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Old 22-10-2010, 09:49 PM   #1
Rupewrecht
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: melb.vic.au
Car: AZ-1, Astina Hardtop Turbo, BJ Protege, Beetle
Posts: 16,525
The Slowtegé

So, this is the missus' car.

2003 323 Protegé 1.8 Auto.

It had led a sort of hard life when i came into contact with it - panel damage here and there, and general neglect. But under 60000 kms or so - not bad for a 7 year old car!

First ting i did was buy some decent tyres for it...unfortunately they came with Pulsar alloys that were at least the same specs as the optional 5-spoke Enkei alloys it had before.

Then as i started driving it more...well, i couldn't resist

So on went some Mazdaspeed MS-01Rs with some sticky tyres.



And then an RS*R exhaust that sounded quite good...but the missus dictated she liked having a quiet car, so off it came.



Then i sold the MS-01Rs, so back to the Pulsar rims. Oh well.

Fast forward a while, and her dad kills his Civic, orders a new MKVI Gold GTI, and he borrows the Protegé for 6 months...and then he blows the headgasket. *sigh*

So, we get it back, and the headgasket, radiator , waterpump and timing belt are replaced, and the head is skimmed for a little more compression.

The guys doing the work wash it for the first time since we got it back...and suddenly the cover is covered in dents! It seems it was out in the big May hailstorms and copped it to pretty much every panel. Seems it was grossly overinsured on an agreed value of over $17000 (...wtf!!), so it's going to be repaired and not written off, it seems.

So, i find a couple of rear doors for it as they're not covered as they're 'previous damage', and it goes into the panel beaters to be made completely like new. New bonnet, new boot, new roofskin, and the tops of the guards fixed using painless dent removal where possible. The spoiler and rear bumper are also negotiated into the job, so the car gets a full respray in Champagne Gold. Oh, and the door rub strips removed too (but colorcoded in case they every need to be but back on)

That was last week. and now it looks a million dollars again. Amazing how much gold can fade in the sun!







Tonight i fitted some JDM Familia Sedan variable intermittent wipers to it - so simple to do, too! Might do a writeup for that if i can be bothered. Bets are to see how long it takes her to realise they're different

Next up:
- lower it a little
- find some DY Demio alloys, or maybe colorcode those odd MS-01Rs i've got...or maybe throw on the MS Touring rims as they are period-correct fro the BJ.
- fit the JVC Headunit i bought her last christmas for it
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Last edited by Rupewrecht; 22-10-2010 at 09:52 PM.
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