have is I don't have any springs for my rear pads to keep them off the rotor when the caliper isn't compressed. Not sure if they even came with springs. The fronts have them though...
 
I'll be waiting if you wanna post that pic! I'll be studying all night, so I'll need some study breaks. haha

That was the part number I was looking at (same for the Escape, obviously) so I'm set there. The MOOG ones were what I was gonna go with all around. I knew about the different trucks for the shipping locations but it didn't tell me the location specifically. The $9 shipping makes sense though, so I'm not getting an international shipment. I did get an email from them with a 5% coupon code, but I'll see what I can find for better ones.

Thankfully I'll be using air tools since I have the lab on campus available to me. That's where I do all my work now and how I was able to wrestle my exhaust free. ha Plus they have higher quality ratchets and such than my personal tools. I stretched my ratchet quite a bit using it for only half of my header work, so I'm planning on doing all my work in there.

For my brakes, I figured it'd be easy (and cheaper) to go with a full MZ6 setup. MSP brakes are spendy, and I don't know why (just comparing RockAuto prices). I'm gonna drive my car pretty hard when I'm delivering too, so I'm gonna need a good brake setup. Probably not autox quality, but getting up there (delivery times are just as important as lap times haha). I need to make sure that I get an e-brake setup, so I gotta figure out what I'm doing for sure as far as that goes.... I'm starting to think that my rears aren't working either, cuz my rust hasn't cleared from the rears yet. And it should've a few months ago. Plus my fronts are going bad really fast.

But yeah, if you can get those pics up tonight that would be awesome!
 
Well, I may not get pics this evening...Sorry for procrastinating.

IIRC I found a code for either 5 or 10 percent. Every little bit helps though!

Jealous RE the air tools. I went and had an install day with a bunch of Speed owners. One guy helped me remove the rear calipers..

Most certainly easier to go MZ6 setup if you plan on keeping the car for a while. Less rust and shyte among other things. They're probably costly since there aren't a crap ton of MSPs that were produced (compared to the 6 I should say). It's common for the rears to seize up. When you take the calipers off, make sure to lube the pins up nice and good. For the fronts, that could be the same? Mine seem to be okay, but that could be that they were replaced recently. I figured out I've only put 4000 miles on the car since I've owned it. Found out the rear frame rail (idk if that's the right part) is rusted through... This summer... Plans to buy a Speed shall commence. I'll work 50s if need be to earn extra cash!

Then I can retire Winry by either selling her or leaving her as a winter driver... I'll see nearer the time.
 
That's okay! I just saw your post somehow (I must've gone to work or somethin and forgot to check back). The MZ6 setup is cheaper than the stock P5 brakes (minus the calipers, obviously) on RockAuto, so that makes me happy. I will definitely remember to grease it up pretty good, but I'm hoping I won't have seizing calipers since the MZ6 brakes will alevieate this.

That sucks about your frame! I wanna say mine is getting to that point too, which sucks really bad. But if you work that overtime it'll pay off! I'm working 40+ a week plus going to school full-time, so I'm pretty miserable right now, but I need the money to fix Ozzie! And then upgrade him, too....

Hopefully you'll be able to keep her around as a winter driver if nothing else! Store the Speed3 so you don't run the risk of getting rusty!
 
Woot so much information. I can't wait till I can actually start working on my car. I have to wait another month 1/2 to have a level place before I can start taking it apart.

What springs did you order?
 
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Woot so much information.
Amen to that! The more the merrier! I know how you feel about the level place to work on my car! If I was still at my parents house I would have to work on it in the garage, which my mom HATES. She is very adamant about not giving up her spot in there, and I don't have enough room on my dad's side. So I end up getting bored when I go home for a weekend.

As for springs, I got Tanabe DF210s. It's a lower drop than I wanted (considering the ridiculous driveways when I'm delivering) but considering the price I couldn't resist considering that I needed them now. This is the preview from KCKrogoth when he had them on his P5 (wish mine was as clean as his car is):


Maybe somewhere down the road I'll find some Eibachs like I wanted. Curse the fact that I blew all my money on struts and (soon) brakes.
 
I don't know how I feel about that drop or any drop. I want to keep as much of the original ride height/stance because of the driving dynamics and the engineering that went into designing it to work a certain way. I don't know if this line of thinking is correct, but I've seen some nasty setups and "Stanceworks" and stuff like that where people destroy the handling and the reason why it is so much fun to drive this car.

With 160k miles, I have a feeling I have to get the springs and struts... but I don't even know the difference between a "coilover" and seperate springs and struts....

Why did you want the Eibach springs?
 
That's true, but the theory behind it is to reduce the ride height and therefore center of gravity. Granted, the stanced rides lower it so there's no suspension travel at all, and that's terrible for any car, let alone the handling. With mine, I'm hoping that it'll stay just as fun, if not more so since I'll have new struts on there and won't be so float-float-flo-CRASH-float-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-float. And I'll be hugging the road more instead of bouncing off of it. I will admit that it is lower than I would like, but like I said, Eibachs in the future.
And yeah, with 160k miles, you're getting close to the point of needing new struts and possibly springs. I'm only getting new springs so that I can swap out my suspension in a lot less time than separating them all out, plus I'm doing the mounts too. Coilovers tend to be more for performance setups, can be more expensive overall, and when you break something in one of them you have to rebuild the whole suspension (on that corner) rather than swapping out individual parts. Some of them can be adjustable, which would be nice for snowy climates so you can drop it in the summer and raise it when the snow starts flying. Which is what I wanted but couldn't afford.

I wanted the Eibach springs because I've read a lot about how they make your handling better, they ride smoother than a lot of springs because they're progressive, and I personally wanted them because they're just enough of a drop for me. Not too low, but enough of a drop to say that you lowered your car. ha That and Eibach is honestly the only big name suspension brand that I had heard of, so I knew they had a good reputation.

In other news, my springs came in today, so I gotta go pick those up and hopefully get it together with my struts tomorrow, and then play the waiting game for my end links and brakes to come in. I'm also gonna have to make a mini-trip to the Cities to pick up my calipers so I can get them A) cheaper, B) with a lifetime warranty and C) with the mounting brackets! Sounds like a steal, right?
 
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Here's a pic of the endlinks next to one another finally. I found out if you turn the wheel a little while the front is in the air, you can clear the bracket that I thought might be an issue. Lube them up with chassis lube (lithium grease) before install. Also, be sure the endlinks are tight. I thought I ****** one up when I actually didn't tighten one of the bolts on the driver's side up.

I know it's not your P5 up top, but I like the dual exhausts... Just figured I'd say that.
 
Are those the escape endlinks? had i known about them being stronger i would have picked up a set of those instead of protege links when i did my suspension setup. Let me know how they ride
 
They're thicker. I'm not in tune with the car enough to be able to say that they changed the ride much. I'm still on a stock sway bar though, so I'm not sure how that would have changed had I upgraded the sway too. I probably won't get to upgrading that though as this summer I hope to pick up an MS3 (after much hard work I should say)
 
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