What have you done to your P5 today?

[CTt3P5]

Washed her last night and found more scratches and made angry/sad faces at the rust...it didn't go away. Today I drove her to the UPS Store to ship some parts.

 

[McBadass]

starting to notice just how bad our protege paint jobs are. each of my doors are a different shade yellow and my roof is peeling bad. 2 years ago it looked decent and ive taken good care of it )^;

 

[vampyrate]

I thought about it today and am planning my attack of the engine this weekend. I'm thinking since the car does start up on the first crank and runs (roughly and with a very loud "pinging" noise from within the engine that it could just be a bearing and/or gasket that needs to be replaced) that I should be fine with just tearing down the motor and fixing it instead of replacing. Something tells me that I'm just going to be staring at my engine holding a beer and cursing all day on Saturday. I'll post up a video later so you guys can hear what it sounds like running.

Keep in mind, it will be a very short video with no revving as the car did dump all it's oil on the ground when it died (leading me to belive that it was a rod that went).

 

[YELLOWMAZDAPR5]

Shaved lower tabs and support bars.

IMAG0558 by screwston11, on Flickr

 

[spinrique]

I did a couple of things last weekend:
- Did a headlight restoration using the 3M Headlight Restoration Kit and the UV coating from the Sylvania/OSRAM Headlight Restoration kit. Results were truly spectacular - the headlights look like new. Hopefully the UV coating will help keep them that way for a few years.
- Cleaned the intake using the 3M DIY Intake Cleaning kit. Not sure what benefits this might bring (if any) but I figured after 109k miles, this can't help. (My butt dyno thinks the car is running a bit smoother, but I don't trust myself too much.)

Hope this helps...


enrique

 

[Lewis7789]

Vampyrate, sounds like a plan. I wouldn't fire it up without any oil in it though if you're planning on rebuilding it. A motor is just a big Lego set, I'm sure you can handle it. Take your time, follow the Mazda manual, use the right tools, take it easy with the beer and you'll do just fine. I was super intimidated when I changed the head gaskets on my motor but it's running like a champ so no worries. Granted, you're doing a lot more work that I did. But in the end, you'll know a lot about your motor and will save yourself a lot of money. Good luck, mate.

 

[roy obanion]

Washed her last night and found more scratches and made angry/sad faces at the rust...it didn't go away. Today I drove her to the UPS Store to ship some parts.

Waiting for said parts to arrive, so they can sit on my floor in my garage for a while

 

[cojsl]

Added an SRI
Header is on it's way..

 

[ProjectBlack]

Schweet!! ^^

 

[vampyrate]

Vampyrate, sounds like a plan. I wouldn't fire it up without any oil in it though if you're planning on rebuilding it. A motor is just a big Lego set, I'm sure you can handle it. Take your time, follow the Mazda manual, use the right tools, take it easy with the beer and you'll do just fine. I was super intimidated when I changed the head gaskets on my motor but it's running like a champ so no worries. Granted, you're doing a lot more work that I did. But in the end, you'll know a lot about your motor and will save yourself a lot of money. Good luck, mate.

I've done engine swaps and rebuilds in the past for other makes/models doing it all by "feel" (no manual there). but yeah, maybe 2 beers total for me.

 

[THE Phen]

I've done engine swaps and rebuilds in the past for other makes/models doing it all by "feel" (no manual there). but yeah, maybe 2 beers total for me.

Helped my old man with a BMW M30 motor like that. Fun stuff. Hell, while you're in there, you should weigh and balance the pistons and rods as best as possible. Heaviest piston with the lightest rod, etc. That's what we did on the M30, and another engine we did (can't remember which) and it made a surprising world of difference.

 

[vampyrate]

thanks for the idea Phen

 

[iJay]

So last ntie I got my HVAC controls hooked up, then the AC wouldnt work, changed a fan resistor remedied my problem then charged the AC system. Bye bye gas mileage hello artic air!

Got a CF RC hood!!!! OMG pics on Facebook
jonaroo at live dot ca to see em!!!!

Just need the tranny swapped rear sway bar swapped and maybe the engine!

 

[canadian357]

Jay I dibs that hood if/when you ever move on from the P5. I'd sell my girlfriend for one of those.

 

[iJay]

LOL!
I dont blame you man, I had a FG one on my red one. Best esthtetic mod on proteges evaaar.
Ive realized after re-purchasing a 3 protege I am in the for the long haul. If and when I do sell I will let you know!

 

[bikingpro5]

Jay I dibs that hood if/when you ever move on from the P5. I'd sell my girlfriend for one of those.

LOL!
I dont blame you man, I had a FG one on my red one. Best esthtetic mod on proteges evaaar.
Ive realized after re-purchasing a 3 protege I am in the for the long haul. If and when I do sell I will let you know!

good luck with ever seeing that hood leave Ontario, I think if you ever wanted to get rid of it someone local would grab it real fast...

 

[iJay]

Yea for sure lol!!!

 

[JDMJNKY]

Doing the hood prop thing again..Found some spacers online but they wanted anywhere from $20-$30 bucks I said f-that found my own for 55 cents each

 

[McBadass]

Added an SRI
Header is on it's way..

get quality headers. I got an ebay one and it was completely cracked a few months later even after 2 welds. engine looks clean

 

[denim]

Wash and quick wax over the weekend.