FSP 1st Gen Protege Project

[XelderX]

awesome! looks like a good place to mount the prop valve too, easy access.

I took longer to figure out exactly how I wanted to mount it than it did to actually make the mount and bolt it all together. I'm happy with it and it only took about 30 minutes to get it done. It saves a ton of time when you have lots of scrap aluminum and hundreds of metric bolts laying around. No need to go shopping.

[Mazda_Powered]

Yea I hold onto a lot of things too, never know when they'll come in handy...but I think I'm borderline hoarder LOL

[XelderX]

Just a quick update on that airbox I was building. It is completely done except for one panel which has to wait until the motor is back in the car. Sorry for the cell phone pics. Too lazy to go upstairs and get the real camera.


Here are the two intake hoses in the front grill. They are a tight fit, but it works and they don't need to be secured at all. I've got some plastic mesh that I want to put in front of them to keep out the big stuff.


And here they are routed to the intakes on the airbox.


Two 2" hoses was the perfect setup as there is no way to get anything bigger crammed in there. I'm hoping we can dyno with the fans directly on the intake and then with a piece of cardboard blocking direct airflow to see if there is a difference in power.

I'm getting the head rebuilt later this week and if my luck holds out I can get the motor back together next week to finish the airbox to manifold piping and get this thing on the dyno.

[FE3-323]

Functionality @ its best!!

[Mazda_Powered]

awesome!!! turned out pretty good! It's a shame I have intercooler piping taking up the space where you have the hoses running lol, I would have mimicked this design.

[XelderX]

awesome!!! turned out pretty good! It's a shame I have intercooler piping taking up the space where you have the hoses running lol, I would have mimicked this design.

How wide is your IC? If it isn't any wider than the radiator you can cut out the metal just on either side of the radiator and run the IC piping in that way. I did it like that on my Pro5.

[SgtRauksauff]

Lookin' good!

Saw your posts over on GarageJournal, too. Nice setup for your tire rack!

--sarge

[XelderX]

Lookin' good!

Saw your posts over on GarageJournal, too. Nice setup for your tire rack!

--sarge

Hey thanks. It really works well. I'll be removing a closet from the garage later this spring and build a workbench in it's place. I'm tired of working off the floor.

[XelderX]

Finally some real progress this year. I've finally been able to put in a new motor and will hopefully be able to crank the car for the first time since last October. There are a few more things to bolt up and wire before that happens, but I've got an appointment with the dyno on Tuesday. There are two brand new Hoosiers sitting here waiting for the Atlanta Tour next weekend.

Now that there is a motor in the car I can make the intake piping from the new airbox to the throttle body. It is a tight squeeze with the large airbox. I need to pick up one more aluminum 90* bend to make it work the way I want, but I might be able to get by with the silicone one I have now as a quick substituion until after next weekend. Money is getting tight. Other than some wiring for the new fuel pump it is pretty much ready to go.

I also got a hold of a spare trunk lid so I can start figuring out the best way to mount an adjustable spoiler.

[XelderX]

Alrighty...car is back from the dyno. We ran into a little trouble with the new airbox. Two 2" hoses supplying the box is not enough. The box was trying to implode every time we got on the throttle. I ended up cutting out one of the top panels to let it "breathe" better. I've got an idea on fixing it, but it will have to wait until we can go back to the dyno.

The new motor ran great. We have a lot more to fiddle with which should help up the HP, but it will have to wait. We did confirm that the resonator box on the intake is good for around 4 ft/lbs of torque, but I can't remember the RPM range. It was brief but very noticeable.

[FE3-323]

keep us updated as always!!!

[concealer404]

Hey Justin, what were the numbers if you don't mind me asking?

[XelderX]

Hey Justin, what were the numbers if you don't mind me asking?

We are right at the minimum of where we think we should be. I'm not saying for the time being what the exact numbers are. No disrespect to any of you guys. The car made what we expected it to make. We still have some work to do.

[concealer404]

We are right at the minimum of where we think we should be. I'm not saying for the time being what the exact numbers are. No disrespect to any of you guys. The car made what we expected it to make. We still have some work to do.

No disrespect taken.

Shall i assume that you did said work?

[XelderX]

No disrespect taken.

Shall i assume that you did said work?

I would like to claim responsibility but I can't. We had a shop much more familiar with BP motors assemble everything from parts we supplied. I have come to the conclusion that I don't know enough, don't have the right equipment, and am not nearly meticulous enough to build my own race motors.

We ran the Atlanta National Tour last weekend and I was able to make a monster final run to take the win.

I was sitting in 3rd place after Saturday, just over 1/10th of a second behind the reigning national champ, Jinx Jordan and his co-driver Marc Osgood. They were within a hundredth of a second of each other. I had a great second run setting the fast time to beat, but let the front tires get too hot before my 3rd run and couldn't better my time while the national champ and his co-driver went faster.

On Sunday I had a decent first run, but nowhere near what I was going to need. My second run again set the time to beat and put me temporarily in 1st place going into the final runs. Osgood put in an amazing run that was 3/10ths faster than me for his final effort. I didn't think I could top that as my second run felt really good. Jinx was supposed to take his final run before me, but due to a rerun I went out in front of him for my last run. I tried to repeat my second run and just push a little harder everywhere since there was not one place I felt I could improve. I was stunned to see that I had improved by half a second and put myself back into 1st place waiting to see what Jinx could do. He was unable to improve and I ended up 1/10th of a second in front of Osgood for the win.

We were running a Race Technology DL-1 data system in the car for the whole weekend and it helped tremendously. We were able to see the time differences between different lines and brake/throttle applications in between runs and then apply the best techniques to our next runs. From a quick analysis of the data I can say that my braking is extremely quick and efficient and I get back on the throttle earlier in corners which really helps my exit speed.

I made the front page at www.scca.com too!