Hey everyone. (hi)
I've been hanging around this great site for about a month now soaking up as much as I can after buying an 03 P5 with 101k miles back in August. Except for a cheap aftermarket single DIN head unit, it was about as bone stock/original as they come. I've since put nearly 2k more miles on it in about a month but a good portion of that came from two long road trips. Pardon the dirt and grime. Better pics soon.
One of those trips was up to Austin to buy my second mod: 2007 Miata wheels/tires. 16x6.5x+42mm offset which slipped right on. Minty, mint condition with 205/50/16 yokohamas with about 40% life remaining.
3 of the 4 original stockers have curb rash. I might try to refurb those over the winter.
My first mod was done before I even left the sellers home. I installed an Ultraguage to monitor tons of info available from the OBD port. http://www.ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/index.htm
My other car is a 2010 Prius and I've always been interested in mpg and driving styles so the instant feedback of a real time gauge is high on my list.
Next up was reinstalling a factory head unit. Yeah, not sexy but it has a big clock and tape deck that I can use to feed in SAT radio via a cassette tape adapter. It works well enough with the factory sub.
I've now turned my attention to mechanical issues. Front end had a terrible knock over bumps so I replaced the struts, mounts, sway bar links, and outer tire rod ends. All this reduced the noise about 90% and I suspect the last 10% is the sway bar bushings. I hope it's not the lower ball joints. I just got in the rear struts and am awaiting the bar links to finish that end of the car.
Another issue I noticed on the test drive was a hunting idle at stops. Once it leveled off around the 750 rpm zone with a/c on, it remained steady and purred like a kitten. Reading in the "how to" forum, I tried the EGR valve cleaning with no improvement. For grins and since I all ready had some on the shelf, I tried the seafoam through the intake treatment. It worked miracles! After all the smoke cleared (grin) and a couple of full throttle runs, idling performance was back to normal. I suspect that either the VTCS or VICS or both were gummed up and not performing normally.
So I thought I'd continue on with the cheap/free mods/fixes and whipped out the dremel to try the free cool air intake mod for the stock setup by opening up some of the front grill. Seat of the pants felt a noticeable improvement, pulled faster and stronger above 4k to redline, and slightly louder intake honk.
Me personally? I'm a motorcyclist at heart and have owned 23 bikes over 30 years of street riding (didn't start riding till I was 18, you do the math). The black mica P5 will be a nice match to my current ride: a 2006 Triumph Speed Triple 1050. I modded by adding a Yamaha front upper fairing along with Suzuki forks and brakes along with numerous other things.
Other than routine service, I rarely do anything to my cars save the occasional stereo upgrade so modding the P5 is new to me. Must resist the force! Next will be window tinting. A must down here in sunny south Texas. It really is a kid hauler/work commuter so I won't be doing any "crazy" stuff such as turbos and the like.
I've been hanging around this great site for about a month now soaking up as much as I can after buying an 03 P5 with 101k miles back in August. Except for a cheap aftermarket single DIN head unit, it was about as bone stock/original as they come. I've since put nearly 2k more miles on it in about a month but a good portion of that came from two long road trips. Pardon the dirt and grime. Better pics soon.
One of those trips was up to Austin to buy my second mod: 2007 Miata wheels/tires. 16x6.5x+42mm offset which slipped right on. Minty, mint condition with 205/50/16 yokohamas with about 40% life remaining.
3 of the 4 original stockers have curb rash. I might try to refurb those over the winter.
My first mod was done before I even left the sellers home. I installed an Ultraguage to monitor tons of info available from the OBD port. http://www.ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/index.htm
My other car is a 2010 Prius and I've always been interested in mpg and driving styles so the instant feedback of a real time gauge is high on my list.
Next up was reinstalling a factory head unit. Yeah, not sexy but it has a big clock and tape deck that I can use to feed in SAT radio via a cassette tape adapter. It works well enough with the factory sub.
I've now turned my attention to mechanical issues. Front end had a terrible knock over bumps so I replaced the struts, mounts, sway bar links, and outer tire rod ends. All this reduced the noise about 90% and I suspect the last 10% is the sway bar bushings. I hope it's not the lower ball joints. I just got in the rear struts and am awaiting the bar links to finish that end of the car.
Another issue I noticed on the test drive was a hunting idle at stops. Once it leveled off around the 750 rpm zone with a/c on, it remained steady and purred like a kitten. Reading in the "how to" forum, I tried the EGR valve cleaning with no improvement. For grins and since I all ready had some on the shelf, I tried the seafoam through the intake treatment. It worked miracles! After all the smoke cleared (grin) and a couple of full throttle runs, idling performance was back to normal. I suspect that either the VTCS or VICS or both were gummed up and not performing normally.
So I thought I'd continue on with the cheap/free mods/fixes and whipped out the dremel to try the free cool air intake mod for the stock setup by opening up some of the front grill. Seat of the pants felt a noticeable improvement, pulled faster and stronger above 4k to redline, and slightly louder intake honk.
Me personally? I'm a motorcyclist at heart and have owned 23 bikes over 30 years of street riding (didn't start riding till I was 18, you do the math). The black mica P5 will be a nice match to my current ride: a 2006 Triumph Speed Triple 1050. I modded by adding a Yamaha front upper fairing along with Suzuki forks and brakes along with numerous other things.
Other than routine service, I rarely do anything to my cars save the occasional stereo upgrade so modding the P5 is new to me. Must resist the force! Next will be window tinting. A must down here in sunny south Texas. It really is a kid hauler/work commuter so I won't be doing any "crazy" stuff such as turbos and the like.
