Kev's JDM 1997 Protege

[Foofighter8008]

Nice! I gotta stop being lazy and get stuff done with mine

[irishkev90]

Yeah, that's how I usually am. But I don't do anything on weekends so I figured I'd get this stuff done.

What do you have planned?

HTC Droid DNA

[irishkev90]

Oh, and I found a screw embedded in the left rear tire. Still holding air just fine, so I decided not to **** with it right now. Been looking at summer tires for the Miata wheels and was thinking of getting a set of Direzza DZ102's. They're kind of on the cheap side and seem to have good reviews. Anyone here have hands on experience with these?

[Foofighter8008]

I don't have a lot of plans. Just repair the rust, repaint, lower it, and do a few cosmetic things. Performance upgrades are last on the agenda since it's my daily. I have the money, just not as much time as I would like

[FE3-323]

lovely new rear swaybar. i definitely like that

[irishkev90]

I was waiting for your approval, Ryan, haha. I think the BJ subframe (what the bar was made for) is slightly different. There's two... stops(?) where it seems like the bushings should be riding next to so the bar doesn't move side to side, but they're nowhere near the brackets on my car. I don't think it'll affect the performance of the bar, just an observation I made when installing.

HTC Droid DNA

[irishkev90]

Got my first ticket with the car. Loud exhaust. Apparently the "fart can" on the car is suddenly too loud. I've had it for almost a year and have never had a problem. Taking off from a red light with a cop in front of me or behind me, passing cops pulling out from parking lots, etc. never gave me a problem. I guess they needed to get their numbers up for the end of the month because they had a Tiburon pulled over no less than five minutes before I got pulled over (that's where I passed them). Complete bull****.

Anyone ever have this problem and resolved it without changing to exhaust? The fix needs to be made by the end of the day. Which is also bull**** because I can't take time off work and I work in the middle of the day. I was actually having a pretty good night, too, but now I'm just pissed beyond belief.

[FE3-323]

your whole state is crooked as ****. best of luck man. change the muffler to something made here in the US thats 50 state legal & provide them with proof next time your stopped or harassed.

[Foofighter8008]

That's weird. Most cops can care less how loud your car is. I bet the cop just hates loud 4 bangers. We never have issues here in southern Indiana, unless it's insanely loud. My friend had a protege with a straight exhaust with a glass pack and it took him a few months to finally get pulled over

[irishkev90]

Yeah, I don't ****ing get it. And I've only got four hours to get it fixed. And if I'm late for work because of this **** I'm going to be pissed the **** off.

Hopefully I can get the 98's muffler off and onto this one, get it inspected, make a copy of the inspection, switch it back and use that as proof that it's not too loud.

HTC Droid DNA

[irishkev90]

My dad noticed the ticked said "Inadequate/No Muffler" and said to take it to Jiffy Lube, tell them it fell off, got a ticket, fixed it and just need them to sign it. They signed it, I made a copy (saying my muffler is fine) to throw in the face of future cops.

On an unrelated note; what's the deal with mounting your license plate at an angle? It looks stupid and I don't get it.

HTC Droid DNA

[Foofighter8008]

People do weird crap these days just to be different

[irishkev90]

Okay, so either the strut steering bearings are bad or the previous owner just didn't install them. I thought the noise was from one of the plastic shields getting caught on something when turning, but it's actually coming from the spring/strut. I'll take a video if I can to show what's going on.

HTC Droid DNA

[irishkev90]

Still overheating and still throwing the P0420 code. Looks like a new cat. is in the near future along with a radiator flush and new tires. Hate spending this money, but it needs to get done.

HTC Droid DNA

[irishkev90]

Just ordered a new catalytic converter and thermostat (with seal and housing/outlet) from rockauto. Came to $267 with shipping. Not too shabby. Need to figure out what's causing the random stutter at idle still. I'll check the IAC and EGR again, but I just checked/cleaned them last year to pass emissions. I need to start working on the hood scoop airbox again, too, so the engine can stop sucking in hot engine bay air.

Edit: Ordered a K&N Elantra filter for the airbox project. It's a lower profile than the original one I picked up so it should help eliminate the clearance problem.