For the princely sum on $300 and an old aluminum canoe I brought home this gem. 2002 Protege’ 5. 5 speed, standard rust, 175K miles. Needs some attention in a few areas but generally it’s clean and drives well.
Pic-n-pull has a rust free hood and apparently new quarters from autozone are something like $50.
Anything else to these?
Change the timing belt. Now.
It gets a little ugly whwn they break.
Motor mount inserts are worth every penny.
Stagg struts rock. Feel perfect for a daily. 1/2 coil up front, 1/4 in rear gives a 1 inch drop all the way around.
If the headliner is stained, or the roofracks are cracked, watch for water. Oncetbey crack, they can leak into the interior.
Infinity reference speakers sound fantastic.
Window tint helps immensely in the summer.
Rotate strut mounts up front for more begative camber.
Ebay long tube good for 2mpg.
More info here: older Protege5 thread
Stuff I'd add:
-Some suspension parts are only available through Mazda. We ended up signing ours up with Mazdaspeed so we could get rear suspension parts that I couldn't find ANYWHERE else. We suffered through a really SLOW autocross on all seasons just to keep up our end of the bargain. It's not a race car, that's for sure.
-For some reason, ours gets cranky if the fuel tank is "topped off". Leave it at the first click of the gas pump, no problem. Try to throw in an extra half gallon and it drives like crap for a couple of days. I suspect it has something to do with the EVAP system, but not topping it off is way easier than trying to sort it.
-We staved off rust for a couple years with POR 15, but it's starting to break through. The tinworm loves these things for some reason.
-My son loves his. The only thing that might pry it out of his hands is a clean Del Sol VTEC.
Another POR15 the entire thing now recommendation.
For some reason, rear calipers suck. New ones suck right out of the box too. I replaced my passenger rear four times and sold it with it still binding (I told the buyer)
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