a little umpfff!

[91 benidict]

hi everyone and happy new year! i'm brand new to this forum, looking for a little mazda perormance knowledge and opinon.

i have a 91 mazda protege dx, 1.8, sohc. its been both my wife and i's commuter car for quite a few years now. she recently bought herself a new car and the ol' mazda is all mine now. i'm looking to give my little car a little "umpfff" if you will. by no means am i trying to "race it out" or to "pose" as some sort of street racer. i'm an old family guy and i just want to have a little fun with my car. maybe an extra pony or two, a few more mpgs, and a slightly cooler look.

i was thinking somwhere along these lines... a smog legal header, a not so loud performance muffler and tip, performance air intake and/or filter, a set of lowered springs and anti-sway bars, and a set of 16 or 17 inch wheels and tires.

any other suggestions? your insight, opinions, and expertise advice would be greatly appreciated. keep in mind, i want to keep it simple, smog legal, and comfortable enough as a daily driver...yet a little more fun to drive back and forth on this long ass commute i have. thanks folks!

 

[Shag]

Suspension componets can all be found with a little looking around..as for the power from the sohc. I have one as well and race it solo class hs. I want more power from it bad(With out doing the BP swap..pretty much the dual cam version of what we have, there is also a stock turbo version..its a very popluar swap for are car). From what I have found there is no Headersfor the car..only the dohc. A muffler is no good unless you make the whole exaust bigger all the way back..and while you are at it you can gut the cat for some more tourqe. You can over ride your AC comperser(If you dont mind having no ac) for a few more powers. Me and a friend are also wondering if you can but a BP head on to the sohc block...the blocks are pretty much the same, the dohc has under piston oil squiters though. If you could do that though you could get a NICE bump in power.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

bah, turbocharged 1.8 DOHC is the way to go

 

[Dparks7]

buy a MSP?

 

[Shag]

Im trying to leave mine stock..im restoing it, So next year when its a classic maybe I can get some good money from it

 

[el_Don]

Yea, Shag's is nice

 

[Shag]

Thank you very much

 

[deathtrigga]

You can swap the bp head onto the b8 bottom. The reason being is that b8 and bp's use the same excat block. You will get lower compression though because of the b8 bottom. This will lead to a little loss of power as compared to a full bp swap.

 

[deathtrigga]

If you want a goood amount of detail on 1st gens clubprotege is a goood source

 

[91 benidict]

thanks deathtrigga and all else who sent an opinion. i will definitely check out clubprotege. and i don't mean to sound "green" but i really am...but what are bp's and b8's? i have no idea. thanks!

 

[turpro]

buy a MSP?

Bah. I smoke MSPs in my boosted 1g all day lol

If you want a goood amount of detail on 1st gens clubprotege is a goood source

That's where tons of info is on the 1g. Most ppl refer to the bp as the 1.8dohc but in reality the bp is both sohc and dohc. Bp05 is dohc and bp01/b8 is sohc.

 

[CHICO2003]

...i have a 91 mazda protege dx, 1.8, sohc...i'm looking to give my little car a little "umpfff" if you will...maybe an extra pony or two, a few more mpgs, and a slightly cooler look.

i was thinking somwhere along these lines... a smog legal header, a not so loud performance muffler and tip, performance air intake and/or filter, a set of lowered springs and anti-sway bars, and a set of 16 or 17 inch wheels and tires...

I can appreciate your obvious desire not to be saddled with car payments. Why else would someone drive an 18 year old car? But there comes a time where it simply doesn't make much financial sense. As reliable as we all know (most) mazdas are.. you've got a car that, high-mileage or not, has a better than decent chance of breaking down (how much would that suck on your "long ass commute"?) and thus costing you $ At the risk of sounding like a dick... the idea of investing any amount of money (the things you listed can easily top a grand) into a car like this just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Especially when you consider the fact that those modifications really aren't going to make that much of a difference from a performance standpoint.

Somebody mentioned an MSP. It might be challenging to find one in good condition but, if you're able to, there's no doubt you can strike a hell of a deal. So few people even knew this car exists. Great for owners and future buyers... bad for sellers. I was at a used-auto lot this past summer and saw one in pretty good condition. The boneheads there simply had it listed (and priced) as a Protege (with aftermarket accessories). In talking to the clowns there, it's obvious they didn't even know it had a turbo. Clearly you can't expect to get that lucky but you never know. As far as pure value is concerned... I think the MSP is tough to beat.

Think about it like this. Maybe you can get $2+k for your car. Since you're obviously willing to throw a grand into your current car, that's $3k. I'd venture to say you can probably get an MSP in good condition for around $6-8k So your out of pocket cost would be a few grand. But you'd also have yourself a car that's 12 years younger... and 12 million times faster. Ok... maybe that's a slight exaggeration but, having owned an MSP for 6 years, I can attest to its performance capability.

So there's my friendly advice to you. If you DO end up keeping your car... I think the things you listed (with the exception of a lowering kit and sway bars... I mean really!) are probably the right way to go. The cost of adding a turbo makes absolutely no sense. But then again... lol to me, neither do any of the other things you listed so... what the hell do I know?

In closing...welcome to the board. Goodluck

 

[nate0123]

At the risk of sounding like a dick... the idea of investing any amount of money (the things you listed can easily top a grand) into a car like this just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Especially when you consider the fact that those modifications really aren't going to make that much of a difference from a performance standpoint.

... As far as pure value is concerned... I think the MSP is tough to beat.

In terms of reliability to cost ratio, I think he's best staying with the '91. I'm a little baffled by the suggestion that he should scrape together more money in addition to what he was planning on spending to come up with enough for a worn ragged (to hit your price range) factory turbo that doesn't exactly top the reliability charts and has had God-knows what kind of history. Even if his '91 breaks down, he's no worse off, hasn't lost any money, and he can always pull the aftermarket parts off and sell them. If he gets good deals on used aftermarket parts, he may even come out ahead if & when he sells them off.

 

[CHICO2003]

Fair point. Maybe I was one of the lucky ones... I had over 100k miles on my MSP and the ONLY major problem I had was the clutch. But that's to be expected... (replaced it around 80k miles) Because of how well I took care of it, there was no doubt in my mind that I could have gotten another 100k miles out of it. But like you said, you never quite know what the previous owner was up to. And with the amount of potential probs (blown engines, LSDs, clunk, etc.) I take back what I said. Even if you're certain the previous owner did all the right things... it's still probably too much of a risk. I guess I just wanted to keep him in the Mazda family.

 

[deathtrigga]

thats right turpro good point im so used to their other other names

 

[turpro]

I hear where you're coming from chico and don't take this the wrong way but a 1g is a better choice. Here's my thoughts.

If you can find a msp for 6k how great is it really going to be? Lets say he does find 1 for that price in good shape, he's going to have to start putting money into it because it will have higher miles. This would be true for finding an older 1g lx. The 1g motor(sohc or dohc) is an almost bulletproof motor.


For 6k he could get a msp(180hp) or
1g lx=1500
Bpt with ecu,vaf,smic,harness=less than 2000(180hp @ stock psi)
Zx2 sr struts=200
B&g springs=180
Escort gt wheels=400

That right there is way less . Don't get me wrong though. The styling of the newer msp is nice as is and the 1g needs some better upgrades but I do believe the 1g is the better choice.

 

[nolig2278]

I hear where you're coming from chico and don't take this the wrong way but a 1g is a better choice. Here's my thoughts.

If you can find a msp for 6k how great is it really going to be? Lets say he does find 1 for that price in good shape, he's going to have to start putting money into it because it will have higher miles. This would be true for finding an older 1g lx. The 1g motor(sohc or dohc) is an almost bulletproof motor.


For 6k he could get a msp(180hp) or
1g lx=1500
Bpt with ecu,vaf,smic,harness=less than 2000(180hp @ stock psi)
Zx2 sr struts=200
B&g springs=180
Escort gt wheels=400

That right there is way less . Don't get me wrong though. The styling of the newer msp is nice as is and the 1g needs some better upgrades but I do believe the 1g is the better choice.

you could even factor in a few items to overhaul if you wanted with the older car
120 alternator lifetime warranty
120 starter lifetime warranty
60 distributor
100 ignition coil
head rebuild 120
gasket kit 400
water pump 100

still not bad over all

tranny overhaul under 1500?
axles are about 100 each lifetime warranty

 

[CHICO2003]

Even if the 1st gen Protege engine IS more reliable than the MSPs (I think the #s are skewed due to how many idiots over boosted) but even still... there are like a billion other things besides the engine that can go wrong with a car. A car that old... chances are pretty good.

Now as far as buying all of these parts with lifetime warranties go. Sure... not a bad idea in theory. But let's not forget to factor in the time/hassle of getting all of this work done. Not to mention labor charges. In the end, there's no doubt it'll STILL be far less expensive than buying a new(er) car.

 

[91Protege]

Be honenst if you take care of anything it will last, if you beat it, it wont. I got 213K on my prot and paid 200 for it, from my co-workers mom. Other then the tbelt/waterpump, and the alt and battery that I knew from the start, I havent done anything to it. Granted I have changed things caus I didnt like em, wheels and tires, brakes, suspension, exhaust, and ill take that car anywhere, had it on a 4hr trip the other day and it runs so good.

As for the mods for ur car, header non existant as said, took me a while to find the one for mine, exhaust, not much there other then havin a shop make you one, lowered, i paid 89 for the springs, and 30 a strut, and 20 a mount. I paid 53 for my cv shafts, where you guys shopping? Alt was 75.

If your going to do the work yourself, then there isnt anything wrong with puttin money into ur car, caus your doing it, no labor charges, and redic part costs. Im a mechanic and I know how bad people pay to get stuff done. It sucks, if I wasnt a mechanic, i would def not be into cars.

 

[turpro]

Even if the 1st gen Protege engine IS more reliable than the MSPs (I think the #s are skewed due to how many idiots over boosted) but even still... there are like a billion other things besides the engine that can go wrong with a car. A car that old... chances are pretty good.

Now as far as buying all of these parts with lifetime warranties go. Sure... not a bad idea in theory. But let's not forget to factor in the time/hassle of getting all of this work done. Not to mention labor charges. In the end, there's no doubt it'll STILL be far less expensive than buying a new(er) car.

Idk about you but every time I bring my cars to a shop they come back great.....that is until 2 weeks later when something in relation to the problem that gets fixed breaks. I do all my own work. This saves me time as well as money. This also gives me piece of mind because if I spot something else that needs to be done I can do it then. Most shops won't say s*** because they want more of your bizz . And another fact is newer cars=more expencive parts. Also I'll stick with my obd1 system lol. Q sensor fails on an obd2 system and it fks with everything....trust me, my 2002 mpv is an expencive pos.