What have you done to your MSP today?
- Thread starter baconbitz
- Start date
Worked on fixing some of the peeling clear coat on the rear door jams. Used the left over clear coat from the Sylvania head light restore kit because I could use a brush, so no need to mask everything off. Came out well enough although you can see some brush strokes. Way better than seeing chunks of peeling clear.
So Im guessing the secondary 02 sensor has a short somewhere cause thats the only electrical component I touched.
Here's the paint work. Hard to tell in the door jams, but anyone with a black MSP should know what I'm talking about with the peeling clear coat. Or maybe I'm alone on this one. Also here's a photo with the freshly painted OEM bumper, painted CF hood, and fresh paint on the upper grill trim:
Hi
I haven't had my MSP very long, but I've started to order some parts. One of those was an intake manifold. I need the egr pipe size before they can ship it out. I am told it's either 22mm or 27mm. Unfortunately, I'm away for at least a week. Is there a stock size? I prefer not to wait until I get back to get this figured out, but if I do, where do look/what do I do to figure it out?
Thanks in advance.
I haven't had my MSP very long, but I've started to order some parts. One of those was an intake manifold. I need the egr pipe size before they can ship it out. I am told it's either 22mm or 27mm. Unfortunately, I'm away for at least a week. Is there a stock size? I prefer not to wait until I get back to get this figured out, but if I do, where do look/what do I do to figure it out?
Thanks in advance.
so its the 626 mani? the part number is FSJ2-20-310A. they were super slow to find one for me and couldn't come up with the right one so I ended up having to order it directly from the mazda dealership and it got there the next day. they usually are pretty good ive gotten plenty from them myself but I had the same problem as you with the egr pipe so hope this helps!
Thanks
I'll let you guys know how it goes and post pics. Everything should be installed in a few weeks.
hornsfan10609
Certified Mazda Tech
- :
- 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege x2
Unlikely since they are on a completely different circuit.
Yeah but who has a stock MSP anymore?
hornsfan10609
Certified Mazda Tech
- :
- 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege x2
The 626 mani won't make any more power. I don't care what BS street unit has on their website. Just remove the VTCS flaps in your stock manifold and you will make the same power if not more with a lot more low end than with the 626.
hornsfan10609
Certified Mazda Tech
- :
- 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege x2
I think the wheels turned out awesome, but after reading the how-to it seems like a LOT of work. Took the OP 3-4 days to paint his wheels.
Graphite color from AutoZone/AdvanceAuto. No matter the brand of "wheel" paint it turns out the same.
Mine's pretty much stock. I'll probably be taking off the SMIC soon and selling it on here. Then the only thing left would be the CS IC pipes and those are staying on for good.
I would never have had to paint them had the car not gotten side swiped by a snow plow many a year ago and took out the front left wheel (lower left wheel in the first picture). They'll be going with the car when I sell it and I'll keep the current wheels for winter tires. If they didn't weigh so much I'd keep them and ditch the current wheels, but 17lb < 23lb or whatever they weigh.
Yeah it does take a long time. You could do it in one entire day, but that would be a very, very long day. It took me about a week only because I was doing two wheels at a time to make sure everything came out all right.hornsfan10609 said:
Last edited:
Takes a while to paint anything properly but 4 days a bit extreme. Assuming good prep, I can be finished from primer to last clear in about 4 hours.
Stock rh were pretty heavy but meh. I cabt really feek the difference on my gram lights.
Msp5 noisy and slow lol. Putting 215/45s on was prob a mistake. For the driving I can do in my city 205/40 would have been a better rollout for the tiny turbo.
Stock rh were pretty heavy but meh. I cabt really feek the difference on my gram lights.
Msp5 noisy and slow lol. Putting 215/45s on was prob a mistake. For the driving I can do in my city 205/40 would have been a better rollout for the tiny turbo.
Last edited:
hornsfan10609
Certified Mazda Tech
- :
- 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege x2
I commend you for resisting to mod it, after about a year of driving on the stock tune and intercooler here in the Texas heat I was about ready to pull my hair out. These cars are so slow stock but respond so incredibly well to a few mods, it is almost unbelievable.
On a side note I got my new shift knob and installed it. It's lighter than stock but it's made of delrin so it's 'impervious' to temperature and it's easy to grip. I also swapped the leather wrap from one 03.5 shift knob to the other. Now I have one lightly scratched but relatively nice knob with leather and one knob that the inside threaded collar is stripped on and has scratches all over the top.
Last edited:
Well I'll take the upgraded SMIC off and see how I like it, which I probably won't. With all this work I'm doing the car is looking pretty good, so I might not be too quick to sell it unless I find a killer deal on a MS3. It doesn't get very hot up here in western NY, so heat soak isn't an issue. Dealing with bad fuel mapping in winter is a problem, and I had a lot of issues with the SMIC and stock fuel map over the winter. I do have a SSAFC but that didn't fix any problems with the idle so I pulled that out this spring.
