03 mazdaspeed protege build

Dusterbd13 wrote: Were they leaking or wore out yet?

worn out

darnit. i was hoping.....

ill be watching the build and lusting after yellow on rfp1's.

4 down 20 to go

Well in the 3 months since I've posted I've fitted the garage with extra lighting, collected a few more parts and started another project.

Started sculpting a clay grill to make a fiberglass mold and make a carbon fiber grill for myself. Very slow process. Starting to plan out a roll cage as well. Really it's been far too cold to make any real progress though.

So after all the time and machining I've put into the rear links with the bushing design I've opted to go with solid aluminum rod and LH+RH threaded rod ends. I've been looking into polycarbonate (lexan) material for the windows. Per SCCA rules the front has to be a minimum of 1/8" thick. The sides I'm not sure yet but I'm thinking 1/16" thick. For the front window I have been trying to find a good way of fastening it down and it being somewhat quickly and easily removable. Best thing I've come up with so far are Dzus fasteners. I've also been looking into seats and I think I'm going to use my SCCA membership discount on a MOMO starter seat and a Racequip 6pt harness or Gforce. Hopefully I can get all this buttoned up by or before the first autocross in April.

Have to ask, what are you going to do with the made bushings now?

JtspellS wrote: Have to ask, what are you going to do with the made bushings now?

Well since I only have a few made I may try to trim them down for one part of the trailing arms.

New aluminum for the rear link kit

Looks nice. Good luck with it!

crankwalk wrote: Looks nice. Good luck with it!

Thanks

My friend came over and helped me rip the dash out and trimmed some bracketry off of the bar. Deleted the heater core and all the blower parts. I need to make a custom mount for the cluster to mount to. I've got a lot of AN fittings coming Monday for the fuel and oil lines for a couple parts. Intercooler will be here Tuesday and then I'll mock it up on the crash bar. Most likely make custom brackets for it and trim some of the metal off the bar.

Well I got the links trimmed and I started to drill them. I got 1 done and then the drive belt on our lathe exploded. So until we replace it they'll sit

Got some more goodies when I got home

Nice build. What SCCA class rules are you building it to? AutoX or road racing. As far as easy windshield mounting, my MX-6 GT STU touring car uses 4 (2 top and 2 bottom) simple windshield clips that screw into rivnuts. Most larger plastic companies should carry the Lexan you need. Don't forget Lexan is a brand name (like Kleenex) of a poly-carbonate.

lenhart06 wrote: Nice build. What SCCA class rules are you building it to? AutoX or road racing. As far as easy windshield mounting, my MX-6 GT STU touring car uses 4 (2 top and 2 bottom) simple windshield clips that screw into rivnuts. Most larger plastic companies should carry the Lexan you need. Don't forget Lexan is a brand name (like Kleenex) of a poly-carbonate.

Well initially I was going to SMF but then I tore the interior out so now it's going to be F Prepared but, eventually I'd like to turn it into a road racer. I'm and engineer for a custom cryogenic machinery company so acquiring the plastic and even metal is no problem for me and at a pretty descent price. I like the dzus fasteners since they make it sort of quickly removable.

You don't need a parts car do you? My friend has one with a severe motor issue he is trying to sell.

singleslammer wrote: You don't need a parts car do you? My friend has one with a severe motor issue he is trying to sell.

No, thanks though!

The route you are going is close to STU (Super touring Under) road racing rules. A few things to consider that will be helpful if you decide to go the STU route: remounting the original dash structure (gage cluster and all other controls can be removed) Front grill must be stock with badges but splitters are open. Headlights must be functional. FIA seat does not require a seat back brace to the cage. Cockpit adjustable boost controls within drivers reach are prohibited. Factory ecu's must remain but can be chipped/modified/piggybacked. Rear wing can only be single plane and no longer then 48".

Well I've already gone beyond the STU rules since I've modified the PCV and other emissions parts and I'd rather not put the dash back in. It wasn't fun taking it out and some of the mounting brackets have been trimmed off already. I plan on building up more to the FP rules. It just will take time.

Cleverfrog wrote: Well I've already gone beyond the STU rules since I've modified the PCV and other emissions parts and I'd rather not put the dash back in. It wasn't fun taking it out and some of the mounting brackets have been trimmed off already. I plan on building up more to the FP rules. It just will take time.

In STU (road racing STU not to get confused with solo STU) emission parts can be removed. As far as the dash, it can be just the outer shell and you could easily mount with duzs fasteners and be removable. It just follows with the World Challenge Rules to give a "stock" appearance. I assume you are referring to FP (F prepared) solo rules since FP (F production) road racing rules don't allow turbo charged engines.

lenhart06 wrote:

Cleverfrog wrote: Well I've already gone beyond the STU rules since I've modified the PCV and other emissions parts and I'd rather not put the dash back in. It wasn't fun taking it out and some of the mounting brackets have been trimmed off already. I plan on building up more to the FP rules. It just will take time.

In STU (road racing STU not to get confused with solo STU) emission parts can be removed. As far as the dash, it can be just the outer shell and you could easily mount with duzs fasteners and be removable. It just follows with the World Challenge Rules to give a "stock" appearance. I assume you are referring to FP (F prepared) solo rules since FP (F production) road racing rules don't allow turbo charged engines.

Ah I haven't read too deep into the club racing rules yet. Turbo in FP (solo) is only permitted when it was available on the car as OEM or noted in the appendix. The MSP came stock with a tiny turbo. Really as far as the club racing goes I want to do more of the time trial stuff but I'll cross that bridge later.

I always loved Mazdas I had 3 of them before. Two 626 and a 323. They were very good on gas and quick on the go. I wish today's Mazdas had the same fuel efficiency compared to the competition like they used to :( I like Yellow but did you think about giving it a really unique color? You could wrap it in car vinyl film. There are lots of really nice options and it will also protect your original paint. Check out some colors here CWS car vinyl supplier

I actually have thought about doing a blue that I saw on an aston martin.

I love these things. Buddy of mine said the mounts were above and beyond the best thing he did to his.

I dream of a spicy orange with a much stouter driveline. Would I be murdered for honda swapping a spicy msp? :)

Ill be following this build closely, some really neat stuff so far

Well, there is a person on m247 doing a gearbox mod that will stop the shafts from separating which is the main cause of shredding gears. So I'm hoping in that. All the link shafts have been drilled out. Now I have to tap them and order the rod ends. I also ordered some blue powder coating for parts. Going to switch all the green crap to the blue.

Got the 6 point harness in the mail last night along with powder coating. Really it's been too cold to do anything in the garage the past couple days.