What have you done to your P5 today?

[pcb]

,.. All jokes aside, you seem to have a good eye for that. Also the harbor freight advertising...I'm too cheap.

Up here in Canada , we've got Princes Auto and Canadian Tire,..

You don't need expensive quality tools if you don't use them all day long, every day.

I only use hand tools.
It takes longer, but it's way cheaper.
And they work better.

I get way more torque from my 3 foot breaker bar than from any powered tools I've tried.

 

[BenjiHoggi]

Is it possible to install a nut on the end of that bolt (or a slightly longer bolt), instead of what you have planned?

It might be easier, cheaper, and maybe more reliable ?

*sigh*

Yes I thought about doing that, but I'm pretty much committed at this point. I think the perfectionist in my wanted to do it "properly" with the helicoil/insert. But the cheap part of me wanted to do nut. We'll see how it holds up.

 

[pcb]

*sigh*

Yes I thought about doing that, but I'm pretty much committed at this point. I think the perfectionist in my wanted to do it "properly" with the helicoil/insert. But the cheap part of me wanted to do nut. We'll see how it holds up.

Just do both then to make sure. It's both cheap and proper.

Personally, I'd trust a nut over a helicoil.

 

[BenjiHoggi]

Just do both then to make sure. It's both cheap and proper.

Personally, I'd trust a nut over a helicoil.

Might take you up on that idea, despite the fact that it has already cost me a painful amount of time and money. I just finished putting the insert in and it seems pretty sturdy, but I like your logic.

 

[pcb]

There may not be enough space for a nut or room to get in there with a wrench.
That may be why the hole is threaded.
I remember reading how one of the bolts is hard to reach, and you have to do it blind.

 

[INYOURCHAIR]

With money being on the tighter end, there's not a lot I can really do. but, over the weekend and today I tackled a few small things I've been waiting to work on. I ordered some front door speakers about six months ago but had a water intrusion problem in the door so I put that off. I decided to get some boom matsabout a week ago to cover em up to fix that and to my surprise the left door still had its stock speaker in and when removed it had a factory water shield on it. I pried that off to test fit with the new one and it did fit fine. Seeing as I only had the one, I just used what I had bought. Cut a hole on the bottom half for bass response and all was well there.
while I was there I got a couple of other things done. The left door handle was missing the plastic that the screw went into so I modified a tag anchor to fit and found a bolt for that. that's fixed now. also added some two sided tape to stop a bracket from rattling around. Picked up the left over bits from the failed regulator that the PO must have replaced. On the right door I noticed something floating near the door handle, found out that it was the lock switch for the key to operate all the locks from the passenger key, so that's a bonus. a good interior detail today led somehow to me installing a thrift store subwoofer that is supposed to be for a home system. Think I paid 3.99 for it I had the amp from a previous install, wire, fuse for the battery side of the hot and the rca wires. so I just threw it all in. and cleaned the interior panels when I had them all out. All that and a good wash and we're ready to roll. That setup actually sounds half decent after I got the eq set and flattened the response of the cheaper front speakers.

off topic some, but ALDOT is repairing some railroad tracks omw to work so I may be able to order and install some worn suspension parts instead of waiting on those tracks to beat them down the rest of the way.

 

[BenjiHoggi]

There may not be enough space for a nut or room to get in there with a wrench.
That may be why the hole is threaded.
I remember reading how one of the bolts is hard to reach, and you have to do it blind.

Yes, this ended up being true, unfortunately. I bought a (expensive!) longer bolt and nut to try it and it did not fit on. Tried a nut without the flange bit and same thing. So I just left the new bolt on and didn't torque the heck out of it.

That setup actually sounds half decent after I got the eq set and flattened the response of the cheaper front speakers.

I've thought about doing that actually. I took the 11" sub that came with the car out after having it for a year and while I don't miss the weight and loss of space, I definitely miss the lows. Having something more compact is appealing.

I wanted to try to find one of those OEM subwoofer units that fit into the spare tire, but It looks like the spare is mounted differently in order to fit into the tire, because there wouldn't be room for it on my car.

But relating to that, I was at the junkyard the other day and found this in the back of a P5, it's a two part tray that sits on top of the spare and your cargo mat thing goes over top. I don't have it in my car and I've never seen it in the back of a P5 in person, but have in photos. Does anyone on here have one and is it useful or rare? Thinking I might go back and grab it because it's kinda cool.

My car is finally back together after all the new parts. The new clutch works great and no more creaking and squeaking from the suspension. I replaced the front swaybar bushings with PU ones, which was spectacularly fun. If you know, you know.

 

[pcb]

,.. I wanted to try to find one of those OEM subwoofer units that fit into the spare tire, but It looks like the spare is mounted differently in order to fit into the tire, because there wouldn't be room for it on my car.

Just an FYI, the factory subwoofer has a different bolt to hold down the tire and subwoofer.
If you got that bolt along with an OEM subwoofer, you should be fine.

Spare Tire Bolt/Removal

I cannot figure out how to get the spare tire out/unbolted. It’s almost as if it’s upside down (according to the manual it depicts using the lug nut wrench. Am I crazy or?

mazdas247.com

 

[BenjiHoggi]

Just an FYI, the factory subwoofer has a different bolt to hold down the tire and subwoofer.
If you got that bolt along with an OEM subwoofer, you should be fine.


View attachment 311750

Spare Tire Bolt/Removal

I cannot figure out how to get the spare tire out/unbolted. It’s almost as if it’s upside down (according to the manual it depicts using the lug nut wrench. Am I crazy or?

mazdas247.com

Yeah unfortunately the piece I was looking at did not have the subwoofer as part of it. It was just the plastic tray. I thought I had previously seen that the belly pan thing that holds the spare tire on my car was actually differently shaped to the one that goes in a car with a subwoofer option. But maybe that tray thing gives it more of a gap to stick up above the spare? Not sure. I will do some more digging because I'm curious now.

Does anyone have one of those subs? Are they any good? Just curious.

 

[pcb]

I found this thread about the OEM subwoofer,..

Spare tire subwoofer question

Hey guys, I may be getting the whole spare tire sub setup for my car, and Im wondering about adapting it to my aftermarket head unit. There is wiring for an aftermarket sub in the car thanks to the PO, but no factory pigtail to plug in the sub harness, since my car is an 02. What have other...

mazdas247.com

These are the missing schematics of mine from that thread.

The wiring diagrams I have are for the 2002 and 2002.5 year models.

The OEM sub option wasn't available until the 2003.5 model came out which included the subwoofer as an option.

Some more info about our underpowered alternators,..

Slow NA Pro5 build

with those spark plugs I'm surprised your car even ran

mazdas247.com

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Yeah unfortunately the piece I was looking at did not have the subwoofer as part of it. It was just the plastic tray. I thought I had previously seen that the belly pan thing that holds the spare tire on my car was actually differently shaped to the one that goes in a car with a subwoofer option. But maybe that tray thing gives it more of a gap to stick up above the spare? Not sure. I will do some more digging because I'm curious now.

Does anyone have one of those subs? Are they any good? Just curious.

Mine is 03.5 and does have the oem sub.....nothing super impressive and I think I can actually tell it's there under the flooring, the mat, and the cargo tray lol.....if you have the harness and oem audio setup then sure, why not, nice oem add-on feature. I actually scored an extra one years ago but not really looking to part with it.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Lately been having noise out back while driving....not the dreaded klunk tho....different. Been buggin me like somethin will fall off or worse iffin I don't find it. Got under car and started looking around, nothing visually out of whack, not broken rear sway mount, nothing out of place. So I just started puttin a socket on all the GTSpec trailing arm mounts, reinforcement panel and then low and behold.....the vbrace mounts on chassis side and at reinforcement panel were not loose but definitely not tight like they had been 10 years ago when installed. I think and hope this was the issue. Haven't test driven it yet. I know the sound up front is the GTSpec lower tie brace. Those dang bolts are hard to get to and get any torque on to stay put like I need. Thinkin about just pullin it off and goin without it since the K brace would still be there.

 

[INYOURCHAIR]

Just been driving problem free for the last several weeks. I've had no water in the floors since clearing the cowl drains in the early spring, and tightening the air plenum bolt near the ac drain. I have been running some lucas through the fuel to help the injectors and my mileage seems to be just a tad better but may just be margin of error. I returned 31mpg on a 55mph hwy trip around 100 mile round trip and my work trip is getting me around 22avg. I think the ac compressor may be about to take a dump. I noticed recently it's started this clicking noise maybe 30 to 40 times/sec and it stops as soon as it comes off idle. It cycles with the compressor. it needs replaced amyhow as I believe either something near the line set or the front seal is leaking. there is ac oil all over it. early july I checked the pressures and ended up adding about 6 oz to it. It was cycling under even a heavy load. The electrics in this car work out in a way that the compressor coming on tanks my voltage for a bit as the clutch and fans come in so I was able to hear the inside blower slow some each cycle.

 

[reut1]

very slowly getting her ready for the scrap yard . Pulled out the projector lights today. They may be up for sale if there is any interest. I will also be posting up gauge trim rings and a wiper stalk out of an escape which gives the adjustable intermittent wiper setting.

 

[BenjiHoggi]

very slowly getting her ready for the scrap yard . Pulled out the projector lights today. They may be up for sale if there is any interest. I will also be posting up gauge trim rings and a wiper stalk out of an escape which gives the adjustable intermittent wiper setting.

Awww sad

I still want that TWM short shifter though if you still have it. Just let me know.

 

[reut1]

Awww sad

I still want that TWM short shifter though if you still have it. Just let me know.

I tried pulling it off but the bolts on the underside holding it on are so rusted in place. I may take one more look into getting it off for you but the amount of work may not be worth it. If the exhaust would come apart easily this would be simple. Let me take another peek after I wrap up work for the day

 

[BenjiHoggi]

I tried pulling it off but the bolts on the underside holding it on are so rusted in place. I may take one more look into getting it off for you but the amount of work may not be worth it. If the exhaust would come apart easily this would be simple. Let me take another peek after I wrap up work for the day

Gotcha, well major props to you for taking the effort to look into it again for me. I appreciate that on principle. Do what you can do, and no worries either way. Just thought I'd ask.

 

[reut1]

Yeah unfortunately the piece I was looking at did not have the subwoofer as part of it. It was just the plastic tray. I thought I had previously seen that the belly pan thing that holds the spare tire on my car was actually differently shaped to the one that goes in a car with a subwoofer option. But maybe that tray thing gives it more of a gap to stick up above the spare? Not sure. I will do some more digging because I'm curious now.

Does anyone have one of those subs? Are they any good? Just curious.

Also, I have one of these subs in the p5 and it definitely made a difference! Since now scrapping the p5, I actually took it and the harness out of the car and put it into my miata. I cannot notice the difference as much since the small sub is now in the trunk separate from me rather than in the same cabin, but it does still make a difference. I can try and get my stud out of the trunk if you needed it. Not sure I want to give up the sub just yet.

 

[reut1]

Gotcha, well major props to you for taking the effort to look into it again for me. I appreciate that on principle. Do what you can do, and no worries either way. Just thought I'd ask.

I didn't feel like working and took a break to investigate things. Ta-da! PM me and we can work out getting you some goods . I also have the leather TWM shift boot which I bought way back then. I also had bronzoil bushings and poly bushings, but ill leave those be in the car.

 

[BenjiHoggi]

Also, I have one of these subs in the p5 and it definitely made a difference! Since now scrapping the p5, I actually took it and the harness out of the car and put it into my miata. I cannot notice the difference as much since the small sub is now in the trunk separate from me rather than in the same cabin, but it does still make a difference. I can try and get my stud out of the trunk if you needed it. Not sure I want to give up the sub just yet.

Hmm, as much as that is tempting to consider, I'm at the point where I'm only wanting to spend money on my P5 to make it either drive better and be more fun or last longer. My sound system is never going to as good even as the factory systems in new cars, so why throw more money at it? That's the logic at least...

I didn't feel like working and took a break to investigate things. Ta-da! PM me and we can work out getting you some goods . I also have the leather TWM shift boot which I bought way back then. I also had bronzoil bushings and poly bushings, but ill leave those be in the car.

Wowww look at that, you did it. Nicely done! I was writing a post here but I'll go ahead and just PM you to avoid spamming this thread for everyone.