boostracer Poor Teenager Budget Build

[boostracer]

Hey guys, relatively new to the forum and I thought I'd share the progress of my car with you all.
Purchased my '03 ES 5 Speed in late August with 130,000 miles on it to replace my old beaten down and battered Pontiac Fiero.
The timing belt had been replaced at 115,000, but it needs new wheel bearings and shifter bushings.
So far all I've got is an intake cone on the stock intake tubing and Pulstar plugs. I have an exhaust ready to be put on, but I'm lacking the funds at the moment.
Also blacked out the taillights with VHT Nite Shades, but gonna have to sand it off due to police interactions, and I painted the rims black.
Shortly after I purchased the car, most of the badges were stolen, leaving me with only the 'Protege' badge and the front badge. I have plans to paint those black.
Future plans:
Corksport tower bars; rear and front
actual CAI/SRI, either Injen or Weapon R
Rims
Lowering springs
Brakes
MP3/P5 bumpers/skirts
MP3 ECU
and eventually a turbo/forged internals.


Right after I bought the car

taillights which will be back to stock soon

Crappy pic but that's probably the most recent one I can get

 

[tweety2300]

Who the hell steals a protege badge?

 

[Alejo_NIN]

i have that badge laying aorund
gimme shipping and i'll give it to you.

 

[boostracer]

Who the hell steals a protege badge?

Apparently hobos in my neighborhood since I live in a bad part of town. I was gonna have them removed eventually anyway, but not like that and I still wanted the big M badge in the back... So that kinda ruined my plans for getting those plastidipped.

 

[boostracer]

Tried to pull the rear wheels off today but it's almost like they're stuck on. I went and coated the hub with WD-40 to try to loosen it up but no dice..
And my parking brake dash light is always on, but that might have something to do with the E-brake not working.

And I'm looking for alternate body stylings to the MP3/P5 bumpers/skirts just to set it apart. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[CR3 Motorsports]

What I usually do is give the tire a good kick on one side. It should come right off.

 

[DeathIncyde]

you can get 2001 toyota corolla type s front lip, p5 side skirts & a wing west, msp o 2003.5 rear lip

 

[tweety2300]

Tried to pull the rear wheels off today but it's almost like they're stuck on. I went and coated the hub with WD-40 to try to loosen it up but no dice..
And my parking brake dash light is always on, but that might have something to do with the E-brake not working.

And I'm looking for alternate body stylings to the MP3/P5 bumpers/skirts just to set it apart. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Sit on the ground and kick the s*** out of it till it pops off, then buy 3 packs of spark plug anti size and coat the hub, it will never get stuck again, or Atleast mine hasn't in 3 years

Check your brake fluid.

 

[boostracer]

Took some pics this morning since I got a working phone..

Engine Bay

The taillights partially fixed, it's too cold to do anything right now without taking them off.

Kind of a crappy, snowy morning but I figured it's time for some recent pics.

I should hopefully be getting the CorkSport tower strut bar here in the coming weeks along with getting my muffler put on with 2.5 inch piping.

Hopefully gonna be getting this as well to put on the front end. 96-98 Type-R Lip. 50 some odd bucks including shipping.

 

[boostracer]

Did the stock shifter extension removal, and I gotta say, I like it.
Gonna go to the junkyard this upcoming weekend and see if there's any Protege's I can pull stuff off of like badges and maybe a bumper or 2. I have plans to do the Evil M emblem soon as well as Plastidipping all of the emblems that remain.

With the center console removed after I had got the extension off. I did it with a lighter and some channel locks.

 

[elooto524]

Try just tinting the tails. Cops douched me when I had them blacked out

 

[CiviCity]

Try just tinting the tails. Cops douched me when I had them blacked out

Exactly this. Just put a few coats of vht niteshade and you should be good.

I put 3 coats and I have no problem with cops, and they look really sweet.

 

[boostracer]

I'll probably do that Super Bowl sunday since I have no reason to watch it now.
Probably gonna SeaFoam the intake since my idle is unusually low.. At about 500 when the block warms up, and idles at 1000-1500 when the block is cold.
New plug wires and a CorkSport strut tower bar will be on the way in the next few weeks.

 

[xtreme velocity]

Slow build but slow is good! Gives you time to find and buy parts! Good start though! I think your lights look great! I did 2 coats of vht on my car then drive for a week then done light sanding and put 1 coat on then clear coat. Never have any problems here. But city and states are different. As for the wheel being stuck on please never use wd40 or anything like that! That stuff stays coated on and could get on threads of lug studs and nuts and possibly could cause a wheel to come off. Best way is to take all lug nuts off then put one back on prolly 5 turns only then kick it or hit back of wheel with a rubber mallet. The one lug nut barley left on ensures that you don't scratch wheel, drop it, or get hit by it. Good luck with everything! I thought about selling my SRI but I'm unsure if it would work on your car. I think your map sensor is different than mine.

 

[boostracer]

Slow build but slow is good! Gives you time to find and buy parts! Good start though! I think your lights look great! I did 2 coats of vht on my car then drive for a week then done light sanding and put 1 coat on then clear coat. Never have any problems here. But city and states are different. As for the wheel being stuck on please never use wd40 or anything like that! That stuff stays coated on and could get on threads of lug studs and nuts and possibly could cause a wheel to come off. Best way is to take all lug nuts off then put one back on prolly 5 turns only then kick it or hit back of wheel with a rubber mallet. The one lug nut barley left on ensures that you don't scratch wheel, drop it, or get hit by it. Good luck with everything! I thought about selling my SRI but I'm unsure if it would work on your car. I think your map sensor is different than mine.

Thanks man. Looking back on it, I wouldn't be surprised if the cop was just bored. There's tons of cars and trucks around my town that have blacked out taillights that have no issues. But I'll probably go with what CiviCity did with his cuz those look sick. Eventually the exhaust I'm getting put on will be replaced with a magnaflow one since I like the sound of those.

 

[CiviCity]

Getting a catback or axel back?

 

[xtreme velocity]

I like cat back. But it depends how loud you want it really. Want it a lil louder go cat back. But if you want it a lil rumble "axle back" if that's what we can call it on our cars. Lol I'm hoping to get my exhaust soon from a member here. Just waiting on funds. Haha

 

[boostracer]

Getting a catback or axel back?

For now it'll be an axleback, but once I get the money saved for it, I'll have the Magnaflow catback.

Did some more work to the shifter, because the last one broke. So I put some electrical tape on there and tightened it, and voila! I'm really liking my new shift knob too.

 

[xtreme velocity]

Hey quick question does your center console have the Phillips head screws holding it in? I think there are 6 on mine three on each side. There are 2 in the middle and the seats are in the way of getting to them. If yours is like that how did you get to those? I wanna shorten my shifter!

 

[CiviCity]

Hey quick question does your center console have the Phillips head screws holding it in? I think there are 6 on mine three on each side. There are 2 in the middle and the seats are in the way of getting to them. If yours is like that how did you get to those? I wanna shorten my shifter!

Slide the seats to the front completely and hop on the back seat, you will have access to those 2 side screws.