Grif's White P5

G2IsPy7.jpg


Moog front end links are in, 3 of the 4 nuts/bolts were seized so i had to cut off the nuts to remove both sides. Pretty straightforward and easy installation other than rust being fun to deal with..
 
Got some new rubber today; 205/55R16 Toyo Extensa HP II. cat 5 hurricane set to hit the islands this friday so gonna have to hold off on modding and see how that goes.
here's some updated pics on the car. Need a real good detail until i get a paint job sometime in the future.. also have to replace that front bumper, it's all torn up from an accident the previous owner was involved in.

next mods in mind are jdm tail lights and the damned roof rack ordeal.
cI71MMh.jpg

PtOC5Y5.jpg
 
Last edited:
Moog makes some nice endlinks. Nice and beefy in comparison to the OEM components! Much better than the "alternative" available way back when, which were the Ford Escape endlinks.

Do you race or autocross your car? If so, do tell how the tires do!

Good luck with the roof rack (delete?). It looks like an awful PITA to deal with, with removing the headliner and what not...
 
Have had delete strips for awhile..........chillin on the surfboard wall rack. Maybe someday, maybe not................
 
Moog makes some nice endlinks. Nice and beefy in comparison to the OEM components! Much better than the "alternative" available way back when, which were the Ford Escape endlinks.

Do you race or autocross your car? If so, do tell how the tires do!

Good luck with the roof rack (delete?). It looks like an awful PITA to deal with, with removing the headliner and what not...

No racing or autocrossing at all. Just my daily commuter between work, school & beach etc. Just wanted to make it fun for the backroads or just daily driving (i drove a miata before this car so i miss the handling on that thing). Will let you know how the tires feel.. so far it's got some grip and i gained a bit more confidence on turns.
Yeah they surely do look like a pain. A guy on here said $160 shipped for the delete strips but i feel i should wait and see how this hurricane turns out.

Have had delete strips for awhile..........chillin on the surfboard wall rack. Maybe someday, maybe not................

At what cost would you part them for? :^)
 
even if I was looking to sell them, not sure how the hell you would ship something like that and it arrive intact...........post up hurricane swell pics...................
 
well i might just wait to hop on some roof racks bc i really need some for the boards/carrying crap.

hurricane downgraded from a cat 3 to tropical storm overnight, glad we got shear winds protecting us.
how's this for a curve
DlZYXO5U4AA-ABy.jpg:large


new tires have been good the past week, very grippy and a huge noticeable difference in how my car handles now; i feel a lot more confident on turns lol.
the only issue is that i've been having a rubbing noise on the rear passenger side. i thought it was either the mud flaps rubbing, bad wheel bearing, bad strut, etc and i took a good look at it and come to find out... the knuckleheads put the wrong sized tire on that side. the other 3 are 205/55/16 while that rear passenger tire is 215/55/16... so my strut has been resting on the tire for a bit with no clearance. i guess it's my fault i didn't check after it was done but still yet i was pissed. dont trust autoshops! always check for yourself as well. they're replacing it to the proper size this coming tuesday.
 
Well there's a new stupid. Don't think I've heard of something like that happening before. Seems like several points they should've caught that before you even got the car back.
 
That happened to my dad as well. He had a Ford Escape with AWD, so unfortunately the different sized tire outright destroyed the transmission.

Needless to say, we don't go there anymore for tires,
 
found a temporary fix for that big ass crack i had in the bumper via plate relocate.. buaha
took off the mudflaps too, it just looked cheap and i wasn't getting the rally car look i was tryna pull off
y8VovBI.jpg
 
changed spark plugs and got her detailed, car is where i wanted it to be in terms of how it drives etc.
have yakima roof racks in the amazon shopping cart, and waiting on a good deal for jdm tail lights via ebay
also stuck between a progress and a awr rear sway bar... anybody with experience with the progress bars?

QJU6ENk.jpg

6OvY7Wf.jpg
 
MP3 ECU installed and wow, what an immediate difference. I don't know if it's a placebo or not but car seems to idle VERY smooth, sitting at around 600 RPM constantly. At stoplights it's almost as if my car is off because it's so still.. I only remember the car is still on from the vibration of the AC kicking in, or the speakers lol. Definitely noticed the difference at higher RPM's. Wish I did this mod sooner but it did take me forever to find..

Also won a bid on ebay for some roof rack covers (not the delete strip) since I don't have the plastic covers for the actual rack itself.
s-l1600.jpg


All that's left that I have planned for the time being is a coolant flush and change out the belts/waterpump.
Then I'll relax on the car for a bit unless I find something on ebay worth scooping up.
 
Last edited:
found a temporary fix for that big ass crack i had in the bumper via plate relocate.. buaha
took off the mudflaps too, it just looked cheap and i wasn't getting the rally car look i was tryna pull off
y8VovBI.jpg

Dang, good call with the license plate. I would say to fiberglass behind the crack and then do your best DIY skills on a bondo and shaker-can paint job in that one spot. I would keep the license plate there for basically ever, just to keep that area hidden. I don't think anyone will look at you sideways 2-3 years from now if its still there.

Also, the custom license plate gives me the McLovin vibe and I love it
 
Yeah best temporary solution in the mean time imo. Not up for the job yet, did a whole civic in the past and it was not a fun process lol.

previous owner painted it blue :p

swapped in an intermittent wiper stalk, bout a 10 minute job real straightforward. rear wipers still function as well.
ahhh i love the daily driver mods.
G9lWxUi.jpg
 
Yeah best temporary solution in the mean time imo. Not up for the job yet, did a whole civic in the past and it was not a fun process lol.

previous owner painted it blue :p

swapped in an intermittent wiper stalk, bout a 10 minute job real straightforward. rear wipers still function as well.
ahhh i love the daily driver mods.
G9lWxUi.jpg
I did this upgrade too, and honestly I don*t understand why Mazda didn*t just install these at the factory
 
Haven't done much, just new LED's for plate lights etc. Got an alignment after installing Moog camber bolt kits all around the car, -1.5 camber all around.
Also installed some new tail lights, no more looking at those ugly round ones :^)
2jAsRUE.jpg
 
Righteous man, how was installing those camber bolts? Might be a good fine-tune mod for the future, since my car's an understeer machine.

If I was you though, I would've put more negative camber up front than in the rear. Give yourself better turn-in for those corners
 
Righteous man, how was installing those camber bolts? Might be a good fine-tune mod for the future, since my car's an understeer machine.

If I was you though, I would've put more negative camber up front than in the rear. Give yourself better turn-in for those corners

It wasn't too bad, loosening up and removing the old rusted bolts/nuts were the only issue I had. When I drove over to the alignment shop I had -3 camber on the rear lol. After talking with him we both settled on -1.5 all around, with how the tires would wear in mind. Might consider that in the future, maybe when I get a rear sway bar in and go in for another alignment.
 
Looks like I got a good 2 years out of my $130 OBX exhaust before it started cracking up and getting all rusted up. Pretty set on a full racingbeat exhaust set up, paired with the corksport exhaust hangers.. seems to be about $500+$400 shipping to Hawaii. Anybody happen to know other places selling it? Or any other suggestions on an exhaust set up?
 
Last edited:
Back