What have you done to your MSP today?
- Thread starter baconbitz
- Start date
hornsfan10609
Certified Mazda Tech
- :
- 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege x2
I would try the normal sources, junkyard first, parts store second. It's possible it was damaged during the axle-removal fiasco a while back.
Heh. I stuck my head undee the backside at a gas station last night and found out my swaybar is free floating now lol. Guess those bushings were done some time ago lol. Ill prob drop the bar until I get replacments.
Anything automotive up here is a commitment of several weeks =\.
Gots to finish my.mx3 so I can take this off the road for its upgrades.
Any ideas dor how I can collect the crap from the cooling system on that car? Its been sitting half assembled for.a month now. Heads are one. Still have to finish putting cams back, timing belt, clean up IM and throttle body, replace bad coolant hoses... bleh.
Anything automotive up here is a commitment of several weeks =\.
Gots to finish my.mx3 so I can take this off the road for its upgrades.
Any ideas dor how I can collect the crap from the cooling system on that car? Its been sitting half assembled for.a month now. Heads are one. Still have to finish putting cams back, timing belt, clean up IM and throttle body, replace bad coolant hoses... bleh.
This is definitely the case. It's so expensive to fix them in a front end collision because of the specialized parts. I was shocked when a trade-in appraisal for #590 came back with $4000 max when the car only has 62k on it. I just sold my silver with 132k on it for $2500. All maintenance was done on it but the body was a little rusty. Thought the price was fair with the rust. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can get a decent amount for #590 when I eventually look to sell it in 6+ years
So I'm assuming you plan to run megasquirt as a standalone? Mine is already setup for parallel. Can't wait to see the end result.Made some progress on the Megasquirt. Bench testing of the spark outputs was successful. Fuel injectors, idle valve, and butterfly solenoid circuit testing tomorrow.
On the left you'll find a Megasquirt3 standalone engine management system with the MS3X expansion card (ribbon cable connects MS3X with the MS3 processing card). The board with the power cord going into it is the test card called JimStim, it sends simulated RPM, O2, coolant temp, etc into the ECU. The spark/fuel/etc output are the red/green/black wires hooking up to the Radio Shack breadboard, which have resistors hooked up to LEDs that you can't see because they are clear glass. It's how I'm testing out the ignition and fuel configuration of the ECU.
Just wait until the next phase, which is when I pull all of the components off of the car and set them up on the bench to test them.
hornsfan10609
Certified Mazda Tech
- :
- 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege x2
Dealers don't offer much trade in on cars older than 4-5 years old, almost always go by the KBB value.This is definitely the case. It's so expensive to fix them in a front end collision because of the specialized parts. I was shocked when a trade-in appraisal for #590 came back with $4000 max when the car only has 62k on it. I just sold my silver with 132k on it for $2500. All maintenance was done on it but the body was a little rusty. Thought the price was fair with the rust. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can get a decent amount for #590 when I eventually look to sell it in 6+ years
float_6969
Member
- :
- 2003.5 MSP Blue #2450, 1995 Nissan 240sx, 1996 Mazda Miata
Wait, the JimStim will output the Nissan CAS signal? So you for sure have it working?
hornsfan10609
Certified Mazda Tech
- :
- 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege x2
SOOO my arp studs for the turbo mani that snapped have become a bigger issue, two I was able to remove but the third is still stuck in the head and now stripped so I tonight I pulled the IM, turbo and timing belt so I can pull the head and take it to a machine shop to pull that stud tomorrow. Going to replace the valve seals while I have it off, at least it will finally run like it's supposed to for the first time in months
- :
- 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege 1660, 2004 Winning Blue RX8, 2005 Mazda6
I had one break on me. There's a good 1/4" sticking out of the head, but I have left it that way for a month or so. It happened while the car was sitting one night. I backed the car out of the drive way and I saw something, so I got out to see what it was.. It was 1/2 the stud and nut. Popped the hood and sure enough.
hornsfan10609
Certified Mazda Tech
- :
- 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege x2
Pretty much the same story here, I pulled the heatshield and there were two nuts and a snapped off piece of stud just sitting in there. ARP says it's because of the heat from the turbo but everyone I tell says the same thing "I've never seen ARP hardware break". Neither did I until it did.
Looked at trading it in. I cannot afford to keep fixing it. I have poured over 1200 in the past month alone just trying to keep it running. The past three weeks have brough out three new problems. I have been through two starters in the past year, countless rotor replacements, a ruptured hydaulic line that left me stranded on the road, new brake pads within a year, and now a check engine light for a bad air intake manifold valve that will keep me from passing emissions. I have 117,000 on the original engine, original turbo, original transmission, original lsd. I am wondering if I am playing against the clock and am almost out of time. What else could go wrong with this many miles?
I wish I could sell it but I dont have the time and I need another car as soon as I get rid of this one. My wife and I are living apart during the week until our house is finished in the county we are moving to and I have no other way to get to work. So, unless you are looking for a project car for $3500 and live in maryland and can buy on a weekend I have to trade it in.
I wish I could sell it but I dont have the time and I need another car as soon as I get rid of this one. My wife and I are living apart during the week until our house is finished in the county we are moving to and I have no other way to get to work. So, unless you are looking for a project car for $3500 and live in maryland and can buy on a weekend I have to trade it in.
Last edited:
