Better late than never . . . learn me Protege 5

Sooooo . . . usually a "learn me" thread predates a purchase, which would make lots of sense, only I didn't do it that way. Bought an 02 Protege 5 this morning even though I haven't really done my homework on them. I know about the rust issues. This one is pretty clean and the wheel arches are very solid. I'm planning to slather the inside of the wheel arches with POR 15 and hope for the best. There's one VERY small rust spot on the rocker cover which I'll clean out. (Yes, I'm aware it probably started from the inside) There's a bit of a creak from the rear of the car, so I'm assuming shocks and/or bushings will be needed in the not too distant future. Its got 140K on the clock, everything works and, overall, its remarkably clean for a 14 year old car. Ended up paying $2,200 for it. Anything that hasn't occurred to me that needs to be done ASAP? How are these to work on? The underside is very clean, so that's good. The engine bay looks a little tighter than the Hondas we've been looking at, but Kazoo Jr. has small hands and it will ultimately be his car, so he'll just have to plan to get greasy.

Sounds like you got it for a good price. Does it have the painted wheels or the chrome ones?

Krown rust control, get some.

I had an '02 and dearly loved it. I've heard they can be prone to oil starvation in high lateral g situations, I never autocrossed mine, wasn't an issue for me. The OEM 16 inch wheels take an oddball tire size and aluminum seems to corrode underneath the wheel finish.

Here are some links for you.

One

Two, kinda

My "build"

Wish Swankforceone was still around, he was the protege/MX3/6 guru.

Pull the carpet up in front of the rear seat and check the floor.

Change the timing belt. Fsde was kind of an interference engine. Some do, some don't.

Stagg struts are beautiful on these.

Creak is probably rear sway bar.

626 v6 front brakes bolt on for a cheap big brakes kit.

205/50/16 fits perfectly. Cheaper and more selection.

Ac will occasionally fail in lower speeds. Replace the fan switch and it fixes the problem.

Tint helps immensely.

I have a custom fiberglass sub box for an 8 in an unused part of the hatch and a mazda speed mid mount spoiler left over that I'll let go cheap.

Header helps acceleration, but loses fuel economy.

Thanks for the information. BTW - here's the car in question:

As for some of the questions above, it has painted wheels, and they are pretty bad. I assume they'll have to be stripped, etch/primed and painted. I'll start with the rear sway/end links in tracking down the creak. I'm actually looking forward to working on this car because it's SOOOOOOO much cleaner underneath than my Miata. What I haven't figured out yet is why this one is a survivor. I checked inside the wheel wells and didn't see any sign of flaking, bondo or prior metal work, so it doesn't appear to be a rebuild.

I just sold our 01 Protege ES and it served us faithfully for 12 years. My son was driving it for last couple of years but is now in a Miata. The handling is great and they are a lot of fun to drive. I once used it on track at an instructor trading day and it was fine.

They are known to oil starve in high G corners but it is more a problem with R compound tires. The issue is one of oil draining back to the pan to slowly. One of the solutions is fabricating a higher capcity pan.

As for the timing belt my car actually popped the belt at around 50K without damaging anything. I changed it again at 120K.

In the 140K we had the car it needed two timing belts, one injector, a coil pack, fan switch and the A/C compressor which went at around 120K

The only gripe I had about the car was it was kind of boomy inside but I new that when we bought it. Note the non stock muffler and CAI did add to the interior noise.

Tom

JtspellS wrote: Wish Swankforceone was still around, he was the protege/MX3/6 guru.

What happened to him?

I have an 03. Has been a great car, other than this pesky, weird valvetrain noise coming from one of the intae valves from the #4 cylinder. I have pulled the valve cover, pulled the cam, inspected the lifter, checked lash, changed the oil. It was noisy one day, then just cleared up!

Harvey wrote:

JtspellS wrote: Wish Swankforceone was still around, he was the protege/MX3/6 guru.

What happened to him?

I heard he was hanging around on some offroad forums, post-Montero purchase.

I've been lusting after a Protege5 for some time now. Unfortunately, they now have way too many miles on them to get serious.

maybe related but I dont know anything about this exact car:

when mazda 5's (the minivans) get noisy sway bar related noises its usually the bushings, not the end links. YMMV.

Never owned one but they are fun to drive. All I know the ones i've seen seem to rust quite a bit.

I've been craving one of these for years, nice find. With prices of the first-gen 3 getting lower, I'm not sure I'll ever end up getting one though.

I've read the Protege actually rotates fairly well for a front driver. Is that true?

In reply to CyberEric:

Yes, during one of the autocrosses I took it to the course designer was about to put money that I used the e-brake on one hairpin until he rode with me, even on dirt its just a manner of letting off and getting back on the throttle.

Usually the rust I see on Protege 5s starts in the hatch around the badges. I would probably look at that if you're trying to figure out if/where it has any rust.

In reply to JtspellS:

Good to know, thanks. I covet that ability in a FWD. Anyone know if the first-gen 3 will do that too?

Huh. I drove one at an autocross once with some very average tires and otherwise totally stock. Thought it understeered very badly, and really needed either more rear bar or less front to be able to put any power down, but that was probably because of the tires. I was fairly new to autocrossing at that point though. Otherwise it seemed to be a very competent car.

Just a quick thread bump. Autocrossed it for the first time today. It's currently WAAAY under-tired, so there may be reasons other than issues with the chassis itself, but it plowed like a city bus. I'm assuming even decent tires would go a long ways.

Good to know, thanks.

Just looked back at this thread for some info in some of the suggestions, and thought I'd bump it with an update. We coated all the usual trouble spots with POR 15 last fall and seem to have made it through the winter without any substantial rust issues. Kind of a litmus test for POR 15 for me, since most of these rapidly return to the earth in this part of the country. We did some suspension work to get rid of the groan/clunk issues common to these cars. We've done a coil pack replacement, wires and a new intake trunk. Overall, the car is one of the easier I've ever owned to work on. It's not exceptionally fast and really seems to wheeze out at the top end, but the low-end torque is decent for a 4 banger. I see what others are saying about a "boomy" interior. I'm starting to suspect some of it is an airflow induced harmonic with the roof rack cross bars, but haven't removed them yet to test the theory.

The best part is Kazoo Jr. loves it. He's learned how to drive a 5 speed and is looking forward to being the full time driver in a few months. It's cheap to insure. MPG's are decent, low/mid 20's with about 90% city driving.

This car haunts me. I want one so bad. When they show up for sale, it's a basket case or I lack the funds.

I had Brembo blanks and good pads, Mazdaspeed .75" springs on KYB GR2's. Handled fantastically. B&M short-shifter and bronze bushings made for great feeling gear selection too.

Had to sell it for personal reasons but what a great little car.