Lewis7789's 2003 Protege5 build thread

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Haha bought one of those stickers earlier in the spring. Still waiting to put it on but I'm so pumped on it haha.
 
That's fkn amazing hahahaha, wish they made some in french for us quebecers ! :P
 
That's fkn amazing hahahaha, wish they made some in french for us quebecers ! :P

Like this? :D

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You happen to know how how much hood clearance their is? Planning out my build for next year and id like to do a top mount supercharger.
 
I never measured it when I had the last swap and stock hood. And I don't have a stock hood currently but will do some measurements for you.

Why not run a SC instead of the A/C compressor like everyone else does? There are some pretty cheap kits on ProbeTalk.com all the time.

ps- you will absolutely love the KL in your Protege, mate.
 
Thanks bro! I hate the way the intercooler and assorted FI parts look in the bay, too messy and complicated. Most importantly, I have an idea I really want to try but well cross that bridge when we get there. :) I've driven Weaksauce car on multiple occasions, nothing compares to the beautiful music it makes. I can't wait for kl!
 
Oh man, his MX-6 was probably the most influential reasons for me to swap in the first place. I can't tell you how many times I've watched his videos over and over again. haha
 
I can vouch for the hood clearance - and there's hardly any between my hood and my intake on the KL. Ofcourse I did not remove any of the insulation/black padding underhood - but all the same - it's tight.
 
Which KL intake mani did you use, ihone? Curve, DE, G4 or ZE? I remember the CorkSport strut tower brace juuuuuust barely touched the CF hood bracing underneath but on the motor cleared. I double checked the coolant burp tank clearance since it was in a non-factory location and the ricer rad cap cleared too. But my actual intake tubing went down towards the trans like my AEM intake did.
 
That looks really good, man. Very clean and has good flow. And thank you for zip-tie'ing the spark plug cables. It's drive me batty when cats just have them laying all over. Haha

Cam, you too can have a KL for the low low price of $1999.99. It's really not that difficult and plenty of super cool members who have done it who will help you out.
 
I would love to do that, but that price is half of what I bought the car for. Love the p5, but I'm going to save my money and buy one of these for power
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Ah, one of those fatties. So you can be like everyone else. Pffsht... lame. I'm building my own Speed3. That's much more fun.

Just kidding, man. :)
 
No, your fine. I need a DD and that's the P5. I want a sexy/reliable DD, gotta keep my wife's MZ3 reliable, and she has a '66 Mustang that needs exterior restoration. The STI is but a feeble dream that I may never reach. Even if I did get it, I wouldn't build it to be a monster, few bolt-on's and beauty enhancers and then drive it as-is
 
ihone, I see you have the P5 radiator installed in your pic. Are you using that one or did you switch to a KL radiator?

I'm still debating on which radiator to use.

The stock P5 dimensions are;
12.81 x 27.19 x .62 and 1.12 inlet/outlet

The stock MX-6 dimesnions are;
13.31 x 27.13 x 1 and 1.38 inlet/outlet

The Mishimoto universal rad dimensions are;
16.3 x 25.51 x 2.55 and 1.4 inlet/outlet

Ideally, I would like to use an aftermarket KL radiator but the only one I can seem to dig up is an AWR and they are $500+. That's a little too much for me. Right now I'm thinking I'll just get the Mishimoto Protege radiator and run the coolant hoses over. At least the rad will bolt right up and look clean.
 
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I'm still using the P5 stocker in my swap - although:

the top neck (return) is cracked around the base of the neck, so when the heat/pressure starts to climb - it's seeping coolant from the top of the rad. Kinda messy, but I don't have the cashola to replace it at the moment.

When the time to replace it does come though - I'm going with an aftermarket aluminum rad. No more of this plastic radiator bs.....

Getting the mishi p5 replacement is my suggestion. True on both accounts - that it'll look clean by bolting directly into the chassis, and that it'll work with previously routed hoses (cris-crossed and ran over.....kinda meh, but it works!).
 
Could you do me a huge favor and take a pic or two of the coolant lines and where they run on your setup? I just want to make sure it will clear the turbo pipes when that time comes. As I'm sure you would like to know too. ;)
 
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