The Differences between American P5 and OZ/NZ SP20

[Cloudland]

Recently i've realised this question. i took it for granted that American P5 is AS SAME AS OZ/NZ SP20. i was wrong. i thought it might help to list them, if some of us ever gonna buy stuff for SP20s from the states.

Here are the Differences between American P5 and OZ/NZ SP20


1. American P5 is Left Hand Drive, SP20 is Right Hand Drive.

No kidding! Lots of interior stuff for P5 simply doesn't fit on SP20, like some of the dash kits, auto trans shift plate, etc.
and thanks to coldie:
a) apparently the headlights focus more to the passenger side of the car so as to light up street signs better and not shine into oncoming traffic as much (not sure about this), so don't buy headlights from the US to replace broken ones, or to paint black etc.
b) wiper control stalk is on the passenger side of the steering column (in case you wanted to do the variable intermittent control swap).
and then, (driver/passenger) side mirrors have different angles, not sure if this can be manually adjusted.

2. American P5 is about 5 cm longer than SP20.

Reason: American P5 has a longer rear bumper.
Be careful: muffler with hangers for American P5 will stick out longer, cut & re-weld maybe?
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87896
Pics on 2nd page


3. American P5 has (some) different wiring than SP20.

i found this when i installed 1sty's ground kit. there are a couple of locations where the wiring/brackets are different. i had to switch some of the cables to connect them altogether.
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1329927#post1329927


4. American P5 [edit: i guess it's Mazdaspeed, not P5] has different engine mount positions than SP20.

I'm not so sure at this stage but from various pictures, in American, the front mount is a "front" mount, the rear mount is a "rear" mount, but on my SP20, they are like "driver's side" n "passenger's side" mount. the mounts look the same though.


5. American P5 has VTCS while SP20 doesn't.

Again i only got this from my memories. It's more like America has tougher emission laws.


whatelse?

 

[twilightprotege]

6. american compression ration 9.1:1, sp20 9.7:1

7. american p5 came standard with roof racks, sp20 didnt

8. p5 came with subwoofer in the j48 facelift, sp20 didnt

9. p5 always had j48 facelift taillights, sp20 had j-spec taillights before j48 facelift

10. p5 has a different low beam bulb, 9006 or something, sp20 is h7 (i think)

11. p5 has OBD-II ecu, sp20 OBD-I

12. different underdrive pulleys

13. sp20 sound better than protege5 cant think of anything else at the moment

 

[twilightprotege]

oh and the front and rear engine mounts are the same. i have the AWR mounts on mine and they are fine. the difference is for the rear mount that we have a proportioning valve for the brakes straight above the rear engine mount which makes it's install a b!tch.

 

[traitorhound]

10. p5 has a different low beam bulb, 9006 or something, sp20 is h7 (i think

they are both h7

 

[twilightprotege]

must be the high beam then. we have h1 for our bulbs

 

[coldie123]

1. American P5 is Left Hand Drive, SP20 is Right Hand Drive: this has other related differences:
a) apparently the headlights focus more to the passenger side of the car so as to light up street signs better and not shine into oncoming traffic as much (not sure about this), so don't buy headlights from the US to replace broken ones, or to paint black etc.
b) wiper control stalk is on the passenger side of the steering column (in case you wanted to do the variable intermittent control swap).

14) Twilight mentioned before that SP20's have j-spec intake cams, which are bigger than the american spec cams

15) The 2nd o2 sensor in the SP20 doesn't seem to do much, so theres no CELs when we remove our first cat. In fact I've totally disconnected my 2nd o2 sensor to see if anything happens, and so far (after 4 days) nothing out of the ordinary...

16) The location of the 2nd cat: on the SP20 the cat is at the front end of the midpipe (right next to the transmission); on the P5 the cat is near rear end of the midpipe (just in front of the gear stick). I'm not sure if the overall length of the midpipe is the same on both cars, but from the pics i've seen, they look the same.



Good on ya for starting this thread... I was too lazy to do it

 

[twilightprotege]

yeah lights focus opposite to ours

gee you'd think i'd remember the cam one...doh!

the 2nd o2 sensor doing nothing is related to the OBD-II vs OBD-I ecu's

 

[Cloudland]

1. American P5 is Left Hand Drive, SP20 is Right Hand Drive: this has other related differences:
a) apparently the headlights focus more to the passenger side of the car so as to light up street signs better and not shine into oncoming traffic as much (not sure about this), so don't buy headlights from the US to replace broken ones, or to paint black etc.
b) wiper control stalk is on the passenger side of the steering column (in case you wanted to do the variable intermittent control swap).

great! i'll copy these upfront.

 

[Cloudland]

6. american compression ration 9.1:1, sp20 9.7:1

any performance difference then?

 

[twilightprotege]

minimal. only 2kw i think and even with the good intake cam too!

i think the downfall is we get lesser quality fuel than america and our engines are down tuned because of it

 

[GHOSTWHISPER]

(off topic) not to mess up your thread, but I and my family travel to Sydney, and Melbourne at least a couple times a month, they work for United Airlines. I was wondering where the best place would be to buy your style taillights. I have the stock P5 tails and would like your style. Or if any of you would like to trade I could arrange that as well, so we wouldnt have to worry about the killer shipping.

Thanks if you wouldnt mind sending me a PM with some info, or would like to set up a trade you can do the same.

I figured I could just go the dealership there but just wondering what they cost over there? Thanks again guys

 

[twilightprotege]

when i was checking them out to sell to you guys, when shipping was included it was still cheaper to buy from a place like corksport....and very very few of them pop up 2nd hand

 

[GHOSTWHISPER]

true, but even if i ordered them in Australia from a Mazda Dealer picked them up there and just brought them back in a bag, do you think it would still be cheaper? See i just dont know how much they would be from the dealer, and I am guessing they are probably about the same price as our tails our, so yes they then they probably would be cheaper to buy from corksport. But if you know or hear of anyone looking for some over there, give me a holler. Thanks

 

[sabrelli]

is this the JDM style ones?like twilight ones in his avatar.
www.ozeparts.com.au has them goin for $AUD150 a pair.