Guide: Mazda Protege to Mazdaspeed Frontend Swap

[Irallystuff]

Got this car as my first car and as i was planning out the turbo build for the 1.6, i realised that the bumper didnt allow for much intercooler, my next step was to try to track down an part out mazdaspeed protege to rip parts off and frankeistein into mine.

the process of taking stuff off is pretty simple and only took me about an hour with minimal tools.

What is needed for the frontend swap is :

• Hood
• Both Fenders
• Both headlights
• Front Bumper

What i highly recommend getting too is :

• Side Skirts
• Rear Bumper
• WANGG

Everything is basicly bolt in exept for side skirts and spoiler which those needs to be drilled in. Had some issue with fenders fitting but their old aftermarket fiberglass fenders so you could most probably avoid the hassle with oem fenders. I am HORRIBLE at wiring so i went with boring out the blinker hole to fit the bulb instead of the small light as an temporary fix until it causes an problem .

If your looking to do this or similar on an budget but cant find an mazdaspeed, i recommend getting everything exept the front bumper from an protege 2001+ and/or an bumper from an p5 which in my opinion also looks great and is way more "accesible" than an msp bumper.

Im still in the process of slowly adjusting the gaps with time to get an better fitment and am painting it right now.

but to anyone looking to give their protege an lil update, i recommend the swap if you can source the parts. I love this car to death and the new look is making me love it even more, cant wait for it to be finally all painted.

Wasnt able to find much info other than in lil facebook groups and dming some people so hopefully this makes an easier to access rescource for this swap.

 

[shaqoats]

@Irallystuff Where did you get that spoiler from? I've been looking around places and found it but im just wondering where you sourced yours from. I have a protege myself that I just got and I'm wanting to do something a little similar to yours actually!

 

[Irallystuff]

@Irallystuff Where did you get that spoiler from? I've been looking around places and found it but im just wondering where you sourced yours from. I have a protege myself that I just got and I'm wanting to do something a little similar to yours actually!

All the parts i got were from an part-out, guy was sending it to the scrapyard so I took everything. Its all mazdaspeed stuff, i always recomend JP Parts International, super cool guy and has abunch of parts. If u cant find anything near you or from JP then i suppose ebay has some. If you ever have any issues with swapping anything feel free to reply or dm me, always like anwsering questions !

 

[Irallystuff]

This is what the car looks like now. Its getting an full repaint in Red at some point but for now its been an whole lot of fun !

 

[shaqoats]

View attachment 333212View attachment 333213
This is what the car looks like now. Its getting an full repaint in Red at some point but for now its been an whole lot of fun !

Dude thank you so much! And thanks for letting me ask more questions in the future cause I will def need it lol. Your car is real clean though right now, will love to see it when it get painted! Quick question though, Have you modded any of the interior? So far in my car because I just got mine is re upholster the fabric on the doors and added a subwoofer in the trunk. Im hoping to add star lights and change the interior to have a black and purple interior right now but would love to know what you have!

 

[Irallystuff]

I've got an massive sound system through the whole car, rest of the interior I haven't gotten to just yet other than new weighted shift knob and new boot but that's it. I Def need to swap everything to an black interior as soon as I have access to some scrapyard because I have the kinda dirty tan one and it's painfull to look at. But adding anunch of sound deadening material which is the one thing I recommend to make it feel more "whole"