just got my P5!

[Snowman8590]

Hey felt like I should finally post on here I just got a red p5 with 23000 miles on it no body damage motor is in good shape. Paint looks clean except for a few scratches 2 good gashes in it. I'm not currently driving it but will be my every day in about a week excited to have it. First question is paint scratch fixer any ideas?

 

[Teeson]

clay bar might do it. Chances are the red will have faded over time, my 22V silver did. Paint pens or touch up paint don't really match because they don't have the years of fade that a 10 year old car does.

Welcome! theres a lot of good reading on this site, and a lot of helpful people

 

[azuelke]

Hey felt like I should finally post on here I just got a red p5 with 23000 miles on it no body damage motor is in good shape.

Welcome, and typo? 23,000 miles?

 

[Snowman8590]

Nope no typo it has only 23k on it I was surprised when I was told this too. It was an older persons car so it just sat around for a long time.

About the pant I wish I had a picture to show you guys. But I don't the reason I asked is was wondering if one brand was better than another. There is a chunk of paint missing in one spot about the size of a 50cent coin.

 

[Snowman8590]

Also paint is still very bright and looks like new it was garaged for nearly it's entire life.

 

[CTt3P5]

Welcome and congarts on a very nice find. Do you know if the PO ever ran the car for periods of time or even got her on the road for periodic trips? Considering the low mileage and age, I'd suggest replacing all fluids, checking belts for rot and checking/replacing the tires. Guessing they are still the OE Dunlops and even while the tread may look just fine I'd be concerned that they are 10+ years old.

 

[Snowman8590]

thanks all for the welcome. and my dad is nice enough to replace all the fluids spark plugs belt and air filter since i live in an apartment and have no garage or tools to do so. i think the PO averaged about 6k miles every 3 years with it sitting for the last year before selling. two rears are from when they first replaced the tires and the front two are a pair of dezrea 101's that look brand new said it has less than 2000 miles on those tires.

 

[Snowman8590]

Thoughts on putting the trip tronic gear selector on it? It wouldn't happen for a some time due to finding the parts and that I just got the car don't need to be spending money on it right away. Or even possible? Was just thinking about this. I am kinda new to the whole mod your car scene and trying to figure out what to do.

 

[CTt3P5]

That was nice of your dad and surprised that the tires were actually changed! I'm sure the tiptronic could be swapped in but I don't know how involved that swap would be. IMO you'd be better off just swapping the 5sp into the car. You'll find some pretty good ideas of what to do here on the forum but ultimately it is your car so do what makes you happy. Next step is to figure out what you want from the car....better handling (lowering springs/struts, beefier rear sway bars, etc) or more power (best option here is turbo and a)keep the psi moderate and enjoy the little extra or b)build a forged engine to handle the higher psi....standard bolt-ons can be found, ie: intake, header, exhaust but they will not gain you much in the power dept) or keep it somewhat stock and reliable and do little things here and there to make it your own.

 

[Snowman8590]

Thanks for the info. To be honest I want to keep it very mild build it is my every day car. Was just looking to squeeze a little fun out of it. The only reason I was thinking trip tronic was because I heard its just the gear unit, wire harness and the trip ecu. I would like to keep it auto just for the fact that it is my everyday car and prefer auto because of that. I was just wondering was true or if it was some one talking out there posterior hole.

 

[Snowman8590]

ok i just searched the forums like crazy and there is a lot more to it than that i guess there is a lot of things that go into making the triptronic work. in other words cheaper to just trade it for one that has it or do manual swap. so that means im keeping it how it is.

 

[Snowman8590]

hey so is yours a turbo p5?

 

[CTt3P5]

I thought there was more to it than that but wasn't sure. The manual swap has been done quite a bit and would be more beneficial. No, I have not turboed my car but have seen plenty of build threads on here over the years. Here's one that you can check out for more info http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123727771-Thinking-of-turbocharging-your-P5-Here-s-a-guide-for-getting-started Bazooka Joe has a turboed auto and has been running around 6psi for years with no real reliability issues and I've seen numerous zoom-zoom-boom threads too where the boost was turned up a wee bit too much for the stock internals to handle.

 

[Snowman8590]

cool. how much power do you actually get from that though? and what you have done to your car?

 

[CTt3P5]

Mine is auto as well and I have an AEM SRI and Thermal R&D catback for performance and she's still slow but always leaves me with a smile on my face. Suspension mods include Tein S-tech springs and Tokico Blue struts. I did have a Progress rsb but thanks to an effed up rear subframe (don't ask) I sheared a bracket in two. Sold it as well as the stock rsb and currently running w/o one but hoping to get that all straightened out soon.

 

[bazooka joe]

23k miles, wow...i'm at 160k and rusting away...sad...

 

[Snowman8590]

Ct- I'm use to slow cars so not a big difference for me but the handling is what I'm looking forward too. I've driven mostly boats of cars.

Bazooka- they say around here that your car is turboed and an auto. Worth it?

 

[bazooka joe]

would i do it again, yes. it was just what the slowtege needed. i enjoyed installing it (although there were man "fit and finish" issues) and enjoyed driving it for 6 yrs. although it's rusting away, it still puts a smile on my face in the fall when i get in her for the long winter months. if you don't beat on it and thinks it's some sort of drag car, you'll be fine. i ran 6 psi all day for almost 7 yrs now and about 100K miles with no issues with the tranny or motor. of course i didn't race every civic that rev'd at me either!

 

[Snowman8590]

Every civic? So that means you did race one or two? Lol. Yea it would be a long time before I get to that spot but I would love to turbo it. Did however get my windows tinted on Wednesday!

 

[itsjbeck]

post pics!!!