FSP 1st Gen Protege Project

[FE3-323]

Progress is looking good!!! bump for more pics

[XelderX]

Progress is looking good!!! bump for more pics

I'll have some more work done on the motor mounts tomorrow. I'll try and remember to bring my camera with me to the garage.

[FE3-323]

anything??

[XelderX]

anything??

I'm making a few adjustments to the motor mounts before I bolt the motor in. I'll be doing that tomorrow and I'll post some pictures of the modified mounts.

[FE3-323]

awesome, thanks

[XelderX]

Sorry, I haven't gotten any better pictures of the motor mounts. I'll try and do that the next time I take the motor back out of the car. I did make the Delrin bushings for the front control arms and I spent a little time drilling holes in the shift linkages to lighten them up as much as possible.

[FE3-323]

were those holes really nessicary??? it will rot much much quicker now that you've opened & exposed it. those delrin pieces look great! good work. im curious how they will feel

[XelderX]

were those holes really nessicary??? it will rot much much quicker now that you've opened & exposed it. those delrin pieces look great! good work. im curious how they will feel

I was hoping the holes would save a little more weight than they actually did. I will probably replace the entire linkages (except for the part where the shifter is) in aluminum now since I want more weight savings. Every ounce I can save is important. Since this car will never see any street driving I'm willing to sacrifice some strength for less weight. One of my local and national competitors is a 1600lbs '79 Rabbit with over 100hp. The only advantage I have is that his car is extremely hard to drive at the limit where the Protege gives the driver a lot of feedback through the chassis, steering wheel, and pedals. I've driven the Rabbit and its very fast, but it's hard to correct things on the fly. You either nail it or you spin out.

[1967cutlass]

Is it even legal in the rules to drill holes in ****?

[XelderX]

Is it even legal in the rules to drill holes in ****?

Yea, certain things are unrestricted which means you can lighten them any way you want or replace them all together. Engine pulleys, brake rotors, shift linkages, strut housings, strut bars...on a national level people (me included) get really crazy with weight reduction since it's basically a free performance mod.

[vtec-this]

looks great. Just make sure you do some rustproofing on the shifter linkage. Great idea though, any idea how much you saved? IE did you weigh the shavings?

[1967cutlass]

Yea, certain things are unrestricted which means you can lighten them any way you want or replace them all together. Engine pulleys, brake rotors, shift linkages, strut housings, strut bars...on a national level people (me included) get really crazy with weight reduction since it's basically a free performance mod.

lol that's sweet, I'll have to keep that in mind.

[XelderX]

looks great. Just make sure you do some rustproofing on the shifter linkage. Great idea though, any idea how much you saved? IE did you weigh the shavings?

It's actually less than a pound right now, which is less than what I want. I'm probably going to have the linkages made out of aluminum to save more weight.

[FE3-323]

replace the actual shifter with a pacesetter (aluminum) that'll save some weight

[XelderX]

replace the actual shifter with a pacesetter (aluminum) that'll save some weight

Awesome. Glad to know something like that is available.