Thank you! It's just some bronze rustoleum paint with gray primer and automotive clear. I'm planning on changing it back to silver soon lol. For some reason it looks a lot lighter in the photos.
Definitely do!
Last edited:
Brian_K's Build Thread
- Thread starter Brian_K
- Start date
Thank you! It's just some bronze rustoleum paint with gray primer and automotive clear. I'm planning on changing it back to silver soon lol. For some reason it looks a lot lighter in the photos.
Definitely do!
Protege5 Smoke
Member
- :
- 2002 Mazda Protege5
finished up my HVAC knobs today. I think they came out pretty clean and make the interior look a bit more modern.
Now that's an upgrade! Those knobs look clean! How do they look at night though? And where are the fan speeds/temp?
I'll have to get a night shot soon. They have plastic inlay rings that light up when you turn your lights on. I covered the symbols/numbers with matte black vinyl since the knobs kind of covered them up. Since i'm the only one who drives the car I have the setting placements memorized.
Jackie chan
Member
- :
- Pro5
CR3 Motorsports
Member
Looking good! I think I am finally going to have time to start molding that spoiler lip I got from you. =)
Thanks man!
Thanks! Haha I was wondering what happened to that piece. I definitely wanna see pics when that's done, I currently have another in the works at the moment
Long overdue update:
s*** keeps breaking and it's becoming a pain in the ass keeping up with it lol.
my primary o2 sensor finally died, so I tried to be cheap and replaced it with a Prime Choice Auto ebay brand sensor for like $20 bucks and it ended up failing a month later. After dealing with that I just spent the extra cash and picked up an OEM one.
Found a huge tear in the wastegate line and replaced that
Then after checking my suspension one day I found that the ball joints on the front Moog endlinks had seized. So I replaced them with some stainless hardware and threaded rods from McMasterCarr.
They function like they should. Haven't had any problems driving through the canyons so far.
I've always had a difficult time heel-toeing with the stock p5 pedal setup so on one of my days off I decided to try and make a more functional gas pedal.
First I took an angle grinder and hacked up the scrap aluminum
Then took a file and beveled the edges
After I used the drillpress to drill/countersink some holes. I eyeballed the holes which is why they aren't perfect lol
And the finished product. Turned out kind of ugly, but it definitely makes spirited driving a lot more fun.
Then I went to replace my NGK G-power plugs with some V-power ones only to find that one of the spark plug ports in the head was stripped when i went to torque everything to spec (notcool). At this point I was convinced the head needed to be removed/machined, but after some researching I decided to give this repair kit from pepboys a try:
it worked
snagged a used CR3 motorsports ADP off the facebook group
after the sticker removal and some polish
received the high flow cat (300 cell spun) i ordered. getting it to my house was a real pain in the ass since its apparently illegal to ship to CA directly from the distributor... which is probably why most people i know run catless lol. So i had to ship it to my girlfriend who lives out of state and then have her ship it to me.
Unboxed the cheap harbor freight flux wire welder a week later and went at it. This was my first time welding so it was an interesting but fun learning experience lol.
I had originally planned on swapping the high flow cat with the fake one that the previous owner had welded on, but after taking a few measurements I realized that getting the angle correct for the rest of the piping as well as welding the really thin stainless with the limited harbor freight welder would be much more of a challenge than I could handle, so I just chopped the midpipe and slipped on the cat.
the first weld turned out ugly as s*** haha
the second attempt turned out much better
The megan racing turbo muffler is a little too large for my taste, plus the tip sticks out a bit from the bumper. Not sure if im going to keep it that way. The car is really loud now, so a resonator and new muffler might be something to come in the near future.
I noticed the car pulls much better from the mid to higher rpm range, although the crappy ebay F1 racing clutch slips in 3rd gear. I am now picking up an ACT clutch kit as its replacement.
I still have the unmodified superstock map loaded on the SSAFC. After finals I'll be installing my AEM wideband so I can hopefully get a bit more power out of the car.
I'm hoping to get a decent tax return this year so I can start saving for a forged motor build and LSD.
random photo
s*** keeps breaking and it's becoming a pain in the ass keeping up with it lol.
my primary o2 sensor finally died, so I tried to be cheap and replaced it with a Prime Choice Auto ebay brand sensor for like $20 bucks and it ended up failing a month later. After dealing with that I just spent the extra cash and picked up an OEM one.
Found a huge tear in the wastegate line and replaced that
Then after checking my suspension one day I found that the ball joints on the front Moog endlinks had seized. So I replaced them with some stainless hardware and threaded rods from McMasterCarr.
They function like they should. Haven't had any problems driving through the canyons so far.
I've always had a difficult time heel-toeing with the stock p5 pedal setup so on one of my days off I decided to try and make a more functional gas pedal.
First I took an angle grinder and hacked up the scrap aluminum
Then took a file and beveled the edges
After I used the drillpress to drill/countersink some holes. I eyeballed the holes which is why they aren't perfect lol
And the finished product. Turned out kind of ugly, but it definitely makes spirited driving a lot more fun.
Then I went to replace my NGK G-power plugs with some V-power ones only to find that one of the spark plug ports in the head was stripped when i went to torque everything to spec (notcool). At this point I was convinced the head needed to be removed/machined, but after some researching I decided to give this repair kit from pepboys a try:
it worked
snagged a used CR3 motorsports ADP off the facebook group
after the sticker removal and some polish
received the high flow cat (300 cell spun) i ordered. getting it to my house was a real pain in the ass since its apparently illegal to ship to CA directly from the distributor... which is probably why most people i know run catless lol. So i had to ship it to my girlfriend who lives out of state and then have her ship it to me.
Unboxed the cheap harbor freight flux wire welder a week later and went at it. This was my first time welding so it was an interesting but fun learning experience lol.
I had originally planned on swapping the high flow cat with the fake one that the previous owner had welded on, but after taking a few measurements I realized that getting the angle correct for the rest of the piping as well as welding the really thin stainless with the limited harbor freight welder would be much more of a challenge than I could handle, so I just chopped the midpipe and slipped on the cat.
the first weld turned out ugly as s*** haha
the second attempt turned out much better
The megan racing turbo muffler is a little too large for my taste, plus the tip sticks out a bit from the bumper. Not sure if im going to keep it that way. The car is really loud now, so a resonator and new muffler might be something to come in the near future.
I noticed the car pulls much better from the mid to higher rpm range, although the crappy ebay F1 racing clutch slips in 3rd gear. I am now picking up an ACT clutch kit as its replacement.
I still have the unmodified superstock map loaded on the SSAFC. After finals I'll be installing my AEM wideband so I can hopefully get a bit more power out of the car.
I'm hoping to get a decent tax return this year so I can start saving for a forged motor build and LSD.
random photo
matalexander
Member
- :
- 2003 Mazda Protege5
Interesting build, man. I didn't read everything but it looks good for sure! Keep going strong, I'll stay tuned.
TheSwapnessMonster
Member
- :
- mazda
Nice job! I like that gas pedal.
- :
- 2002 Mazda Protege
Yea the harbor freight welder is the same one Ive had for years now. Welds look like dog turd with spaltter everywhere...but Ive never had one break lol
Decided to modify the ebay rear strut tower bar today.
I purchased this aluminum rear strut bar off another member for $15 a couple years ago. After installing it I realized it's a piece of crap since it gives about 1/2" of flex regardless of how tightly the bar is spun.
After checking the hardware and confirming they were made of steel I took a trip down to home depot and picked up a 4 foot section of 3/4" gas pipe and cut the threaded ends off. Then I measured out how long the ebay bar was and cut the gas pipe to an identical length.
pipe can be found here:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/LDR-Indu...ack-Steel-Sch-40-Cut-Pipe-306-12X48/100567977
thickness of the pipe is around 3mm
Take the nut and weld it on to the end of the pipe
and then reinstall. Took about 30min from start to finish lol
now there's zero flex in the bar and it's strong enough to push the car around.
I purchased this aluminum rear strut bar off another member for $15 a couple years ago. After installing it I realized it's a piece of crap since it gives about 1/2" of flex regardless of how tightly the bar is spun.
After checking the hardware and confirming they were made of steel I took a trip down to home depot and picked up a 4 foot section of 3/4" gas pipe and cut the threaded ends off. Then I measured out how long the ebay bar was and cut the gas pipe to an identical length.
pipe can be found here:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/LDR-Indu...ack-Steel-Sch-40-Cut-Pipe-306-12X48/100567977
thickness of the pipe is around 3mm
Take the nut and weld it on to the end of the pipe
and then reinstall. Took about 30min from start to finish lol
now there's zero flex in the bar and it's strong enough to push the car around.
This is what you call a build thread. Not how much money you can throw at your car, but how you added your personal touches to improve the car.
Well done Brian.
Well done Brian.
- :
- 2002 Mazda Protege
Nice! pretty dope idea with that bar. Putting that welder to good use lol
thanks guys lol the cheap welder is definitely getting put to good use.
I was thinking about it, but It's so simple I feel like anyone could weld together a bar like this one. However, I am planning on putting together a trunk cage similar to the GT spec one this winter. If it turns out well I may make a few more pieces depending on material and shipping cost lol.
MeAndMyPenguin
Member
- :
- 2002.5 Mazdaspeed Protege5
Would definitely buy one from you if you do decide to make them!
