A Protege Story

It's a dry heat

I've been slacking on the updates but my camera has been out of town with my roomate 20 different times. I had to go to Phoenix for a week so it was nice to step back from my project to think on some s***.

"But it's a dry heat."

Why does everyone on the plane, taxi, shuttle, hotel laugh after saying this? I mean 105 is hot but it compares to about 86 in Atlanta and about 80 in Richmond VA. I'll take sweating over humid armpit of death any day of the week. You can't get away from humidity but in a place like Phoenix you hop under a tree and it's about 10 degrees cooler and at night it's pretty damn nice. So I must assume everybody that laughs at that is an idiot who gives more credence to a number on the tv than what their own body is telling them.

Now if you have to be in the direct sun all damn day I'll take non-desert thank you.

Ok car s***:

Rebuilt my amp rack saving about 30 pounds subsituting an alluminum frame for additional support. I also improved on the ventilation design a bit. and lastly my favorite innovation thus far I took apart my old seat and used the latch mechanism for the amp rack. works like a charm, have taken it over a few bumps and it seems to hold up just fine. Pics to come when I get a bit further.

I have permanantly installed the first interior piece signifying I am done with sound deadening in one section. the others are soon to follow. Apparently i didn't deaden my doors enough so I ordered some more supplies to shore that up. After that I should be able to fiberglass my door pannels and get that thing painted.

Project silvertrim has been abandoned. I don't feel like messing with the color scheme on the mirror and if I don't do that the trim will look out of place. The rear valance and the front chrome piece will still be silver but the rest of the car is going to be black as night including the headlights.

I'm starting to like my OEM tails better than my aftermarket ones. Depends, going to sit on that a bit.

here is a pic of O-Town cause he has fealt a little slighted lately. He usually sits on top of the computer but when I am not paying enough attention he sits in front of the damn thing non-chelantly(sp?) as if I didn't know he was being neglected. He is still a fat ass so I don't know what he is bitching about. Time for a diet buddy.
 

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Fuk it

Sometimes you just have press on and figure out the details later. I'm trying to figure out how the hell to AC my amps since they are upside down which is a no no in the audio world.

So they need a lot of airflow top and bottom. I decided to build a fan system that will run air down the sides and give it a little style.

So I just started building with some left over wood and came up with this.

Basically it will flip down so i can get to my amps but when it is up it will have 3 fans, on big one in the middle and two smaller ones on the sides.
 

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...so I got sick of sanding the damn thing and body filler and all that crap. I could have build the damn wright brothers plane with all the damn sanding I did. So I wrapped it and chucked some fiberglass on that b**** and in about two hours we will see what happens.

Pics as of right now. I used the holes from the cutouts to hold the cloth in the air damns. I hope I can get them back out.
 

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*is anxious to see the finished project*
 
Spruce Goose

Well I made some more progress on the amp rack. I lothe working with fiberglass and had to push myself to just deal with it till this damn thing is done.

No more projects until. well until it's at least ready to be primed then I can slack a bit.

So I did some shaping of the fan cover and tried to take a bunch of weight out of it. It is still pretty heavy so I might make a mold of just fiberglass.

Then I have started working on the cover that will conceal the amps. it has some aerodynamic crap in it for the fans and I plan on cutting a big hole in the back for each amp so that is why there are some thin areas. I have dubbed the project Spruce Goose cause it reminds me of a big old hunky plane with no metal parts.
 

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On tap for this weekend:

1. more glassing. amp rack cover coming along, status - 33%

2. msp short shifter

3. progress rear sway bar and awr links

4. might be picking up a front swaybar
 
The Spruce Goose is growing. it might actually float by the time I am done with it. I hope this thing comes off my mold cause my amps are under there. God I hope i didn't get s*** on them.

*prays*
 

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Blah, what a crazy couple of months it has been.

I got an email or two from a few folks asking about my status as of late so I thought I would post it.

I got lasik surgery done on the old peepers in July and that pretty much excluded me from any garage work that involved dust or flecks of metal for a month. pretty mucy everything I was working on.

So I was planning on getting back into the groove when the temp dropped a bit here in Atlanta but fate paid me a visit and my life got re-arraged a bit.

I was working as a programmer for a bank downtown for the last 5 years. for the last 4 or so we have had a flex schedule and we had the ability to work from home 3 days a week. (we were given these days in lieu of raises mind you)

So new management comes in and after 11 weeks it is determined that more 'face time' is required and they immediately suspended our alternative work schedule. Some of the folks I work with have kids and a change like that isn't exactly something that can be handled overnight. Basically some middle management ignorance that we have all come to love. Silly bankers.

So I quit...like a rockstar...cause I can. These assholes have been punching people in the stomach for years and I was sick of it. Most people can't stand up for the bulls*** cause they are so strapped with all the s*** it takes to run a household these days. It was good to see management scramble to figure out what the hell it is that I actually do for them. It's going to cost them an arm and a leg to replace me on the fly. Ha ha, go **** yourselves.

So I needed to find another job pronto. luckily a buddy of mine who had left 6 months before to go to a consulting gig happened to be looking for a data modeler for financial types. Sweet.

I get to work out of my house when I am in development. I do have to travel prolly 25% of the year to do design with clients. My salary is more than I ever thought I would be making at 30. I've needed to switch jobs for a while.

So long story even longer I am going to sell the protege and get a 2001 or 2002 BMW 330hp M3. Vroooommmmm. I have learned a lot about suspensions, engines, electronics and god knows what else from this project. As satisfying as completing this project would have been in the end I would never be happy with my work. It would always be first attempt quality and I'd need to start all over again on a new car to get it right.

Well I'm not a mechanic I am just pretending to be one. I've enjoyed it and I know enough to be dangerous or at least appreciate all the britts work on the M3 series. I can appreciate 330hp. I was working on getting my little sedan up to 180!!

I do have a TON of stuff for the protege. 3in downpipes, turbo, bumpers, trim, seats, gauge rings, paint out the wazoo (my dash paint job is holding up quite well by the way, 6mo out) swaybars and god knows what else. Working on the inventory now.

I am gonna sell this sucker dirt cheap and hopefully get a local exchange so it can be a one stop delivery of the goods. I think it would make a great rally or race project car. I take the train to work so it only has about 50K miles on it. All highway for the last 5 years.

So anyway I'm working on all that jazz.

Just wanted to say thank you guys for all your help, stories, pictures, info, support, lunch, wrenchoffs, nuts, bolts, grease and god knows what else. Hopefully we can keep this halfway project in the family.

lata,

T

by the way my work email is defunktified so pm me if you want my new one.
 
wow...so sad...i planned on doing this to my car! well a good bit of it atleast! biggest issue would be the seats and carpet.

i wouldnt mind picking up your car...how much you lookin to get?
 
Hey, man, good to hear you're alive and well. If you want to unload some parts, you could come out to the wrenching meet next weekend at my place, see what people want. Def. post up in the GA section.

I can't believe you're going to get rid of the Pro after all that work, but I totally understand.
 
Good luck with the M3! I bet you'll still miss your Protege. If you are selling off your protege mods, definitely post the link to the thread in here. I'm embarking on a forced induction project soon so I'll be in the market for some parts :)
 
The value of everything I have is easily between 6 and 10K. I need to pick up a digital camera to document everything but I'll start a list so that you guys can get an idea. I'll post a fs here and on the GA forum before I go to the regular FS.

OK:

2001 Black Protege Sedan LX 2.0L 5sp Manual - 50,000 miles

Mods currently on the vehicle:

Suspension
-Tokio(sp?) blues with sportline springs
-Rear Progress 21 swaybar with awr adjustable endlinks
-P5 Red Strut tower bar

Wheels
-16" MB Drifter rims and tires I'm not sure of the make but they have less than 2K on them highway

Engine Bay
-Removed all snorkel upto the filter box (still have original parts if needed)
-Made room for the intercooler and had it mounted but didn't start the modifications on new bumper for the IC so the IC is off for now

Interior
-Painted lower dash black, radio surround silver and black, ac vent trim silver
-Replaced grey carpet with new aftermarket cutpile black carpet
-MSP Yellow stitching seats
-Kartboy short shift knob (I have the MSP short shifter and yellow stitching leather)
-Rear deck pannel needs replacing. I had started on a fiberglassing project that never finished.

Audio
-Raamat soundproofed entire cabin and trunk
-Re-wired all speaker wires including the doors with 16ga wire, also installed a neon light controller for when the door opens and closes and the stereo comes on.
-Sony Xplod Deck with input for mp3 player (like a headphone jack)
-MB Quart component setup with tweeter and midrange and passive Xover (these will need an enclosure for the floor setup or they can be placed in the door)
-6.5in Kicker Midbass drivers in the front door (going to miss these)
-two 10" SAS subs with custom built boxes that mount in the trunk (still sound as solid as the day I got them)
-Pioneer 400W amp pushing the midbass speakers
-Clarion 400W amp pushing the MB component speakers
-Rockford Fosgate 200x2 amp for the subs
-expensive ass dual din seporator piece

Laying in the Garage
-T3 turbo w/ exhaust manifold s and j pipe attached
-extra untapped oil pan
-all connections and fittings that came off the original setup (this was a functioning turbo not piece meal)
-Intercooler(typical font mount) various pipes and couplers although I found that I needed additional piping if I wanted to keep my wiper fluid
-HKS bov
-MSP CPU, did not confirm if it is flashed or not cause I never installed the turbo

-MAM 2.5in highflow midpip with cat
-MAM gauge rings

-MSP front swaybar w/ endlinks
-3" downpipe/midpipe (prolly named this wrong but will post a pic)
-MSP midpipe back exhaust (2 parts)
-MSP rear bumper trim, needs paint
-MSP "Protege" emblum
-Hand Layed Corksport type "CS" front bumper, primed. See this thread for the looks of it. will need some glass repair for chips from factory

Tons of paint, parts, nuts, bolts, fiberglass materials, sandpaper (won't miss sanding), audio cables, fans, and other stuff (pics will help inventory all that)

I really need to get in there and take pics of things that weren't fully completed. One of the splash guards probably needs replacing.

I'll update this list and get some better pricing ideas. I'd rather sell a whole package for a discount than try and part out everything. (you don't have to buy everything in the package either, just what you want with the car)
 
I can't be mad at you, I would do the same. That M3 looks better than the new 3 series IMO. (2thumbs)
 

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