Hey all

[irishkev90]

A little bit of an intro. I'm 19 years old and own a 1998 Mazda Protege LX. 1.5L DOHC (Z5) and auto tranny (sad1). So far I have done minor appearance work and put on a short intake with parts from Autozone. I have big plans for this car but a tiny bank account, unfortunately. I am also a member of clubprotege.com, same username. You can check out more pics of my Protege there if you'd like.

I have decided to turn this into a build thread. If there is a specific section for this type of thread (I haven't seen one), then a mod can move it to the appropriate area.

 

[Speedkid]

Whats up welcome to the forums.

 

[o0n8]

welcome

 

[irishkev90]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

Wow, such an old post. Anyway..... I've done some work to it. Got it lowered on B&G lowering springs (1.5") and KYB GR2 struts with new strut mounts. Put on a Mazdaspeed front strutbar and JDM taillights and corners. I modified the USDM headlight housing and put projector headlights in and used the JDM headlight lenses. I've got some parts coming to upgrade the brakes to the larger ES front brakes and swapping out my rear drums for ES discs and a rear sway bar. Put in a JVC KDHDW-10 headunit, Alpine PDX-F4 amp, Alpine Type-S 6x9" 3-ways in the rear and Alpine Type-s 6.5" components in the front. Not much else has been done. Brake swap and body work should be the project for this spring/summer.

 

[irishkev90]

Build thread start:

To start off, I'll list some of the stuff I have already done to the car, along with some pics:

Short intake
HID projector retrofit
LED DRLs
JDM tail lights
JDM corner lights/turnsignals
Mazdaspeed strutbar
Alpine Type-S 6.5" component speakers front
Alpine Type-S 6x9" 3-way speakers rear
JVC KDHDW10 headunit with aux input
Alpine PDX-F4 4 channel amp
B&G 1.5" lowering springs
KYB GR2 struts
New strut mounts
Custom 3rd/high-mount/center brake light

Pics:

When I got it

Lowered and JDM lights

Lowered and JDM tail lights

Mazdaspeed strutbar

Custom intake

Projectors in

Little personalized touch. The emblem used to be black. I painted it with model car paint.


To be done:
ES front and rear brake swap
ES rear sway bar
Cusco front lower tie bar
Miata wheels, 15x6
Summer tires
Clean EGR system
Custom fiberglass CAI (tapering from 3" at the filter to 2.5" at the throttle body)
Custom front and rear bumper
Custom trunk garnish
Alpine Type-R speakers front and back
Alpine Type-R 10" subwoofer(s)
Alpine PDX amp (to drive sub(s))
Engine/transmission swap? (Mmmm, KLZE 2nd gen Protege, yum)


Updates will follow when work is done.

 

[irishkev90]

Just got these the other day

New wheels and tie bar:

Buckle up, it's going to be a long trip.

When I got home. Stuck the center cap in to see if I got the right ones. I did

I think it's seen better days.

You can still read this, though.

OEM Mazda center caps.

Oh no. That seems to be the worst of it, though.

Made by Enkei.

The whole gang. The color on the top two (especially the right one) is a little off (yellowish/goldish) compared to the silver center caps. The bottom two match perfectly.


Anybody know where I can find a refurbishment shop around upstate New York?

I might order one more from ebay as a fullsize spare.

 

[irishkev90]

Just purchased a Kia BP G-series transmission with intermediate shaft, mounts, driver's side axle, sensors, slave cylinder, shift linkage and shifter. All I need is the clutch line parts and pedal assembly. For now, I will bolt this to my Z5 until an engine swap comes around.

 

[irishkev90]

Update 1:

Some pics of the mud guards installed. The far-away shot showing the whole car didn't come out so well, so I only have the close-ups at the moment. I'll try and take some more when I get a chance.

Front right.

Rear right.

Front left.

Rear left.

The right side ones seem to fit better than the left, hmm.

 

[irishkev90]

Update 2:

 

[11B-33T]

Looking good and I wish you luck on the slow-but-sure progress of the build..

 

[irishkev90]

Thanks man, I cant wait to do this. But I want to make sure I've got everything I need, and know how to do it before actually starting. I don't want to screw something up since this is my only car.

 

[irishkev90]

My morning errands rewarded me with these.

The old clutch fork boot...

Also thinking about ordering an Mfactory helical LSD (28 spline) for the transmission. I've never taken a transmission apart before so I'm somewhat hesitant.

 

[irishkev90]

Top left: Axle seals
Top right: Pressure plate washers
Center: Flywheel to crank bolts
Bottom left: Rear main seal
Bottom right: Pressure plate to flywheel bolts
Far right: Sketch book

 

[irishkev90]

What could this be I wonder quietly to myself...

Yay!

SS clutch line, SS brake lines, Bronze-oil shifter bushings

 

[11B-33T]

Nice! Now more pics of stuffs being installed.

I wish I had monies to spend...(sad2)

 

[irishkev90]

I'm just waiting for nice weather to install everything. Oh, and all the parts, haha. Also have a fifth gear swap coming soon.

 

[ajkulish]

Wow man. You're doing this right. Props and keep up the good work. Maybe paint the wheels too

 

[irishkev90]

I have to do some minor repairs on the wheels, but I'm going to keep them silver. I like silver, haha. I've also got the front and rear spindles and e-brake cable for the ES brake swap. Just waiting on the rear sway bar, rotors and calipers. I ordered a spare gauge cluster the other day as well and it came in yesterday. I tore it apart to get the gauge faces out. I'll be doing some true custom gauges. None of that reverse glow, white face junk.

My dad suggested to pull the engine and trans out together and send the engine out to get "refreshed" at a local shop. He said it would take a week or two for the engine so that gives me time to do the brake swap and anything with the transmission to get it ready to go in. This dream is becoming more of a reality each day

 

[irishkev90]

My spare gauge cluster.

Snapped the metal pegs for the gas and temp gauges. Good thing this is only a spare.

Speedometer...

Tachometer...

Gas and temp...

This film seems to be what makes the odometer screen green when it lights up. At least I hope so...

Just need to take the speedometer and tachometer stop pegs out, scan the gauges, get Adobe Illustrator, and start customizing. Also got myself a new clutch master cylinder. Just needs some paint.


My brake swap stuff, more to come.

Driver's side.

Passenger's side.

The dust shield on the right got a little bent, but nothing that can't be straightened out.

E-brake cables and sway bar bushings are there as well. Also, everything has the ABS sensors and wires, my car doesn't have ABS, so it's useless to me, haha.

 

[irishkev90]

Custom bumpers
Just drawings of what I want, not the actual thing

Front.

Rear.