Recently I've been introduced to my friend's 1990 protege lx and I must say I'm very impressed with the car. I do have a few questions I'd like to ask about the 1st Gen protege I haven't been able to find.

From what I've found, the BTP engine will drop right into the 90/91 lx engine bay. Is this possible as well with the AWD version? I'm amazed at the curb weight of the AWD protege and since this will be my car I drive in the winter, AWD would be a very nice feature to have.

With the BTP engine, how much HP do people run stock usually and then with a fair amount of mods? My target range will be the 230-270whp range. (if it were awd this would be different obviously) I'm not a genius when it comes to engines which is why I'd like to go with a first gen protege. The parts seem cheaper than for my current car (2002 Ford Focus ZX3) and from working in the engine bay it definitely seems like there's more room.

Also looking online there doesn't seem to be a large amount of info easily found with a listing of which parts cross over. The 1st Gen protege doesn't seem to have a very large aftermarket and based of signatures it looks like it's common to steal parts from other mazdas or fords.

That's about all I have for now, thanks for all the info!

-Justin

 

230whp can be easily done with a t3 turbo. 230bhp can be done with 14psi on the stock gtx turbo.

 

I'm kind of pulling up this older thread here. I've been looking around and I've found an AWD 1990 Protege with an automatic transmission.

My understanding is if I purchase a GTX front clip, I'll be able to swap in a manual transmission and such then.

I've done some checking into the car and here's what I've found. The car was in for warranty work 12 times in its period. None of the things were major so I'm not too worried about that. The car's record for the most part is clean (checked via a carfax report) and looks like it was driven around 20,000 miles per year.

All of its features are standard except for cruise control according to the dealer. He did say there's a problem with one of the door handles but I know the car hasn't been in for the door switch recall yet so I think it may be covered under that.

From talking with the guy, he said the car is still in excellent shape. initially it was listed at $1695 but he's had the car on his lot since the beginning of April so he's reduced the price to $1295.

Finding costs has been somewhat of a difficulty for me (especially since I can't find info on the AWD protege in very many places) so how does the price stack up? Also how much would I be looking at roughlyif I were to do a manual GTX engine swap.

I'll be taking a look at the car this weekend (its 90 miles away) and hopefully picking it up if it's worth the price. Are there any other things I should look for?

Plus the link to the Protege FAQ is dead, so is there a live link anyone could give me? =)

Thanks in advance..

-Justin

 

I can help you with your last request.
http://web2.airmail.net/theman/protegefaq/

 

be sure to check this site:

http://protege4wd.vista.com