Technical Features
Project: MP3 Part III
By by: Chris Stutters
Oct 11, 2004, 16:15

Mazda released the MP3 with 10 more horses and 7 additional lb-ft of torque compared to the standard Protegé and Protegé 5 with the 2.0-liter FS-DE motor. The 140 hp and 142 lb-ft of torque were attributed to a few factors, consisting mainly of a slightly modified intake manifold, a different exhaust and slightly advanced ignition timing.

The intake manifold flowed a little better than the standard Protegé due to the lack of VTCS, or variable tumble control system. The VTCS is composed of a set of butterflies positioned right at the head, inside the intake manifold and helps with emissions for cold start up. In the standard Protegé, this set-up affords the model ULEV classification, the MP3, however, came to market as an LEV instead.

The exhaust was originally thought to have been only an "axle-back" section with a tuned Racing Beat muffler. However, clever eyes would see that the rest of the cat-back pipe on the MP3 is a different part number than the regular sedan. It flows slightly better than the regular exhaust found on the standard Protegé.

The advanced timing is very small and doesn't give much of a change until over 5000 rpm. The difference is hard to notice, but it is there and accounts for a small part of the extra ten horsepower that the MP3 has. It is a common misconception that the MP3 ECU alone will net the ten horsepower difference over a regular Protegé, but that is simply not true.

All of these things made for a slightly more powerful Protegé. However, it wasn't enough power to earn the "Mazdaspeed" moniker, and as was later seen it was nowhere near the power the Mazdaspeed Protegé came to market with (which was 170 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 160 lb-ft of torque at 4500 rpm SAE net).

So, with the rumors circulating back in mid-2002 that a turbo version of the Protegé was coming, a few companies started developing their own turbo kit for the little sedan. One such company, Bell Engineering, had a pretty decent kit that was brought to market and sold under the newly formed Protegé wing of Flyin' Miata in Grand Junction (aka Flyin' Protegé).



The kit was a complete set up using a T3 turbo, a small and efficient intercooler, a rising-rate fuel pressure regulator, an O2 signal clamp and all the charge pipes and hose clamps needed to put the kit together. Of course, it came with the manifold as well - a rather beefy item that, along with the roaches, will probably be the only thing around after the apocalypse.

The kit was ordered and installed back in the fall of 2002. With 18,000 some-odd miles on the clock, the kit went in. One thing to note, the kit now comes with an auxiliary fuel pump - something that did not go in when the kit was installed.

Now, remember that power-enhancing thing called "advanced ignition timing"? Well, unfortunately it reared its ugly head when the kit was initially installed. Over 5000 rpm in third and fourth gear we had knock.



Running higher octane helped get rid of that problem temporarily. When the kit was initially installed we ran out of time for testing to make sure everything would be hunky dory on an MP3. The Protegé 5 running the same kit was just fine. They did add the auxiliary fuel pump a few weeks after my kit was installed, but bad weather and a detour to Iraq kept me from getting back over the mountains to get the fuel pump in.

After some 17,000 miles of happy motoring the kit was fine, but I decided to try a new dyno run to see what I was putting down for sure. After all, I had 93.5 octane I found locally (in the Denver Metro area, this is unheard of for the most part) and had an itch to see if my guesstimate was accurate.

At a local Parker shop named MAC Autosport, we strapped the little puppy down to see what I had going to the ground. I pulled a respectable 154.62 horsepower and 172.22 lb-ft of torque on about five pounds of boost and with both catalytic converters in place (the FP kit retains both stock cats in the stock location). The best part was no knock. The worst part was that my air/fuel ratio was at an unhealthy 14.1:1 just about the whole run. I obviously needed to turn up the fuel pressure.



After getting some handy advice, I adjusted the fuel pressure regulator to get a base setting where it needed to be. Then I did some third gear pulls on the highway to make sure the fuel pressure was where it needed to be for 6 psi. That's when I saw some warning signs. I wasn't getting enough fuel pressure. Not only was there not enough pressure but it would actually drop as I ran into higher RPMs.

This was bad news. I needed a new pump that would be able to handle the fuel pressure I needed. The stock fuel pump was not up to the task, which Flyin' Protegé and I already knew. But it was nice to know where I was at in the process of getting to the correct A/F ratio.

I started looking around and learned some good things about Walbro in-tank fuel pumps. The other option is what FP uses in their kits now, a Pierburg in-line fuel pump. Both are excellent options, however, I liked the idea of an in-tank and not having to pull out half of the turbo charge pipes to get back in to the fuel lines for the auxiliary pump option. The fuel tank is much more accessible. Although, I was later told some other people with kit didn't have to remove anything but some fuel lines to get the Pierburg in. Oh well, chock one up to learning.

Once again, thanks to MAC Autosport, we put in a Walbro 255 lph in-tank fuel pump. And, after making sure everything was hooked up right, we strapped it back down on the dyno to make sure fuel pressure was steady.

Sure enough, running the correct fuel pressure did two things. First, it made less power, dropping down to 149.88 horsepower and 167.95 lb- ft of torque. But, this time the A/F ratio was a constant 12.0:1 the whole run. For those confused as to why I made less power with more fuel, well, the richer you run, the less power you will make. More tuners get to the air/fuel ratio they want, and then turn the boost up to get more power while making sure the proper ratio is maintained.



Unfortunately, you cannot really compare the dyno runs from the FP dyno and the one at MAC. Although they are both Dyno Jet dynos, they are in two different locations and two different dynos will give two different readings for the same car. I would take my car back over to FP and run it on their dyno to see what differences have been made in power, but they now have a Roto-Test dyno, so that's out of the question.

However, you get an idea of what the Flyin' Protegé turbo does, and you can see the gains they got on their shop car as all of those runs were made on their dyno for that car.



The good news:

The car runs like a champ. I have a safe A/F ratio that the car likes, even with the advanced timing. The fuel pressure is steady, and if I wanted, I could trun up the boost a little to run the 6 psi the kit is set up to run. I could even go crazy like some other owners of the kit and run 8 psi if I wanted. And probably still be safe. However, for the time being, I'm going to stay where the kit is set until I can get some real fuel and timing control to get the most of the kit I have. I have some daydream ideas of things I would like to do to make more power. And with the things coming out to market now and in the near future, turbo Protegés will be putting down some big numbers. Rest assured TZ fans, this car won't stay this way forever. Like I say, I have ideas, and there are companies with parts out that'll make these dreams a reality.

The bad news:

WHAT?!? How can there be any bad news? The car runs great, everything is hunky dory and the future looks bright. Yes, that's true, but the bad news is Flyin' Protegé is closing their doors. Don't worry Miata fans, Flyin' Miata will still be in business. The Miata market is simply taking too much of their time, so they are looking to get out of the Protegé business for good. However, there is a rumor that they will continue to work on their shop car. And, supposedly Link will be coming out with a plug and play set up kind of like what they make for the Miatas.

The future?:

There are a couple of companies out there that have turbo kits available, other than Flyin' Protege. Some of those companies even have various forms of engine management to deal with fuel and timing. However, some kits lose the first cat, others run a full stand alone engine management system wired in parallel with the stock ECU, effectively cutting out the OBDII requirement (if you are worried about emissions testing).

So, its up to the consumer to figure out what their needs are and find a kit that best suit those needs.

The market is out there for forced induction, and they all make the Mazdaspeed Protegé look slow...

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