Help with SP20/Astina/protege gearbox

[Sims]

Hi There,

Looking to replace the 4wd BJ1 gearbox in my Sport20 (protege), with the 2wd SP20 gearbox. Was hoping that someone could tell me that that this is a common mazda gearbox thats used across several models...

Anyone have a ball park figure for the 'box?

Thanks, Simon

 

[niky]

Sport20? 5-door, is it? AT or MT? In your region, it's used in the Aussie Ford Laser SR2 and/or the Ford Lynx/Tierra/Laser RS (AT in Malaysia/Singapore, MT in the Philippines).

It's a relatively common box. Price will depend on the condition and supplier. If you can't find one, you could try fitting a 626 box. Some Malaysian (not sure) guy did it because he couldn't source an MT box locall. Gearing is sucky long, but it looks like it fits. Don't take my word for it, though.

Why you removing the AWD?

 

[Sims]

Sport-20 5 door. Its a manual transmission. I'm sick of the 4wd. It kills a lot of the power, and its especially sluggish to park and maneuver. I think dumping the 4wd will loose a significant amount weight and it will also free up the engine to make things more responsive. Not to mention help with fuel economy...

There's a reason why most 4wd cars are turbo... Turning four wheels requires torque. Something a revy 4 banger was never designed for. Its just one of those tyre kicking things that you think about. It would be easier to just buy a new car... But given the right deal i could keep my current one and make it much more efficient at what it does. I just have this horrible feeling that it would be a really annoying job. The sort of thing where everything looks like it should fit and match up but lots of little things have to be altered…

Oh and it never snows in Auckland NZ...
Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions?

 

[TheMAN]

you realize that there's a whole lot of s*** to throw away and change to make it a 2WD right? most people here would die to have 4WD... it's not a simple as just changing the transmission and throwing away the driveshaft... there's still the rear suspension and differential and axles which are completely different from the 2WD version and they do not really swap over

all I got to say is, you're crazy for even trying to do this

 

[akinat90]

Do you have any idea what is the model number for your gearbox? My reason for asking is that i have an R4 (2000 BJ8 1.8L A/T 4WD) which i have just dropped an american spec Mazdaspeed engine in it. the car is around 190- 200HP (custom front mount, greddy e manage blue engine management at stock boost) runs great but it is A/T. Obviously i cant run it the way i would like because the transmission wont last very long. i did some research to find that the GTX and GTR gearboxes are the same model number as the one in the SP20.
i say all that to say that i am looking for one of these gearboxes to do a manual swap. Is there anywhere there where i can source one?

btw: if you turbocharge your car it would solve the sluggish issue and be loads of fun to drive

 

[niky]

If your tranny is still alive (I assumed from your first post that it was fried), you can go two routes:

Remove the prop-shaft and let the rear differential free-wheel. You might have to fabricate something to plug the ends, or remove the rear differential completely. True, the 2WD rear is quite a bit different, but you can leave the differential housing empty and disconnect the rear drive-shafts with no problem.

Remove the front drive-shafts and weld the center differential closed (have absolutely no idea how to do this... but I've heard of it done on a local Evo3). Tada! You have a rear wheel drive 2-liter Protege. Something most of us would kill for. Lord knows if your rear differential was actually built to handle 100% of your engine's torque, but it'd be fun to find out, right? The msot complete solution would be to change the output shaft... have something custom fabbedd.. but removing the front drive-axles, sealing the center diff and capping off anything where tranny fluid can leak should do.

Or... you could sell/swap your entire drivetrain to somebody who actually wants AWD.

Agree with akina, though... removing the AWD will not make your car that much faster... well, it'll be a little quicker, but in the end, the FSDE is just plain sluggish at high rpms. Turbocharging the car will make for more torque to counteract the AWD weight and more high rpm kick for more fun.

 

[TheMAN]

you all need to read the FAQ!
and he has an FS-ZE, not the FS-DE