What have you done to your P5 today?

The rear wheel wells are one of the worst spots for rust.

This is my parts car...

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It helps to cake grease on that lip/ledge around the wheel well. It's messy but it helps. That lip always fills up with dust and dirt then when it gets wet, it stays wet for days, maybe weeks.

Even if it's not salt water, it's not good.
 
The rear wheel wells are one of the worst spots for rust.

This is my parts car...

View attachment 297514

It helps to cake grease on that lip/ledge around the wheel well. It's messy but it helps. That lip always fills up with dust and dirt then when it gets wet, it stays wet for days, maybe weeks.

Even if it's not salt water, it's not good.

Oh well. such is life for our cars!
 
I debated posting this is a tongue in cheek “mod” because it’s so janky. However, it really did piss me off that both my P5 and MP5 can’t hold my Yeti coffee cup. Oh the projects my Dremel has allows me to complete.

I ordered a 3 for $8 pack of these large diameter inserts from Amazon. Then pulled the console and roughly outlined the new diameter cup holder. removed the 4 screws that hold the cup holder to the console and dremeled out both.

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Now I just need to do the same on my P5.
 
The 2002 P5 cup holders completely SUCK !!!

They aren't deep enough and any cup taller than 4" will topple over.

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The 2002 P5 cup holders completely SUCK !!!

They aren't deep enough and any cup taller than 4" will topple over.
I remember buying the 02 cupholder once because I liked the flip/lid design, Then noticed how shallow it was. Went right back to my open 03 cupholder.
 
Weird. I've had open cans of Monster, coffee, and coconut water and I havent had any issues. However, it ******* sucks for water bottles. I just use the center console for that
I do use it, but if there is any sudden braking, steering or bump, somebody is going to get wet. Lol
 
Most random thing happened to my P5 while driving home on the interstate yesterday.

My somewhat rusty muffler decided to become super rusty, and it just about fell off. It was hanging by the rubber hanger and I just pulled it right off so it wouldn't break off while driving. Now I know what a muffler-less FS-DE sounds like and I hate it.

The muffler was a cheap junky replacement installed by a shop from the previous owner (I have the paperwork), so I'm not too surprised or worried at it's demise.

Anybody happen to know the stock part number for the OEM MazdaSpeed "sport" P5 Muffler, like the one they made specifically for the Protege5? I believe I found it at some point but don't recall now. I'd rather not spend tons of money, but if I have to, I'd prefer to get something that at least sounds decent.
 
I had a muffler fall off a car once, it's not fun!
It was my mk2 Escort, with a race engine and a grumpy, lumpy cam, and the stock diff so it did about 4000 rpm at 100kph. And it fell off after an all night LAN party so I was super tired, deaf and slightly poisoned from the fumes lol
 
I had a muffler fall off a car once, it's not fun!
It was my mk2 Escort, with a race engine and a grumpy, lumpy cam, and the stock diff so it did about 4000 rpm at 100kph. And it fell off after an all night LAN party so I was super tired, deaf and slightly poisoned from the fumes lol
I remember my exhaust on my old 98 civic falling off right after the cat which was obviously also right under the shifter. That made for a nice rumbly drive to get it fixed (before I was working on my own cars). As im driving im just hoping no one will look at me. For SHAME!
 
Too bad so far away, I have the racing beat axle back but not willing to part with it but have one or 2 magnaflow ones as well. Shipping kills anything but giving them away unfortunately...

I drove my old toyota truck about 3 miles with open header to exhaust shop to have new exhaust put on. Talk about noise, lol
 
Filled up today and somehow this old rust bucket is still getting 30mpg when it should be getting zero. Can’t stop won’t stop.
 
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Speaking of exhausts! You guys remember that horrible noise I was talking about that my car was making? Yeah, it was just my exhaust hanging off the SUBFRAME! Dropped it off at the mechanic, along with a new blower motor resistor to get the A/C fixed, since summer is coming up and f*ck me if I'm driving through a hair dryer, cause that's what driving through hot, humid, summer air feels like.
 
I've spent the last week indulging in the curiosity every car guy has (I believe) on what it would be like to drive a loud car. I've had my fun, aaaaand I'm done with it now. Time for a muffler again. I just hate the perceived attention all the time. I love my car with stock exhaust because I can drive like a nut at safe(ish) speeds and nobody cares or notices.

As much as I would have really liked to upgrade to an aftermarket axleback, I found and ordered a very good condition stock muffler from eBay that looks like it'll be a pretty good replacement.

And for anybody curious, the OEM Protege5 Sport exhaust is part number 000-8M-C10, but they don't make it anymore which is a bummer. Would have probably ordered it if they did.
 
I've spent the last week indulging in the curiosity every car guy has (I believe) on what it would be like to drive a loud car. I've had my fun, aaaaand I'm done with it now. Time for a muffler again. I just hate the perceived attention all the time. I love my car with stock exhaust because I can drive like a nut at safe(ish) speeds and nobody cares or notices.

As much as I would have really liked to upgrade to an aftermarket axleback, I found and ordered a very good condition stock muffler from eBay that looks like it'll be a pretty good replacement.

And for anybody curious, the OEM Protege5 Sport exhaust is part number 000-8M-C10, but they don't make it anymore which is a bummer. Would have probably ordered it if they did.
My car has no cat so I'm stuck with a straight pipe all the way from the headers back to my muffler. But I actually don't mind it. Sounds better than a VQ in my opinion! Unfortunately for us, some FS motors consume just as much oil as a VQ. Thankfully mine doesn't seem to be in that list.
 
My car has no cat so I'm stuck with a straight pipe all the way from the headers back to my muffler. But I actually don't mind it. Sounds better than a VQ in my opinion! Unfortunately for us, some FS motors consume just as much oil as a VQ. Thankfully mine doesn't seem to be in that list.
I need to do the math on how much oil my FS actually consumes. It's certainly not an insignificant amount. I know it's a common issue and I always keep it topped off, but I can't help but wonder if I'm going to start hearing a bad noise one of these days. Cold starts after sitting a while already make me nervous with all the clattering from my valves which need adjustment. I love my car but I wish Mazda made engines like Honda did in the 2000s.
 
I need to do the math on how much oil my FS actually consumes. It's certainly not an insignificant amount. I know it's a common issue and I always keep it topped off, but I can't help but wonder if I'm going to start hearing a bad noise one of these days. Cold starts after sitting a while already make me nervous with all the clattering from my valves which need adjustment. I love my car but I wish Mazda made engines like Honda did in the 2000s.
Our engines are also known for lifter ticking, which sometimes does happen with mine, especially when it's cold. And hey, can't ask much from Mazda's senioritis period under FoMoCo. At least a couple of our cars make it to high mileage if they're well taken care of.
 
Our engines are also known for lifter ticking, which sometimes does happen with mine, especially when it's cold. And hey, can't ask much from Mazda's senioritis period under FoMoCo. At least a couple of our cars make it to high mileage if they're well taken care of.
My 260k p5 has no lifter tick and an incredibly quiet motor at oil. Then my 121k 92 miata has all the lifter tick in the world.
 
My 260k p5 has no lifter tick and an incredibly quiet motor at oil. Then my 121k 92 miata has all the lifter tick in the world.
I had a mechanic friend take a look when I first bought it and he suggested doing a valve adjustment at some point. Not sure how to do it though. Who knows, I could also be hearing the VICS/VTCS system on cold starts. Sometimes it almost starts to sound like slight rod knock for a minute, but it's been like that since I bought it and I've never had other issues. Oh, and it only has 160k.
 
Back to stock. Yay!!
So much nicer to drive on the highway.

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Definitely time for a wash though....
 

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