Am a a ball if fire waiting to happen

[KdogTN]

First post and probably the beginning of many... I purchased a 2003 Protege 5 from a friend for a price I couldn't refuse.. (car, motor, interior immaculate with < 60k miles. This car is going to be a project car to play with...

First question.
Without having to drop the motor and transmission I want to get a little bit more kick out of it.. The first thing is a turbo charger..

http://www.turbo-kits.com/protege_turbo_kits.html

That is the one that I have looked up and seems to be the best deal... It covers from exhaust manifold to fuel management...

The big question is that the car as an automatic transimission.. Am I running the risk of boosting once and blowing up a torgue converter or will it be good just for tinkering around? I think it gives 6psi of boost...

Second quesetion
Depending on the answer from the first one, how hard is it to change the brackets and so fourth to put a standard in the car? I use to be a heavy equipment mechanic so i have a general knowledge of mechanics and am not worried about the actual changing of the transmission. I just want it to look good and fit well...

Third question
Running new gauges is a must for anything I do to the car, what is the best point of entry through the firewall should I take to get the gauges into the center dashboard?


Thanks for the advice and am looking forward to alot of posting.

 

[jeg0024]

Save yourself the time... dont boost your auto.

If you have the time and the money you should swap out the tranny and build the motor before the turbo.

There is a little cap/plug in the firewall that can be used to run wires from the engine bay, there is a thread on it in here somewhere.

Welcome to the forums

 

[fkmp5]

may be of help:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81179

ATX -> MTX Swap

 

[kevcouto]

frankly the swap is not even really worth it. Just sell the car for more than what you paid and with that go buy yourself a standard. And if of course you want an automatic, then you might as well leave it stock.

And anyhow, installing an aftermarket turbo, is never fun and you will face a lot of problems. I would love to get one, but I don't need the headaches and the wife would be very pissed off if I pissed away my money on that stuff.

 

[jeg0024]

frankly the swap is not even really worth it. Just sell the car for more than what you paid and with that go buy yourself a standard. And if of course you want an automatic, then you might as well leave it stock.

And anyhow, installing an aftermarket turbo, is never fun and you will face a lot of problems. I would love to get one, but I don't need the headaches and the wife would be very pissed off if I pissed away my money on that stuff.

I have an auto, and its modded, and im happy with the performance gains, I just dont recomend boosting on an auto thats all...

 

[kevcouto]

I have an auto, and its modded, and im happy with the performance gains, I just dont recomend boosting on an auto thats all...

Thats what I meant. I meant you shouldn't consider the turbo

 

[Bala]

Gotta pay to play. Is boosting an auto P5 fiscally responsible? - No. Can it be done with $$$ - Yes. Lentech has a tranny that can handle anything a boosted FSDE can throw at it: http://www.lentechautomatics.com/fwdmodels.html at a cost about equal to a forged motor. (boom08) I saved myself the trouble and just picked up an MSP

 

[KdogTN]

Like I said, it's really a project just to see what I can do for fun... I know it has stock everything including motor and transmission... I figured that I can blow the transmission and have a good reason to get a standard... The real question I guess was how long do I have before I would blow it.. I really think that I just want to boost it to say that it is boosted.. As far as the after market turbo is concerned, I have a shop where I can do both MIG and Heli-arch welding so having to fab something wouldn't be that big of an issue.. I use to be into the muscle cars where all I would do is recam a motor and possible put a supercharger on it... I'm looking more to dabble in the area of smaller cars that can just piss off a camero by blowing it's doors off

 

[Bala]

Like I said, it's really a project just to see what I can do for fun... I know it has stock everything including motor and transmission... I figured that I can blow the transmission and have a good reason to get a standard... The real question I guess was how long do I have before I would blow it.. I really think that I just want to boost it to say that it is boosted.. As far as the after market turbo is concerned, I have a shop where I can do both MIG and Heli-arch welding so having to fab something wouldn't be that big of an issue.. I use to be into the muscle cars where all I would do is recam a motor and possible put a supercharger on it... I'm looking more to dabble in the area of smaller cars that can just piss off a camero by blowing it's doors off

lol - you're in good/safe company. I've got a '69 RS/SS Camaro with a 383 stroker with a (absolutely) hidden 100 shot and two V8 S-10's in my past. Nothing like a 2.0 with 300 whp that can get the kids to school and get the groceries. Welcome to the temple of turbo - I am a convert and disciple. There are good turbo kits available, but the motor does have its limitations until you at least get forged rods. A donor car would be your best bet for the tranny swap, unless you want to invest in a LenTech tranny. Poke around a bit with the search button and check back - we're here to help ...

 

[KdogTN]

It's fortunate that I am not limited by time or well money some but time is no biggie... I figure if I'm going to do something might as well wait and do it right... The turbo kit that I was looking at does 6lb of boost which I know isn't enough and I think it will only give me like 75 more HP but it's just something to play with... Later on I can do some mechanical work and put a turbo with more boost... Plus I think it sounds cool with a waste gate opens..

My biggest muscle car fame is the 75 chevelle Malibu classic with a 400 small block, turbo 400 transmission and duel semi highrise intake.. Offloaded it to a family member to play with awhile back...

So with these cars, what are other things that improve them other than manifold pressure vs. vac? I was looking at the cold air inductions and exhaust systems. Do they really improve the sound and performance?

Also, I was reading about ways to reprogram the computer to shift the car better? The car is out of warrenty so I'm not concerned about voiding it...