1993 Protege LX Brake Rebuild

[FE3-323]

hopefully he takes good care of it in the loaner process

[wolfy]

Yeah he will he is good with his stuff. I do miss the car. Especially now that I have to fill up my truck again more often. 30 bucks to fill up vs 90 sure is nice

[wolfy]

Got some more parts ordered. Lower control arms for the fronts with new ball joints and bushings. Also ordered a complete motor mount set. Now if I could get some warm weather to put them on... This should tighten up the handling on the front end.

Any suggestions for the rear? Any parts that typically wear out?

[FE3-323]

take care when removing the front/rear crossmember that the transmission/engine mounts are on. the front 2 bolts like to strip out or bust the captive nut inside. use air tools if at all possible. spray some grease through the radiator support through some holes there to try & aid removal.

besides that everything is easy to do for changing the mounts. be sure to grease each bolt/nut when re installing.

[wolfy]

Thanks! I will start spraying down the nuts and bolts. It always helps to do this weeks before the work. I do have a big electric impact. Works great. I will use that.

Now if I can get some warmer weather to do the work in...

[wolfy]

I just got back from an 800 mile trip with the car. It was a blast to drive. Very comfortable and quite. I was really impressed. I got 26-28MPG. That was traveling at 78MPH. Speed limit is 75. Car was turning 3250RPM. Took me a while to get used to that. As I drive a full size truck that turns maybe 1900 at that speed But it gets 19 on the highway so half the gas is great. And it was just me so I didn't need all that space.

[me109]

Yeah, a lot of people don't like those close ratios. I got used to them and eventually came to love them. Especially driving around in hills. Whenever I would drive anyone else's car with 'normal' ratios, I would always be downshifting, or just staying in third or fourth all the time. That was anoying. The worst for me was a Honda Civic or Accord because they have the tall ratios, but also no torque.

[wolfy]

I can totally see what you are talking about. For me I love how the car is geared. It is in its power band most of the time. Just took me some getting used to as My big v8 wraps only 2000RPM going 80.

But as you stated this car is a blast to drive. Doesn't act like it Lugs around. I have had rentals before that are corrolas and such and man the want to putz around at 1500rpm and like you said they have almost no power at that speed.

One nice thing was there were some decent hills going back and my car only downshifted once. It was awesome to see it just pull up the hill in OD. Very cool that it wasn't "searching" for gears all the time. Especially from a small I-4. I was just impressed by the ride and the car itself. Awesome little car.

[wolfy]

Had a chance to grab a strut tower brace from a 2002 protege5 from the local pick n pull. I measured and sure enough I thought it would fit. So I grabbed one for a few bucks and tried it out. It fits just about perfect. I had to modify a few brackets and move a few lines around a bit but it fits great. I had to elongate one of the mounting holes by 2 mm or so. I also had to trim down the hood holder arm bracket about 1 mm.

So very small mods but for a 10 bucks I have a strut tower brace. Not bad.

[FE3-323]

good deal!!!

[wolfy]

Thanks! I like it. I enjoy a nice tight and predictable ride.

If I ever get a free moment I can't wait to fit my new Lower control arms and bushings and ball joints. And later I will tackle the rear suspension.