03 Protege Engine

[AaronMar55]

Hey guys I have been looking and can not seem to find a direct answer to what I am looking for. But i have a 03 protege with a stock 2.0l I-4 I am assuming? But my question is how sturdy is this engine if I'm looking to get 250hp max in the car. Or should I do a swap? And if so what engine would be a good building block to start with?

 

[Ice88]

NA or Turbo? 250 at the wheels or at the fly? What Kms has it done?

 

[AaronMar55]

102k miles, I would most likely have to turbo right? And I would be looking at whp.

 

[Ice88]

Not have to but if you had the budget for that figure at the wheels NA you wouldnt have bought a 323.

What kills these engines is the rods, high boost is the main culprite. If i was to be crude and put a limit on safe power id say about 200 at the wheels is safe, reality is that this isnt a hard limit can make more safely just need to be wise in selecting parts. Search the forums turboing has been covered plenty as well as options. Personally I'd go with Mazdaspeed cams, Garett 2871, exhaust, MP3 (or de-vtcs intake manifold) and a fuel and timing controller. And plenty of suspension mods, would be nice n peppy

 

[AaronMar55]

So this engine is okay to do some upgrades to? And even 200 is fine maybe a little more but that beats the 130 or whatever it currently has.

 

[tweety2300]

If its a manual you're making around 100whp now. 200whp is safe for a daily some have pushed 220-250. But 200whp makes for a fun peppy daily

 

[AaronMar55]

Yeah I think I will just aim for 200 then. I'm not really looking to get amazing power out of this.

 

[tweety2300]

Yeah I think I will just aim for 200 then. I'm not really looking to get amazing power out of this.

200 is plenty of fun although my 323 is 200 lbs lighter than a protege it makes right at 200whp and is tons of fun

I will warn you, you WILL want more I thought I was happy but as time has passed I want more. 300-400 is doable with my motor I plan on a t28 on 20psi (hoping for 320-330 area). When I get bored with that ill have to make a decision on what motor ill go with which will get expensive. The cycle will never end and will get more expensive I'm looking at 1200-1300 for an extra 120hp. Just the motor and trans I hope to eventually get will be 3-4 thousand not including ems fabrication it will have a bigger turbo list goes on. Sometimes I think it would be cheaper to have a drug addiction than a car addiction

 

[AaronMar55]

Am I going to be okay with the stock trans?

 

[tweety2300]

Stock manual trans is good for 300-350 before it starts shredding gears

 

[AaronMar55]

Its auto

 

[tweety2300]

I would do a manual swap if I were you

 

[AaronMar55]

How much do you think something like that would cost? Should I just try to get a hold of a stock ms m/t?

 

[tweety2300]

The only difference between the Mazda speed trans and regular trans is the LSD, and its not worth having IMO.

Price depends on the deals you get manual trans can run 100-400. But you will need flywheel clutch starter master cyl clutch master cyl and slave cyl. Along with the clutch pedal assembly and some slight wire modification ( just a few wires). But you will see a 30-40 whp gain with just the trans swap since the autos lose so much power