Kev's JDM 1997 Protege

[irishkev90]

She's getting there. With all the attention I'm spending on the sticker removal, I'm finding small imperfections here and there. A couple very small stone chips along the front of the hood, some light scratches, small dents, etc. A section on the front edge of the hood is bent down and needs to be straightened out, nothing a hammer and a block of wood won't fix. The small dents can be fixed by a paintless dent repair specialist, I think my dad has a couple connections for that The two biggest bits of damage are the scratches on the rear bumper and the driver's door. They'll be repainted at some point, but I'm not too worried since this thing will not be seeing any salty roads. Also, I think he mounted the side skirts just a tad bit too high because they rub on the bottom of the doors. Sanding off a couple millimeters and repainting should be fine.

[irishkev90]

Just removed the last of the stickers. Time to go to Walmart and pick up some wash/wax/whatever to make the 98% of the paint shine.

[monoxidechild]

You have done so much to clean this car up. It was already one of the nicest BH's out there. But had some things that were kind of well, high schooler'ish. THANK YOU for saving this car, and cleaning it up. You have already made a huge difference in the short time you have had it.

[irishkev90]

Thank you. I'm glad I'm doing right with this car and that it's appreciated.

Tonight, I washed it with Meguiar's Ultimate Wash and Wax, then used Meguiar's clay bar kit with their quick detailing spray and finished with Meguiar's liquid wax. I took a before photo around 5:00 when it was still bright out, but I finished around 9:00 and it was too dark to take a good photo. I still need to do the glass, polish the headlights, clean the wheels and paint the wiper arms and plastic trim at the bottom of the windshield (they're so faded and look like crap).

I have two family parties to go to tomorrow afternoon so that stuff will either be done in the morning or on Sunday. And photos will be included.

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Edit: Here's a shot from right after the wash and freshly dried.

[irishkev90]

Alright, let's see if I can list off everything I did for the past two days. Wash, clay bar, wax, wheels and tires plus tire shine, polished and protected headlights, cleaned glass and treated all exterior plastics. Altogether I probably spent a good seven hours cleaning this thing up. On to the pictures.

Before polishing the headlights. They we're too bad, but had a clearly visible yellow tinge to them.





After.





An HDR shot after everything was finished. Not sure how I feel about HDR photos, but oh well.



These are not HDR.













And because I can't name off everything I used, here's a photographic representation of the products used.



And I think this may be the first time I've posted a picture of myself, I hate having my picture taken (I'm awkward like that).

[irishkev90]

Woke up early and had time to get a little work done on the airbox. Currently waiting for the JB Weld to cure between the upper and lower portions of the box. Once that's done I'll get some more fiberglass around the joint to strengthen it, then figure out how to attach the filter seat, figure out mounting, Bondo, paint. Longer process than I was expecting, but I guess that's just the perfectionist side of me.

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[FE3-323]

anxious to see this finished product!!

[MazdaNoob]

it's all looking good man !

[irishkev90]

anxious to see this finished product!!

Same here! Just hope I haven't lost any pieces.

it's all looking good man !

Thank you! There's a car show the first weekend of September, Adirondack Nationals, that I'll be driving up to. It's a classic/muscle car show, so my car won't be in it, but I'd like it to look nice while it's parked. I skipped the polishing stage, but I've got the whole day off before the show and I'll be spending it going over every inch of the car.

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[irishkev90]

Well, the airbox is mostly put together. Just need to finish the filter "seat" and get that attached to the box then smooth it all out and make it look pretty. The I need to start on the part that will hold the filter to the box. Need to get more JB Weld, too.







accidentally put the MAF mount on upside down, so I'll have to cut off the part the mounting bolts go through and just use the ring, not a huge loss. I'll pick up some more JB Weld tonight after work and continue on this tomorrow morning.

Edit: On my way to work when a guy in a Subaru pulls up next to me and says, "Nice car." When I got to work I get compliments on it from my exgirlfriend's aunt and uncle. It's nice to have a car you're actually proud of.

[irishkev90]

More or less how the finished product will look, minus the putty spatula under the front.





I forgot to get more JB Weld last night so I'll either get some before or after work today. Also, the MAF mount slid out of place before the JB could fully cure so I had to rip that off, but it made cutting the rest of that mounting bracket easier. I trimmed the top edge of the airbox to get it as flat as possible, but the sides are bowed in a little bit. After JB Welding the filter seat to the box and reinforcing it with fiberglass, it should look fine (at least from the outside).

I have two weeks before the Adirondack Nationals and I want that to be my deadline. My dad and I are also going to start the quarter panel repair on the '98 this weekend. Gonna be a busy boy for the next couple weeks.

[irishkev90]

Kind of put the airbox on the back burner while the '98 is getting body work done.

Anyway, I was bored before work and wanted to figure out why the A/C doesn't get cold when I turn it on. Started the car, turned on A/C, checked compressor and the clutch wasn't moving at all. Shut it all off and reach down and I can turn it with my hand so it doesn't seem to be seized up. Turn it all back on and check the voltage to the clutch and I get a consistent six volts. I'll hook up a jumper wire from the battery tomorrow and see if that works. Hopefully it does, because I don't want to have to replace another compressor and get it charged, that's not in the budget right now.

Edit: Got bored and looked up all the brake parts I'll need for the ES conversion. New rotors, calipers, etc. (after core return) comes to just under $400 if I order it by the end of the month (Saturday). A bit more than I expected, but worth it. I also plan on sending the new calipers, along with a few other miscellaneous parts, to wtfracing for powder coating. Just need to decide on a color for the calipers. I was originally thinking black for a simple, OEM look, but I'm starting to wonder what color would look good as an accent. Of course there's always red, silver, maybe blue, I just don't want some obnoxious color.

[irishkev90]

Well, just wired the A/C clutch straight to the battery and it works and blows cold air. So thankfully it's not the compressor at fault. Now I have to find out where in the wiring I'm losing about six volts. My Haynes manual seems pretty useless for the location of components, so if anyone knows where the relay for this is located, it would be greatly appreciated. I'll tear the control unit out tomorrow to check the switch, assuming I get up early enough.

Edit: Nevermind. I followed the wire on the '98 (passenger side fender is off for rocker panel repair) and took that relay and swapped it into the '97. The air conditioner works like a charm now. Now I need to get a new relay for the '98.

[irishkev90]

Got a little more work done on the airbox. Starting to annoy me at this point. It'll work, but won't be very pretty on the inside.

[irishkev90]

Getting a P0140 O2 sensor no activity detected, blah, blah, blah. Second time that code came up and starting to wonder if it had anything to do with the car failing emissions a couple weeks ago. I guess I could always swap the sensor from my '98 and see if that fixes it.

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