We have Completed the goal of sport/street car. This P5 now has 331,000 miles. Yes the P5 is great fun! it’s a car you can respectably take to the track and have a blast driving a slow car fast. Since my notes above here is what’s been done to create a vehicle that my teen / 20-something children drivers and I have created and used: Mobil1 oil changes every 4-5000 miles. Mishimoto radiator and all new hoses for coolant and EGR and PCV parts refreshed. Cork sport oil bronze shifter bushings installed. Vintage Recaro LS in classic black mouse fur upholstery installed with Wedge seat brackets for driver, same but Recaro LS seat on passenger side. Tony at AWR built the Koni 8610 race shocks in the old KYB strut housings with Racing Beat springs. This was not cheap. Only lowers the car 5/8” but handling is transformed. AWR polyurethane engine and trans mounts and Racing Beat resonator- back exhaust installed. AWR trailing arms and rear sway bar installed. Second set of stock P5 twist spoke wheels (16.4lbs) with Bridgestone RE-71R tires installed. Brembo solid rotors and braided lines with stock rebuilt calipers all around. Bought the last-I-could-find Hawk Brake HP Plus for the front and HPS for the rear and this seems to work for track. HP Plus can take a beating and hold up for multiple hot track weekends. Brembo front pads were usedDidn’t do Autocross (2023 goal) but took to Summit Point Shenandoah, Pocono North,Pocono Southeast CCW circuit, and car control clinic at Lime Rock Park FCP Euro wet skid pad and Autocross Course. Handles neutral, with the ability to rotate the car with throttle lift. Incredible! And Fun! On a rainy day at Pocono it was the best fun pushing the car at the limit! No ABS, no traction control. I have changed 2 Delphi passenger front lower control arms because the ball joints squeek within 7-8000 miles. When the driver side started to squeek I bought a NAPA pricier part that had a zerk fitting. On my third squeaky Delphi arm and I have been lubing it with a needle thru the top of the boot to eliminate the squeek and I check it for play every ~2000 miles. Very disappointed in the quality of this Delphi part. Positive terminal clamp on battery cable replaced in Auto Zone parking lot on drive back from Lime Rock- corrosion and vibration finally failed the original clamp. Lucky logistics for where this was to finally fail.
100K MP5 Club
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Also, Looks like Porterfield Brake or their Raybestos custom pads are the ticket for stock- brake Protege ES or Protege5 track /autocross application now… I forgot to mention that a Pope oil pan baffle was installed in the oil pan before the first track use of this car as well. I guess that it works as I had no oil pick-up issues. And some of the long sweepers driven at high lateral G (Harry’s Lap Timer says 0.99 best right hander and 0.84 G going left. Not sure why the disparity: driver, car, or track ?
bought at 20K, just turned over 190K. minimal issues like a radiator leak or a brake caliper leak found and fixed over time, other than that its been bulletproof. Never skip an oil+filter change. Considering a compression test just to see whats going on inside, but its not burning oil and passes smog test.
Still handles good enough, would like to get it a little sharper. Probably time to get those 20 year old shocks replaced
Still handles good enough, would like to get it a little sharper. Probably time to get those 20 year old shocks replaced
look in to an AWR rear sway bar ant tokico blue shocks from the mazdaspeed protege
273k miles on our little red 2002 P5 - still on the factory original engine and clutch as well... but i foresee the little guy needing a clutch as the miles go by.
other than a few minor issues over he years, it has been a pretty solid car. Getting ready to replace all the brakes on it this weekend.
On another note... our 2017 Mazda3 has now hit 315k miles and on its original clutch as well.. LOL
other than a few minor issues over he years, it has been a pretty solid car. Getting ready to replace all the brakes on it this weekend.
On another note... our 2017 Mazda3 has now hit 315k miles and on its original clutch as well.. LOL
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