Friend gave me a 91 Protege SE...now what?

[Cpt_BlackAdder]

Thought i'd say hey ..... i like the site...i've been reading the posts for about a week since i was given the car. Lots of great advice , seems most of you really enjoy sharing knowledge learned so i was hoping for a little boost in the right direction. The car i was given is in decent condition for 218,000 km, interior is clean, no rips, engine runs great..with a minor exhaust leak from the manifold...all other mech seems to be in good if not great condition. It was lady driven....she took it to a mechanic every 3 months just to make sure it was ok....except for the last year she had it...no oil changes or any work done on it. As soon as i got a hold of it i changed the oil , put in a K&N Air Filter..Wow..noticeable difference...better plugs and cleaned engine area. Tires were almost bald all seasons so i checked out a wrecker and lucked out getting some 15" aluminium rims and rubber Bridgestone Potenzas for $150.00 total. The guy said if i didn't buy them they'd just get stolen...so i told him to leave them against the fence and i'd think about it...HA..he didn't laugh. Lots of Protege's in his yard.....

So my question to you all is ...is an SE worth fix'n up even a little ( i have to use it as a daily driver..and drive around two kids ) i'd like to increase the HP ...even a little but don't want to swap an engine at this point..get better suspension..exhaust...little cosmetic things in the interior..swap the gauge cluster for one with a tach....anyway..before this turns into a novel...reading this site makes one want to customize everything...any ideas where i should start first..?

[THEGOLDPRO]

sounds like you got a good deal man, any car is worth fixing up, no use having a car you dont like, so you mines as well do some work to it, so that you like it. i would also run the car through a full inspection, just to make sure its in good running order. from the sounds of it you allready have a list of mods you want to do, so i would say your off to a good start. good luck man.

[skr33t_rac3r]

sure theres lots u can do to and SE the pic in my signature is a DX which is basically an SE and i modded it

[Cpt_BlackAdder]

I appreciate the input guys....I guess i was just feeling a little overwhelmed with all the cool stuff u can do .....I need to make a list of the mods u can do for an SE.

[D323]

1st.... swap for BPT
2nd.... N/A head off of an LX protege (DOHC)
3rd.... any other preformance/appearance/audio mods

repeat step 3 again and again until satisfied

step 1 and 2 will give you a turbod motor with about 200 hp or so.