bakchoi

I live in Vancouver, B.C.
I might look into buying a mp3, its about 28k cdn.
The orange color is okay, but i perfer the gunmetal 2003.5 mp3 or the yellow one. The bad thing is that they change the spolier and there is no foglights anymore for the 2003.5, is it possible to buy an 2003 spolier and put it into the the 2003.5 mp3??
Is the fit for the bumper perfect??

What are the +/- things about this car??
And does anyone have any hook up in Vancouver


Thanks

jlanger

In america anyway the MP3 adn Mazdaspeed (MSP) are totally diferent proteges. With the bumpers and such. The 03 MSP bumper shoudl fit on the 03.5 MSP, it'll take quite a bit of work I'd assume it's similar to puttin the P5 front end on a normal protege. As for the spoiler that shoudl be easy, just make sure that you get the color matched right. You can get the spoiler from the dealer installed for about $500 I beleive. Otherwise the 03.5 front end is pretty cool, it makes some air intakes for your front brakes instead of havign the foglights, not too bad of a trade off in my book. However, the spoiler on the 03.5 is bad compared to the older version.
pluses for the MSP,
probably the best track car for the money out there.
It's a protege!
great sound system
LSD, Turbo, one of the best suspension setups out there
Minuses
only 170hp, (vs 220 for the SRT4)
Rough ride
Tranny limits the amount of hp that the car can really take
slower then most other sport compacts off the line
last model year (the mazda3 is coming out in the winter)

b_real45

The TRANNY is the only limiting factor on how much power the car can take??? Where are you getting this info from? Don't feed someone useless info. The engine itself is not designed to be a turbo motor. Put the same turbo the SRT-4 has (16G) and run it at 14psi and see how long the motor stays together.

kenchan

tranny? hummm..i thought the protege's motor can only handle like max 7-8psi until they blow.

b_real45

The Mazdaspeed can handle a little more thanks to ECU modifications from factory. But, it is still by no means a turbo motor. It will not be able to tolerate 12psi+ with a larger turbo.

bakchoi

So anyone have any hook up to mazda dealership up in Vancouver, B.C.

28g is still a bit to much for an mazdaspeed

Funky Buddha

When you look at a 2003.5 MSP..it doesn't have fog light. But you do see an extra lip spoiler that's attached to the bottom of the bumper. The fog light holse seem smaller because the lip spoiler extends all the way there. You can remove that thing and put the foglights in. The bumper is exactly the same as the 2003 MSP, MP3 and the P5. I'm not too sure on how they mount though but they look exactly the same when you remove that little lip. As for spoilers, I think they mount differently so that you'll have to drill holes into the middle of the trunk as there is an extra "stand" on the 2003 MSP/MP3 spoiler.

One more thing..there is no more MP3 for 2003.

jlanger

This is information from here regarding how our trannies really aren't able to handle much more over 215hp. This has been discussed thoroughly. I didn't say that this was the only reason the engine has limited hp, but it does creat some issues. There are a few differing beliefs on this issue.
This engine isn't designed for a turbo motor true, and I wish they would have just beefed up the internals, aka Jspec pistons etc. instead of going the turbo route.

jlanger

Ok psuedo I'll trust you on the numbers, I know that many people have had isseus with them especially after modifications. I know that these trannies seem to be much more suseptable to abuse and misuse.

b_real45

And what Jspec pistons are you referring to? What Jspec piston for the FS 2.0L motor is forged aluminum and has a low compression?

midnightblue97

If I'm not mistaken, and I could be, the rods are the first "weak link" on the fs engine.

VagaBond-X

haha, my connecting rod went on my all stock protege..... but i also have an fp instead of ur fs engines.... almost the same tho, just destroked

jlanger

I was refering to the FSZE pistons
3rd generation:
Any ZL (1.5l) botom end parts will work with the 1.6l (ZM-DE) engine.
The ZL-VE head (which has S-VT) is a direct swap to the ZM-DE engine. You will
need to figure out a way to control the hydraulic controller that varies the intake cam
timing. This system is similar to the one used in the 2001+ Miata BP-VE engines, so
talk to the Miata guys about it the S-VT on their cars to learn more.
Any ZL-DE top end parts will work with the ZM-DE engine.
Any FP and FS engine parts are interchangable.
As for FS-ZE 10.5:1 pistons:
FPY2-11-SA0B normal size
FPY2-11-SB0B .025 oversize
FPY2-11-SBXB .050 oversize
As for FS-ZE 10.7:1 pistons from the MazdaSpeed Familia:
FSY4-11-SA0 normal size
FSY4-11-SB0 .025 oversize
FSY4-11-SBX .050 oversize

For more information on mods check the
faq

b_real45

ok.. what the **** does any of those have to do with a turbo application? They are not stronger.. they're just higher compression.

I'm glad we all have the ability to cut/paste

jlanger

I was meaning that I woudl almost rather have the high compression pistions, Jspec headers, etc. instead of the turbo.