My girlfriend and I recently (2 weeks ago) bought a '02 Protege5. Neither of us have owned a Mazda before, and I dont know a whole lot about them specifically. My girlfriend was (might still be <gah!>) a honda/acura lover, and was into the whole Show Car scene. I myself am a Eclipse Turbo guy

I was wondering if anyone could tell me which mods i should consider doing first for the best performance increase for the money. I've already installed the Injen Cold Air Intake, and It's got an exhaust on it (not sure which one yet, have to lift it, as it came with it. Sounds pretty decent/deep tho)

And can anyone tell me if the 02 P5's headunit has preamp outs on the back? I have a nice lil 4000w system i'd like to throw in, but dont have a double din deck at the moment.... so was wondering if i could run it off the stock for now..

thanks Let me know!

Rubberduck (Yea, its yellow )
Eric & Cari

 

Welcome aboard.

There are somethings you should know about your Protege. First off, they don't respond as well to the N/A mods like other cars (coughHondascough) and forced induction can be pretty pricey (especially when your engine goes BOOM!).

With that being said, these cars are very tossable. Doing suspension mods and wheels & tires will greatly improve the ride.

I have no idea about stereo stuff. Basically my hubby put the headunit it and my shop did a dvd player & some headrest screens for the shows and that was that. I like my hatch space empty.

Anywho...is your car manual or auto? Kartboy makes a nice shorty shifter & bushings.

 

Couldn't have said it any better.
Except, let me know when you're ready to buy a header...

 

LOL yes.

I've done a lot of the N/A stuff already: intake, cams, header, catless exhaust (yay for OK), plug wires, etc. However, my gains were not the same as my fOCUS friends got with the same mods. 20whp vs their 30-40whp. Still though, it DOES make a difference. I also have the MP3 ecu which supposedly is good for a couple of extra ponies. I still have not gotten around to doing another dyno (keep waiting for a "dyno day") to see what, if any, gains I got from that.

My original engine poofed at around 10k miles...got it warrantied through Mazda...but they never told me what the problem was. Screws loose, or rings not sealing properly, or oil starvation or what!!!??? These engines seem so fragile

Still though, they are good looking (turn heads everywhere you go) and fun to drive cars.

 

though i might run into problems i am on the fairly low price side of setting up my turbo kit for my MP3 but a lot of stuff i traded with my friend who has a P5 that had a tubular mani and a MSP ecu so.. heh

 

best thing to spend money on first??? paying off the car. Once you don't owe anything on it you can safely mod it and not worry about it.

Make out a plan of what you the finished product to look like and work backwards. Don't just start throwing on parts. Thats how so many guys end up with half-assed cars.

 

nevaR! Ha!

 

I agree so much...I wasted so much money on crap I ended up taking off I could have already had my turbo, and other parts also

 

Yea same here, I wish I would've thought twice about buying half the things I did. *hint* Thousands of dollars in carbon fiber .. what the hell was wrong with me?

A header wouldn't be a bad investment though (unless you plan on going turbo) and from what I hear the OBX works pretty good on our cars, but if you wanna save some money Gary (Kargoboy) can hook ya up. Also look into AWR motor mounts, they seem to be a pretty popular choice.

 

I am totally new to the site. Ive had my Pro5 for about 2 years and am finally ready to mod it. I have put alot of thought into it, and reading the previou responses i think i am generally headed in the right direction. Its all paid off, so i figured why not go turbo. Ive been looking extensively online for everything that i need, but there are still holes in the plan. so my quesiton...What turbos has ayone heard works the best (ive heard Garrett GT28RS), and are there any good shops to do work in around NY/NJ?

 

dont buy a turbo kit bnased on what turbo is included in the kit. That's not really how it works.

The HiBoost turbo kit for the 2.0L protege is a great kit and it uses an IHI VF series turbo. They make in the 220whp range on low boost and even come with a haltech EMS. Also, in the years I've been in the protege scene I've never seen a hiboost car with a blown motor (well 1 but it was user error). That's a big plus for me.

check out www.protegegarage.com and look under their turbo section for the kit info.

 

i will check it out. Im actually not planning on going by any kit at all actually, im doing piece individually. I know it is going to be more expensive that way, but i think i will be able to get better performance.

 

you'd be wrong.....more times than not. The kits are designed to work with each other.

 

True, but at the same time, ive seen a lot of custom work that has turned out amazing. It will take more time and a lot more care, but thats no big deal. Are there any other companies/manufacturers that you would suggest?

 

not in the protege community.