Kev's '98 Protege Thread

[irishkev90]

Got the door on the car, finally! Only mishap was the front edge of the door rubbing on the fender as I tried to get the hinge bolts in place No one was home to help. And a heads up for anyone else swapping pre- and post-facelift doors, the wiring connectors between the door harness and dash harness are DIFFERENT! Wish I knew this before, it added a good 15-20 minutes of fishing both harnesses out of the doors and swapping my '98 harness into the '95/'96 door. Other than that, everything works, window motor is a little slow, though.

And Ryan, the Peel & Seal held up pretty well overnight, no peeling or anything. I think it all depends on how well you first apply it. Heat up the metal then run the heat gun over the P&S and it's a bitch to get off after it sets.

I also put P&S on the inner panel as suggested. It's on the inside of the door, though, so you can't see it when the door panel comes off. I wrapped some around the crash bar, as well. On to the pictures.

I did not paint the door handle, just cleaned it up. Looks much better than the faded piece of crap that was on the original door.



A close-up of the matte black window frame on the front door vs. the stock frame on the rear door.



The window frame pops out a bit towards the top. Strange, since the body of the door lines up perfectly. Oh well.

[FE3-323]

roll the window down put a knee on the edge of the door & you can bend the window frame so it flush's up again. I can't tell you how many car's i've done that too. works wonders

[irishkev90]

Haha, I actually did exactly that when I noticed it. It brought it in a little bit, it stuck out farther when I first put it on. Might yank on it some more in the next few days.

The sound of the door shutting has definitely changed. Not quite Caddy-like, but does have a more pleasing thump when closing it. Also, the Peel & Seal has helped keep the sound of the speaker in the car, mostly. I put my stereo up to my usual listening level, 15 (fairly loud since I've got an amp in the trunk), and closed all doors and windows. I knelt down and put my ear on the driver's door, right where the speaker is, and could clearly hear the music and feel the vibration in the door. Go do the same on the passenger's door and I can barely make out the sound and the vibration is pretty much eliminated. I'd say a third layer on the outer skin and a second on the inner would be ideal, and still cheaper than Dynamat. Then maybe a layer of rubberized undercoating to really seal it up, but then I'd have to take it all back apart, not doing that right now.

[FE3-323]

damn. makes me excited to tear mine apart & mess with it. Altho i won't put anything on the inside of the outer door skin right now (panel's aren't straight & perfect, theres a few dents)
I really want to go through the floor pan again & cover it in attempts to remove more drone resonation.

keep up with updates!

[irishkev90]

There's one extremely small dent in the door that I didn't notice until I was done with it. I tried taking a picture, but it's so small it wouldn't show up, so I'm not worried about it.

[irishkev90]

Anyone need any of this crap? The wiring harness is from a 1995 or 1996 (junkyard car, not sure on year, but it was pre-facelift) and all the connections and stuff works. I noted the year because pre-facelift and post-facelift had a different connector from car-to-door, just a heads up. Everything else is from my 1998. Window motor works great, weather stripping has some damage at the top, but still seals up, all the clips (19 purple, one white) are there, window seal has no damage. Any questions, let me know.

[irishkev90]

Note to self: Always tape the edges of the door and fender when reinstalling door. Damn it.

[irishkev90]

No work has been done, but damn, I'm getting horrible fuel consumption. And a P0170 code. No intake leaks, O2 sensors were both replaced about 2 years ago.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2

[FE3-323]

whats the code mean??

[irishkev90]

Fuel Trim Bank 1, I think. Could be a number of things, but I haven't had any free time to check more than just intake leaks yet.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2

[Mazda_Powered]

when was the last time you changed the plugs or fuel filter? I'd check em both out, if you flip the fuel filter upside down all this nasty crap may come out lol

[irishkev90]

I think I replaced the fuel filter last year and the plugs the year before that. Honestly, I have a hard time remembering when I did something or how long ago I did it.

I'll probably start with the plugs and wires along with replacing the air filter.

There are also a couple small oil leaks somewhere and it was overheating last summer. I might as well just find a new car, this one has seen better days

HTC Droid DNA

[Mazda_Powered]

I'm no ODB2 guy, but I found you a link here that may help, I learned a few things reading it myself lol

http://www.obd-codes.com/p0170

[irishkev90]

I read through that when I first pulled up the code.

Anyway, I cleared the code well over three hundred miles ago and hasn't come back on. Fuel consumption seems to have returned to normal, as well, though I haven't calculated anything yet to be certain. Hopefully it just fixed itself somehow.

Also, my exhaust has yet another leak. Found an OEM BP cat-back on eBay for $150 plus shipping. Cheapest I could find, so I'll probably grab that. I'm sick of patching up holes.

And as for my swiss cheese quarter and rocker panel, my dad said it'll only take two days to replace them and get it in primer. Good enough for me.

Still looking for a JDM left turn signal, too.

HTC Droid DNA

[irishkev90]

Just won a $50 ac compressor on eBay for $35. Also made on offer of $100 on a $150 exhaust system.