Evan's 2003 Black Mica Protege5 Daily Driver Build/Project/Hobby Thread

[tewingate]

This post has been in my mind for quite some time, but my procrastination keeps taking over. But not tonight, I have insomnia on my side!

I bought this car on April 18, 2012 for around $5,500 with 113xxx miles and I've loved it ever since. I'm a delivery driver who works 7 nights a week and rarely takes a day off, so my car gets some miles put on it. She's up around 135xxx now. I'm always open to mod ideas and I like anything that would black her out and make her look more sleek and sexy. With other mods, I'm more about gas mileage than HP... I'm not trying to race. I absolutely love driving this car, and I'm gonna drive her until her wheels fall off... then buy some more and keep going.

So here's a little more info...

Repairs:
Timing belt -- April 2012
Water pump -- April 2012
Other belts -- April 2012
Spark Plugs -- April 2012
Tires -- Aug 2012
Front right wheel bearing -- Aug 2012
Axel bearing (if I recall correctly) -- Aug 2012
New radiator and thermostat -- Sept 2012

Modifications:
K&N Cold Air Intake
Brake Performance slotted and dimpled black rotors
Ceramic pads
27% tint on front, 15% on rear
3M headlight restoration
Rockford Fosgate Punch 6"x8" Front speakers
Rockford Fosgate Punch P300 Mono Amp - 300w, paper that came with it said 403w
JL Audio 12w3v3 12" Sub in sealed box
Pioneer AppRadio 6.1" Touchscreen
Lighter leash attached to trim so I never lose my lighter (Everyone that smokes loves it... lol)
Cleaned Interior (Vacuumed, cleaned windows, armorall, febreeze, ozium)
Cleaned Exterior (washed, clayed, washed, wax step 1, wax step 2, detail spray)
LED footwell lights with dimmer
Blacked out emblems and badges
Yellow Foglight tint. PIAA bulbs coming soon.

Future Mods:
17" Wheels
Either coilovers or lowering springs and struts
Cat-back exhaust (sooner than later)
Windows always on mod
Foglights always on mod
New front speakers & 2 channel amp
Dents removed and paint chips repaired
Blackout headlights (veryyyy hesitant to do this. I feel I would mess something up)
Spring clean (interior and exterior detail)

So here are some pictures. I'll add pics of all my mods in the morning, or maybe if I still can't sleep, later tonight.

Newest I have:


Oldest to newest:


Turtle Wax 2 stage black paint wax




Can kinda see how dark my windows are.


Over salted the roads for a tiny snow storm, my car pays the price.

 

[Bastian]

Good luck with the car, it looks nice. I'm also a delivery driver with my P5 but only 2 nights a week.

 

[itsjbeck]

verrrryy interested in this. car looks good so far, cant wait to see whats next.

 

[zoom zoom sp20]

Nice clean P5

 

[tewingate]

Installed some LEDGlow footwell lights and did a 3M complete fuel system clean last night (around 2am, hope me revving to 1500rpm didn't wake the neighbors...lol). I have some pictures but they are bad. I'll take some more tonight and throw them up.

I'm also thinking about taking my badges off and painting them black, but I want to keep the red 5 on the back badge red and everything else black.

 

[tewingate]

I'm also thinking about taking my badges off and painting them black, but I want to keep the red 5 on the back badge red and everything else black.

So much for thinking... I did it lol

Couldn't leave out my FSM lol

Keeping the 5 red

Test run


Now I'm thinking of painting my grill/getting a different style grill. Also I need to replace that weatherstripping under the hood. That piece peeking out and saying hey is really making me mad.

 

[itsjbeck]

lets see the back end!!

 

[tewingate]

I will once I get home. Working right now... driving around without badges... lol
Also, I want that bumper guard! I've been looking for them, even universal, but i dont like their designs. I like the one you have itsjbeck.

 

[azuelke]

^ That bumper guard is OEM, and they are no longer made. If your bumper doesn't have it, chances are it was in some sort of rear-end accident. Good luck finding one... when they go up for sale, they don't last long.

 

[tewingate]

Got some pics of my footwell lights last night.



Rear floorboards



Now for the blacked out badges. I messed up by putting them on without glue just to look at them, and when I pulled them off, I chipped a few pieces of paint off. But instead of respraying i just used some of my car's touch up paint. Should work ok... lol
Ignore the scratches under the P5 badge, I messed up when taking the dealer tag off... wish I had a do over on that.


Pretty much the final product. I still have to put the flying spaghetti monster back up.


She needs a bath badly

 

[itsjbeck]

better pic of the bumper pad. i got mine from a user on here. but like stated above, the go quick, i just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

 

[tewingate]

Well that sucks. I thought about maybe rhino lining a section of it or trying to find a good universal one, but idk... lol I think it looks clean without it, but I like the protection it would provide. Come spring I'll be lugging my bike around. Should prob go for a roof rack but I don't wanna invest in one of those yet.

I've been really considering blacking out my headlights, and I think I'm going to do it as soon as I can get some help with it. I just don't trust myself 100% lol. Also thinking about painting or plastidipping my side mirrors, rear valence (not sure how it would look with my black paint), and grille.

And here's another pic of my badges.


Also, angel eyes. I've been searching around a little but haven't found much yet. I'm also trying to find the diameter of the low and high beam headlight shroud/reflector, whatever they are called. If the only way is HID retrofit, it may be a while

 

[itsjbeck]

i did my mirrors and valance. it looks good imo.

 

[slbt]

you have such a clean rust free ride.. so jealous - cant find something like that in toronto

 

[tewingate]

you have such a clean rust free ride.. so jealous - cant find something like that in toronto

Yeah, one of the advantages of living in the South lol

It's been a while since I've posted, haven't done much. Gave it a nice wash Friday morning, got my lamin-x fog light tint (yellow) in the mail, and put in a Pioneer AppRadio. I haven't had time to put the tint on yet, but the AppRadio is pretty cool. 6.1" touchscreen and I only spent 119.99 on it. It's the older model, but crutchfield had a crazy sale on it. Couldn't turn it down... I still plan to upgrade to something a little more powerful in the future. I'm really missing my HPF that my old headunit had. Too much bass coming out of my door speakers... that's what I have the sub for lol


Yeah, lots of air fresheners. lol

 

[tewingate]

Lamin-X Yellow foglight tint:


So I'm gonna be coming into a few dollars from an inheritance soon, and I'm planning on spending a small portion on upgrades to my P5. I'm dedicating at least $1000 to it, maybe $1500 if business picks up.

So far my plans are:
1. New exhaust. I'm thinking a high flow cat and either Racing Beat or CorkSport exhaust. Or if there is something else I should look into (besides ebay exhaust, I don't trust them to not sound like a beehive)
2. HID's & halos. Thinking the Bi-xenon Morimoto Mini 5.0 complete retrofit kit from theretrofitsource.com. Thinking of getting the graphite shrouds and then painting them all black, or maybe keep the first 5mm or so graphite so the halos look better. I'm thinking amber halos as well.

Those two will probably eat up the majority of my money, but I also would like some new front speakers and a 2 channel amp. I need a HPF so badly lol
I would also like to use something like dynamat to soundproof the majority of my car, but I'm looking into home depot/lowe's cheaper alternatives. I don't wanna spend that much money on dynamat. I'm usually the type that would spend more money for a proven product, but the price is just ridic if you ask me lol

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Brian_K]

fogs look good. I like the clean engine bay too. And good choice on exhausts, you'll be very happy with either of those choices

 

[Barrelsnbeer]

im running the ebay exhaust heres a vid with the sound. honestly one of the nicer exhaast ive run on my vehicles, barely any drone at highway speed, way less if you run dynamat in the car, and nice agressive note on acceleration

 

[tewingate]

So I think I've decided on the Racing Beat exhaust. I want something quiet. I used to drive a f150 with no cats and and a beefy flowmaster, so it's time to not wake people up when I pull up in the am hours. Also anything too obnoxious for a delivery driver is a no-no in my book lol

I've also started looking at wheels. I think I'm probably gonna plastidip them in the next few weeks either black or gun metal. I would like to see how a dark bronze would look too. Then when I have a few more dollars throw some enkei's on them. Something lightweight...

 

[tewingate]

Plastidipped the wheels, tinted the side markers (amber bumber markers will be tinted soon).