trinituner.com

Computerman wrote:

MAZTUNE wrote:OThis story has nice DYI bits

Do Yourself In??!

haha i mean DIY LOL

ok so we were running these nice black 17" wheels but they were HEAVY and were putting a strain on the tranny, so sold the 17" wheels we imported a set of 15" x 7" Gun metal MB Wheels from Discount Tire Direct on the net with correct offsets for the Protege/323/Familia. Currently running on some 205/50 R15 Dunlop tires.

^^ I love 15's

Not much for the 15" scene Still have my Enkei Mazda rims down stairs that I was going to sell but no takers so I will keep it for emergency.

i like 16's, good compromise i think...

we opped for 15" because we were looking for quick response, plus my mom ran into potholes killing those 40series 17" tires, give the lady something that she could beat around yes.

ok so on with the story in 2007, we started to use the car for oilfield work, since we could not afford a Mazda 4x4 yet. SO we gone and damaged all the lady shocks and had to replace them. So a friend(BK) was selling a set of slightly used Tokico HP shock absorbers for $1500.00 took them and run LOL

don't have pics of these, will put it up later.

^^ bess price

Story goin good....btw what size exhaust.....

Noticed the decal on your lower back door.....is it the "RS-SVT"done by BK....looks like the SPORT20 logo...

yea everybody in the mazda world knows each other and does pull good, plus I find the logo bad so I ask Brian for one, I think it gives the RS some identity.

hmm it's 2" exhaust, don't want to go too crazy on the exhaust being an NA and a 1500cc. If an exhaust is overdone on these small engines, it could be less responsive as mentioned earlier.

Now we used back the RS springs for now until we could afford something better ie Tiens, H&R performance springs.

So everything was going nice and dandy with the RS when disaster struck, the TIMEBOMB plastic radiator blew out and where ....on the BEETHAM!!! LOL tried to drive to a safe distance topping up with bottled water on the way. So time to upgrade the rad. We ordered in a Corksport original fit Aluminum Radiator for the 00-03 Protege. ($3000.00TT) Note, that rad and A/C fans go back original. Can't go wrong with this rad, no more cooling problems, or that lamo plastic timebomb rad.

Oh one more thing, GROUND the rad to the metal of the car. This will prevent any coolant buildup in the rad (the white stuff) because the rad is on rubber mountings.





Now the Corksport rad only comes for a manual tranny application so we installed an external transmission cooler located infront of the rad. I will try to get some pics of this. We got this locally, and is found in almost all good parts shops. Now please note, that the tranny cooler CANNOT be to big, as the oil pump in the F-Type ZL tranny is not so strong.

thas a real thick rad, did the operational temps drop or is this regulated by the thermostat to maintain a set particular temp?

ghostbusters wrote:thas a real thick rad, did the operational temps drop or is this regulated by the thermostat to maintain a set particular temp?

ahh good question, yes the thermostat does regulate the engine to operating temp which I believe is a little below half in the BJ's. BUT the fan now trips on for about 2 secs then cuts off. I always believe if an engine that is too cold is just as bad, esp fuel injected where the cold start solenoid would dump fuel if it's always too cold. So I do not believe in removing a thermostat but actually getting a slightly lower one for our hot climate. For reliability(no tank to blow out) and keeping water pressure down, its an excellent upgrade.

The end

nah much more lol, as a result of the rad blowing out the RARE activematic tranny got damaged as a result of water from the rad entering the tranny lines when the rad went. Now we are GEARBOX men eh, first time we dealing with transmission, and we hate them too!!!

Of course, tranny men in Trinidad laugh at us and said get a new activematic, leaving us hanging.

So we were for a search for a tranny. We got a ZL-VE 98'-99'
(none cat eye) 8bit engine and tranny with no active-matic. Now this is where it gets really interesting. ALL the ZL/ZM trannys are the same including the active-matic, they are all a 4-speed auto BUT the activematic model uses the toggle shifter and ECU to trigger the 6 solenoids in the tranny to shift gears instead of the tranny shifting on its own.

So being a non active-matic, we went inside the tranny, changed the shifter piece to the active-matic one, thats PRND and manual from the PRND12. hmm i should have taken pics of this. one day i will buss down the old tranny and take some pics to show you all. So we made the non active-matic tranny into one, put it up and the ECU controlled the solenoid shifting the 4 gears ALTHOUGH they were meant not to be manually shifted. Tranny wokking!! lol Oh we use Redline D4 tranny fluid works for all Mazda transmissions.

any performance loss from this conversion?

nareshseep wrote:any performance loss from this conversion?

nope it's basically the same transmission when it was completed. Mazda always brokes so they did not make a different design. Also the final drive of these two transmissions were the same, both being ZL-VE trannys.

So we were for a search for a tranny. We got a ZL-VE 98'-99'
(none cat eye) 8bit engine and tranny with no active-matic. Now this is where it gets really interesting. ALL the ZL/ZM trannys are the same including the active-matic, they are all a 4-speed auto BUT the activematic model uses the toggle shifter and ECU to trigger the 6 solenoids in the tranny to shift gears instead of the tranny shifting on its own.

So being a non active-matic, we went inside the tranny, changed the shifter piece to the active-matic one, thats PRND and manual from the PRND12. hmm i should have taken pics of this. one day i will buss down the old tranny and take some pics to show you all. So we made the non active-matic tranny into one, put it up and the ECU controlled the solenoid shifting the 4 gears ALTHOUGH they were meant not to be manually shifted.

Interesting..indeed.

so tranny completed, mommy mobile running nice....starting to hear bushing noise in the front and rear, so imported a set of Pedders Poly bushings that included cradles, rear trailing arms. it's a small kit but a start.

MAZTUNE wrote:
BUT as always one mod MUST lead to another (pressneas law of Mazda) so yes putting a CAI and better flow intake manifold did lead to a slight lean condition due to more denser air causing to melt the knock sensor constantly from slight detonation. So a fuel upgrade is needed.

Jus ketch mihself here. Was the fuel system upgraded yet or still to be done?

Strugglerzinc wrote:

MAZTUNE wrote:
BUT as always one mod MUST lead to another (pressneas law of Mazda) so yes putting a CAI and better flow intake manifold did lead to a slight lean condition due to more denser air causing to melt the knock sensor constantly from slight detonation. So a fuel upgrade is needed.

Jus ketch mihself here. Was the fuel system upgraded yet or still to be done?

no not yet, that's the next order of business. a fuel regulator to just raise the fuel pressure. it's slight leaning so the regulator should be ok.

So you removed the stock FPR and replaced it?, which aftermarket one did you use?

MAZTUNE, LAL the story teller!!


LOL

ghostbusters wrote:So you removed the stock FPR and replaced it?, which aftermarket one did you use?

well we did not install it yet. but yes the stock FPR regulator is removed and replaced with an aftermarket regulator for NA engines, not rising rate to accommodate for boost. Doing some research at the moment.

cool awaits the R&D, looking to go with the intake mod, any precautions to take?

hmmm well get a good filter, one that can rewash, like a K&N and wash it fairly regular like once every 2 months (i should be taking my own advice here yes LOL) now, naresh if you could afford the proper thing(AEM, K&N) it's better because it's hard aluminum piping so no pressure lost due to piping swelling.

my bad maztune, I have a short ram but I was considering the intake manifold from the zm, now it have one with vics the european and the normal one, does the vics make an improvement?

hmm well if you get it, yes BUT its totally unavailable here. It would work like a sport20 FS-ZE so at 4000RPM, switches to short runners for extra torque. You will get the local ZM or singapore one for about $600.00 around the place. The only difference with the ZM to ZL manifold is the 10mm bolt holding the VVT oil supply line but it does not matter. otherwise its direct fit in.