Warburrito's eco / aero Protege5 build *new

Just checking in guys...car still running fine but I've been working on other things for a while....house repairs and a huge tree house for the kids. Someday I'll get back to better mpg performance.

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Interesting project, hope you keep it up.

DEER!!!

I hit a deer on a back road near my house. I tried braking and almost missed it but it still took out my drivers side headlight and lower grille and damaged my hood and fender. I have it in a body shop right now to try to straighten out the hood and fender and line everything back up. They're also throwing in the 2 new headlights and new grille that I ordered. I'm anxious to see how it turns out. If the hood is still junked (which the mechanic said is likely) I found a like-new carbon hood a few hours away and a matching hood in good condition 132 miles away. I love car-parts.com! This also has me motivated to upgrade my braking system to prevent incidents like this in the future (aside from driving more cautiously) so I've been preparing for my next upgrade… Mazda 6 front brakes with SS lines. More to come soon.





On a completely unrelated note...I finished the main structure of the treehouse for the kids. We still need air-powered water cannons and some other accessories, but its mostly done….

The body work turned out okay. I'll still replace the hood when I get some free time and cash. We have a beach / Disney trip coming up in September and I need to save what I can until then.


STUBBY ANTENNAE - $12

I went with the Honda 39151-T5R-305 antennae from a '15 CRV / S2000 / RDX. Much better looking than my old one and reception didn't suffer much. I think the fit is exceptional as the outer edge skirts out around the base and blends nicely. I am thinking about adding a signal booster of some sort though.




A/C FLICKERING FIX AND FAN CONTROL REPLACEMENT- $26

My AC was only working while on speed 1 and not on speed 2, 3, or 4. Speed 4 would flicker on and off and I could sometimes make it work with the dial between settings. I also had broken the screw section off of the Mazda Fan Control Switch LB83-61-200A when I installed my Mazda 2 knobs so it was kinda loose. I found an "updated" version of the switch (Dorman 901-940) on Amazon for $19. I also ordered Cutequeen 750ct resistors from amazon for $7 and completed the fix located at https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123819018. I also re-greased all the gears in the HVAC unit. End result.now everything works on speeds 2-4 and speed 1 doesn't even turn on the fan. Oh well, good enough for me!





HEADLIGHT BULBS - $25

With my brand new housing installed I researched LED, HID, and just about everything else and decided to go with Philips LL EcoVision H7 bulbs. My first choice was Osram Rallye 65w H7 (64217) bulbs but they are discontinued and I could not find them for sale anywhere online anymore. I'm that guy who angles his rear view mirrors to reflect the light from people's brights directly back in their face. I couldn't bring myself to be that guy that sends glare directly into poor unsuspecting oncomers so that ruled out an HID conversion. I like the up close vision of LED but won't sacrifice my long range abilities. The Philips LL EcoVisions are a great compromise of brightness and longevity with the beam pattern our headlights are designed for. They seem brighter than my old bulbs, but some of that must be the new housings.




VACUUM LEAK FIXED

For months I was getting a check engine light for running too lean every 3 weeks or so. I noticed that one of my vacuum lines leading into the top of the IM had a crack so I cut out the damaged section and re-attached. I would worry about replacing all the lines but I plan on doing that when I install a new IM. No more check engine lights, but now I'm getting a little worse gas mileage now...likely due to the crack adding a little extra air into the mix and leaning it out some. If anyone has any suggestions on how to lean it back out a bit without having holes in my system please let me know. I'm no electrician but I can split wires and use a soldering gun, so any suggestions are appreciated.


My brake swap is coming up soon. My 2000 degree clear coat arrived yesterday and everything needs about 3 coats...even the rotors.

Thank you PhotoBucket for rendering your service completely useless. I'm going through to update this thread with Google Drive links. I'm still completing my brakes...I have one rear brake installed and the rest prepped and ready for installation. Here are a few quick updates...none of which have to do with mileage...

TUNGSTEN WEIGHTED OEM SHIFT KNOB - $31

My '03 P5 knob is practically the same design as my Probe GT's knobs, so it feels right to me and I'd rather just add weight to it. Tungsten is about 1.7 times heavier than lead, so based on the articles below I decided to use tungsten welding electrodes. I created a little how to and have a link to it below. My shifter weight went from 138g to 317g.

HOW TO: https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123861369-Tungsten-weighted-oem-shift-knob





OVERHEAD CONSOLE - $21

I purchased an overhead console out of a 03-08 Subaru Forester with lights and 2 sunglasses holders for $21. I made a cardboard stencil, cut the hole out, tapped into the existing overhead lights for electrical, inserted a little foam around some edges to keep it flush, and made a custom bracket to hold it in there. If anyone needs more detailed information just let me know. I was happy to find there was already some sound deadening material on our roof, so I didn't bother adding more.

Nice work! That overhead console turned out great!!

Seriously I love this build!

Thanks guys!

MAZDA 6 FRONT BRAKES w/ SS BRAKE LINES

I got 2005 Mazda 6 front calipers and brackets from a local junkyard along with a remanufactured rear passenger's side caliper from AutoZone. I ground down the largest mold imperfections on the calipers then painted them with a silver metallic base, DupliColor Storm Grey Metallic (GM), then Rustoleum 2000 degree high temp clear coat. I painted the shims the same, and did the rotors with just high temp clear coat (minus the braking surfaces). I baked one rear caliper for 30 minutes at 250, 375, and 375 but it seemed to bring out a gold-ish tint in the paint. For everything else I did 30 minutes at 250, 325, then 325 and that did not cause any discoloration or damage to rubber parts. Magnum Brakes SS brake lines all around, NAPA Premium front rotors, Duralast Gold ceramic pads, a Raybestos hardware kit, and new synthetic DOT4 brake fluid was bled through all locations. I HATE bleeding brakes - Car, Mountain Bike, etc! I bedded the pads in at 35x5 then 45x5. If anyone thinks I need a different method or different speeds please let me know. I still have one more caliper to replace and paint, but I'm not in a rush.

Let this be a warning to the next deer that jumps out in front of my car...I will NOT be hitting you. I will brake so hard I may get launched through my own windshield and land on you. As punishment for your actions I will then force you to give me a ride the rest of the way into work.

MAZDA 6 RIMS with NITTO MOTIVO TIRES

I wanted to wait until I put new springs and shocks on to install these rims and tires but the cupping was so bad on one of my rear wheels it had become close to unbearable. I also found that the front tire diagonal from that one has crazy wear on the inside of the tire...almost like its been uniformly gouged out. I think I need an alignment on top of the shocks. If anyone else has any ideas about what is causing these tire issues please let me know.






I already own almost new tires mounted on Mazda 6 17x7 rims from my ES. The added weight will hurt my mileage and acceleration, and the additional .47" in height will increase drag under my car, but I LOVE, that's right LOVE, the absolute quietness and smooth ride of the Nitto Motivo 215/45R17 tires. They are very low rolling resistance tires...I have read reviews that have claimed an increase in 3-4 MPG, but I'm just hoping they will help offset the loss from added weight and height. If they were available in 16" I would keep the stock rims and buy new Motivos. To fit the rims/tires I purchased hub centric 7mm/9mm spacers ($58, CB 67.1) from Ebay instead of using the generic ones on my ES. I could squeeze the fronts in but they rubbed when turned in fully, and the rears hit my shock body with anything less than 8mm of spacer. I had already painted the tops of my spacers with Rustoleum 2000 degree high temp clear coat and baked them in the oven with my brake parts to help keep them looking new. I now have to multiply my miles driven per tank by 1.04.

http://www.sccaforums.com/forums/aft/433304
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/...review-new-nitto-motivo-very-good-tire-72179/



After all this I took it out for a test drive and the clutch slave cylinder sprung a leak and my clutch pedal started sticking to the floor. I don't think this car wants to make it to 200k miles. I'm not taking the hint though...I'm gonna keep her running as long as possible. Now I have another project for this evening.

Yeah, definately need an alignment. Also how much air was in that tire. I run a zero toe alignment to minimize wear and maybe gain a few mpgs in the long run. Still tracks straight and I haven't had any issues in the 5 years that I've been doing it.

I run them all at 36, but sometimes a few would get down to 30ish....can't remember which ones.

New slave cylinder installed and I'm back on the road. Researched tire wear patterns and confirmed its most likely alignment issues. The cupping can be caused by a bad shock too, but could be bad toe settings. Inside wear is bad toe settings too. I have some work cut out for me after this Disney vacation in a few weeks.

Luckily, before I paid for an alignment I realized the bushings on my driver's side trailing arm were completely shot. That's probably what caused the tire wear in the pictures below. For $97 I ordered some Megan Racing ones with upgraded bushings - model MRS-MZ-1022. Hopefully they'll arrive soon so I can prevent this from happening to my new tires.




I have had the P2009 and P0660 errors recently which I thought meant the VTCS vacuum solenoid on my IM was going bad. I tried the BaiFM K5T49090 unit instead of the Dorman 911-707 because it was only $12 on Amazon. My check engine light was still coming on so I swapped it over to the VICS position and no more check engine lights. Since my VICS system was having issues I may see my FE go up. I plan on removing my VTCS system later on, but I'll need a weekend free to do it right with a good P&P. I might even paint and bake it like my calipers which'll add even more down time.

I'm the worst mechanic...couldn't get my trailing arm off to replace so I'm gonna have to have the shop do it. Soaked with PB for days and used my electric impact but the front bolt wouldn't budge.

On a more positive note...even with the larger, heavier rims, a busted trailing arm, and running AC about half the time I still got 31.42 mpg on my last tank! I was really worried these rims would kill my FE but I guess not.

Warburrito said:

Luckily, before I paid for an alignment I realized the bushings on my driver's side trailing arm were completely shot. That's probably what caused the tire wear in the pictures below. For $97 I ordered some Megan Racing ones with upgraded bushings - model MRS-MZ-1022. Hopefully they'll arrive soon so I can prevent this from happening to my new tires.

Click to expand...

Those tire pics make me dizzy they are so wonky!

Warburrito said:

....couldn't get my trailing arm off to replace so I'm gonna have to have the shop do it. Soaked with PB for days and used my electric impact but the front bolt wouldn't budge.

Click to expand...

Get yourself a big breaker bar with a three foot handle and some six point sockets.

I've got an electric impact too but nothing delivers more torque than reefing it by hand.

Thanks for the suggestion PCB. I ordered a 39" 3/4 breaker bar and socket and it should arrive today.

Does anyone know if there's any reason I can't swap these Megan trailing arms so that the flat side faces the outside of the car instead of the cutout side? I think that would look a lot better.

Warburrito said:

... I ordered a 39" 3/4 breaker bar and socket and it should arrive today...

Click to expand...

Just a bit of an FYI (although you'd probably figure it out)

You probably won't have much room to move the handle under the car and being as the bar doesn't ratchet, you can pull your socket off and rotate it 1/4 turn until the handle is where you need it.