New MSP owner

S

SpeedEnthusiast

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2003 MAZDASPEED Protege
Just picked up this 03 yellow MSP with 85k.
Like it so far. Has a few upgrades.
Hiboost manifold
Airesearch turbo
Tial wastegate
Greddy BOV
FMIC (not sure on brand)
Corksport aluminum radiator
3" full stainless Vibrant exhaust
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I've got a son down here in Texas looking at a similar vehicle... Curious as to what you paid for your MSP?
 
That one looks pretty clean to me, just have to swap out the chrome front emblem with the correct silver one and do the same with the passenger headlight.
 
tbrooks said:
I've got a son down here in Texas looking at a similar vehicle... Curious as to what you paid for your MSP?
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There are lots of MSPs for sale for very cheap on Craigslist but they are likely to need work, if not immediately then soon after. These cars have certain weak points and quirks that have to be replaced or repaired before they are 100%. They are a great bang for the buck but if you get a cheap one you will end up spending more in the long run on maintenance and repairs. I have one that I have replaced everything on (motor, trans, turbo, motor mounts, brakes) as well as a few mods to make more power and improve the drive-ability that I am planning to sell but the price will reflect the money and work I have put into it.
 
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hornsfan10609 said:
That one looks pretty clean to me, just have to swap out the chrome front emblem with the correct silver one and do the same with the passenger headlight.
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It's fairly clean. When you get up close there are rock chips all over they didn't use the right touch up paint for. It's also looks faded in different areas or maybe repainted at some point. Interior is really clean. The entire stock stereo was removed though. Would have liked to have it. Didn't even notice the passenger headlight was different.. would be nice to have the silver emblem. Are the rear emblems suppose to be silver or chrome? Also need a stock pair of tail lights for it, has the euro style right now which look horrible imo. Would love any advice on the car.
 
I couldn't tell if it was the pictures but I did notice the front end was a bit darker than the rest of the car, probably had a front end collision at some point. The passenger headlight is a replacement from an 01-02 Protege, the 03s had the darker gray bezel. You can always take them apart and paint them if you like but new headlights are only about $45 each. Does it have the Kenwood door speakers? The rear deck speakers were never there from the factory, just have delete plates over the holes. The stock head units failed pretty quickly, I doubt there are many (if any at all) MSPs with the stock head unit still installed. And in the trunk there is the stock sub box with a 250w Kenwood amp and a Kenwood excelon 8" sub. The subs also commonly failed and many people remove the stock sub box/amp rack altogether. The stock emblems, front and rear M and Protege badge were all satin silver on the MSP and MP3. Regular proteges had chrome emblems. The stock tail lights are specific to the MSP, the center turn signal/reverse light section has a pink tint to it. There are plenty of MSP partouts, I'm sure you can find a set relatively easily. Does it have a piggyback or any type of aftermarket EMS?
 
Yeah the front and rear bumpers look darker the hood and roof have faded spots on them as well. Thinking about different rims cause the previous owner curbed them pretty good. I'll find a stock headlight and found some tail lights from a partout for $60 pro a sly going to pick those up. Definitely need to get a stereo system for it. The head unit is the cheapest Dual I've ever seen hardly works.. haven't checked the door speakers yet and the only thing left in the trunk are the brackets. I'll have to search for some stock badges for it. I think the darker ones would look better than the chrome ones. Not sure on the EMS. Haven't looked and honestly not sure what I'd be looking for.
 
You can always sand and paint the chrome emblems, or just get some from a parted MSP. Be sure you get the correct pink tails if you want the car to be original, if you plan to tint them red or smoke the center part it won't really matter. If the car has a piggyback it will probably be mounted in the glove box or under the dash/console area. I imagine it does considering the car is modded.
 
Painting the emblems is a good idea. I'll try that and see how it looks while I look for originals. I do want the original tails in it so I'll make sure they are pink. I went and looked under the dash and it looks like there are wires spliced in but they all lead under the kick panel for the ECM. Going to take that panel off tomorrow after work and see what I find.
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A piggyback will have a few wires tapped, at least 4-6. That looks like just a couple wire taps so it may have been to a narrowband AFR gauge but it's hard to tell without seeing more of the wiring.
 
Still need to pull the cover and check the ecm to see what those wires are. Will do that tomorrow.

Car started to have a some issues. First off I think it hit fuel cut a couple times. Tried accelerating hard in 2nd and it completely cut out and jerked hard About 3 times, let off and tried accelerating again and it did fine. The second issue, it starts and drives but seems like it's not hitting boost completely. Every time I put the clutch in it dies even if I didn't hit boost and baby's it, just bogs down and dies.
 
Those are symptoms of a dirty maf or large boost/vac leak. What kind of BPV or BOV does the car have and how is it connected? It could be a bad WG but since it is an EWG I bet it functions normally. You can still test the diaphragm by blowing into the vacuum line.
 
Will clean maf tomorrow and see if it makes a difference. It has a greddy BOV. If you look at the pic I posted of the engine bay on the right side where the charge piping is there's the black hosing stuff where two pipes meet and it's connected just below that bolted to a flange.
 
How much boost is it running? Depending on what you are using to tune it will hit fuel cut around 10psi in cold weather at WOT. May want to check the spark plugs and try cleaning the EGR if it is sticking and causing the stalling. Typically it will stall if the BOV is VTA like yours and it is placed after the MAF but you have it setup correctly.
 
I'm not sure on the boost pressure. The previous owner didn't state. It has a manual boost controller but no boost gauge. I do need to get a boost and A/F ratio gauges. Ok I'll clean the EGR as well. I read somewhere there's a better EGR that's available for our cars cause the factory one was garbage? Could a dirty throttle body cause the issue?
 
So, went to clean the MAF today, as I was pulling it from the charge piping the end connected to the throttle body just slipped right off. It wasn't tight whatsoever.. put it back on tightened it down real good and cleaned the MAF since I already had it out. Car runs just fine now.
 
Nice. Some people upgrade to the 'canadian EGR' that has coolant running through it but the stock one works just fine. I have never actually had EGR issues with either of my cars. I have cleaned them proactively and drive them relatively hard but have not experienced driveability problems.
 
Welcome to the forum! It's good to see another clean yellow MSP around here. If you're on Facebook, make sure you join the Mazdaspeed Protege Enthusiasts - (MSPE) page. It's a little more active there with lots of parts for sale.
 
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