Lee's Utility VIP (If I can pull it off)

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2003 Mazda Protege5, manual
Hey guys.

Got this car after I destroyed my Accord and decided to shy away from the Honda scene. After blowing up two motors, I think it was time to quit and not put more money into a lost cause.

So instead, I went with the oh-so-lovely 4D hatchback that Mazda graced us with, the Protege5. When I was looking on Facebook, Craigslist, etc, I put in "Hatchback, Wagon, Manual Transmission, under $3500" and hit enter. There I saw her. The beautiful black baby wagon that is my new pride and joy. She had fogged up headlights, a flared out rear passenger door, a dirty engine, a bad catalytic converter, some kind of weird smell inside, a cheap AutoZone shift knob, an Ebay catback, and some of the crappiest plastidip on the wheels I'd ever seen. But that paint. Nigh perfection. The Interior. Like brand new. The potential of what was there. Begging for the TLC I was ready to give. And so, I paid a little more than I wanted to, just because I knew that this was the one I'd baby and have for a looooong time to come.

Without further ado, I'll get into the build thread for Deanna, my 2003 Mazda Protege5 2.0L 5speed Manual 4D hatchback.

All mods being done to this car will be geared towards fuel economy, utility, or the aesthetics that I want from the car. I'm not going to try to make her fast, cause that's a waste of time unless I go turbo or KL swap which are way more than I'm looking to do right now. If that changes, i'll change the post. However, I would REALLY like to try to pull off a functional, dailyable car with a hint of the VIP style that you usually see on JDM Toyota, Nissan, and Honda full size sedans. The big dish wheels, the lowered stance, the blacked out windows, the clean, glossy paint. I think a clean baby wagon would look dope as a VIP car, so that's what I want to go towards without sacrificing tooooo much driveability. We'll see if I can do it effectively or not.

Mod categories:
-Utility: (util) - makes the car more useful for carrying stuff/people/whatever or doing things that it can't do in its stock form
-Economy: (eco) - aimed to help with fuel economy
-Aesthetic: (aest) - purely cosmetic modifications with little-to-no performance or fuel economy benefits, but damn does it look good!
-Maintenance: (maint) - regular maintenance items that need to be done just to keep the car up and running right

Completed (In chronological order):
-(maint) New Clutch set - Already installed about 10k miles ago with receipt to prove it
-(aest) Aftermarket radio and subwoofer wiring - Already came with it in the car! WooHoo! Bluetooth Kenwood radio and all wires ready to go for sound system
-(maint) Oil Change - PurolatorBoss oil filter#PBL14612 with Valvoline 10W-30 High Mileage Oil
-(maint) MT fluid change - Valvoline SynPower 75W-90 gear oil
-(maint) fixed CEL problems to pass emissions
----- Had to plug in the EGR because someone unplugged it.
----- Had to space out the Downstream O2 Sensor since the Cat is fried.
-(maint) Tune-up - NGK ZFR5F-11 plugs, CarQuest replacement coil boots and wires (only running temporarily)
-(eco) BlueTooth OBD2 adapter and Torque Pro - Went ahead and got these boiz set up so I can monitor and improve my fuel economy. In the first week alone, I've gone from ~28mpg to an average of ~33mpg! That means I'm already making an extra 72 miles per fillup!


In Progress(In no particular order):
-(aest) Lowering Springs - Found Eibach springs direct from Eibach's website for $150 shipped! Catch the sale while you can, folks!
-(aest) 626 valve cover and 1.8 coil mod - Spectra coil pack and NGK wires are en route from Amazon, be here next week. The VC I have, but I'm in the process of painting it up to look nice
-(aest) Removing this f***ing PlastiDip off the wheels - got most of it off, but I ran out of WD-40. I'll get some paint thinner and finish up soon, probably when I do the springs.
-(aest) Underglow kit - I work at Advance Auto parts, and they have $150 underglow kits marked down to $30. With my discount, it came out to like $26 after tax. So I said what the hell and got one. Prolly gonna do this when I do the springs.
-(aest) Hand-Me-Down speakers and amp - My friend gave me a set of JL x3 500W speakers for free with an Alpine 1500W amp. I'm still blown away by the fact he just handed it all to me for nothing, but one of them needs to be rebuilt, so I gotta send that to JL to get rebuilt. The one that's good works great though! Plenty of oompf compared to the spare tire sub.
-(aest) Custom Hiragana decals on back window - Just waiting on my guy to finish the template and cut the vinyl, then I'll have it good to go!
-(util) OEM roof-rack install - I got a set of rails and racks from my friend who also has a P5, but my idiot self didn't realize how they were held on. So I broke one of the rails, and the other was already broken, so now I'm just gonna have to go get some off a junk-yard car and be extra careful with em. Also gotta get around to drilling those holes to mount em. I wish Mazda hadn't made it mount up like that, cause I really like the OEM look. :'(



To Do(In no particular order):
-(aest) Wheels/Tires - So my goal is to kind of go for a VIP style while retaining daily driveability. That means I gotta find something classy and flashy at the same time in a 17 or 18 inch diameter at most. Should prove interesting. Let me know if you have suggestions!
-(aest) Window Tint - Currently fishbowling it, so I'm gonna get some darky dark on the windows here soon. A mobile guy in my area quoted me $170 which is pretty cheap from what I've seen. It's just not a priority yet, so I'm in no rush.
-(maint) Remove or replace catalytic converter - Needs to be done I suppose, but as of right now, I've passed emissions tests. We'll see if it happens.
-(maint) brake pads and rotors all around - debating on if I'm going to just go for OEM brakes or if I'll go ahead and do the Mazda6 front upgrade. It seems like I'll just have to make up my mind on how much I want to spend on all that. Either way, the pads are steadily getting lower, so it needs to be done soon.
-(maint) Timing Belt/Water Pump - Gotta getter done pretty soon since I don't know when it was last done and it's coming up on second service interval. (currently at 199k miles and climbing every day)
-(aest) S204 lip - yeah, everyone does it, but it looks gooooood
-(maint) Refurbish/replace headlight lenses - Maybe this should be an aesthetic mod, but they're pretty foggy. I've tried PlastX, but I think I'll need to either get new ones or use some stronger polish off the car.
-(aest) Black out headlight housings - I think I'm gonna open up the headlights in the oven and black out the housing around the reflectors. Should look pretty sweet once I clear up the lenses
-(maint) Fix rear passenger lock actuator - it broke
-(aest) Foot well lighting - classy, am I right?
-(util) Trailer Hitch - How cute would it be to have a baby trailer behind my baby wagon? I think it'd be cool. Lemme know if you guys have any recommendations on this one.
-(aest) Mugen style open front grille - I'm either going to try to find or make an open mesh style grill and slap a Protege5 badge in there. I think it'll clean up the front end a little more than that honker of a Mazda emblem.
-(util) Overhead console - I think I might try to find a console that matches the interior pretty well so I can have a place other than under the radio to stash my aviators. B-) Maybe out of an MPV or Odyssey or 4runner or something like that
-(eco) OEM Intake modifications - I'm gonna try to keep as many stock items as I can on this, and the engine bay looks good with the box and snorkle. So I'm gonna do the modifications from that one thread on here from like 2005 that's got a trillion views.

I'll be adding to/subtracting from/rearranging this thread as things change. If you guys have any input, please don't be shy. :)

Cheers,
Lee
 
Gidday! This should be a fun build, VIP is hard to pull off but it could work for this car!


There is a half-leather interior option out there, which would suit the VIP theme well, add in an all black Nardi wheel and paint/Wrap the silver plastic bits in Piano Black for extra classiness


Baking the head lights is easy as, I did mine in half a day, and you can swap out the lenses for new ones at the same time


I had a towbar on mine, I'd offer it but I think shipping might be a bit expensive!


Looking forwards to seeing this progress, I love seeing different builds!
 
Gidday! This should be a fun build, VIP is hard to pull off but it could work for this car!


There is a half-leather interior option out there, which would suit the VIP theme well, add in an all black Nardi wheel and paint/Wrap the silver plastic bits in Piano Black for extra classiness


Baking the head lights is easy as, I did mine in half a day, and you can swap out the lenses for new ones at the same time


I had a towbar on mine, I'd offer it but I think shipping might be a bit expensive!


Looking forwards to seeing this progress, I love seeing different builds!
Thanks for the tips! I'm equally as if not more excited about it. Haha the black interior trim is a good idea! I'll pick up some spares at the junk yard and try em out so I can test without committing.

As for that half-leather interior, I am very interested. You wouldn't happen to have any pics anywhere of that would you?
 
Hell yeah! Cant wait to see a VIP'd out P5. Better start saving for some gangster wheels!

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