I think I registered here many years ago but never posted and since completely forgot...until now when I tried to register again and noticed my name was already taken. A little digging through my old password files and I discovered sure enough I'm all set up on the site.
In any event, I thought I'd do a quick introduction and given the topic at had I'm sure you are all far more interested in my MP3 than my personal life so here's her history (I never got around to getting her production number, but once I do I'll be sure to add it to the list).
2001 Mazda Protege MP3
Laser Blue
Completely unmodified save a dealer installed cruise control added at purchase by the original owner--this hasn't worked since summer of 2004 and I think it will be removed this summer for reasons I will explain shortly. I am her second owner, privately purchased in Alexandria, MN in May of 2003 at 23,996 miles. Since that time she has been my daily driver with only a few short exceptions and I now have around 196,000 miles on her. The first time the CEL ever came on was December 2012 (at around 160,000 miles) when my wife was driving her and it ended up being a pressure leak in the intake duct which needed replacing. A few months later she started a throwing a P0300 which I isolated to the #2/3 coil. I replaced both coils, all the leads, boots, and plugs (if I'm in there, may as well get it all done). Other than those two issues, she's been a perfect runner. I've only had to replace the brakes twice in all those miles, once doing the rotors too. Of course, she eats tires like a half-starved marine at chow time, but that's to be expected with this suspension set up and buying budget rubber.
I was rear-ended in her in July 2006 though, which was heart breaking. For a few weeks the insurance companies and the repair shop weren't even sure if they were going to total her. After they finally took apart the whole back end they discovered that the damage was confined to last 18" of rear rail behind the wheels. They decided to repair her (new trunk liner, boot lid, rear bumper assembly and cover, and replaced exhaust behind the cat). Looked ok, but they used chemical weld for the trunk liner which just looks awful and the exhaust wasn't properly secured so it rattles a little with sympathetic vibrations at low RPM.
Also had a snowmobiler zip out in front of me on an icy road in winter of 2010. I almost stopped in time but the snowmobile's front shock shattered the passenger front corner of the bumper cover. I still haven't gotten around to fixing that, but it's just cosmetic so is low on the priority list. As are the two rust spots which have developed on the forward tops of the rear wheel arches in typical Protege fashion.
I always had plans to tinker with her and tune her up a little, but after buying a house, getting married (including gaining two step-kids), and having two more kids car-work fell by the wayside.
Well, I believe the time may now have come. For the past year my wife has been driving her as her commuter for her 120+ mile round trip to/from work every day. This is why she's gained 36,000 miles in the past 15 months. Part of that was a stretch this spring when she went over 12,000 miles without an oil change and with cheap gas. The Protege started throwing a P0302 (cylinder #2 misfire) which I was working on diagnosing (after getting an oil change and running a can of Sea-Foam through her). It was intermittent and seemed to occur more after the engine was good and warm so I was becoming suspicious of an electrical issue. Just to cover my bases I swapped the #1 and #2 injectors and the problem went away for a week. It seemed fine, so I let her take it again and she said the light wasn't coming on or anything. Well, she calls me up last week to say the car quit on her and hurry up to retrieve her and the car.
She was misfiring again and in talking to my wife she said that the car had been "put-putty" all week but the CEL never came on she figured it was fine. Turns out she was confusing "misfiring" with "backfiring" and was expecting the latter. (hand) Started the car and I noticed the #2 injector was leaking fuel from injector port so I pulled it, confirmed the seal was good, put vaseline on it for good measure, and cleaned out the port with a shop-vac and a pipe-cleaner. Started it up and she was still misfiring and billowing clouds of white-gray smoke. I step into the fumes and sure enough, it's oil. I look at the engine while running and can see the smoke coming from between the block and head: blown head gasket it is.
So, now at the very least I need to replace the head gasket (and get a fuel-rail bolt drilled out where it sheared off when I was putting the rail back on). I figure this may be the right time to just pull the engine and do a full forged rebuild. I could just replace the head gasket, but my wife now has a company supplied vehicle so there's no huge rush to get this running.
I guess the question is: how much work do I want to put into it and whether or not I want to add FI. I'm leaning toward staying NA and just doing a light ZE style tune on it. High-Compression pistons, forged rods, etc. I do have to be budget minded so I can't go overboard with it but given its mileage and the maintenance abuse it has seen this past year I would expect the need for some milling to take place.
Any suggestions from people trying to make something of the FS-DE are welcome!
In any event, I thought I'd do a quick introduction and given the topic at had I'm sure you are all far more interested in my MP3 than my personal life so here's her history (I never got around to getting her production number, but once I do I'll be sure to add it to the list).
2001 Mazda Protege MP3
Laser Blue
Completely unmodified save a dealer installed cruise control added at purchase by the original owner--this hasn't worked since summer of 2004 and I think it will be removed this summer for reasons I will explain shortly. I am her second owner, privately purchased in Alexandria, MN in May of 2003 at 23,996 miles. Since that time she has been my daily driver with only a few short exceptions and I now have around 196,000 miles on her. The first time the CEL ever came on was December 2012 (at around 160,000 miles) when my wife was driving her and it ended up being a pressure leak in the intake duct which needed replacing. A few months later she started a throwing a P0300 which I isolated to the #2/3 coil. I replaced both coils, all the leads, boots, and plugs (if I'm in there, may as well get it all done). Other than those two issues, she's been a perfect runner. I've only had to replace the brakes twice in all those miles, once doing the rotors too. Of course, she eats tires like a half-starved marine at chow time, but that's to be expected with this suspension set up and buying budget rubber.
I was rear-ended in her in July 2006 though, which was heart breaking. For a few weeks the insurance companies and the repair shop weren't even sure if they were going to total her. After they finally took apart the whole back end they discovered that the damage was confined to last 18" of rear rail behind the wheels. They decided to repair her (new trunk liner, boot lid, rear bumper assembly and cover, and replaced exhaust behind the cat). Looked ok, but they used chemical weld for the trunk liner which just looks awful and the exhaust wasn't properly secured so it rattles a little with sympathetic vibrations at low RPM.
Also had a snowmobiler zip out in front of me on an icy road in winter of 2010. I almost stopped in time but the snowmobile's front shock shattered the passenger front corner of the bumper cover. I still haven't gotten around to fixing that, but it's just cosmetic so is low on the priority list. As are the two rust spots which have developed on the forward tops of the rear wheel arches in typical Protege fashion.
I always had plans to tinker with her and tune her up a little, but after buying a house, getting married (including gaining two step-kids), and having two more kids car-work fell by the wayside.
Well, I believe the time may now have come. For the past year my wife has been driving her as her commuter for her 120+ mile round trip to/from work every day. This is why she's gained 36,000 miles in the past 15 months. Part of that was a stretch this spring when she went over 12,000 miles without an oil change and with cheap gas. The Protege started throwing a P0302 (cylinder #2 misfire) which I was working on diagnosing (after getting an oil change and running a can of Sea-Foam through her). It was intermittent and seemed to occur more after the engine was good and warm so I was becoming suspicious of an electrical issue. Just to cover my bases I swapped the #1 and #2 injectors and the problem went away for a week. It seemed fine, so I let her take it again and she said the light wasn't coming on or anything. Well, she calls me up last week to say the car quit on her and hurry up to retrieve her and the car.
She was misfiring again and in talking to my wife she said that the car had been "put-putty" all week but the CEL never came on she figured it was fine. Turns out she was confusing "misfiring" with "backfiring" and was expecting the latter. (hand) Started the car and I noticed the #2 injector was leaking fuel from injector port so I pulled it, confirmed the seal was good, put vaseline on it for good measure, and cleaned out the port with a shop-vac and a pipe-cleaner. Started it up and she was still misfiring and billowing clouds of white-gray smoke. I step into the fumes and sure enough, it's oil. I look at the engine while running and can see the smoke coming from between the block and head: blown head gasket it is.
So, now at the very least I need to replace the head gasket (and get a fuel-rail bolt drilled out where it sheared off when I was putting the rail back on). I figure this may be the right time to just pull the engine and do a full forged rebuild. I could just replace the head gasket, but my wife now has a company supplied vehicle so there's no huge rush to get this running.
I guess the question is: how much work do I want to put into it and whether or not I want to add FI. I'm leaning toward staying NA and just doing a light ZE style tune on it. High-Compression pistons, forged rods, etc. I do have to be budget minded so I can't go overboard with it but given its mileage and the maintenance abuse it has seen this past year I would expect the need for some milling to take place.
Any suggestions from people trying to make something of the FS-DE are welcome!
