FSP 1st Gen Protege Project

[jitb37]

I love this car...... just saying

me too

[XelderX]

Not much to update right now. I've got to get my 2nd radiator fan working and then check the alignment. I'm hoping to get to the dyno next Friday to recheck the cam gears. Then it's off to Nationals in Lincoln, NE.

[cojsl]

Then it's off to Nationals in Lincoln, NE.

Will be nice to finally meet you. No co-driver then?

[XelderX]

Will be nice to finally meet you. No co-driver then?

He should be registering soon.

[Mazda_Powered]

awesome!!! i love it!!!

[concealer404]

How'd you end up doing Justin? I saw you were in 5th at one point.

[XelderX]

How'd you end up doing Justin? I saw you were in 5th at one point.

I'm still without decent internet service so I'm posting from my phone. I'll give a full write up when I get better service. I finished 3rd. I'm extremely happy about that and can't wait to show everyone the pictures and video.

[XelderX]

My appologies for not updating in the last few months.

We had a great run at Nationals. We came home and ran a local event where we actually outran the FSP National Champion. It was a very fast course and suited my car's extra stability at speed over the Civic's acceleration. After that was the North Carolina State Championships. We didn't have much luck there. On my co-driver's second run we lost the #2 rod bearing. We attributed it to the extended high RPM's we turned that day and at the previous local event. We towed it home hoping the crank was still in good enough shape to slap a new bearing on it and run for Day 2, but it was borderline and I wanted to save what was left of the crank. The car sat for a few months while my bank account recooperated from all the vacations and I took some time to get the 323 wagon working again. Now that the wagon is operational it was time to get the Protege ready for the 2011 season.

The motor is now out of the car and we are really working on getting the bottom end more reliable and more efficient. This is the first step and the car will be operational no matter what else we modify before the sart of the season.

A simple project I started last week was to ditch the CAI setup I had in favor of a completely segregated cold air box with ducting from the front bumper. Here are a few pictures. Nothing much yet...just a cardboard mock up of the complicated end of the box. It's going to extend about 4" farther into the engine bay that what is completed in the pictures. It will be made out of a material called Polyshield that you can by at most home improvement warehouses.

[cojsl]

Good luck with the engine repairs.

[crazycanadian]

Looks like fun... Hopefully I'll make it down to nationals one day.. I'd love a chance to check out the car up close..

[wheresthericego]

Would it be possible for you to use the crank out of the B8. It is supposed to fit in the BP and have less counterweights therefore lighter weight. I am not sure if the regulations would allow that.

[XelderX]

Looks like fun... Hopefully I'll make it down to nationals one day.. I'd love a chance to check out the car up close..

You need to come down to Nationals. It is a ton of fun and you get to see some amazing stuff. Just study up on the rules and strategies of playing extremely competitive 4-square, find the Atlanta Region party tent, introduce yourself, and then spend the rest of your trip wondering why you haven't done this before. It seriously is a party with 1200 people...like a big music festival, but with cars instead of crappy bands.

Would it be possible for you to use the crank out of the B8. It is supposed to fit in the BP and have less counterweights therefore lighter weight. I am not sure if the regulations would allow that.

The motors have to be used as a whole, meaning no swapping of components from one to the other if it isn't already allowed. I did use the SOHC B6 crank in the DOHC B6 that I put in the BF wagon. It is considerably lighter.

[crazycanadian]

You need to come down to Nationals. It is a ton of fun and you get to see some amazing stuff. Just study up on the rules and strategies of playing extremely competitive 4-square, find the Atlanta Region party tent, introduce yourself, and then spend the rest of your trip wondering why you haven't done this before. It seriously is a party with 1200 people...like a big music festival, but with cars instead of crappy bands.

Yeah I'll see who is going down there this year from up here.. maybe I can catch my self a tire warmer seat... My car is a long way and a lot of cash from being prepped to run in SMF...

[XelderX]

I did a little more work on the air box today. I have two more pieces being shipped this week to put in it and then I can put a lid on it. All the rough outside corners will be covered up with aluminum foil tape which will make it basically "air tight" and pretty solid structurally. The air in it should be very insulated from the engine bay. The two parts I'm waiting on are the 2" flange ports that the ducting hoses from the front bumper will connect to. They will be mounted facing down on the bottom panel of the box directly below the black velocity stack. I'll install a baffle so that the incoming air will have to travel toward the fender and then back toward the intake. I'm not planning on running a filter and I figured the 180* change of direction in air flow would help prevent any major dirt particles from making it to the intake tubing. This thing is also super lightweight. I bet my old dry-flow air filter weighs more.

[FE3-323]

i would have to say, that would be extremely functional