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- 2002 BJFW, 2007 BK3P, 1979 SA22C, 2005 BK3P
After two long weeks of driving a doggish red skittle around, the chaps over at SpeedQuest Performance put the keys to my newly revitalized yellow hellion back in my hand.
For those in the dark, my foolish behavior at the dragstrip involving a little knob on my boost controller put about 10 psi of boost into my engine without the advent of more gas and hence - KABOOM, four holes in the engine block.
After finding a junkyard engine, they took it apart, cleaned it all out, painted the valve cover red and popped it under the hood. I didn't ask for a red valve cover, but when I saw it I certainly didn't disagree either
. God bless these guys, they saved me a buttload of $$$ over the dealer's price and probably did better work.
I had to load the vehicle backwards onto the tow dolly, as the p5's front end rides too low to clear the dolly. In order to tow the car backwards (front wheels on the ground), I had to tie the steering wheel into the straight position with tie downs hooked to the brake pedal. (FYI - the wheel will not "lock" into the straight position, even if you take the keys out and turn it back and forth a few times, dealer said it was an anti-theft issue). Needless to say, I roughed up my steering wheel a little bit. I headed to the Mazda dealer *again* to see how much a new wheel cost. One from the mp3 = $750!!! From the ES = $525!!! From the Protege5 = $575!!! But, oddly enough, from the MSP = $400. According to his computer, there was exactly ONE on inventory in the US, and it had yellow stitching from an 03.5!!! Needless to say, I could not pass it up, and now I can safely say I am the only yellow Protege5 with a yellow stitched MAZDASPEED steering wheel. Check out the results;
More than anything else, I am happy to back on the road in my car (and yes, Pikachu is too). Zoom Zoom! Oh yeah...
I LOVE MY PROTEGE5!!!!
AGR, Dex, all you MSP owners, that one's for you, lol
For those in the dark, my foolish behavior at the dragstrip involving a little knob on my boost controller put about 10 psi of boost into my engine without the advent of more gas and hence - KABOOM, four holes in the engine block.
After finding a junkyard engine, they took it apart, cleaned it all out, painted the valve cover red and popped it under the hood. I didn't ask for a red valve cover, but when I saw it I certainly didn't disagree either
. God bless these guys, they saved me a buttload of $$$ over the dealer's price and probably did better work.I had to load the vehicle backwards onto the tow dolly, as the p5's front end rides too low to clear the dolly. In order to tow the car backwards (front wheels on the ground), I had to tie the steering wheel into the straight position with tie downs hooked to the brake pedal. (FYI - the wheel will not "lock" into the straight position, even if you take the keys out and turn it back and forth a few times, dealer said it was an anti-theft issue). Needless to say, I roughed up my steering wheel a little bit. I headed to the Mazda dealer *again* to see how much a new wheel cost. One from the mp3 = $750!!! From the ES = $525!!! From the Protege5 = $575!!! But, oddly enough, from the MSP = $400. According to his computer, there was exactly ONE on inventory in the US, and it had yellow stitching from an 03.5!!! Needless to say, I could not pass it up, and now I can safely say I am the only yellow Protege5 with a yellow stitched MAZDASPEED steering wheel. Check out the results;
More than anything else, I am happy to back on the road in my car (and yes, Pikachu is too). Zoom Zoom! Oh yeah...
I LOVE MY PROTEGE5!!!!
AGR, Dex, all you MSP owners, that one's for you, lol
. That's the only reason I'm keeping the boost controller, with the hope that someday I'll be able to actually use that sucker to its full potential. 
