Kev's JDM 1997 Protege

[DuRWooD]

Looks good. I would never have the patience for that. Sandblasting calipers is tedious enough.

Have you made any progress with the lighting?

[irishkev90]

Not yet. I've checked virtually every store in my area and no one has any normally closed. I'll have to order some. I'll definitely let you know how it all works out, though.

[irishkev90]

Took it up to 5,000 rpm today. Haven't been over 4,000 since I got it. Might be time for a good ringing out on the highway this weekend with some kind of fuel system cleaner in the tank.

Also got an email from AWR about the delay of getting my sway bar. They need to make more aluminum stand-off subframe brackets. I'm assuming a few more days for this before it gets shipped out, but there was no estimate given.

And my SEMA registration is pending, though my father said everything was fine and I only owe him $7.50 for airfare.

[irishkev90]

Since I'm going to SEMA his year my dad asked if I wanted to use his fancy pants Canon EOS camera or just use my cell phone (which takes pretty decent photos, it's what I use for all the photos I upload). Took a few comparison shots with both and the Canon takes much cleaner shots. I'd like to play around with the other lenses he's got, too.

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Canon EOS


Edit: Also, the AWR sway bar should be here Friday. Just in time for the weekend

[irishkev90]

Voila!



The aluminum mount stand-offs are backordered so I'll have to wait for them to get more and ship them out before I can install Oh well, bedroom jewelry for a while.

[FE3-323]

thats a fancy bar!!!

[irishkev90]

Indeed!

[irishkev90]

Getting a P0420 code. Meh!

[irishkev90]

The P0420 code came back. I'll take care of that soon.

Started the car a few minutes ago and it's making a weird ticking noise I haven't heard before. Wasn't doing it last night after work. Seems to run fine, but took my mom's car because I wasn't comfortable with that noise. Sounds like it's coming from the passenger side of the engine. Took a video, I'll post when I get back home.

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Edit: Here's the video. Anyone ever heard this before? Just checked the oil and it's full. Brown, but not black.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=471118769668624&notif_t=video_processed

Also uploaded it to the Clubprotege Facebook page.

[rafaelrezende]

Wow, congratulations, great mazda !!!

I like the modifications.

I need this clean headlights !!!!! x)

[irishkev90]

Well, time to tear into it to see what the problem is. Wish the Haynes manual had better instructions/illustrations for the Z5, but I'll just take my time, I guess.

[clement_ghost]

Nice project man!

Have you noticed any gain with your custom ram-air?

[irishkev90]

Haven't finished it yet. I need a lower profile filter. The current one I based it on is two inches tall and once I stalled won't let the hood shut. K&N has a one inch tall filter that should work, but haven't ordered it yet.

I've been spending most of my time getting the '98 ready for winter duty so my projects with that have been put on hold.

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[irishkev90]

Just got back from Las Vegas last night. Glad to say there's no "Hangover" story. Went to check on the car just a few minute ago and it's not making that ticking sound anymore. I let it idle up to operating temp, stuck a screwdriver on various parts of the engine, nothing out of the ordinary. There's the usual injector tick and some very light valve tick, but nothing coming from the timing cover area like before. Revved it up a few times, held it at 3,000 rpms for a few seconds, nothing bad happened and ran smoothly. Well, smoothly for what I'm used to. I'll run some fuel system cleaner through it, oil still looks good, clean the MAF.

It does tend to hang on for a second or two when I let off the gas instead of going straight to engine braking. I might have to adjust the throttle body a little to get rid of any play or sticking that might be causing that. It's kind of annoying, especially during spirited driving runs.

[irishkev90]

I really wish AWR would get me the stand-off brackets for their sway bar I ordered last month. They said if they can't get me any they'll send me a used set, but I don't know, we'll see.

Got to take a pretty sharp, almost 180* turn tonight after work. The car still has crazy understeer, so I can't wait to get this new bar on and tighten everything up back there.