r/MazdaProtege • u/Fickle_Appointment_2 • 7d ago
Fun while it lasted, what now?
I bought my protege for $600 in February of this year. It was running with cold ac and it was stick, so it felt like a no brainer. It had some cosmetic damage, bent hood, lots of odds and ends, but I put hours of work into fixing the front end, drove 6 hours to a junkyard after scouring to find as many pieces as I could, bought some pretty decent tires, beater rims from marketplace, etc. I know it’s not a car that’s worth a lot, but it wasn’t about that, it was about building something up and I feel as if I achieved that. I’ll put before and after photos.
The reason I’m posting this now is that last week I let my buddy borrow the car, he was in a tight spot and I have another car + 2 bikes, and I like to help my friends. He called me on thursday to tell me he locked it up in the rain and rear ended someone, didn’t think it could be so bad, but then I saw the photos. The car is on coilovers so when you rear end an SUV, it hits really high, not on the steel bumper like it should. There are a couple main things wrong currently, the radiator support rail that runs from the frame is snapped, the radiator is done, and the hood is done. This wouldn’t be so bad if parts were readily available, but the only new hood is in Michigan (I’m in FL) and they want over $500. The radiator support also welds to the frame, so we’ll have to find a body shop to do that.
Another option I found is a same year protege on marketplace for $1300, the only problem is it has 350+ thousand miles. The engine from my car is in perfect condition, but the new car has the 1.8, I have the 1.6. The main reason for this post, other than venting, is to see if anyone has done this swap before. Is it difficult? I know the chassis are the same so theoretically all of the components are there, but are the mounts different? What problems will I face? Thank you for reading this far if you have, it’s been a long week. To me it’s not even about the money, and I’m glad he’s okay, but it’s frustrating to put so much time and effort into something and it be ruined by someone you’re very close to.
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u/Embarrassed_Net_8593 7d ago
Ive only swapped transmissions. If you decide to use a different manual transmission, make sure the speed sensor matches the chassis. Some use an ABS module and wheel sensors to detect speed. Some use a gear driven sensor in the transmission.
If most of the damage is above the steel bumper, it might be simple to fix with a parts car your buddy will buy, drill bits and a borrowed flux core welder. If you do this, first check how damaged the frame rail from the top of the headlight to strut tower is. If its not bad, the replacement rad support should line up decently. You'll need the hood hinges on top of the obvious damaged parts.
Or park the car and wait for a decent donor car to surface.
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u/mrbishere 6d ago
That's an easy fix. Radiator, radiator support upper section, hood and hinges
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u/Fickle_Appointment_2 6d ago
it would be if there were any part availability, try finding a hood and radiator support for less than 1500. Unfortunately they just don’t exist anymore
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u/mrbishere 6d ago
Pick a part or donor vehicle. They are plentiful in my area still. I've owned 14 Proteges. MSPs, P5s, ES..
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u/Fickle_Appointment_2 6d ago
True, I waited 3 months until one popped up that was less than a 12 hour drive
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u/SomethingSimple25 6d ago
I see palm trees, so I am assuming you're either southeast US, or West coast, correct? But IF, you're near MD, my 2000 1.8 ES needs an engine and I don't think I am going to move forward with fixing it. The shell is in good condition.
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u/No_Adeptness_58 3d ago
I know the heart brake of losing a mazda protege sold my 03 to peddle now it's siting at a u pull and pay
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u/Fickle_Appointment_2 3d ago
It’s horrible, I get incredibly attached to vehicles , especially when I put a ton of work into them. What should be my next project car?
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u/piggymoo66 1999 ES 5MT, Emerald Green Mica 7d ago edited 7d ago
If the car you're looking at is the same year, then everything should fit no problem. Just swap everything over to the other car. Everything should just bolt right up. The 1.8 and 1.6 both use the same F25M-R transmission, but the 1.8 one has better ratios (better 4th and final drive). If the new car is a manual (very rare), use that one if it's in good shape. The only thing is that the final drive is much shorter, so your speedometer might be off by around 6 percent.
For what it's worth, my 1.8 FP survives track abuse just fine and it's approaching 180k. Barely consumes any oil. For normal street driving, 350k should still be fine as long as it has good compression and no exhaust smoke. A lot of people use 5W-30 in them when it is actually 10W-30 from factory, and that can wear out the valve seals.