[Bryan]

Beautiful car, man. That exhaust is intriguing...

 

[Bryan]

So what all in the exhaust is custom?

 

[Bryan]

Everything is stock up until the cat. Past the cat I have the RB resonated PP midpipe bolted on, and then RB sells a universal muffler (here) that I had welded on after the resonator. From there it's just a shiny double tip. Everything flows really well, but it's pretty quiet, almost too quiet. That's why I'm taking out the resonator to try and liven it up a bit.

Did you buy your own 2.5" tubing?

EDIT: Now that I think about it, an NB owner would only need a flange to attach to the muffler, as the exhaust system on NB's comes stock with a separate connecting/mid- pipe that is resonated.

 

[Bryan]

Ah whoops, forgot to mention I took the car down to my local muffler guy and he did all the welding, cutting, and tubing etcetera. Because of the way the muffler needed to be positioned under the car, he had to cut off the second flange and weld some piping straight between the resonator and the muffler.

Wouldn't surprise me if the stock NB pipe would have to be cut up a bit, too, because the stock NB exhaust is basically an axle-back.

 

[Bryan]

 

[Bryan]

Do they need any special wiring?

 

[Bryan]

Got to be honest: a lack of the knowledge you and others show on stuff like this is why I pretty much quit trying to mod. I just can't keep up.

 

[Bryan]

How do you mean?

I'm worthless with pretty much anything that requires more than turning bolts. Heck, I couldn't even get my top on right

 

[Bryan]

Two thoughts:

1.) Don't know what the rest of your suspension is, but sways are the last thing I'd buy, and even then, I'd want them as small as possible.
2.) So jealous of MSM seats...cloth FTW.

 

[Bryan]

Haha alright. Sounds good.

I'm curious, too. It'd be cool to do LED lights all around. Less likely I'll have to replace them.

 

[Bryan]

Don't mean to sound snarky, but...

http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/89...miatapastas-new-beginnings-4.html#post5384409



I can help to clarify anything of course.

With OEM housings you can just swap them out and add a resistor in the OEM flasher. I recommend JDM ASTAR bulbs.

I'll look into it. Thanks

 

[Bryan]

I've seen worse :lol:

 

[Bryan]

Ha. The photos made it look better than reality. So much dirt got embedded in the paint. :haiguyths:

That's fair. That said, though: I *have* seen much worse...imagine spray/dipped where they don't even bother matching panel colors...

 

[Bryan]

You sure that RTF is a good idea?

 

[Bryan]

What about the RTV is concerning to you? I ask because I haven't thought about it since it has since then moved down to near the bottom of the to-do list.

I don't know of anyone doing it before is the main concern. You're talking about the area where stuff gets sucked in to the engine, so ingestion is always going to be a concern to me.

 

[Bryan]

Here are some threads:

http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/18...da-bp-t-protege-valve-cover-you-94-97ers.html
http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/18-engine-transmission/15803-protege-valve-cover.html

Sadly, pics are mostly dead as this topic was discussed almost a decade ago

 

[Bryan]

I just need to figure out how I'm going to be blocking off a 3/4" hole on the driver's side...sigh...

You did catch the part about threading a bolt in, right?

 

[Bryan]

FWIW, when I ran a Protege (1.8) VC, I had my cover drilled and tapped for a bolt that I attached a piece of metal to so I could bolt one end essentially to the VC, at least.

 

[Bryan]

That's pretty much what I did - drilled two holes, mounted a flat stock piece of metal, and then bolted the coil pack to that. Still needed about 2" of extra wire per plug though.

That's weird...I used the same old NGK blues I'd used before. Then again, that was over a decade ago now eek so there might be some selective memory going on there.

 

[Bryan]

I probably could have done that whole "measuring" thing before I mounted the coil pack too, lol. I mounted it to get the best clearance without thinking of the plug wires.

What determined the coil pack's final placement for me was the lower mounting bolt (on the head). Of course, if you have a 1.6, we're comparing apples and oranges because the 1.8 has its CAS (and therefore the coil pack mount) on opposite sides of the engine.