The Slowtegé

[Rupewrecht]

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

[woofy]

Just so it makes sense in my head...your loaned the car, they left it outside, it copped a heap of hail and they didn't tell you about it.....? Hope they coughed up something if that is the case...(in my head the full excess) and a bit to boot as it will affect future premiums....or is there some other family deal involved...and it was acquired via family..

[Rupewrecht]

Apparently they didn't notice the hail damage. But yes, the father paid the excess (and the headgasket etc). He's not a car person at all, and has no mechanical sympathy. It wasn't my choice to lend it to him, lets just say that.

But no, the missus has had it from new.

[woofy]

Yeah after 3 loanings my wife made me do when we were first married and the escalating issues each time we did, I finally said no more.

The last one ended with her car left with a flat battery in a random carpark with no keys as they were lost later in the night after it was left there.

[Rupewrecht]

Geeeez, that's ridiculous.

Oh, that was my arm out the window as you turned into Canterbury this morning!

[Ghoru]

wow...my wife wont even let me change the gear knob lol! hell she still cracks a tanty cos i swapped the standard double din HU for a single din and that was 3 years ago

[woofy]

I didn't notice you Dan, it's been a busy week and my brain has been ticking along with what I have to do each day. That person I mentioned above is my brother in law....

[Rupewrecht]

Forgot i'd done a worklog for this! Since last update:

- Added another set of gold MS-01Rs. They look better than silver with the Champagne Silver, i reckon.
- Fitted the JVC headunit to the car - MP3 ftw.
- Put in a Familia 1500RS white gauge cluster.

[Rupewrecht]

Forgot to add to the list above - new metallised legal tint on the windows, after the old stuff had started to discolor and bubble. Free, too! Lifetime warranty FTW.

And now new wheels. Looks surprisingly good!

[marcs_sp20]

Haha, that looks cool!

You should throw in the grey headlights, then it'd look the biz

[Rupewrecht]

Originally Posted by marcs_sp20

You should throw in the grey headlights, then it'd look the biz

I thought about that - that's actually the reason i bought them - but it looked too damn hard to remove them so i decided i CBF just to see what they'd look like.

[marcs_sp20]

LOL, 15mins is all it takes to remove the bumper, hop to man!!

[Rupewrecht]

Originally Posted by marcs_sp20

LOL, 15mins is all it takes to remove the bumper, hop to man!!

Need HowTo

[marcs_sp20]

Originally Posted by Rupewrecht

Need HowTo

http://www.mazdaspd.com/manual_files/09-10.pdf

9-10-5 & 9-10-6

[Rupewrecht]

Haha knew you'd be able to link to one. Cheers!

edit: What the hell, it's just clipped on? Oh, no wait, a coupla screws above the grille. Geeeeez.

[marcs_sp20]

You have 2x 10mm bolts at the guards, 2x 10mm bolts at the grille, and whatever else underneath the car, and yeah its a peice of cake

Good reason to replace the headlights clips, too!

[NaughtyGT]

Good score with the tint Dan Those wheels are small but do look kinda sexy Least the tyres are a sensible price for them.

[Rupewrecht]

Just had it serviced yesterday, as there was a few things i wanted checked out that i couldn't do (due to lack of space/flat ground/ability!)

It's done about 80000kms, just fyi, and already needs rear swaybar bushes and front/rear lower control arm bushes. Next service for those.

Also got them to throw on the MS muffler for it. Quite a nice tone to it, and not obnoxious at all.

[Ice88]

Needs some dropage to make the rims look the piece

[Rupewrecht]

So, this is going in to have the bushes done tomorrow.

Also going to do the caster mod, and throw some springs in it and a strut brace on the front at the same time.

Haven't decided on RS*Rs or AutoExe springs. Am thinking the RS*Rs, as they're slightly softer than the AutoExes, but the AutoExes are progressive...and progressive might be a bit nicer in a daily driver (and might sneak under the radar a bit more...LOL). Thoughts?