I present to you, the Passion5

[roy obanion]

(except no hard top, I'll never understand a hard top...)

I thought this until I got a roadster with one.

 

[Justin2129]

probably have a solution to your e-brake problem..i'll know tomorrow, if my idea works, ill post pics and tell you how to do it in my thread

 

[thepope540]

That sucks about the wasted time, I've had my fair share of similar issues when selling past projects, it's a real downer. I would be in support of that! I like the older brits (and little roadsters in general) but I'm a hamburger (nissan) guy at heart and have my heart set on one of these one day:

Nice! I've had a convertible almost continuously for 10 years up until recently and I'm missing it.

I thought this until I got a roadster with one.

My last miata went 13 months and 6K miles and I don't think the top was up more than a handful of times. I've generally had a second car and if the weather isn't convertible friendly I don't get the roadster out of the garage.

 

[FORZWIN]

So all in all I came home empty handed this weekend; I wasn't able to find anything suitable in the junkyards around here. I think I may be getting my hands on a doner vehicle though, found a guy willing to part with a PGT for $250, still has the motor and a working tranny and if all goes well I could be going to get it next weekend...

 

[bullshark524]

that sounds like a sweet deal. and it will definatley help

 

[fishdonotbounce]

Yea that will be awesome. I love seeing any update in this thread. Such a big project. Keep it up man!

 

[Lewis7789]

Wow, if you can get a KL powered PGT for $250 that would be epic. My fingers are crossed the deal goes through, buddy. Keep us updated.

 

[FORZWIN]

That is all, for now...muahahaHaHA!

 

[grant_jr]

*Evil Eye* >:-(

 

[bazooka joe]

nice!

 

[Lewis7789]

Looks awesome! I really dig the colors, well done! Moar peektures!

And PM replied.

 

[azuelke]

Holy bright ass yellow! And like the others, MOAR PICS!

 

[vampyrate]

So I was showing Becky the car and she wanted me to ask if you are keeping the skunks on the car as she wants me to drop mine (she has named my car "Ricer" because of my plates and won't let me sell the car, so I'm keeping it and continuing to mod as per fiance request, although child 3 is on the way... mine, hers, and ours.)

 

[FORZWIN]

So I was showing Becky the car and she wanted me to ask if you are keeping the skunks on the car...

No plans to keep the skunk2 coils, I have MSP springs and GR2's going in. To be honest, if your car is at all tasked with hauling family, I'd stay away from the "Junk2s" they are extremely stiff and probably not what you or your wife are looking for.


Sorry for the teaser, it was late. I'll get to pasting a few more pics in a bit, but first, a few words.

My apologies for the pics, they're taken with my cell phone and the yellow really isn't that bright in person, though it's not the shyest of colors

The weekend at a glance:

Saturday was a crazy day, @ 7am Brian and I departed to pick up a 96 Ford Probe GT for a whole $250. The plan was to use this car for it's transmission since I had been having so many problems getting halfshafts to work with this MX3 transmission. We brought the car back, offloaded and proceeded to pull the engine/trans. Eventually, we knocked it out, pulled off the trans and loaded it up in the track. We carried that back off to my parents place and decided to give it a whirl. Before pulling the trans off of my motor I decided to try the halfshaft from the probe and wouldn't you know, fits like a glove! So since we were on a roll we decided to put the motor in. I also grabbed the power steering pump and bracket from the probe since my ZE came with that stupid plastic pulley and was almost instantly broken. It took us all of 10min to put the engine in the car, I'd say it fits better in P5 than it did in the Probe, there was not a lot of room against in the firewall in the probe, but room for days in the protege. It wasn't all hugs and teddy bears though, we ran into a couple of fitment issues and because it was getting so late, we didn't do much as far as troubleshooting, but here's the short list:

1. Power Steering pulley is hitting the subframe
-----a. The mounts allow for a lot of adjustment, it could be that I need to move the motor around to get it right.
2. O2 sensors are positioned wrong on the headers - the rear points straight @ the steering rack while the front goes right into the radiator.
-----a. I purchased generic eBay headers for a MX6, OBX, megan, they're all the same copies but I can't say if my issue is quality control or simply a fact of putting headers in a car that were never meant to be there. I'll need to have the EGR line hacked off and welded shut, then have the O2 bungs moved to a more appropriate position.
3. The shift linkage is off, the selection rod is fine, but the tension rod is too long by 1/2" or so.
-----a. Maybe I try the Probe linkage or a take another look with fresh eyes and see what's going on.
4. The 626 fans are a tight fit, but with a bit of trimming, they will fit.
5. Power Steering, I decided to run the Probe pump and reservoir and that made it a bit easier to get everything hooked up, but I think it will take a new bracket to get the reservoir mounted the way I want.

I think that's all I have for this morning, I'll get you guys some better pics, but in the meantime here are some more crappy cell phone pictarz:

Rear O2 sensor fitment in comparison to steering rack

Stampings on the halfshaft I needed:

 

[bullshark524]

3. The shift linkage is off, the selection rod is fine, but the tension rod is too long by 1/2" or so.
-----a. Maybe I try the Probe linkage or a take another look with fresh eyes and see what's going on.

i had the same problem. as far as i know we are the only ones who have run into this problem since everyone else says that it should fit. i just cut it to the desired length and then welded it.

but aside from that the progress is looking good

 

[Joost27]

the linkage i can only think that it is just how the mounts are positioned in your cars. Although, I believe evan shortened his too or thought about it. I remember my linkage being an absolute b**** to get lined up, but it did happen, it was not as easy as lining up the linkage on the protege trans.

Forzwin, you should be able to adjust the mounts to the driver side a bit to give clearance for the P/S pulley. Mine is close(about 3/4") but plenty of room. I have even replaced the pump while the motor was in the car 2 months ago and went easy. As for the O2 sensor, that kind of sucks. The pacesetter headers I have tuck nice and close to the motor and has the o2 sensor a decent distance from the rack. anyways, looking good.

 

[vampyrate]

that's what i was thinking, but with another on teh way (hopefully just one) we are keeping my car and using it as the "toy" and she is getting either a minivan or a truck

 

[Lewis7789]

Yeah, I'm perplexed about the shift linkages. I didn't shorten mine and don't recall it being too difficult to line up then bolt in. But I don't see why it would be different between Justin and Seans Proteges to our P5's. Maybe it's the motor mounts or something? I have AWR's and didn't have any wiggle room with the mounts. Although I may add, even AWR front and rear mounts and AWR side inserts, the idle is remarkable smooth. Gotta love the V6. Anyway, if You can try to measure the PGT shift linkages and bolt them up if they are a different length, pretty please. I'd love to get my shift lever centered again.

Good job on the progress and for the engine and trans being SO clean!

 

[Joost27]

I as well have AWR mounts, I had some wiggle room, maybe 1/2" or less most movement allowed was side to side which was minimal, but the trans mount bracket has slotted holes for that. I agree that the v6 is so smooth at idle even with 95duro front and rear and inserts in the others.

 

[Sean2010]

sick sick sick ahha...that kept me entertained for a couple hours reading all that ahah...good work man...keep it up