hey everyone, i fell in love with the mazdaspeed protege (the foglight edition), i was just wondering

how do you guys like it? how has the maintenence been so far? nothing horrible i hope....

any kinks... and if u were to pick a car would u change it to something else?

this will be my first car... and i like the idea of turbo for its upgradeablitly, but i dont think ill be able to handle something as excessive as the srt-4.

anyways, ya, just give me ur thoughts

Thanx

Damious

<--- awesome *** smilie

 

the stock PCM in the mazdaspeeds suck. no tunability whatsoever except for sending it out to be reflashed. but thats expensive, and would need to be done anytime you changed your setup.

i love the way my car handles. it stops well (could be better), and carves corners. when i say carves corners, i mean it. miniscule body roll, very predictable steering.

i installed a Gillis boost controller on it, turned the boost on 3.25 PSI from stock, and dynoed 180 fwhp. with the curb weight of ~2800 lbs, this car is fun and gives 99+ PI-headed mustang GTs alot of trouble.

you need to get the AWR motor mounts and Kartboy shifter bushings.

stereo? ehhh. i like the MP3 capabilities and Sirius hook up, but the sub aready **** out on me. at the least i would upgrade the sub and all speakers.

 

could i replace the PCM with an aftermarket 1? or is that to much trouble?

having to do it each time would get annoying.... what characteristics does it cause when i dont do it?

i wasn't really thinking of touching the soundsystem or handling, more so the brakes and power... but im only planning on running a stock turbo for a good while after i got it... are ur gains pretty much the safe number? or can we go higher?


Damious

 

your best bet is a standalone fuel/ignition management system. Autronic and Motec come to mind...

your PCM needs to understand what is going on each and every time you make a major change to your system, i.e. adding more fuel will freak the computer, more than 10 PSI of boost will freak the computer, etc. so in order to reflash your PCM everytime you make a major modification will result in lots of downtime and hassle... please see the first paragraph about standalones, .

the motor can withstand ~ 250 whp. i hope to hit 215-220 without having to go into the electronics of the motor.

 

true on the pcm limiting.only 9.5 psi without any upgrades sucks.28k miles on mine and only had to put in the updated rear swaybar bushings.stock tires about junk and cupped bad makes a lot of noise at speed because of it.other than that not one single problem.i will drive it to at least 200k miles just like my 88 626 5 door turbo 5 speed.its clocking over 225k miles and still running strong