2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege - Clean!

It's been a few years since I've been active here, and I'm sad to say goodbye to an old friend I've had since 2007, but it's time to part ways!

Vital info:
Year: 2003.5
Color: Laser Blue
Mileage: 127,000 mi
Interior condition: 8/10
Exterior condition: 8/10
Location: Savage, MN (SW of Minneapolis)
Asking price: $3500

This car has been an ongoing project and excuse to turn a wrench in the garage when time allows. Since 2012-ish or so, I've only really driven it on nice days in the summer, so while it was a DD for several years, it's had a pretty easy life lately. I rebuilt the engine in 2011 to put in forged rods/pistons; though the engine ran perfectly at the time (still have the stock rods/pistons in fact). It pulls nicely at a modest 12psi with plenty of headroom left for an upgraded turbo! (Fuel pump and injectors are more than adequate to support 300whp) One thing I haven't done is get a tune yet, so I'm running an OTS map which means it's running a bit rich at full boost--typically 10.5 AFR or so. An hour or two at a tuner would probably unlock a fair bit of grunt.

The body is in very clean shape, though there is a little bit of rust evident on the inside door edges, and the paint is starting to bubble a bit in a spot on the front driver door trim (see photos). The interior is clean as well, with no rips or tears in the seats. Mechanically, the car is solid as well. There are a couple of squeaks and rattles, and some of the suspension bushings could probably be freshened up, but relatively good condition for a >15 y/o car on mostly original suspension.

The list of mods/upgrades I've done over the years is pretty long, so bear with me here. I'll list everything out below to the best of my knowledge, but feel free to ask if you have any questions. I'm happy to answer or provide more pics, and thanks for looking!

Engine:
All engine seals/gaskets/bearings replaced in 2011
Align hone on main bores
Cylinders bored .020" over
Forged pistons (Wiseco 0.020" over)
Forged rods (Eagle/K1)
Polished stock crank
ARP main studs & head bolts
Cometic head gasket
Oil pump internals ceramic coated and internal pressure bypass removed & replaced with external pressure regulator (crappy internal bypass on stock pump was found to be a main weak point in these engines!)
Remote mounted oil filter
Custom air-water intercooler with external coolant reservoir and pre/post IC temp display in dash and pump/fan control switch
Intake manifold VTCS flappers removed for better airflow
Fidanza 7.5lb flywheel
Exedy stage 1 clutch
Remote coil pack (to replace the stock coil on plug setup, both for appearances and some common knowledge that the coils from ~99 proteges gave a stronger spark (shrug))
Mishimoto aluminum radiator with 12" puller fan and aluminum coolant reservoir
SplitSecond FTC-1 Air/fuel controller (has timing control as well, but I never hooked that up)
440cc/min injectors
Walbro 255lph fuel pump upgrade
Oil pressure sensor plumbed to main oil galley
t25 turbo (Nissan SR20DET OEM replacement; nearly identical to factory MSP turbo, except waaaaay less $$)
Boostsciences RDV bypass valve
Forge Motorsports wastegate actuator
80 durometer front/rear engine mounts
Urethane filled stock side motor mounts
Battery relocated to trunk to make more room for IC core
AC system removed (it was leaking and I rarely used it anyway...)
Orange powdercoated valve cover
Engine and many parts painted in silver high temp enamel

Exhaust
GHL 3" stainless catless downpipe
Thermal R&D 3" catback with custom fitting to downpipe (so 3" from turbo to exhaust tip)

Wheels/Suspension
Motegi Traklite 17x8" wheels (forget the offset)
Nitto NT05 235/40/17 tires (>50% tread left)
(This is a pretty aggressive fitment, and while the rear fenders are rolled, it will rub in the back if you have extra weight back there or hit a large bump while cornering hard)
Hawk HPS pads
Centric rotors
Home made stainless rear swaybar endlinks (they are a bit noisy, but they work)

Interior
Custom leather shifter boot
Aluminum gauge rings
AEM TruBoost boost gauge & controller
AEM wideband O2 sensor and gauge
Custom steering column gauge pod
Pre/post IC temp display mounted to super tacky double-DIN panel (cool)
Note: there is an oil sensor plumbed, but the gauge crapped out on me, so do not currently have it wired up. All you need is a single wire to the sensor and a power/ground to install an oil pressure gauge

Other
Seibon carbon fiber hood
Spoiler removed and trunk holes welded/painted
(both of the above were done as part of hail damage repair ~2010 or so)
Interior 3rd brake light to replace spoiler brake light
Smoked rear tail lights (light tint as you can see from the pics--never been hassled about it)
35% tint on front windows / 20% tint on the rear windows (this I have been hassled for, but only because I was driving like a douche (burnout))
Smoked side markers
I have a whole pile of misc stock parts/extras that I will throw in.
 

Attachments

  • 20190811_172108 (Large).jpg
    20190811_172108 (Large).jpg
    506.5 KB · Views: 880
  • 20190811_172143 (Large).jpg
    20190811_172143 (Large).jpg
    258.9 KB · Views: 691
  • 20190811_172208 (Large).jpg
    20190811_172208 (Large).jpg
    413.3 KB · Views: 638
  • 20190811_172111 (Large).jpg
    20190811_172111 (Large).jpg
    289 KB · Views: 617
  • Inked20190811_170526_LI (Large).jpg
    Inked20190811_170526_LI (Large).jpg
    553.8 KB · Views: 617
Last edited:
Additional photos...
 

Attachments

  • 20190811_170641 (Large).jpg
    20190811_170641 (Large).jpg
    318.7 KB · Views: 524
  • 20190811_170508 (Large).jpg
    20190811_170508 (Large).jpg
    553.6 KB · Views: 550
  • 20190811_171441 (Large).jpg
    20190811_171441 (Large).jpg
    433.8 KB · Views: 536
  • 20190811_170452 (Large).jpg
    20190811_170452 (Large).jpg
    613.1 KB · Views: 535
  • 20190811_170957 (Large).jpg
    20190811_170957 (Large).jpg
    412 KB · Views: 532
Very nice! I am curious as to how much those houses sell for in your area.
 
Back