New Mazda Protege Project

**Cosmas** · 09-29-2008, 07:54 PM

Hey all,

I recently got a 2003 Mazda Protege5 wagon and I love it but the stock system SUCKS. The front receiver panel is huge so I was thinking about a complete monitor/all-in-one system to replace it. Not necessarily a computer but I'd like to do music and videos, how they get onto it (CD,DVD,BlueTooth,CFCard,SD) is not a concern.

So any other Protege5 owners out there that did any instant drop-in solution like this? Thanks.

**nobb** · 09-29-2008, 10:06 PM

Nice, I have a 2002 Protege sedan.

I wouldn't recommend a complete slide in solution because they are expensive and its a hassle to have to pull the whole thing out when you want to do maintenance. It would be best to just fabricate a monitor in the dash (lots of room in the dash to work with), run the wiring, and just install the main pc in the truck.

Love to see pics when your done.

**Cosmas** · 09-29-2008, 10:16 PM

eh.. well the car is new (to me). And I don't want to mess up too much stuff. Cost doesn't matter to me. It's got to look clean, and I'm 22 and in college.. and so I tend to rush things.

Why would I need to do any maintenance on it though? Once it's in.. its in. Do they fail often?

**nobb** · 09-29-2008, 10:26 PM

The car was new to me too. My first car, not very powerful but very peppy and fun to drive. You dont have to completely mess up the dash trim with bondo and fibreglass. Get a universal double din kit, or something from scosche and mold the monitor to that. Then when you want to get rid of the car, you can take out the screen and slide in the old radio.

And yes, trust me, youll probably have to do maintenance on the carpc once in a while. Might be tempted to install new hardware/software, or whatever. Also much cheaper to do a separate screen and pc install, rather than buying the all in ones.

**HiJackZX1** · 10-08-2008, 06:17 AM

If you do good fabricating to your car, thats not messing it up. Remember if you decide to go back to the original setup, you can always buy a new dash and or parts. Running the cabling simply involves popping up panels sliding the wires in and popping it back in, no big deal there.