Mazda Protege 5 Track car project : Wheel Change , Back at Road Atlanta , Repairs , Dyno session…
It has been awhile since I have updated the build process, so there is a lot to catch up on. First thing is selling the Work Emotions, and getting a set of FD wheels to try and save some more weight. The FD Wheels are a popular choice for Proteges due to their spec 16×8 , but their high offset and the lip on their hub makes it require a minimum 3mm spacer.
Back out at Road Atlanta with the FD wheels. I also got the idea of sealing off the foglight covers to help me with any sort of restriction. I cant say it helped at all, or made a difference, but I liked the look..
I had a pretty good consistent event, but under hard turning I kept getting a light squeal. I kept checking and checking, and I had attributed it to the pads, and the brake dust plate toughing my warped rotors.
I was not in a push hard mood because it was my first event back at Road Atlanta since hitting the wall. But being dry i had nothing to worry about, but I was more concerned about the car being the same as it was before. The scrubbing squealing noise really got in my head so I could never fully relax. I did manage to get 8mph faster around the track, but still lacked in some areas. I think if i would had been able to focus on driving instead of the noise I could have done a new Personal best, but I did not wanna take any chances pushing too hard.
Here is a video of one of the laps from the day.
A late night Yahoo Auction Japan search granted me these rare and discontinued Autoexe / Maxim Works 4-2-1 header.
Quick comparison of the 2. You can see the difference in the OBX header and the Maxim Works header. The small wrinkles in the OBX header is minimal, but at this point everything counts.
In order to run this header I will need to have my midpipe shortened to fit properly.
So I was able to finally find the source of the squealing noise on the front of the car. It was the front driver side wheel bearing. I had replaced it when I first got the car, but on Proteges’ its a high failure point, so it was no surprise. But I did want to show a photo of the broken knuckle from me trying to press out the hub bearing without removing the retaining ring clip. The worst part about it is that I managed to break both of them, before a friend of mine saw my silly mistake..
New Dorman Hub Bearing. Side note, about these hub bearings. When I installed the FD Wheels, I only had about 4 turns on the lug nuts. So I ordered extended studs. But the hubs I had on the car had a crazy size stud that was not OEM, after days of trying to find a matching extended wheel stud I gave up. Coincidentally I found out that my front wheel hub was bad, so it gave me the chance to replace it with a Dorman hub bearing which does carry the proper OE size wheel studs. I purchased the other set of hubs from Rock Auto, and at the time it was the cheapest brand, I would not advise them, because if you ever break a stud you can not replace it.
2 years of abuse on these rotors, it was way overdue.
New Front Knuckles , bearings, hubs, and extended studs.
Everything installed back on, as well as the hub centric H&R 5mm wheel spacer so the FD wheels can sit flush on the hub.
A trip to the pull-a-part and I scored a transmission as well as a new front bumper. I literally walked to the car and the transmission was laying on the ground already ready for me…
I was never too pleased with side bumper vents I made, and it was slightly damaged form the wall at RA, once I got the bumper home I realized it was aftermarket and the mounts had already been torn.
Mazdaspeed lip installed..
installed…
I also got a chance to get the car back on the dyno with the FS-ZE intake manifold. This intake manifold is the matching manifold for the engine, it has a extra resonance chamber specifically for the VICS butterfly system, but mine was not working. So I removed them, and sealed it up. The results was a smoother powerband despite a loss of power and torque. Which could be attributed to the lack of the VICS valves.
