Let me know how those struts hold up for you in a couple months.
What have you done to your Protege today?
- Thread starter Antoine
- Start date
Let me know how those struts hold up for you in a couple months.
2003 murder mobile
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+S1+noble2 I recently purchased this MP. Had a lot of road noise, more than i expected. This weekend i'm having Hankook ventus S1 Noble2 installed. In the meantime i Removed the interior and installed sound mat and stick & peel tape. Here's some pics. I have been very impressed with this car. It is a very fun car to drive. The car handles well, shifts good, responsive with fairly decent mileage. The problems i have encountered are the transmission getting stuck between neutral and reverse. It happens 15-30% of the time. Another issue is the headlights seem to loose brightness while in low beam mode, not in high beam. I diagnosed the vehicle had a sticking caliper. I removed the caliper assy, cleaned it with brakeclean, apply anti-seize and re-install. Working fine now. I plan on removing the door panels and soundproofing them also. I stuffed pre-shaped, lightweight expanding foam pillows in the rear tire wells behind the trim. Will post pics of the car. Does anyone know if the front strut tower stabilizer bar helps much with handling? Also any modest gains in gas mileage, H.P. increase from installing a cold air intake? Long ram or short ram? I went with the Hankook because it was one of the highest rated tires and it scored well in lack of noise. My buddy is the service manage for a Ford dealer and they sell tires. $340.00, which is after the $120 in rebates if you buy four select tires through Ford. No labor charge, we're going to install them at the shop this weekend. Once the new tires are installed, i hope the cabin quiets down. Glad to be part of the club. Could someone tell me how to post pics that are not thumbnails? Thanks~~ Robzentao
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+S1+noble2 I recently purchased this MP. Had a lot of road noise, more than i expected. This weekend i'm having Hankook ventus S1 Noble2 installed. In the meantime i Removed the interior and installed sound mat and stick & peel tape. Here's some pics. I have been very impressed with this car. It is a very fun car to drive. The car handles well, shifts good, responsive with fairly decent mileage. The problems i have encountered are the transmission getting stuck between neutral and reverse. It happens 15-30% of the time. Another issue is the headlights seem to loose brightness while in low beam mode, not in high beam. I diagnosed the vehicle had a sticking caliper. I removed the caliper assy, cleaned it with brakeclean, apply anti-seize and re-install. Working fine now. I plan on removing the door panels and soundproofing them also. I stuffed pre-shaped, lightweight expanding foam pillows in the rear tire wells behind the trim. Will post pics of the car. Does anyone know if the front strut tower stabilizer bar helps much with handling? Also any modest gains in gas mileage, H.P. increase from installing a cold air intake? Long ram or short ram? I went with the Hankook because it was one of the highest rated tires and it scored well in lack of noise. My buddy is the service manage for a Ford dealer and they sell tires. $340.00, which is after the $120 in rebates if you buy four select tires through Ford. No labor charge, we're going to install them at the shop this weekend. Once the new tires are installed, i hope the cabin quiets down. Glad to be part of the club. Could someone tell me how to post pics that are not thumbnails? Thanks~~ Robzentao
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Murder Mobile pics
2003 Protege, paid $3200. The car had 101,500 mi. It needs the hood repainted, but it doesn't leak and oil at all.
2003 Protege, paid $3200. The car had 101,500 mi. It needs the hood repainted, but it doesn't leak and oil at all.
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00protegees
Member
- :
- 2000 mazda protege es
Well this is what I did today. Looks like the standard fake carbon fiber/silver dash piece and center console....but wait! Those are 99/00 HVAC controls! I didnt take any pictures while doing it, but I grafted in the 99/00 part from the center dash piece into the 01+, body filler, sanding, paint, etc.
Not everyone likes the "wanna-be" carbon fiber, but I think it looks better then the standard black one, plus the silver center matches the console now too.
Side note, the "seattle silver" paint that supposedly matches the interior silver perfectly isnt available anymore, but I had a can of VHT silver caliper paint laying around that I think matches pretty great!
Not everyone likes the "wanna-be" carbon fiber, but I think it looks better then the standard black one, plus the silver center matches the console now too.
Side note, the "seattle silver" paint that supposedly matches the interior silver perfectly isnt available anymore, but I had a can of VHT silver caliper paint laying around that I think matches pretty great!
11B-33T
Grumpy Vet
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- MSP 2003.5, Laser Blue
All this occurred on my 1992 LX over a two-week period vs. 'today':
Now I've got to get started on chasing down pesky electrical bugs and sticking door actuators ~sigh~
- New clutch kit
- Re-surfaced flywheel (0.002 removed)
- R/R the front L & R lower ball joints
- R/R the front L & R outer tie-rod ends
- R/R the front and rear L & R stabilizer links
- R/R water pump
- R/R the timing belt, tensioner, pulley and spring
- R/R the thermostat & gasket
- R/R the alternator/WP and AC/PS belts
- R/R the valve cover gasket
- Re-balance (static/dynamic/road-force) all tires
- 4-wheel alignment
Now I've got to get started on chasing down pesky electrical bugs and sticking door actuators ~sigh~
Changed my steering wheel, changed both driver and passenger cv axels, rod ends, and one tire blew. Replaced the tire. Tomorrow I'm going to replace the end links, and i think my drivers side front brakes are dragging so I'm gonna look into that hopefully its a easy fix
Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk
Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk
Decided to keep my 1995 Mazda Protege LX 1.5 liter 5 speed. It has 202306 miles on the clock. The best mpg was 48 mpg coming back from Arizona in 2013. This is my second one. My first I was able to get 56 mpg out of it before it had a melt down. This one I picked up for $500.00, did all the basic tune up stuff and went to Arizona in 2013. It had 179000 then. Today bought new air filter and 4 NKG Platinum 7090 BKR5EGP spark plugs. Tested all plug wires with my voltmeter, they were very good. Pulled all plugs, they were all dry with even ware. Cap/rotor just needed a soft stroke with emory file and air to clean. Put in some injector cleaner in the gas tank which I will run with the old plugs. Will clean the throttle body and air mas screen, check all tubes for leaks.
Already put in new PCV valve. Need to change the oil/filter/gas filter and add Engine Restore. All this to get ready for the smog test. After it passes I will put in 4 new struts, replace all 4 bearing, motor mounts are good. The AC is good, every thing works except that infamous stock radio volume knob. After all this is done will start with the aero mods, clay bar the paint and maybe do weight reduction. I should be able to get to 50-52 mpg with out much more trouble, even with over 200k on the clock.
Already put in new PCV valve. Need to change the oil/filter/gas filter and add Engine Restore. All this to get ready for the smog test. After it passes I will put in 4 new struts, replace all 4 bearing, motor mounts are good. The AC is good, every thing works except that infamous stock radio volume knob. After all this is done will start with the aero mods, clay bar the paint and maybe do weight reduction. I should be able to get to 50-52 mpg with out much more trouble, even with over 200k on the clock.
Had the fuel filter put in, cleaned the throttle body and air mass screen. The timing was way off, it was at +20! Reset it to 10. Now is runs pretty good however the check engine light came on because the battery had to be removed to install the fuel filter.
I will see what code its saying. I think I just have to do the drive cycle. I will think about it when I am playing golf.
I will see what code its saying. I think I just have to do the drive cycle. I will think about it when I am playing golf.
bcarpenter905
Member
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- 2001 mazda protege ES 2.0
Ive got kickers in my doors and my 6x9s are also kicker with two 10"pioneers in the trunk being pushed by 1500watt amp. I had some pretty sh!tty rattles. What i did was loosen off my spoiler, put a bit of gorilla tape folded up, then tightened it back down. Noise gone there. Then i went to michaels (a craft store here in ontario) and bought a sh!t ton of quilt padding. (The filler they use to make quilts). I removed the deck for the 6x9s, filled the whole thing with it then replaced the deck, noise gone there. Then i filled all underneath my trunk mat, put a ton in and around the spare tire, and also where the jack goes off to the side next to the passenger rear wheel. I have no major rattles in the car now. This job cost me about $60, for anybody who wants a cleaner sound without breaking the bank, this is a pretty good idea. Works well for me. Theres a couple rattles underneath the car but other than that.. cant go wrong. Everyone who has been in my car when im slamming bass assumes i spent a ton of money on dynomat.... nope! I realize you are referring to noise from driving ( i think) but since you were on the topic of sound proofing i thought i would share my cheap trick.
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bcarpenter905
Member
- :
- 2001 mazda protege ES 2.0
Codes were for Un-metered air and temp sensor. Fixed both. I had put in injector cleaner to 1/4 tank of fuel. Then put in 4 gallons of Chevron mid grade and did some stop and go driving for a while. Today filled up the tank with Chevron mid grade and then drove on the freeway for 69 miles and filled it up again. Used 1.25 gallons. Mostly drove on CC between 55 to 62 mph. No weight reduction, still had stuff in the trunk. No drafting, just steady speed. I did put 40 psi in the tires. 55.2 mpg. better than i expected. This is with the old plugs in. Will put in the new ones, drive for 30 minutes and then have it smog tested. I think it likes the new resonator I had installed. I will see what the mpg will be for both city and freeway for the next 300 miles or so to see that the mpg will be combined.
french02chris
Member
- :
- 1999 protege dx 1.6l
Did a lot on the Protege this past month.....I had a couple of issues!!
A misfire on cylinder 4 : so, I put the ignition coil on cylinder 2, and the code gave me misfire on cylinder 2....SO, I know that the ignition coil was bad : I replaced it
I also replace all 4 spark plugs with Bosh Iridium plugs ( the plug on Cylinder 4 was def dead!!!!)
Also replaced the Valve Cover gasket as I could see some drops of oil on the corner....however, the car is not leaking oil ( I have been driving over 1000 miles in April, and the oil level is still the same..this car has never burned oil!!!!! and I did take it cross-country several times since 2002 ( FL to CA ( 3 times )...as well as FL to ME every year)
I did put some new tires on Friday ( the last set of Michelin was from 2010....the back is still great)
I also replace the O2 sensors ( which were also getting long on the tooth)
New Air filter
I repainted my center console in Black ( i did painted blue about 7 years ago....lol....)
Oil change coming up next week ( I have been using Castrol GTX high mileage 20w50 since 80000 miles )
Well....I will also be trading the Protege for a 2014 Mazda 2 in December!!
As of today, my protege has 288000 miles and will get 300000 miles by december......it still runs strong!!!!
I also did my own Compression test ( over 180 on all cylinders )!!!!! not bad for a 1999 car!!!
A misfire on cylinder 4 : so, I put the ignition coil on cylinder 2, and the code gave me misfire on cylinder 2....SO, I know that the ignition coil was bad : I replaced it
I also replace all 4 spark plugs with Bosh Iridium plugs ( the plug on Cylinder 4 was def dead!!!!)
Also replaced the Valve Cover gasket as I could see some drops of oil on the corner....however, the car is not leaking oil ( I have been driving over 1000 miles in April, and the oil level is still the same..this car has never burned oil!!!!! and I did take it cross-country several times since 2002 ( FL to CA ( 3 times )...as well as FL to ME every year)
I did put some new tires on Friday ( the last set of Michelin was from 2010....the back is still great)
I also replace the O2 sensors ( which were also getting long on the tooth)
New Air filter
I repainted my center console in Black ( i did painted blue about 7 years ago....lol....)
Oil change coming up next week ( I have been using Castrol GTX high mileage 20w50 since 80000 miles )
Well....I will also be trading the Protege for a 2014 Mazda 2 in December!!
As of today, my protege has 288000 miles and will get 300000 miles by december......it still runs strong!!!!
I also did my own Compression test ( over 180 on all cylinders )!!!!! not bad for a 1999 car!!!
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- MSP 1145
started a part out.
