Another P5 on a College Budget....Meet Ozzie

I can't really say for sure if they're all bad but my front mount allowed for a lot of play. If I let off the gas then stepped on it, my shifter moves a boat load. I know there's supposed to be some play, but mines too much for me. I have inserts as opposed to mounts, so I can't really go cutting bolts in half unless I get an OEM mount, but at that point, I'm not sure if that would solve my problem and what have you. If there's play and it's bothering you and you don't want to spend a lot of money, go for corksport inserts. That's what I have, but don't have installed. Lol
 
Okay. I know mine does that a little bit but I think it's still acceptable. I've read about a lot of people having to replace theirs, so hopefully mine sticks it out to the end of his life. I have enough I need to invest at this point, and once all of this is done I want to get to modding. Although nothing too ridiculous.
 
Another New Idea....Has Anyone Done This Before?

Alright, I was watching some old episodes of Top Gear and saw the episode where they test the Lambo Gallardo back in 04 (05?). I saw the shifter setup and really liked it, and wanted to see if anyone had made such a setup with their P5.


I'm not sure how exactly to go about it, and I have a lot of bigger projects to do in the next few months, but figured this would be something to keep me occupied in between projects, work, and classes. Any tips/ideas how to do it?

And by bigger projects, I found out one of my inner tie rod ends is worn out, so now if I'm going straight my steering wheel is turn a little to the left (about 11 o'clock) and getting worse. On top of that, I also need new struts/springs/strut mounts, new tires before the snow flies (picking them up on special by the end of September hopefully) and a Mazda 6/626 brake upgrade to replace my rusted stoppers. All of that, I want done by the end of October, although well see with work and classes.
 
I haven't seen that done yet. You could be the first. Shouldn't be too hard, just need to design a plate that sits and allows the correct movement.

As far as the front motor mount, I changed mine out Sunday. Not fun. Don't round the bolt and it should be q ten minute job, max. It took me an hour to drill out the old bolt hole. And the mount was torn. But that could be because the passenger mount is torn too. I need to get new mounts all around to be fair. But yeah, unless it really bothers you regarding the play in the motor, you shouldn't have to worry too badly. If you need a stock mount, there's a protege parts for sale Facebook page. Chances are high, if you don't have a protege(5) in the junker near you, that there's someone on there who's bound to have all 4 mounts if you would like them.
 
Yeah, I don't know if I'll be replacing those anytime soon then, since mine barely moves when I hit the gas. It might be an issue with this gated shifter, but hopefully not too bad.
Good thing you mentioned that group tho, cuz I've been looking for something like that as a backup to the Mazdas247 marketplace.
 
Yeah, I feel like you could make a pretty nice looking gated shifter. Look under the shift boot though, the stick thingy (descriptive, eh?) Has a big bulky bit on the top near the shift knob. You can remove it with a lotta heat and then you'd need to re thread the existing stick. Or a short throw shifter would replace the existing arm. Its up to you, just told for thought when you do make the gate. Not trying to deter you in any way, I'd love to see what you manage to do with the gate. I'll PM you with who to talk to on there.
 
I saw one @ Importfest this year in a mazdaspeed protege. Looked pretty sweet.
Personally, I would find it weird shifting between those grates.

Looks great though
 
I've been thinking about a short-throw shifter too, but then again it's something that will have to wait. As for that bit, I'm not sure it'll be much of an issue, as long as I can get the new shifter (once I find one) on there just fine. I'm not sure how wide/long I want the gates yet either. Definitely not super tight on the shifter, but not sure if I'm likin the Racegates one you posted sleepwalker. I guess I'll probs end up makin it myself so I'll be able to decide as I go. I just hope my dad has some decent scrap metal that I can grab when I go home this weekend.

Flav you wouldn't happen to remember who it was or if they're a part of 247, would you? If so, I'd wanna find out where they got it at or if they made it.
 
Well, I had to get into the shop again today. I've been having trouble with a severe vibration in my steering wheel between 25 and 30. Turns out it's a combination of really low tires (hitting the wear bars, although this is nothing), a wheel bearing starting to go bad (again, ugh), and on top of that a binding strut mount (from rust, more than likely). Thankfully, the shop is again covering the wheel bearing (thank the Lord for warranties!), and I'm planning on new tires and struts/strut mounts in the next month or so. I'm really getting annoyed with all the wheel bearings that I'm going through though. Does anyone know if these are common things to have to replace on Protege's? Because if so, my shop might be losing a lot more money on warranty repairs for those in the future.

On a brighter note, I finally did get home and picked up my sander and stuff. My dad did have some spare sheet metal, but it's a little thinner than I thought it would be so I'll have to improvise for my shifter gates. Maybe bending down the metal to make it look thicker?
I did end up packing a lot of stuff into my trunk though, which was a mild adventure having a back seat not level with the rest of the floor.

This is how my car looked for a 4 day weekend going home. Granted, I had a futon and boxes for my sister to move into college later next week, but it's still a lot of stuff. That's why I'm glad I got the P5 instead of the sedan!
 
Another update....with some advice needed

Time for another update. I finally got around to ordering struts, went to order the ones that I wanted (Stagg SHS from BrandCarParts.com) and found out that they've been taken off the site with the last few days. So this bums me out, cuz I was pretty excited for those. I'll probs have to go with KYB's now. There's no way in hell I'm getting Monroe, so scratch that. Anybody else know where I could find some Stagg's besides eBay? Maybe some cheap (but reliable) coilovers, so I can lower Ozzie in the summer but have the snow clearance in the winter still?

Also, I think I'm gonna order my tires.. Pretty set on getting the General G-MAX's, so hopefully I can get those ordered soon along with other stuff. Probs have to wait until after Labor Day to get them in though, which I'm okay with. I'd rather wait and have my new struts in and alignment done all at the same time. Same with my steering rack. Hopefully that'll get done around the same time.

So long story short, I'm gonna have a lot of days waiting by the door for the UPS guy to come.
 
Gotta love getting gifts before Xmas though!

I wish I could help you on the struts... If I had aftermarket struts, I'd send them your way. Have fun with the struts, shouldn't be too hard to do. Have a few mates come and help if you can. Nothing like working alone... (I hate/love it)

Didnt know your steering rack was out of whack? What happened there?
 
The gifts are very nice! I'm really excited to get it all done, but am definitely planning on getting some friends to help with the struts. That and I have basically a full shop open to me starting this week when classes resume. But working alone does make me feel a bit better when it's all done.....

But yeah, my steering's been out for a while. I first noticed that when it's cold outside (somethin like 40 or colder) or if my underside was wet (from rain or puddles or whatever) my steering would clunk once or twice when I was turning in a parking lot or below 10 mph. Not only that, it doesn't return to center on it's own, if at all. Now the clunking is all the time (great, right?) and my steering wheel sits turned a little to the left when my car is going straight. And no, my car isn't sideways, cuz I just had my alignment checked.
Anyways, my shop actually told me a while back, when it was still cold, that my steering rack was making some internal noises, mostly the clunking. So I gotta replace that along with the inner tie rod ends, which explains why my wheel sits crooked. The only reason I'm replacing it is cuz it's gotten worse since I've had the car and I don't want it falling apart, say, in the middle of a busy delivering shift (i.e. at 2 am when our bar rush hits and I'm flying in and out of the store). My roommate has a bad rack in his 87 Mustang, and he's been driving it for a while, but my car is defs more fragile than his. Mostly cuz of my bad struts. Haha
 
Wow, I feel like I haven't updated this page in a long time.....
First, I went home for Labor Day weekend and went to a bunch of concerts that were.....out in a cornfield. No, it's not as bad as it sounds, but it was a living hell for Ozzie with how rough those are. I've never driven over such a rough area before, and this was basically like rumble strips on the highway times 10. So my car was rocking and shaking like crazy, and I think it messed up my suspension even more. Any struts that weren't blown are surely blown now, and one of my strut mounts seems to be binding really bad. Not only that, I found out on the way home that I might have a wheel out of balance, probably the one that had a flat a month ago. Additionally, by the end of the two days I was at the concerts, Ozzie was filthy from the dirt roads and that was made worse by the dew on the second night. I also managed to run almost out of gas, which really had me freaked out when I was leaving the second night, since it's a 20 mile drive back to town. So before I left, I washed my car like crazy and vacuumed out the inside and used some ArmorAll.

Before:





And the typical after pics:


While I was home I also gave one of my front rims some curb rash, which I am not proud of. I was turning around on a tight street at night and overestimated the distance to the curb when I was parking. Oops...... But it wasn't too bad, cosmetic obviously, and I'm planning on getting rid of the rims soon anyways. Or at least plastidipping them.

And now for the really good stuff! I ordered KYB struts and strut mounts and got those on Saturday. I'm planning on ordering Eibach Pro-Kit springs this weekend, and I just ordered some headers from a forum member, which I should have next week too. Once I get the springs, I'll get those put together with the struts and mounts as one assembly, so that way I'll cut my time in the campus shop in half, and hopefully by the time that's done my exhaust will be cool enough so I can at least get started on my headers. Target date for completion of all this: Homecoming weekend. Sure, it's at the end of September, but it gives me time to get it done in case I get busy, and that way my car will be mostly presentable when I work my three 12-hour delivery shifts that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (if my manager lets me, which shouldn't be a problem). That is when I'll make bank and be able to afford the rest of my parts! Whoop whoop! I am beyond excited for that weekend!
 
Idk if this is correct but I believe the stock suspension on the p5 atleast the 2003 are KYB are they not? So i dont know if it was worth the money, you should have gone for something more sport like. Or are the stock ones Monroe, Idk i'll have to take a look at my old ones, but I swear they were. Well if anything you will get a drop from the springs. I went with tokico blues, cause there a bit stiffer and more sportier...oh and their blue with red springs not black haha. and only 500 bucks for the all four strut+spring
 
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I wanna say the stock ones are Monroe. But dang, I thought it would be more expensive then that. Oh well, I don't plan on doing any autox or anything like that, just delivering a lot of pizzas and wanting to have more fun doing that. I think my total with struts and springs will be around $400, so maybe I should've just gone that way. But with all of the potholes and crap that we have up north here I don't want anything super stiff either, and if I get the MS3 rims that I want I'm sure the ride will be stiff anyways. So I think I'll be satisfied.
 
Well time for another update with more frustration (what a surprise).

I put in my header today trying to fix my exhaust and shot pre-cat, and created more issues. I finally got it in after 4 hours of struggling with rust and getting stuff out, only to find out once we revved it up and such that my bolts weren't tight enough, some of them even starting to move themselves out. This is a problem since I'm supposed to start delivering in 45 minutes (at 5, so an hour after I finished, and I'm basically by myself) and my engine is hot now. On top of that, I seem to have picked up some eBay headers (seller didn't know what brand they were) and my EGR return line doesn't hook up. It's holding on, but far from being able to bolt up. So now my car isn't loud and buzzy, instead it sounds like a lawn mower. Putt-putt-putt-putt..... So regardless, my mileage is gonna drop, and I might end up damaging something. Hopefully it doesn't split flames like my auto engineering roommate thought it would....

I'll try and post some pics tonight when I get off work, but for now I need to get going and figure out how I'm going to drive it--or what I'm going to be driving, I should say. Honestly, I'm freaking out right now cuz I don't wanna damage my car anymore than it already is, and I don't really have the money to fix anything else besides what needs to be done right now. I will however have to buy a cold air intake or ram air intake, cuz I'm pretty sure the stock air box is gonna melt, being by my header. I'm so screwed..... any quick advice? I'm gonna check what happens here once I get home around 10:30, so let's cross our fingers.
 
That is really helpful! Thank you so much! Hopefully I can pick up the parts tomorrow morning and get it fixed up before work!
 
Alright, I posted to this thread, but it's only under the tuning section and I'm hoping to get some answers really soon. Preferably today. Sorry if I break some rules mods, but if anyone knows whether I bought the right kit for this or not your input is appreciated!

I needed to get a return line to go from my header to my EGR since my stock one doesn't stretch. I bought this gas flex line, which seems to be what I needed (maybe with a couple of adapters), but I'm not sure if I should've gone for the one with the higher BTU rating or not. I also didn't know there was one until I got home and looked online again. Advice? I wanted to get my poor car running again before our rain spell is supposed to start Tuesday, and if this isn't the right one I need to know what to look for.
 
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