Kev's '98 Protege Thread

[irishkev90]

Time to begin assembly of this beast. Photos to follow.

Edit: Photos, as promised.













Despite what that last picture shows, the paint actually matches pretty well. Putting her back together was a bit of a paint since a few stubborn bolts broke during disassembly. Got the interior back together, connected the battery and checked all the lights and stereo. Tried starting her up, cranked pretty slow (been sitting since July), but eventually started running. Some squealing from the belts for a few seconds, but now runs just as happy as she did a few months ago.

One problem, though. The headlights don't work. We disconnected the battery to prevent frying any fuses while welding, but it didn't even cross my mind that the HID ballasts are grounded to the chassis, not the battery. The fuses are all fine, highbeam solenoids work fine, but no light. Could be the bulbs, but kind of weird for them both to go at the same time. I'm thinking some voltage from welding got through to the ballasts and ****ed them up. I'll check some time this week. So until then, I'll still be driving the '97. Just hope there's no more snow/salt until I can get this one on the road.

Oh, and Ryan, here's the exhaust we talked about a few posts/pages ago.

[irishkev90]

That's not my Pacesetter, by the way, that's my brother's truck headers

[irishkev90]

She lives! Headlight problem turned out to be just a bad positive connection to the battery. I love free fixes.

Another problem popped up when I tried to drive out of the garage. The shift cable broke on the transmission end because the selector was seized up in the transmission. Ghetto rigged it up with a nut, bolt, pin, and small hose clamp. Hopefully it holds up for a while. Currently waiting for an inspection, I'll upload a photo of the shift cable when I get home (it's already on Facebook).



HTC Droid DNA

[FE3-323]

the panel repair job looks wonderful! that exhaust tho burned my eyes.
if your ever in my area with that car i'll fix the exhaust free of charge

[irishkev90]

Haha, thanks. And I'll keep that in mind. The rocker must have been installed a little high in the front because the bottom of the door was scraping it. My dad "adjusted" it by putting a nice dent in the rocker where it was scraping. Doesn't touch anymore, but now I have some touch up work to do. Also lost the pin for the rear door stopper thing. Not a huge deal since I never have passengers, though. My door will be the only one opening and closing. Need to go through a drive cycle before it can pass inspection. Three items (don't remember what they are) say they're "Not Ready" so I'll drive it a while and bring it back reinspection. Needs to be vacuumed and washed, but drives nicer than the '97. Probably due to the larger, wider wheels and lower profile tires on the JDM beauty.

HTC Droid DNA

[irishkev90]

Passed inspection!

HTC Droid DNA

[FE3-323]

F-yea!! back on the road!

[irishkev90]

With a huge exhaust leak! Never ending story with this car. It's louder than the '97 with the Mazdaspeed catback. Too cold for me to bother with it right now, though :/

HTC Droid DNA

[irishkev90]

Finally got around to vacuuming the car and washing the windows. Doesn't look like it sat in a garage for five months anymore and I can finally see.

[irishkev90]

Exhaust broke the other day. Started dragging on the ground. Brought it to a shop run by a friend of my father to have it fixed. Took a video, but it doesn't portray nearly how obnoxiously loud it was to drive over the mountain to the shop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs2qkoyrzCg

Ryan, shield your eyes





Weird thing is that there was no sign of it breaking at the point it did. There's a huge leak towards the front of the pipe (left end in the pictures), but no leaks, holes or anything where it broke. Can't wait to hear the comments the guy will have after seeing the multiple repairs made to this pipe, haha.

[Foofighter8008]

Wow that is bad lol

[FE3-323]

i can't see anymore.

[irishkev90]

^LMAO. I was going to purchase a BP catback and just replace this whole thing, but I have no where to do it and the weather sucks for doing it in the driveway.

[M323GTR]

All in love for mazdas lol

[monoxidechild]

That exhaust should have been scraped like 4 'fixes' ago. Holy crap!