so this starts with a story from back in 2009. I had, for a few years, an 03 protege5 5 speed that I loved. great car. loved almost everything about it.
unfortunately, the ergonomics of the seat/clutch pedal angles didn’t love my knee. shortly after getting in it to go anywhere, my knee started killing me. could only drive for about 30-45 minutes before I had to get out and let my knee rest and unlock. this was unacceptable.
so I sold it to a coworker. and regretted it from the minute I accepted her offer. swore id own another one someday.
fast forward to three weeks ago, when a cosmic alignment of luck happened. guy bought my neon ACR for cash and trade, sold his trade, and made out like a bandit. unfortunately, this left me with nothing to drive for work. sure, I have the 70 duster (stick) and 64 el camino (auto, but unreliable and no AC). so I had to scrounge up a new daily. had to be automatic due to continuing knee troubles, had to be fun to drive. since the last p5, I've had a tweaked Camry, Subaru legacy 2.5gt wagon,l 2 neons, z6 swapped crx si, fsp prepped s10, and air bagged full size extended cab long bed chevy. so I'm not exactly used to boring or normal daily drivers. the short list of requirements was 25+mpg mixed, auto, great suspension and brakes, room for family and gear, preferably hatch/wagon, and not something you see every day.
started the hunt with carmax and local used car lots. the things I had in my brain that fit the bill were focus zx3,l Volvo wagon, bmw wagon, mazda3/6 wagon, ~99 Subaru legacy gt, etc. pretty neat list. almost forgot about the p5,l as I hadn't seen one in a loooong time. and they were only made in 02-03. so pretty rare, especially in my area.
ironically enough, my old one shoed up on the local used car lot. my coworker had driven it until the end of 2012, when she traded it in 60 miles away on a new Prius. it managed to come back to the car lot down the street from my parents house. I stopped. I drove it. I fell in love with it again. I couldn’t walk after the test drive.
so I also added another p5 into my hunt. drove almost all the models on my list, as well as a bunch of other stuff that I saw that may fit the bill. just couldn’t fall in love with any of them except the Subaru's, zx3, and Volvo wagon. so we had 4 cars that fit the bill. till I looked up Volvo repair parts, and crossed them off the list.
off to craigslist search engine I went. within a 400 mile radius, looking for 3 specific cars. when I thought I found one, first thing I did as ask if salvage or clean title. if it as salvage, I crossed it off. I'm done messing with bent/broken stuff on daily's. if it as to be a project car, I would not have used that as a stipulation. next question as here it had lived its life. if it was EVER in the rust belt or salt air, I crossed it off. I spent FAR too many years up north and dealing with rust to ever what to do it again if given a choice. I had a choice.
as you can well guess, this limited my options significantly. found a few promising examples form car lots, but could never get any information on them prior to driving 3-400 miles with cash in my pocket. you'd think that they'd want to sell for cash to an out of towner that has no chance in hell of bringing the car back for any little issues. apparently not.
I was dailying the duster, hunting pretty hard, when I came across a 2002 Mazda protege5 in florence, sc. one owner. no accidents. only been out of the state 3 times to Richmond Virginia. all receipts for maintenance/repairs. 122, 250 on it. stone stock. automatic.
it checked all the boxes. especially the one with the dollar signs in it. it was well below what I as willing to spend for a good, clean car.
so my father and I jumped in my wife's wagon (my old Subaru, and yes, I asked for it back and offered to get her a new car. she wants the Subaru....) and went to Florence three weeks ago after church. put a jack and stands in the back, cash and the pistol in the console, and took off. reason for the pistol is that craigslist takes me to the nicest places. I had 4k in 20, 50, and 100 bills, and didn’t feel like getting rolled for it. we do have carry and conceal permits for just this kind of reason.
anyway, when e got there we met the owner and his mother. he bought the car new when he turned 21, with his mother as co-signer. they kept all the paperwork, including the original salesman's card and the finance paperwork. even got a window sticker. also got a 3 ring binder full of maintenance records. furthest mileage oil change as 3250. they were religious about the car. (except for wax, as evidenced by the clear coat). reason for sale was that the young man as now driving a lot more, and wanted to get something newer and nicer (focus titanium edition parked next to the P5). he was discouraged to let the car go. when I looked over it, I didn’t even find evidence of the ever having been mud on the undercarriage. soooooo clean. so I didn’t even haggle the price. bought it, and brought it home.
there were a few options that it had that I didn’t want (side curtain airbags, wheel locks, ABS. all good stuff, just not on my list of requirements), and some options it didn’t have that I did want (6 speaker audio, sport trans, tinted windows, chrome wheels) but the options that I had to have it had (roof rack, sunroof, auto). the color wasn't my favorite, but it as a good enough color. dark blue with a hint of purple. I figured I could add the options as we go.
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/001_zps458a2743.jpg.html]
[/URL]
anyway, in the last three weeks, I've put almost 3k on the clock. this thing has been almost flawless.
first thing was to clean the injectors and skunked gas out of it. car had been sitting for months before I purchased it. so fresh 93 for a half tank brought the octane of the fuel up to the low 80's when mixed, and a can of seafoam was dumped in the tank. ran much better.
then, I changed out the plugs for NGK iridium's. the lugs that were in it were the wrong part number. plug wires checked out good, so I left them alone.
I also had the car tinted to 35% (nc legal limit) by a local tint place.
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/007_zps5d0fb052.jpg.html]
[/URL]
up next was the fix for the first issue found on the ride home: the rear speakers did not work. at all. on my last one, the internal amp in the radio had gone bad and caused this same issue. so I assumed that it had happened again. also, the head unit would not accept cd's, so that was an issue. the first radio I ordered from crutchfield as a really nice, double DIN pioneer. big easy to read scree, big buttons, great sound. really liked the unit.
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/003_zpsedef8de5.jpg.html]
[/URL]
until I drove it at night. with the thing dimmed as afar as it would go, I could still read in the back seat from it. way too bright and distracting. crutchfield was cool about it, and we selected a JVC replacement that doesn’t sound quite as good and is a little harder to use, but has lights that you can all but turn off. it does hat I need it to do, and does it well. also matches the style of the dash really well.
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/004_zps1f1523c7.jpg.html]
[/URL]
this did not correct the rear speaker issue entirely. one was obviously blown, and the other wasnt operating still. so I pulled the rear door panels to investigate.
and swapped in a pair of 6.5 inch cheap, crappy speakers that were functional. (no pic)
while I was in there, I decided to try something I had been reading about on the forums for a while and was skeptical of. guys have been using the aluminum backed peel and seal from Lowes for sound deadening. I have my products that I already use and really like, but figured id give this stuff a try before condemning it. so I did my rear doors.
the outer panels have TONS of flex in them, and are very tinny sounding. when the door shuts, you could also hear the radio, at moderate volume, from outside the car just as well as you can from inside. this was unacceptable, as well as the sound the doors made when shutting. figured I had nothing to lose by experimenting with a new product here. went to Lowes, and picked up a roll.
to get resonance out of the doors rear doors, I had to do a 125% surface area coverage. this is dramatically more material than what I am used to, as my normal stuff would do it with a 60-75% coverage. the peel and seal is also more flexible without a heat gun, and adheres better out of the box at room temp than my usual stuff, but is harder to work as it does not stretch at all. finally, it is also only about 1/4 the thickness and weight of my usual deadener. it did do the job, though, and I have added this to my arsenal for specific uses. such as areas with little clearance, flatter areas, or areas that would be remarkably difficult to access with heat gun/j roller combo.
the rear doors, when completed, have a much higher quality sound hen shut, and the road noise reduction was noticeable, as well as the music outside the car problem. the speakers (free!) suck, however, and need to go away.
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/006_zps1456d924.jpg.html]
[/URL]
I also managed to nab a pair of sail panel tweeters to bring my front soundstage up (see the 6 speaker option it didn’t have?? it does now!) and I installed those yesterday, as well as finished up the door sound deadening project with peel and seal. in total, for acceptable results with it, I had to use 2 rolls in 4 doors and the inside of the hatch.
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/001_zpsf7eb72ac.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/003_zpsa434b698.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/005_zpsf8f7fcac.jpg.html]
[/URL]
sound 100% better now, crappy speakers and all. the stereo is not done, however, as I want to do the rest of the car with sound deadening/insulation, as well as replace all door speakers with infinity reference series speakers (always wanted a set). additionally, I have plans to build a small fiberglass enclosure in the hatch to house a single 8 inch sub.
up next is my complex solution to a simple locked up brake caliper: BIG BRAKES!!
the right front caliper took a dump on me. I had thought the brakes felt a little funny when I bought it, but chalked that up to crappy pads/old fluid. I as wrong on that count. no one had ever greased the sliders. couldn’t get them to budge with a 3lb hammer. so I knew I was in it for calipers and pads as well as a rotor turning. for not much more money, I did the following:
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/009_zpsb99789b3.jpg.html]
[/URL]
I use performance friction pads on every street car I have that they're available for, not only are they made in south carolina, they have great initial bite and low dust. I love them. little more expensive, but worth it. the calipers and rotors are 2000 Mazda 626 v6 parts. same as the mazdaspeed protégé brakes. the rotors are about an inch bigger, the pads probably have 30% more contact area, and the calipers are much beefier. it also all bolts on like stock. once bled, and bedded, the increase in brake performance is dramatic.
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/008_zps88a56606.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/012_zpse9978876.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/013_zps23bfe5ad.jpg.html]
[/URL]
I still need to do the rears, but they're not giving me any trouble at the moment, so why mess with them?
on the long to do list for this car is to increase the sound deadening/insulation, finish the stereo, find the daveb gauge rings, add the 03 factory chrome wheels, convert to sport shift, bigger rear brakes, bigger sway bars, slight lowering, fix the broken roof racks, and maybe do a respray for the clear coat issues.
also, see if I can teak it to break 30mpg highway.
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL] 
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/2002%20protege5/003_zps135a0a7b.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160625_163345_zps61l2729m.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160625_163340_zpsihw7o0eu.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160625_163336_zps78vfl7yt.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160625_163328_zpstyqbnm6u.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160625_163323_zps0wlyfglf.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160625_163321_zpsjqerimr1.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160625_163316_zpson0kixab.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160625_163305_zpsg3shj26x.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160625_163256_zpsjr3dnmib.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[/URL]
[/URL]
[/URL]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160705_151507_zpsvclddcom.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160712_171924_zpsv5lkfomr.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160712_171938_zpsc6g62jz9.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160712_171945_zpszfpebjge.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160712_202726_zpscxfgz6rh.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160712_204410_zps7uw3ikjm.jpg.html]
[/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/media/Kenmore/20160712_202735_zpssljx7pag.jpg.html]
[/URL]
