MZDA WLF Proteg5 "build"

Yesterday was a sad day. I sent Hiroshi, my parts car/first P5, to the salvage yard.
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That car made me really fall in love with the Proteg5 as a car.
 
Sadness. Glad it could serve as a positive introduction to the world of P5s, though.

I'm still mad at that one lady that rear-ended you lol
 
Sadness. Glad it could serve as a positive introduction to the world of P5s, though.

I'm still mad at that one lady that rear-ended you lol
I was rear-ended by a man actually.
But yeah, I cried a little when they were driving off. At least many of those parts went to my current car.
 
Fun news. My car is still blowing a decent amount of oil smoke at high RPM, but not at start. If I*m correct, this is indicative of my oil control rings failing. Sadly this means a rebuild is a very likely necessity in the much nearer future than I had hoped. Gonna try another oil flush at 200k, and see if it helps any further, but if not, I*m gonna start saving to build the engine.
 
In my continuing quest to chase down my oil burn without a full rebuild, I*ve noticed the oil burns faster the longer it*s been in there, indicating it thins out, And the oil on the dipstick feels pretty thin too.. Took off my oil cap, and sure enough, it smells faintly of gasoline. So, I*m replacing the injectors soon with the ones from my parts car, which had no oil burn issue.
In other news, I never liked the JDM valve cover and shroud, so I did this:
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Nice work man, sorry your first p5 had to go. I'm thinking of doing a transmission swap soon(ish) my still dumps all the oil right out. Any tips you could give? Also love the red valve cover, really makes the engine pop. Super clean man
 
Nice work man, sorry your first p5 had to go. I'm thinking of doing a transmission swap soon(ish) my still dumps all the oil right out. Any tips you could give? Also love the red valve cover, really makes the engine pop. Super clean man
Get friends to help, set aside a weekend. I'd suggest removing the entire driver side steering knuckle and CV shaft, you may end up having to replace tie rod ends though. Also, get axle seals, a rear main seal, clutch kit, flywheel. Redline 75w90NS is the bomb in these gearboxes (assuming manual). Pretty easy process, just very time consuming, and the hard parts involve positioning the gearbox just right to get it out and put it back in.
 
I replaced the injectors, reset my ECU, and let some ATC soak in the combustion chambers. After adding some Lucas Oil Stabilizer to bring the oil viscosity back up around where it should be, I took the car out to the local touge, and for the first time since getting the black P5, I smelled tires and brake pads instead of burning oil. I'm pretty psyched, cause it seems I finally solved the oil burn issue WITHOUT rebuilding the engine. Also my fuel economy is up by 3MPG
 
Damn, never a good time when your first post in a long time involves rod knock. Hope you can get the FS-ZE you want or mspeedP5's nutso engine reliably.
 
Cause my budget is tight (and California emissions), I*m gonna go FSZE and only end up spending $1400 all in for the engine, and all the *while I*m in there* bits. There will be many pics.
 
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FINALLY some news! Got the engine out, and already have a clue as to how badly things broke.
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When I unbolted the transmission, oil began to spill out from the seam between it and the engine. Haven't taken it off completely yet, but I'm suspecting my rear main seal failed along with other things. Will post more pics and updates as they happen.
 
So, I got this yesterday:
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Haven’t ripped apart the dead engine yet to investigate, will probably do that after the new one is in the car. $500 got me a 2003 FS-ZE with 65k miles on it, and it appears to be internally pretty clean. Gonna spend time replacing every seal and belt, and also making this thing look new.
 
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