College Student First Car Build

Well, today is the first day the car left me stranded. Turns out the timing belt has popped through the cover and there's a loud clunking sound when it's running. My friend, who is also a former Mazda tech, is taking a look at it when he gets a moment. Hoping it just needs a timing belt and cover and the associated parts. If not, I am highly considering swapping an MSP engine into it. (which if you have any info on that please please contact me, I have a few questions). Hopefully, this is either something not too bad or something that I can turn into something good.


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Damn dude, sorry to hear it. Hell, if the timing belt needs replacing, and you'll have to dig into the engine, why not upgrade the cams (if you've the cash)? Anyhow, good luck with it! Keep er' alive!

By the way, what do you mean by "msp engine"? The FS-DE and the FS-DET are identical, with the exception of the "MSP engine" being turbo charged. Same compression, bore/stroke, valve timings, you name it.

The real biggest difference besides the presence of the turbocharger is the addition of an LSD in the transaxle and a different radiator, a SMIC, and an oil cooler. There are some other parts too, but I can't remember.

If you do decide to drop in an FS-DET assembly, I recommend reading what mazdaspd.com suggests to make it run far more reliably.

Good luck!
 
Damn dude, sorry to hear it. Hell, if the timing belt needs replacing, and you'll have to dig into the engine, why not upgrade the cams (if you've the cash)? Anyhow, good luck with it! Keep er' alive!

By the way, what do you mean by "msp engine"? The FS-DE and the FS-DET are identical, with the exception of the "MSP engine" being turbo charged. Same compression, bore/stroke, valve timings, you name it.

The real biggest difference besides the presence of the turbocharger is the addition of an LSD in the transaxle and a different radiator, a SMIC, and an oil cooler. There are some other parts too, but I can't remember.

If you do decide to drop in an FS-DET assembly, I recommend reading what mazdaspd.com suggests to make it run far more reliably.

Good luck!

My thinking is if it did do damage and it's going to cost me a more to fix it than a new (used) block, I try to get a MSP long block and hope they include the turbo, manifold, and the other associated parts. Also, I assume the MSP long block would also already have the holes drilled for the oil return and whatnot, so my thinking would be less work. I could be wrong, as my knowledge of cars isn't really too past the Youtube videos I watch. But apparently it has a non-interruption engine, so the tech thinks a new timing belt kit (water pump, belt, pulleys, and gaskets) should do the trick. I found a long block for $899+250 shipping with the transmission, so its an opiton. I think right now i just need to get it running and go from there.

Definitely keeping her though! Back to driving my 12 mpg truck for the next few weeks
 
I have no clue how but I just managed to snag a MSP front lip for my P5. I am beyond stoked! Unfortunately, the car won't be running until the week after next, cause the tech is going out of town. Gives me time to repaint and repair it. I will definetly post pics when it comes in!
 
I just made a car specific Instagram. Might make a YouTube channel in the future (as I have a gopro hero 5 sitting around collecting dust) to do car builds and motovlogs, but class takes priority.
Give me a follow! @another_yellowp5
 
Although the car is still not running, small progress can't stop. Went to my job and installed the rain guards, like the way they look. MSP lip should be here tomorrow , and I'm debating starting the fixing of that and my bumper cover ASAP or waiting until class ends so I have more time to work on it. I've been doing too much research into boosting it, the only thing that would keep me from it is I don't have/want to spend the money, but we will see!
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(featuring a beautiful F80 M3)
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MSP lip came in yesterday, and it's in way worse shape than I thought. Also got shipped deformed, but I believe a heat gun will rejuvenate it. Gonna start buying parts this check to start restoration of the lip and to fix my bumper.
Parts for the timing belt also came in yesterday, exctied to fix that and get it back on the road. Driving my truck is no longer a joy and I miss the Protege!
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Well, progress has been slow and the car still isn't running. (kinda annoyed as driving my truck to and from school costs me about $60 a week vs the P5 $35 every other week) Hopefully, I can get it back on the road this week, although this is the last week of the semester. Still have been ordering parts though, got a set of hella horns arriving today, broke a tab on the tweeter cover (whoever thought wiring the tweeter to the mirror is annoying lol), but progress on the front lip has been very slow. I found a guy who can paint it for $100, which is fine by me as:
A. I had to paint outside and its windy here and
B. the supplies have cost me around $50 and paint was going to be another $100.
Hopefully, I can repair it tonight so I can take it to him Wednesday.
I'm also thinking about upgrading my aftermarket head unit to a double din and wiring in a reverse camera and a source to mirror my phone screen.
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About 2 weeks of trying to mess with this and this is all the progress. I'm done with it
 
Quick update: Found a local guy who does paint work for all the car clubs and dropped the lip off yesterday and should get it back by Friday he said :eek:
The car is getting towed today to another Mazda dealership for the timing belt and water pump and all associated parts. Only $360 for labor, which I feel isn't bad and one of the techs there has an MSP. Hopefully I can get it back by this weekend. Also got some hella horns I can't wait to install
 
Picked up the Protege today, and had a smile on my face the whole drive back to work! I love the way the little thing drives. The service adviser told me to come back to the car show tomorrow cause there's not many P5s on the road around here and even less yellow ones. Managed to snap a pic of the protege and my old daily, my grandfather's old 02 f150. Can't wait to get back into the mods! Plasti dip mirrors, clean my sub wires up, hella horn install, quick release on bumper.
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Well, that glory was short lived. Car is out of time and they left some of the valve cover bolts out. Car is going back tomorrow. This is why I hate dealerships.
 
Damn dude, that really sucks to hear. Can't believe they did such a bad job...


It sucks man. I even chose this dealership cause the one right by my house pissed me off a few months ago.
They also pushed my car with their dirty gloves on. I spent almost half an hour on my break with degreaser and a hose washing off all the handprints. Needless to say Im kinda annoyed considering the labor was $360 originally, then they wanted to charge me $500 when I got there.
 
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I didn't realize how loud the car was until I was driving in this garage. Hopefully the lip and car are done and good this week.
 
Well, picked up the front lip today and it looks amazing. The guy said he could respray the whole car for $1500, which I might do eventually.
HOWEVER, now the car is spraying oil all over the underside of the hood. So back to this Mazda dealership for what is now the 3rd time this week. If it werent for them, Id be messing with it myself at this point. But I paid them a few hundred dollhairs and Im not fixing up their f ups. Hopefully they tell me its just a valve cover gasket, which I dont mind redoing as I wanted to paint it anyway. But I really hope this is the last time I have to step foot in this dealership.
 
I think the mazda is finally fixed! I drove to and from work without issue, got home and immediatly took off the front bumper to mount the front lip. LOVE the look, but the whole car needs a respray. Hopefully I can figure out the horn situation tomorrow so I can remount everything and ceramic coat the lip.
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Well, it's been a long week. From my dad in the hospital, a trip up north, working, and dropping off the Mazda multiple times at the dealership. I woke up early today (rarely happens) to finish the wiring of the horns. Went late into last night (to the point I was holding a flashlight like the car wizard (Hoovies Garage reference) but I couldn't get the horns to work) figured it was the cheap Harbor Freight wiring stuff I got, so I went and got some quality stuff and 15 minutes later they are in and working! I didn't want to hack up the grill, so I ended up mounting them lower on the center support. Can't see them through the grill, but they make loud enough noises to make up for it haha. Taking a quick break and gonna finally put the bumper on and take it for a drive. Idk what's next for the Mazda, but it may be a little while so I can pay some debt down and maybe get suspension and wheels.
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Lip is mounted and everything is buttoned up! The bumper is slightly misaligned cause the lip was cracked and the fix had it misaligned, but overall it looks great!
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Nice man! Man that front lip is sexy...gotta get me one sometime in the future.

How are those horns? No one in my town can hear me honk, and that's a massive disadvantage given the recklessness of the townies here. Plus, my dad keeps telling me tgat I have the "faggiest horn in town" lmao
 
There's a guy selling one on facebook for $125 in better condition than the one i got! I gotta secure a set of fog deletes.

I love the horn, very loud outside the car but quiet inside. It's funny, as that's the exact reason I got these. But the regular protege have worse horns, I have a friend with one and always joke him when he honks it lmao
 
I saw it and want it, but my wallet's had enough for a while :^)

If my rebate for the set is accepted, then maybe, but then again that's cash I could use for school

Between a new set of wheels/tires and paying off summer semester tuition, anything won't be done until I sneak in lots of work hours
There's a guy selling one on facebook for $125 in better condition than the one i got! I gotta secure a set of fog deletes.

I love the horn, very loud outside the car but quiet inside. It's funny, as that's the exact reason I got these. But the regular protege have worse horns, I have a friend with one and always joke him when he honks it lmao
 
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