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"

 

[shaqoats]

Same I have that tan color too but hey keep my updated on everything you do cause im wanting to see how everything turns out. I do have some good news, I was looking on JP one day and found the spoiler in pretty good condition and was thinking out it for a bit and come to find out it was still there so I had to pick it up and it should come this week! Super excited but nervous to dill into my trunk. It does have a taillight that im hoping works cause I think it will look dope.

 

[shaqoats]

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"

Ill also look into adding sound deadening material cause I hate closing my door and it sounding like a tin can raddling

 

[Irallystuff]

Ill also look into adding sound deadening material cause I hate closing my door and it sounding like a tin can raddling

Yeah for me it's exactly because of that problem, makes the car feel so so cheap

 

[shaqoats]

Weird question but I bought the spoiler and it came today but without nuts to mount it on the car, Do you know by chance what size the nuts are or where I can get them? Ive been looking them up but I only find them for the protege5 and idk if they are the same size.

 

[Irallystuff]

Weird question but I bought the spoiler and it came today but without nuts to mount it on the car, Do you know by chance what size the nuts are or where I can get them? Ive been looking them up but I only find them for the protege5 and idk if they are the same size.

Sorry I haven't really looked as I took mine with the nuts but I would personally try nuts from something else in the car and see if they fit and use it as reference

 

[shaqoats]

ooo I didn't even think abt that, appreciate it bro!

 

[shaqoats]

Hey quick question, Does your spoiler have a brake light on it? If so how did you wire it to work? Im hearing a few thinks online like tap into one of the left or right brake lights but I also saw someone said you can also remove the third brake light thats inside the car and it should connect to there but the wire on the spoiler is quite for so im confused. Thanks!

 

[Irallystuff]

Hey quick question, Does your spoiler have a brake light on it? If so how did you wire it to work? Im hearing a few thinks online like tap into one of the left or right brake lights but I also saw someone said you can also remove the third brake light thats inside the car and it should connect to there but the wire on the spoiler is quite for so im confused. Thanks!

It does have the light but I haven't gotten to wiring it up, all depends on how you want to manage it but yes it should be an decently easy job to hook it up either to the brake lights or the third brake light inside the car

 

[leandoer]

very nice looking.
New door seals and sound deadning would be nice.