[DEFUNCT] The College-Budget P5

Don't get an economy bearing.
I did and it wasn't a "sealed" bearing... It just had a "dust cap" that does little to keep water out.

The SKF bearing at Rockauto specifically says "sealed" and as far as I know it is a quality bearing (although it is the most expensive)

Doing a front bearing is usually a huge job and you'd hate to have to do it again in 6 months because of a crap bearing.

My father actually told me the same thing--buy an assembly that's "sealed", he said. But that was before he reconsidered and told me not to **** with it, and just send the car to a shop.

I'm kind of leaning towards just sending it in, mostly because we get bad rust around these parts, and supposedly, this will be the first time this car gets a new bearing. Dunno if I want to screw with a part that had 16 years worth of rust-welding...

...Plus, I got a time attack to attend on the 20th, and I'd rather have one project (replace fuel filter + strainer just in case) rather than two.
 
My father actually told me the same thing--buy an assembly that's "sealed", he said.

I'm kind of leaning towards just sending it in,..

You could buy the bearings yourself and send them along with your car to the shop.
Some shops charge extra labor cost if you supply the parts but they may order cheaper bearings themselves and double the price to you or if it's a Mazda dealer, they will charge huge dollars for both labor and parts.

You should consider doing both sides because when one goes, the other isn't far behind.
 
Tackling P0171: Prelude

The goods have arrived, gentlemen

ETuOQUw.jpg


I ordered a replacement fuel filter and a non-economy/cheapest strainer (just in case) to try and settle this code I've been getting.

It'll be in before the 20th, which is the next time attack event. Now that finals are over with, I don't know what to do with myself besides yank parts from the junkyard and fix up my car, lol!
 
Waiting...

As per PCB's suggestion, I bought myself a JIS screwdriver set off of amazon, and will be waiting for them to arrive. Last thing I want to is strip out a screw in a very volatile section of my car, and have to find some method of drilling/cutting out that won't result in sparks!

What's new?

I just got my car back from the shop after I was advised against screwing with the bearings + tie rod. I did some more research to really make sure that it was as big of a pain as folks said it was...and damn am I glad I listened. I incorrectly assumed that these bearings would be easy to remove like an older USDM vehicle. D'oh, "pressed" bearings are a PITA. Especially where everything here is welded on by rust.

Anyhow, the car's clunking hell of a lot less, the howling's gone, and now there's only the P0171 code to worry about!

Next Update?

This Sunday, I'll compete in another time attack event. Hopefully, some improvement can be made! I'm pretty excited, especially since as I iterated before, I met a guy who wanted to give me a CAI for free. Can't wait to check it out. I'll most likely dump some cool action shots as the come in.

Afterwards, I'll be away for a week or so on a vacation. Gotta go hit the links with my Grandpa for once...been too long since I swung a club!

When I return, I'll finally install that damn filter and the strainer. But hey, that's not all...I ordered another mod I'll reveal when I get back! All I gotta say is that I'm excited to dig into my car a little more this summer. I'm only taking one summer class, so things'll be easy-going for a bit.

One last thing: I've really been digging Initial-D lately, so I decided to draw a P5 and shop it into a comic page. Check it!

a5TPIZl.jpg
 
As per PCB's suggestion, I bought myself a JIS screwdriver set off of amazon, and will be waiting for them to arrive. Last thing I want to is strip out a screw in a very volatile section of my car, and have to find some method of drilling/cutting out that won't result in sparks!

What's new?

I just got my car back from the shop after I was advised against screwing with the bearings + tie rod. I did some more research to really make sure that it was as big of a pain as folks said it was...and damn am I glad I listened. I incorrectly assumed that these bearings would be easy to remove like an older USDM vehicle. D'oh, "pressed" bearings are a PITA. Especially where everything here is welded on by rust.

Anyhow, the car's clunking hell of a lot less, the howling's gone, and now there's only the P0171 code to worry about!

Next Update?

This Sunday, I'll compete in another time attack event. Hopefully, some improvement can be made! I'm pretty excited, especially since as I iterated before, I met a guy who wanted to give me a CAI for free. Can't wait to check it out. I'll most likely dump some cool action shots as the come in.

Afterwards, I'll be away for a week or so on a vacation. Gotta go hit the links with my Grandpa for once...been too long since I swung a club!

When I return, I'll finally install that damn filter and the strainer. But hey, that's not all...I ordered another mod I'll reveal when I get back! All I gotta say is that I'm excited to dig into my car a little more this summer. I'm only taking one summer class, so things'll be easy-going for a bit.

One last thing: I've really been digging Initial-D lately, so I decided to draw a P5 and shop it into a comic page. Check it!

a5TPIZl.jpg
i recently commissioned a dude in my car club to draw my P5. They’re such good looking cars, and deserve more love
 
The Second Autocross

Hell of a day today!

The track was very damp today. We were warned to take it easy, as there were some very unfortunate puddles at key apex points.

eYDfU42.jpg


Due to my inexperience and generally aggressive racing style, I decided to take at about 95% of my normal pacing. I ended up landing 12th out of 26 in my class for my first run, so hell yeah it helped! First time I ever placed in the middle/upper half of any time attack.

As time went on, more and more driving concepts clicked with me. I finally understood the feeling of keeping the car at equilibrium while turning (the point right before losing traction). This helped so, so much. I wasn't squealing in the corners anymore, and my times only got better and better.

Unfortunately, the rest of the competitors in my class caught on to the fact that the track dried out pretty quickly, so despite each time improving, I got quickly dusted in the standings and finished at 20th. I didn't care too much about my placement, though, since I can handle this car like a big boy now!!

And of course, while being able to have fun with my car is a reward in and of itself, I got the CAI from the fellow competitor today:

BEuUGrc.jpg


The thing was only in his car for 500 miles, since he said that "practically afterwards", he totaled his car by hitting a deer, and the intake sat in his garage ever since.

I plan on putting heat-reflective tape on it. One of my pals who competes with a Miata told me that after wrapping his CAI, he managed to drop the intake air temperature by about 20 degrees Celsius (according to the Torque Pro logging application). I'll first try the thing unwrapped and log some temperatures, and then wrap the thing and see if I can get anything out of it.

As they get posted on FB, I'll upload pictures of my car here.
 
Sisyphus and the P5

In trouble and out of trouble, then right back innit. That's the way things seem to go with me and my car these days.

So, a few days ago, I returned from my trip, and immediately set out on installing my short shifter. We know what happened with that...

...well, it's obviously in now and working really damn well. Glad I got it, and glad I learned what to do with the community's help here.

Here are a few pics:

t4iVJFs.jpg


PXY61Oa.jpg


Unfortunately for me, the very top of the dust cover that is held in place by the stock shifter and the OEM shift knob rattles like crazy against the new shifter, so I need to find something to make it less noisy. Other than that, the thing feels excellent.

A while back, I stated that my front brakes began to develop a pulsation. It wasn't noticable, and I was able to tolerate it, but now, good god they're borderline dangerous!

The steering wheel shakes far too much, and I fear that my car's ability to brake is strongly weakened by this. So, I went to rockauto, and ordered some Mazda6 rotors, pads, and calipers to replace the old stuff with. It's a big brake upgrade that became a necessity, I suppose. If they can come in before next week's race, I'll be in good shape.

And damnit, that's not all. Perhaps I should've seen it coming, and perhaps I should've investigated it when I noticed it, but here I am.

The E-Brake had somewhat of a funny feeling to it. Rather than both rear brakes activating, it only affected the left brake. I'm not sure why this didn't catch my attention, as I just shrugged it off.

Well, I have no parking brake now, as the last intact line snapped. The E-brake's single cable seems intact from the top/console, since when I pull the handbrake, the cable moves with it.

I'm going under the car today to assess how much damage I did.
 
You probably need the left and right rear cables,..
They are about $38 each American and the front one is about $8 at Rockauto.

Mine seized up and wouldn't hold my car but I was lucky that my parts car had new ones that I installed on my car.

It's quite common for them to seize up and they may not let go when you release the handle then they can drag.

I don't know if you're aware but the big brake upgrade has a problem with the parking brake hooking up to it.
Some upgrades for the rear can just hook right up to the P-brakes from what I remember.
 
You probably need the left and right rear cables,..
They are about $38 each American and the front one is about $8 at Rockauto.

Mine seized up and wouldn't hold my car but I was lucky that my parts car had new ones that I installed on my car.

It's quite common for them to seize up and they may not let go when you release the handle then they can drag.

I don't know if you're aware but the big brake upgrade has a problem with the parking brake hooking up to it.
Some upgrades for the rear can just hook right up to the P-brakes from what I remember.

Nice, just a tad cheaper than I anticipated. Although, I need to get through that damn heat shield first. I feel like the bolts holding it in have snapped somewhere along the stud or maybe the threading is stripped, since all I could do was spin them.

I did know that doing such an upgrade might not be compatible, so as a result, I'm holding off on the rears. I'm bad at being concise when I discuss plans or changes, lol

Until then, that's good to know. Guess I'll have to do some digging on what can work with the new cable I'll be putting in.
 
... I feel like the bolts holding it in have snapped somewhere ....

It's those damn weld nuts. they are welded inside the frame and break free to just spin inside the frame.
Mine did the same thing,... Some guys just rip the heat shield off and don't use it.

I wanted to put mine back on so I "trimmed" around the bolt heads with my dremel tool then wrapped wire around and under the boltheads to hold the shield to put it back on.

I didn't want all kinds of crap on my shifter linkage and the heat shield protects it quite a bit.


I did know that doing such an upgrade might not be compatible,

Until then, that's good to know...

Something about using Mazda 6 (or maybe it was 626) rears. They fit and are bigger it's just that the P-brakes won't hookup properly... Some guys just leave it disconnected.

I believe (although I'm not sure) that the MSP rears work for our car.

I think some guys got the 626 brakes to work with some sort of bracket but they needed longer P-brake cables ??

If that's the case you may want to wait to get your P-brake cables... You use cables from some other car that works with the big brake upgrade.

Do some digging here on the forum.. And somebody here might offer some insight and advice.
 
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Weld nuts! Now that's a crock of s***. I guess I was kind of on the right track by trying to get behind the bolt head with a screwdriver to pry it out.

I think I might try a different approach here. I think I'll meet up with a pal of mine, and I'll design my own heatshield to replace this bad one. Think I'll tap in some threads to the old holes and just make the thing conveniently removable. Probably won't do anything with the rear bolts.

As for the 626 rears if I ever get to it, I know of someone to hit up about that. Can't wait to get this s*** rolling (and braking!)
 
You'll be tapping into sheet metal...

Your weld nuts have broken off..
****, can't win in this situation

I'll have to jury rig something, since I don't want excessive heat and crap on the bottom of my shifter assembly.

I'll figure something out eventually
 
If it were me, I'd try something like this..

Self tapping/drilling screws with nuts as spacers between the heat shield and body.

 
Try some nutserts/rivnuts. Best way to fix broken off weld nuts.



This is the budget conscious way..



If you have the $$ for a pneumatic/electric gun..

 
Gotta say I'm digging the p5 next to the 86 man I might have to set that up as my wallpaper haha

Badass, glad you liked it! It was definitely a fun little project.

Try some nutserts/rivnuts. Best way to fix broken off weld nuts.



This is the budget conscious way..



If you have the $$ for a pneumatic/electric gun..


Damn, I definitely gotta try that. My front two weld nuts are actually broken, so perhaps the time is right to get my ass in gear and try this out. Thanks for the material!
 
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