Paul the Protege Build Thread!

[Pimpecoven]

The day has come! My car is lowered!
After 9 hours of labor on my car Saturday night, my buddy and I finished lowering my car and doing all sorts of random things to my car at 6 am...
We ran into tons of obstacles, not gonna name them all, the main one being my drivers side rear strut isn't even made for 3rd gen Protege's... so that was fun.
Also got my belt tightened, no more squeal and I swear the car feels new its so much more powerful!

Anyways you probably didn't read that, here's some pictures
Fronts done, only hell was before us...

Next to my buddy's beastly 240

And here's some others I liked...

Build will probably be slow for awhile... but after seeing my struts next up is definitely some Tokico Blues!

 

[02protege5wagon]

looks good, you should get a side profile shot. Also there is some tockico blues for sale for $250 with springs. Lol I think the guy just posted it. And as always midnight blue is looking great, I should know I own one lol.

 

[Pimpecoven]

looks good, you should get a side profile shot. Also there is some tockico blues for sale for $250 with springs. Lol I think the guy just posted it. And as always midnight blue is looking great, I should know I own one lol.

Oh how I wish I had money right now... but thanks, midnight blue is the best! Ill get a nice side profile tomorrow when I go for a little joy ride! gonna look for some cool scenery too!

 

[Jackie chan]

Looks good, What size tires are those?

 

[lownslowp5]

Looks good man. Love them rims!

 

[00bluees]

Yes I was told it wouldn't work... but I dont see why not. They are domed creating higher compression. Maybe they just dont fit in the block. I want my grill to :*/ it hasnt arrived yet lol ! It should be in the states now it came from hong kong!

Correct they won't fit in the block properly, and probably won't bolt properly to FSDE rods, and miata rods wouldn't mate to the FSDE crank. Just because they are a higher compression piston and are from a Mazda doesn't mean they will fit. Even on the off chance they did fit, you wouldn't make an extra 40hp from them anyway without extensive ECU modification.

To give you an idea, I know someone that spent over $10k on a naturally aspirated engine build in their protege5. High compression, tons of custom work, standalone ECU you name it. At the end of the day the car barely made 160hp. Far more economical and simpler to make power with a turbo on our engines.

Sorry for the threadcrap, just trying to educate. I gave you my answer in your thread, then I saw the "I don't see why not" comment here, and figured I'd help you before you went and tried something that wouldn't work. Just trying to save you money.

 

[00bluees]

And on topic. Those rims and the stance look really good! Not usually crazy about midnight blue but those rims really help your cause. Good work.

 

[Pimpecoven]

And on topic. Those rims and the stance look really good! Not usually crazy about midnight blue but those rims really help your cause. Good work.

Thank you! I think it turned out pretty well myself and thanks for the post above!

Looks good man. Love them rims!

Thanks man! Get your grill yet!?

Looks good, What size tires are those?

Thanks! 195/50/16 with some stretch, went with the 50 tire height for more comfort.

 

[lownslowp5]

Grill made it saturday! Painted the mesh black and hopefully installing it today!

 

[Beans112]

car looks awesome man. I've been following your thread for a while now lol since youre fairly local. also if you need some struts ive got a set of decent wants i took of my protege. should fit your hatch just fine. i'd be willing to meet half way in colfax. lmk, just need them gone.

 

[Pimpecoven]

car looks awesome man. I've been following your thread for a while now lol since youre fairly local. also if you need some struts ive got a set of decent wants i took of my protege. should fit your hatch just fine. i'd be willing to meet half way in colfax. lmk, just need them gone.

Thank you! Do you have a build thread? and Ooooo how many miles on them? And my parents have a lake cabin in Priest Lake so I'm a little familiar with idaho!

 

[Pimpecoven]

Had some free time today after finals so I gave Paul a good wash.

looks good, you should get a side profile shot. Also there is some tockico blues for sale for $250 with springs. Lol I think the guy just posted it. And as always midnight blue is looking great, I should know I own one lol.

Some pictures...

This time of day is why I absolutely love my Midnight Blue

Ignore the hitch hole in my license plate

 

[02protege5wagon]

Yeah that looks really good!

 

[Pimpecoven]

Yeah that looks really good!

Thank you!

 

[Beans112]

I believe around 80k or 90k, negative on the build thread. I was gonna start one but the college budget halted the mods lol. But maybe this summer I'll start back at it.

 

[Pimpecoven]

I believe around 80k or 90k, negative on the build thread. I was gonna start one but the college budget halted the mods lol. But maybe this summer I'll start back at it.

You should start one! Do you have any pictures? I want to see your car

 

[Beans112]

maybe i will, Ive been meaning to, just short on time. Here are a few pics
the day I got my car:

and here's how it looks now:

sorry for the crappy pic. I'm currently working on saving up for some 17" wheels and a rear skirt and mp3 spoiler.

 

[Pimpecoven]

maybe i will, Ive been meaning to, just short on time. Here are a few pics
the day I got my car:

and here's how it looks now:

sorry for the crappy pic. I'm currently working on saving up for some 17" wheels and a rear skirt and mp3 spoiler.

very clean man! what wheels are you looking at?

 

[Syndrome]

Man sick p5 I have the midnight blue, and I have line green plastidip badges. Thinking of going black, and maybe moving the protege5 badge to the grill. But idk yet! Sweet ride tho dude!

 

[Pimpecoven]

Man sick p5 I have the midnight blue, and I have line green plastidip badges. Thinking of going black, and maybe moving the protege5 badge to the grill. But idk yet! Sweet ride tho dude!

Hey thanks man! And I kinda wish mine were still chrome! I used actual paint on them lol