LankyKiwi's Rally-flavored SP20

I had the same issue when I had the MSP front and rear springs. Seemed to handle ok, just looked odd.
Heres a pic from waaaay back in April 2005. A little far away but you can see the front is higher than the rear.
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If those BC's are in good shape with no leaks or anything, you should jump on that deal! That will end your ass down face up stance lol.

As far as short shifters go, you may want to think about going in the other direction and extend your shifter since I know you like those canyon drives. (drive)
Just a thought, its all preference of course.
I have always had and loved my Kartboy short shifter. Then for whatever reason, I decided to try an extended shifter. I cant believe what a difference it made. Sure the throws are a bit longer now when shifting, but your hand is now closer to the steering wheel so less time is lost when going from the shifter back the the steering wheel. May not sound like much, but that little bit of saved time may help you recover if you're suddenly in a bad situation and that extra second may mean the difference in crashing or railing that sharp turn. I will never go back to a short shifter. I still have the Kartboy installed, just extended.
Shift knobs - whatever you like! Just not one with those ones with those stupid set screws. It will vibrate off in your hand at the worst possible moment. Get one with a thread pitch of M10 x 1.25. (I think they are same for you guys.)
 
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For short shifters, I've tried Megan, Ralco RZ (the ebay special), and TWM. TWM by far was the best one (it's the most expensive one anyway!). Very high quality and feels very solid, shifting is so smooth albeit a bit notchy.
I'd suggest getting a weighted shift knob to compliment it so it would slide into gears better.

The Ralco RZ just felt cheap and the bolts would break, the bearings wouldn't sit etc etc. I just had constant problems with it.
Megan one was fine, just had a bit of play in it and I didn't like it. Plus it's pretty hard to find...

Go quality or buy twice! That's what I suggest. I wish I went with the TWM first to begin with.
Adding onto what o.g.sk8er said.. I just bought a cheap 4" shifter lever extension from ebay so I'm gonna try that out. The short shifter just feels a bit too low and its like you're reaching in the car lol.
I heard the MSP shifter is a bit shorter in height but doesn't reduce the throw; although I could be wrong.
 
Huh. Such a drop difference in front and rear never occurred to me.

The image died a while ago, but on the old spring buyer's guide, there were all sorts of options to pick from to obtain the desired front/rear drop:

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All the P5-specified kits, with the exception of the Tien S-Tech, drop the front more than the rear. A lot of those on that list probably aren't available anymore. Hell, do people even buy coil sleeves anymore?

Maybe one of us could append the old spring buyer's guide with what the modern-day market has to offer!
 
Thanks guys, appreciate the info.

@o.g.sk8er: Considering a new set of coilovers is $1600, I think I will try and get this set. Even if they sit for a while until it's time for a modification cert, might try an extension before the short throw too. Shift knob is most certainly going to be DIY, can't quite justify the cost of a weighted knob yet :)

@grffn: TWM is top of the list at the moment, A bit pricey, sure, but it sounds like they are top quality, and they will ship to NZ! Might try an extension first too

@riot: Thanks for the info, I bet a good 90% on that list aren't made any more :(

@tireboy: http://www.protegefaq.net/ under performance mods / suspension there's a list of springs available for each gen protg, yours would be a 2nd gen?


If I end up with the BC coilovers, it opens up another legal tin of worms here. Currently I can't just bolt up the coilovers and drive around (Although some people do) , the car would need a low volume vehicle certification. Basically, an inspection is done on the car and any modifications are listed and stamped on a plate that's riveted to the car. The car would probably fly through an inspection with no problems, the hassle is that the cert locks in any modifications, if I want to change wheel size or the seats, it would need a new cert and a new plate.

The current long term plan involves a Toyota SC14 supercharger, which would definitely need a cert. The idea is to pull the car off the road, do the supercharger and coilovers, etc, etc, and get it inspected once for everything. It's a loooong term plan and a dream of mine to have a supercharged car :D
 
That inspection sounds similar to the one we have here via Recon.. we're the only state (and island for that matter) that has it. Hence that little green sticker on the center of my rear bumper lol.
Anytime we mess with the suspension we have to go in for that inspection and list all our modifications and such. They measure the height etc and take that down.. and we need those measurements for an additional inspection called a safety inspection.

Such fun to modify cars..

Supercharging it sounds pretty fun ;o. The guy who owns CR3 motorsports supercharged his P5 before. I should ask him how that went haha.
 
I highly recommend the BC coilovers. I bought a never used set from a forum member years ago and they have been great. I think I've abused them for at least 10yrs. I will say mine are pretty stiff so I feel every bump on the road but when you hit those curves, it handles like it's on rails.
 
Welp, the BC coiiovers are on their way :D For the price they are an absolute steal, and apparently they've only done around 500 km, so they should be pretty fresh

@Grffn: that sounds exactly the same as here, yearly checks and safety inspections. You wouldn't happen to know if there's a build thread of the CR3 motorsports car?

@tireboy: At the moment it'll be a Toyota SC14 unit from an Estima/ Corolla. It's built for 2L engines, easily available and has a switched clutch (Because I want to be like Mad Max and have a switch on the gear knob that turns the supercharger on lol) Other options are the Eaton M62/M90 but they are a bit more pricey here


@Aztecypher: Thanks for the info, looking forward to getting them now!
 
Oh it's just his personal car, not like 'the' CR3 car haha. I don't think he has a thread but I can ask him.
Here's a pic I took of it though xD

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Man, already moving up to those BC coilovers? I'm so envious! Everyone has some fancy suspension set up on their car except for me now :^)

Man that P5's going to ride so nicely with those on. With those, you have to dump some money on a good set of tires to take advantage of your car's newfound stability. Gotta take that bad boy on a track some time.
 
Ha, nearly. The coilovers will get stuck in storage until the time comes to get the car certified, which is a little way away for now. Something will pop up around your area, this was a super lucky find for me that was too good to pass up.

Track time is definitely on the wish list! My sister and her partner are big on drifting and normally go to the amateur track days, might see if I can sneak in one day!


@grffn, thanks for the photos, that's a car goal right there!
 
Woohoo!

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The second hand coilovers turned up despite NZPost's best intentions lol. They're in great condition, only lightly used but they have been messed with, I'll try and find the factory BC settings for everything so I can start from a neutral position when they go on.

Also removed the towbar, rolled the rear guards and moved the sway bar clamps inwards 60mms, thanks for the tip @grffn! That stiffened up the rear considerably! And the tires don't scrape under normal driving, still getting a clunk back there so might look at the trailing arm bushes next.

Not so woohoo;

My driveway is quite steep but levels out towards the garage door, I park on the driveway and try to get as close as possible to the door to try and save my hand brake... This afternoon I may have got a little too close and put a nice big gouge in the front bumper :( luckily the spotlight isn't damaged but I'm kicking myself for doing it!

Still trying to find a shift extension, everyone has the Honda thread pitch, M10x1.5, but not M10x1.25 for mazdas, may have to get some bar stock and make something...
 
Oooooh, that looks like quite the pick up ^^
Got me really considering coilovers now... I've been wishy washy since I'm on tein springs rn.
Sweet! I'm gonna adjust mine a bit more tmrw. Are the endlinks all tightened up and all?
Just make sure you have a good amount of space between the sway bar and the lateral links! It also helps to make sure you tighten everything up via sway bar/end links/clamps while it's on the ground.
If you were to tighten everything up while it's in the air, that may attribute to something being loose etc. when it's on the ground.

Ahh man, sorry about the bumper kiss :(. I got a bad dent on my rear passenger door from trying to park in a super tight spot... hit the edge of the wall.
I beat myself up over it constantly but I guess we have to look at it as adding personality to our cars... until we get a chance to fix it lol.

I ordered a shift extension via ebay, M10x1.25, 4" long. I'll snap a pic of it in the morning.
If you can't find one I can just ship it to you for free since it's quite small lol and I don't use it.
 
Looks like those BC's are in great shape! Scored.
The guy who had them before you had his car dropped. Look at the front. They are almost maxed out. Awesome.
However, I'm sure you'll need to raise them for inspection, correct? Guess I'm lucky to live where most of the time, the police won't pull you over for being low unless you're doing something stupid lol.

Hope I didn't just hex myself. (peep)

Congrats on the new BC's!
 
@Grffn: thanks for the offer! managed to find an extension here for cheap, will give it a go and see how it feels.
The endlinks are still a little too close to the rear control arms, I need to get under and move them back again, I nipped everything up with the car on the ground and the clunk seems to have disappeared for now :D


@o.g.sk8er: I'm stoked, they're like new! Yep they will be raised, I've emailed BC racing to see if they have a spec sheet. For a loud, red car I surprisingly haven't been pulled over yet (touch wood) it's the same here, if you're driving sensibly the cops will leave you alone.
 
Got a 3.5" shifter extension in and have been driving with it for a few days now, it took a bit of getting used to but I like the feel and the extra throw doesn't bother me too much

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I stuck a black washer under the extension to hide the top of the leather boot, also threw on a generic black knob as the standard one looked a little weird!


Also put in a tint strip on the windscreen, what a major PITA! The screen is a giant compound curve, so getting anything to lay flat was a challenge. I ended up tinting a big area, then carefully cutting it to size and shape. it's 5% tint so it blocks the sun pretty well but is all legal ;)

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"Run Rabbit Run" is an idea that's been floating around for a while and I'm glad I followed through, it's holographic vinyl so it catches the light really well. All cut by hand with a trusty scalpel


Bonus points if you know which 2 songs the lyric is from!

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Nice that you picked up the shifter extension. I love mine. Yes a bit of getting used to but no big problem. So much better imo.
Some shifter bushings will also make for a better experience. Too bad Kartboy doesn't make them anymore.
Hey, I noticed you have what looks like a cable driven re circulating lever instead of a button like we have in the states. Cool to see the minor differences in other areas.
 
Hey, I noticed you have what looks like a cable driven re circulating lever instead of a button like we have in the states. Cool to see the minor differences in other areas.

Noticed that too. Not sure about NZ, but the Australian BJII SP20 had auto 'climate control'. All electric with no cables involved. I was under the assumption NZ delivered SP20's were exactly the same as the Australian SP20?? (uhm)

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The numbers on the left dial represents degrees in Celsius.
 
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