[DEFUNCT] The College-Budget P5

lol it doesn't get to -20C in virginia beach, va luckily. I went with new aftermarket exedy master and salve cylinders on my msp. So far so good for 6k miles. my mechanic friend told me to keep my old oem ones as spares for the beater
 
Thanks guys for this discussion on transmission oil! Glad to know there are a few different selections available to me. I think I may try that Redline MT-90 stuff, only because I've heard a handful of people mention it positively on this forum.

My p5 would pop out of gears on acceleration and it just came down to being low on oil, probably a dumb question but have you changed the oil?

Not a dumb question at all; I haven't checked in ages. In fact, last I heard of the transmission oil was when I first bought the car! I had it drained and refilled shortly after buying it and getting an inspection. That was a little over two years ago (13-14k miles ago) now. That's about half the standard life of transmission oil, but who knows if I should just dump it and refill now, especially since I've tracked it hard once a month? To be safe, I might as well do that.

With that, I have a relatively clear list of tasks to ensure my transmission's not purely at fault:
  • Inspect/Replace transmission fluid
  • Inspect brake/clutch master cylinder
  • Inspect clutch slave cylinder

If the fluid's low or bad, and replacing it does the trick, then alright, party on! Otherwise, I'll inspect the clutch cylinders. The Master cylinder isn't particularly low, however. It's within the two MIN and MAX lines, but it's lower than the middle point between the two. I haven't seen any leaks. I think I'll check the lines while I'm at it, but I don't feel any particular difficulty when I shift.

As usual, that clutch slave cylinder does that rhythmic chirp...sometimes. There have been a few days where it's absent, but I'm not making anything big out of that. Could just be weather fluctuations or whatever.

Also, to add some detail to my grinding, here's what a typical driving experience is like:

I start up fine, and never dog the car past 3kRPM until the car's at operational temperature. 3rd gear works just fine when shifting under this RPM constraint. Once it's at the proper temperature, I can push it to higher RPM, and third gear will seemingly work fine past 3-3.5kRPM. It's seems like only after my car's been at op temp for a decent amount of time does third gear start to grind. Kind of the opposite of the usual problems people have. Some grind when it's cold, but mine grinds when it's hot?
Budget update!

Protege5 Transmission Option​
G15M-R non-LSD (88k Miles)$560.00
Mazdaspeed Chromoly Flywheel$264.61
Spec Stage 1 Clutch Kit$295.00
Total:$1119.61

Got my quote for a standard P5 tranny, which will be the safest option with no extra steps. I found a Spec Stage 1 Clutch Kit offered for 295 bucks over at CR3's website, although it's not officially listed under the Protege category. Gotta ask and see if he has any in stock. Otherwise, there's a Spec Stage 2 Clutch Kit for only one dollar more, apparently. That one's officially listed. And of course, throw in that Chromoly lightweight flywheel, and I got myself a major upgrade.

However, if I'm going through such lengths to drop in race parts, shouldn't I also be looking at motor mounts? I feel like dropping in an LSD alongside a sport clutch set-up would possibly wreck my stock mounts fairly quickly. Ah well, that's for a later development.
 
I know AWR makes a set but it's around 400$ I think, lots of people just fill the stock mounts. There's a couple threads floating around here
 
[*]Inspect brake/clutch master cylinder
[*]Inspect clutch slave cylinder
[/LIST]
.

It can be hard to inspect the cylinders when it only fails when hot.

The cylinders fail by leaking internally. There is no fluid dripping anywhere.

Bleed your clutch if you have'nt already.
 
The cups begin to stop sealing properly in the bore and leak some fluid past, then you lose clutch pressure.

The leaked fluid ends up back in the brake reservoir.

 
Bleeding the clutch can help flush out any crap, particles or water that may be in the cylinders, helping the cups seal better.

I suppose heat can affect the "leak rate" ??
 
That reminds me that I should bleed my clutch again. The brakes too but bleeder screws scare me.

They're hollow and love to break off, then bleeding the brakes costs me more than $500 with all new calipers and cylinders.

Maybe I should leave well enough alone ??
 
...
As usual, that clutch slave cylinder does that rhythmic chirp...sometimes. There have been a few days where it's absent, but I'm not making anything big out of that. Could just be weather fluctuations or whatever.

A bit of grease might help with the chirping.

 
... The Master cylinder isn't particularly low, however. It's within the two MIN and MAX lines, but it's lower than the middle point between the two...

If the fluid level was at the Max line when the brake pads were replaced, then by the time they need replacing again, it will be right around the Min line and the brake light may start flashing.

The fuid level is a rough gauge of brake pad wear.
 
Did some research on replacing the clutch master cylinder...looks like a PITA. One of those hand-contorting jobs, you know? Lol oh well.

Gotta double-check Rockauto again, but replacing the clutch slave/master cylinders thankfully doesn't seem too expensive.

Once that's done, I gotta wait for Mazda Motorsports to confirm my membership status for this year. That way I can buy that Chromoly flywheel, and let that sit here for a bit.
Race day's coming up! I've a dying 3rd gear, questionable clutch cylinder health, crazy squeaks (ungreased bushings from rear swaybar), a new clunk in the front driver-side of the car, a possibly bad CV Axle...yeah, not going to risk racing this thing.

However, it looks like I found someone willing to help me out. He may allow me to co-drive his Civic EK hatch come Sunday. Best part is, he was quite the P5 guy at one point! I took a look at his facebook pictures (lol snooping) and spied a P5 with KL V6 dropped right in. Looks like I finally found a fellow enthusiast! Hopefully, I can get to know him well enough, and form a beneficial friendship between the both of us.
 
It's been a while since I was on here but how was the install of the trailing arms and what did you notice when you first drove it?
 
Lookey what arrived today!

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A little while back I bought some of those CR3 relocation brackets, and they've arrived! Nicely powder-coated, too. I'm going to buy some new Energy Suspension bushings + brackets soon. Might sell my old (now pre-bent lol) brackets to anyone that wants them. They'll be cheap, since I hogged out the bolt holes a little, and the bend is not optimal.

It's been a while since I was on here but how was the install of the trailing arms and what did you notice when you first drove it?

Good to hear from you again! Given the fact that I went from a broken component to an upgrade, the difference was fairly dramatic. I described the old handling sensation as being a "ropy ass". When I entered a turn that would force the car to lean a lot, the rear would briefly oscillate left/right in a semi-twisting motion about the car length-wise. During this, there would be the slightest bit of lift and bounce. In other words, it lost a lot of stability of the course of its road-faring years. I suspect part of this instability was also because the connection to the chassis had a crapload of play in it thanks to there being no bushing left, which allowed my rear wheels to change their castor on the fly lol.

After installing the arms, the above described oscillating "ropy ass" was practically eliminated. The strange lift/bounce and left/right oscillation was no more. The rear held through corners, and refused to lift or shift the castor. As an added benefit of the oversized poly bushings, the rear was stiffened up, which granted me the ability to swing out the rear on command if I wanted to. All in all, an excellent upgrade, and easy as sin to install!
 
Good news:

My new Energy Suspension bushings + brackets came in! Just about ready to re-do the rear sway bar for the third or fourth time.

1aJSka1.jpg


Bad news:

I couldn't race today, because the other P5 guy who was going to share his ek hatch with me wrecked it Friday! Shoot. Well, since he's pretty chill, I might at least ask him if he can help me with my clutch master/slave cylinder. Even if they're not broken, I still want to replace them before dropping in the new(er) transmission and clutch goodies. Oh, and the hunt for a charcoal canister is still on lol. Maybe JP Perera has some functional ones?

I finally paid off this summer semester's tuition, so it's time to take another look at the budget:

Protege5 Transmission Option + Clutch Cylinders + Other​
G15M-R non-LSD (88k Miles)$560.00
Mazdaspeed Chromoly Flywheel$264.61
Spec Stage 1 Clutch Kit$295.00
Exedy Clutch Master Cylinder$10.89
Platinum Driveline Clutch Slave Cylinder$23.79
Beck/Arnley Ignition Starter Switch$31.79
Total:$1186.08

I did some research on ABS systems in hopes of dropping in an MSP LSD G15M-R transmission, but it looks like way too much to DIY. Without any sort of custom designing and developing, the speed sensors alone can't restore speedometer utility. You need all components of the ABS system to get it to work, sadly. Definitely doable IMO, if I can figure out the frequencies and how they correlate to speed, and wire up a microcontroller to both translate this info and send it to the ECU (or third party speedometer).

Back to tangible things. After my research disuaded me, and JP Perera advised me that the LSD can't take a beating, I decided to go for another P5 transmission. It's just too much work for me at the moment to get a LSD to work...but I now have an interesting project for the future! Maybe by the time the last P5 has rusted into the earth, I'll have a means to directly drop in a MSP LSD Transmission in a non-ABS car!
New Plans
I found an auto-specializing welding shop with decent rates, so before I install these swaybar brackets, I'm going to take it to the shop for a quote. They're going to see if welding on new weldnuts in my subframe is possible. If so, I'm in business! I'm quite tired of undoing my jury-rigged swaybar mounts lol. It's not awful, but it makes a 20 minute job drag on.
 
you could save some money and just get your current flywheel resurfaced. not sure what's special about the mazdaspeed one that's listed but the msp and non msp flywheels are identical.
 
you could save some money and just get your current flywheel resurfaced. not sure what's special about the mazdaspeed one that's listed but the msp and non msp flywheels are identical.
Mazdaspeed's Chromoly flywheel is different from the OEM flywheel found in all Proteges. It's a performance part made to order, kind of like how you can buy special performance parts from MOPAR.

To my knowledge, the chromoly lightweight flywheel may have been an option in Japan, but not here. Those Japanese never let us have the good stuff!
 
Mazdaspeed's Chromoly flywheel is different from the OEM flywheel found in all Proteges. It's a performance part made to order, kind of like how you can buy special performance parts from MOPAR.

To my knowledge, the chromoly lightweight flywheel may have been an option in Japan, but not here. Those Japanese never let us have the good stuff!

gotcha. does it happen to be the 18 pound one? i'd still save money and go without paying almost 300 for a flywheel lol.
 
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I believe it's 16 pounds, but there's some contrasting info on its weight. Some folks in older forum posts say it's 14 pounds.

Either way, I'm choosing it over other options such as the Fidanza (7.5lb or so) since the P5's still a daily driver. As much as I love heel-toeing and rev matching, having to do it nonstop in stop and go traffic would suck!

Of course, that's given Mazda Motorsports confirms my racing results. I'm still waiting on that. If I don't get back in some how, then I'll have to look at otger optio s :^|
 
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