Street Prepared build
- Thread starter xelderx
- Start date
proman said:
I'm using the discontinued Mazdaspeed Adjustable struts. I run the AWR 21.5mm rear swaybar extremely tight which is where the problem is. If I loosen the rear bar to relieve the stress on the tab I would have to at least increase the rear springrate to compensate. The struts can barely handle the springrates I'm running now so I need to look into replacing the struts in any case. I've been planning to make a small bracing gusset to strengthen the mounting tabs on the struts, but I never got around to it. The struts I have on the car have seen better days and I've been looking to replace them all year. Now I have a good excuse.
The car may have looked good in Atlanta, but it wasn't working too well. I should have trophied in front of the BMW that was running, but I just didn't have enough life left in the tires I was using. I spent most of last year less than a second off the #1 PAX car from Atlanta which runs in my class and driven by Jinx Jordan who has more National Championships than I have years racing. In Atlanta I was over 2 seconds behind him. I left very disappointed, but there will always be days like that.
khaosman said:Nice lip! I just got mine on recently and I'm digging it. You need to paint it though
Quick question of the day: in FSP, can I take out the rear seat? I might do this in the future as it would be a more painless way of removing my amp.
My understanding of the rules (I could be wrong) says that if it is mentioned in the owner's manual than it is legal. Kind of like the crash bolt rule. I believe it is said in the owner's manual that the bottom cushion of the rear seats can be removed to allow for more cargo space. The seat backs have to stay though. I'm leaving the front lip unpainted. It would be a waste of money to paint something that will encounter a lot of stationary objects at high speed.
xelderx said:
Alright, thanks for the rules information. You have a good point about not painting it
I'll let it slide since it looks fine on your car... heck it'd actually look kind of sweet on a white one. Anyways, I took out some cones today but I haven't inspected the lip. Most of them were backend kills though.Just got back from another local event. I didn't bring the Protege so I was looking for a car to co-drive. I was originally going to drive a DS TypeR, but something a little more interesting showed up. I had to at least ask Geoff Zimmer if I could be the 3rd driver in his nationally prepped FSP VW Rabbit. Geoff has trophied the car at nationals for like the last five years and I was a little intimidated that him and his co-driver were going to be watching my runs in their car. I didn't realize how different the car was going to feel compared to mine. Vague is the only word to describe it. There is no feel in the brakes or the steering where my car gives tons of feedback. The lack of any significant weight makes up for it though because the car is an absolute rocket compared to my Protege5. I ended up beating Geoff's co-driver by half a second and stayed within 3/10ths of Zimmer who ended up winning PAX. I finished 3rd in PAX only 1/1000th of a second behind a GS Mini. I'm so happy that I finally got to drive a proven, fully prepared FSP car. Now I am even more anxious to build the 1st Gen Protege for FSP and Geoff's co-driver said he was interested in seeing what I could do with it. It's going to be hard to climb back into my car after getting to drive the Rabbit.
Not sure yet. I want to get started on the 1st Gen but I don't have the room in the driveway right now. I need to get the Protege back up to spec so it looks like I'll be saving for a new set of coilovers. Once I get that taken care of I should have some room in the driveway to start on a 1st Gen. I've been debating what direction to take with the Protege and it might end up turboed after it is all said and done with, but not until I have a running 1st gen I can race.khaosman said:So what are your plans for the Protege5 now? It is going to feel lonely and abandoned
xelderx said:
How many cars do you have, including the VWs? hehe. It sounds like you have a good plan though. Turbo would make the car a hoot to drive. Might as well do it since you have the clutch and LSD. I'm thinking I might do that eventually, as I've committed a lot of money into the car that I won't get back. So just throw some money more in there too!
khaosman said:
I have 4 cars, 1 truck, and a motorcycle, but only 2 of the cars and the motorcycle are street worthy right now. I have plenty of stuff to work on already. The Protege is such a good handling car, but it is so underpowered. Once I have a 1st Gen to AutoX I want to really up the power in the Protege5 just to make it a more well rounded street car. I have too much money in it and I love it too much to get rid of it so I'm just going to make it the way I always wanted it.
65racecoupe
Member
- :
- Turbo (soon) Yellow 2002 P5
xelderx said:
Good idea, you will be happier.
I've got things moving in the right direction over the last few days with regards to the Pro5's lack of a rear swaybar. I need a new set of coilovers and it looks like I've finally got something lined up. I'm a picky SOB and I know exactly what I need so getting the right people on the job took a little effort. I originally tried to talk to D2 racing which was local, but they blew me off and didn't return my calls. They seemed very uninterested in what I wanted anyway. I needed to talk to a fellow racer who understood where I was coming from. I gave Steve (Turfburn) over at NSN Motorsports a call and told him what I was trying to do. Steve actually went back and forth with me over several days to relay what I needed on to his suppliers. I couldn't ask for more. Looks like I'll be going with a set of custom KW coilovers matched for my 450lbs springs and hopefully reinforced around the swaybar tab.
Last edited:
Boston5761
Member
- :
- 03' Familia
How much did you pay for the Mazdaspeed LSD?
Car is still busted up so I had to find a co-drive for this weekend. I was offered a seat in this little beauty...
It was an STS2 setup and it took me all day to get used to running a light car on street tires. I DNFed or coned all but my last run. I never felt very confident in the car, but I did get a little better on each run. The brakes didn't have much feel to them and I couldn't trailbrake in it at all. I always used a lot of trailbraking in the Pro5 so it was really hard to force myself to not do it. It took me a couple of near spin-outs to beat it into my brain. I didn't get very close to the car owner's time, but I needed a completely differetn setup from him to keep the car neutral. He weighs a lot more than I do and needed the rear shocks at full stiff to get the car to rotate. With my weight and driving style I needed the rear shocks on full soft. Took us all 5 runs to get that far though and I drove the last run pretty conservative to get a clean time. I'll probably be co-driving it the rest of this season and also at Nationals.
It was an STS2 setup and it took me all day to get used to running a light car on street tires. I DNFed or coned all but my last run. I never felt very confident in the car, but I did get a little better on each run. The brakes didn't have much feel to them and I couldn't trailbrake in it at all. I always used a lot of trailbraking in the Pro5 so it was really hard to force myself to not do it. It took me a couple of near spin-outs to beat it into my brain. I didn't get very close to the car owner's time, but I needed a completely differetn setup from him to keep the car neutral. He weighs a lot more than I do and needed the rear shocks at full stiff to get the car to rotate. With my weight and driving style I needed the rear shocks on full soft. Took us all 5 runs to get that far though and I drove the last run pretty conservative to get a clean time. I'll probably be co-driving it the rest of this season and also at Nationals.
