LankyKiwi's Rally-flavored SP20

[LankyKiwi]

Gidday guys and girls!
My name is Aaron and I hail from Hamilton, NZ.
I've had this Classic Red 2001 SP20 for just over a year and have slowly been chipping away at it. The rally flavor comes from my love of Rally cars and a desire to do something a little different than the usual slammed look. Main inspiration is the Lancia Delta Integrale and group A cars like the WRX and Mitsi Evo series


Completely stock:

New Wheels (OZ Racing Evo 4 wheels, 17x7 inches)

All Dressed up for a Gumboot Rally (And my ugly mug as well)

As she sits after an after-work drive this evening

Unfortunately the paint on the drivers door and the front bumper peeled quite badly from the stickers used on the rally, Being a red, Japanese, early 2000's car means the paint is really bad and needs redoing at some point (Love to redo it in the new Mazda Passion red)

General info:
2001 Mazda SP20 sportshatch
- Black headlights
- Black front badge
- 323 rear badge replaced with Mazdaspeed badge
- Shorty antenna
- 'Bong' intake baffle removed and grill drilled for more airflow
- Mudflaps made from $8 K-Mart chopping boards (Wasn't going to pay $70 for a pair of rally ones!)
- MPV wiper control
- JVC double din head unit with up-rated speakers all round

Future mods/maintenance:
- lower springs/ uprated shocks (Not coilovers due to NZ's road laws)
- Exhaust and intake replacement Exhaust done!
- some mild weight loss
- Ducktail style rear spoiler (Not Peugeot 205 T16 crazy, more like you see on Civics sometimes)
- Replace ratty steering wheel and seats Steering wheel replaced
- Cambelt needs replacing soon DONE!
- Repaint bumper and door

Let me know what you think! Looking forwards to bouncing ideas off everyone here

 

[JazzySP20]

Welcome bro! (nana)

That classic red is a great colour for the SP20 isn't it! Not being biased or anything. (2thumbs)


Is that the clear missing when the stickers were removed? Sucks that the clear is so bad on these cars.

 

[LankyKiwi]

Thanks for the welcome!

Yep, its the clear coat peeling, it was bad before the stickers but now it really needs work

Love your SP20! Nice and clean and the black roof looks great!

 

[LankyKiwi]

Threw the car on to the weigh bridge at work to see how much a fairly standard SP20 weighs.....

Around 1275kg with a third-tank of fuel and some crap inside, so estimate curb weight of around 1240kgs, not tooooo bad for a 5 door hatch!
Might aim for a sub 1150 kg weight without sacrificing too much creature comforts.

 

[JazzySP20]

Remove tow bar, spare wheel, back seat and that'll get it down a fair bit.

Put some pic's up of the interior.

BTW, apparenty NZ has a few JDM BJ Familia's around. Do you know of any JDM wreckers around your way? Try to locate a FSZE and swap your FSDE over.
Some of the JDM cars also had different cup holders, like the photo below. Much better than the stupid ones that we got that cannot even hold a can of Coke upright.

If you can find the above cup holder/gear surround, I'm interested in one too. (cool)

 

[915_P5]

I have the open cup holder i can sell you, but it will not be flushed with your console. It will be popped out quite a bit. You would have to change out the console as well.

 

[LankyKiwi]

Thanks guys, towbar will probably come off sooner or later, it's handy for a bike rack but doesn't get used that often.

Funny that wreckers should be mentioned as yesterday I went for a trip up to the perpetual car park that is Auckland to go around the pick-a-part yards. Didn't see any JDM cupholders but did manage to score a Demio steering wheel, some OEM tweeter pods and a rear spoiler to start my ducktail project.

Interior pics:

Before/ standard. Note torn and grotty steering wheel

Door top tweeter caps, LH is before, RH is new OEM style. I had to cut up the aftermarket tweeters but they fit nicely now and don't look so hacked together

Mazda Demio steering wheel, 2001ish I think. Bolts straight on, nothing blew up and no lights came on, success!

 

[Taco Cat]

Nice finds! That looks like a very nice steering wheel. I know many prefer the 3 spoke "sportier" wheel, but a non torn up wheel is definitely better 🖒 Excited to see more from your build!

 

[LankyKiwi]

Thanks Taco! The new wheel isn't as nice to hold as the leather one but it looks so much better and won't be picked apart by me!

In other news; ordered some Pacemaker Headers using the trade account at work, saved about $100! Looking forward to getting those in and setting up a new exhaust. (any suggestions or comments there would be much appreciated �&#56833

The rear struts are making a bit of a gassy/wheezy noise going over bumps so it might be time to look at replacements. Any suggestions for non-adjustable, non-coilover struts that can handle a 15-20mm drop?

 

[LankyKiwi]

Update time!

The pacemaker headers turned up last week and I've found a new catalytic converter, just need to get a resonator, a muffler and some pipe then it'll be time to build a new exhaust.

shiny new headers will probably paint these white or wrap them for aesthetics, looking forward to hearing how these sound!

Also redid the window tints as they were an awful faded purple and only the rear door glass was tinted. Need to get some more to finish off the rear hatch and possibly the front doors. Turned out OK but nothing flash...

New to do list:
- repaint front bumper and drivers door (got the paint, waiting for a fine weekend)
- tint rear hatch and maybe the front doors
- build and fit exhaust
- new rear shocks
- cambelt/ 200,000km service (currently at 192,000, doing a big trip over Christmas)
- rotate and clean the wheels as they are filthy behind the face!

 

[x DeadTaco x]

Love those wheels man! Wish I could get a set for my P5 haha

 

[LankyKiwi]

After a bit of an absence, I'm back!

Not too much to report other than I've been collecting parts for a new exhaust, just need a rear muffler and some flanges now.
On the cards this weekend is a good service and a chance to paint the valve cover (black crinkle finish) and the headers (White)

The plan for the car is still the same, mild performance upgrades and weight reduction with a rally theme

Here she is mid-roadtrip around the South Island, 3000+kms over 2 weeks of country roads and stunning scenery!

 

[LankyKiwi]

Hmmm. Time for a cambelt methinks

We're nearing 198,000kms so it's due but it's another $350 in parts and a day of wrenching that could have been spent on something a bit more exciting.

I'm sure this looks bad but is fine for a few more Kms, Knowing my luck at the moment it would break somewhere waaaaay out of the way and the towing fee would be outrageous.


In other news, I've got everything I need for an exhaust system so will be trying to build that in a week or too

 

[ItsAzekii]

I love those wheels and mudguards. Not in the market for wheels or suspension any time soon but the mudguards look great as well.

 

[LankyKiwi]

I love those wheels and mudguards. Not in the market for wheels or suspension any time soon but the mudguards look great as well.

Thanks! The mudguards are actually flexible chopping boards from K-Mart. They're cheap and work great but fade quickly in the sun

 

[LankyKiwi]

After two nights of after work wrenching the cam belt and water pump are replaced and (hopefully) good for another 100,000 ks. The trickiest part of the whole job was getting the new belt on in the right spot and hooking the tensioner spring back in place. Otherwise not tooooooo painful!

 

[ItsAzekii]

Ah, that makes sense. At first I thought they were the hard ones.. I forgot about the softer, more flimsy cutting boards. Lol. How'd the p5 do in the rally? Details!

 

[tireboy]

I'll be following this...nice p5..

 

[LankyKiwi]

Exhaust system is installed!
2 1/4 inch all the way through, Pacemaker headers - Cat - Coby resonator - Cheap muffler from a workmate

The muffler is a little larger than what I was planning, but it was really cheap and it fits well in the SP20 bumper cutout.

End result? Much deeper note than expected, not especially loud with a baffle in the muffler and the headers give it a nice idle. Drones a little at higher speeds and it hits on the heat shield on the petrol tank under load (Managed to massage the heat shield a little to stop this)

1 1/2 days of work and a bit of swearing and I've saved another $600-700 of labour that can be spent on other, shiny stuff!

In other news the next Gumboot Rally is on in a few weeks and I've been preparing slowly for it, gathering props and making stickers. It's an open theme this time (Last time was a Zombie theme) so I'm making a giant R/C car!

here's a sneak peak:

Any suggestions on how I can carry the theme further are much appreciated!

 

[Coopehr]

In sure you could find a cheap big CB radio antenna for it, if not in sure you could find a decent size antenna in the Junk yard