Buying a Protege

[nash80]

Sorry for the double post. I originally posted this in the wrong forum:

Hey guys,

New to the forum. Glad to be here. I'm about to buy a 2003.5 black MS Protege. It has a bad turbo, blown head gasket and a radiator issue. The guy is basically giving the car away. In your opinion, what's the first thing I should do?

I will have to have the engine pulled and pressure tested and have the head gasket replaced. I am to understand that the protege turbos are not rebuildable. Is this true?

I'm assuming the radiator is pretty straightforward.

Thoughts?

Car does turn over and run but overheats.

 

[Valk]

id just have the engine inspected to see the condition of the bottom/top ends. if it has been overheated badly you might be better to just find a junkyard engine and swap over the extra parts specific to the msp. its kinda not work paying someone to do the work. much better if you can do it yourself.
atm, the turbos are considered non rebuildable, but there have been developments. a user here might have a way to rebuild them so stay tuned.
otherwise you can shop our classifieds for a used turbo. some people have used other turbos but our turbo has unique housings.
radiator is easy but you need an msp radiator, or you need to ugprade to a front mount intercooler, and then a p5/sedan rad will work with the brackets for it. msp rad/intercooler is a one peice unit that is specific and has its own mounts.

the cars are easy to work on. the engine is 95% the same as a protege 5 or es 2.0 sedan. just a few parts added for the turbo.

id say if the car is in good cosmetic shape, ie no rust on it, save it. if its falling apart, prob not..

 

[Brian_K]

I was always under the impression that the ballbearing t25 the msp comes with is not rebuildable, but after reading other threads it seems possible if you have access to the correct parts. Replacing the CHRA is the easiest though. Blown headgasket can be tricky, since you wont know if the head or block needs to be resurfaced until you take the head off.

Finding a brand new replacement msp radiator is difficult. Most people just go with a regular protege radiator and replace the side mount intercooler with a front mount setup.

You might also want to take a look at all 4 of the motor mounts since the stock ones always go bad.

 

[nash80]

Thanks guys! I will be honest. This is my very first project car. I am in my 30's and have access to a good yard and tools to do what I need to do, but I will definitely be relying on your expertise to help me through the rebuild. I plan to do everything myself as it will be much more cost effective. What is CHRA? Sorry but as a noob, I am unfamiliar with that term. As far as the replacement of the radiator, the guy told me that the person previous to him actually removed the overflow reservoir for some reason. No clue why he would do that. I'd like to keep this engine if it's decent enough for a top and bottom end rebuild. But, as you've said, no clue until it's taken apart. I'm excited to teach myself as things progress. I will be creating a build thread as I go along, and would much appreciate you guys adding your opinions and advice! I will probably replace the motor mounts as well. This is a restoration project, so I am wanting to get this car back to stock (maybe lowered and a few bolt ons) and to as original condition as possible. The car has been in the south it's entire life and has a clean carfax. No accidents and no paint work. There are some dents, etc. but the frame and everything else seems in good shape. I will pick it up Saturday and will post pictures on here when I get the car.