Considering.

[norwood1026]

This is a question for those of you who have kept the engine N/A. I'm keep going back & forth about selling or not selling my Protege. Anyways onto my question When I first came on I was told that these engines max out around 130ish whp without any type of forced induction. Sounds good considering that even stock they are pretty strong with a 5 speed. Can anyone tell me what parts & give me an idea of what it cost. Not trying to be nosy just trying to figure somethings out. What about seat of the pants impression of the car after said mods. Do I need to modify/strengthen the tranny,etc?

Thanks in advance!




I TRULY suck at naming these threads.

[goldstar]

A good working value for estimating wheel HP in a M /T car is to assume a 15% loss in the powertrain between crank output and wheel output. It's impossible to be precise and the reading is also determined by whether a chassis or a more accurate hub dyno is being used to generate the figures. Based on that assumption the FS-DE 2.0 L engine with a rated BHP output of 130 would show a WHP output of 110. To obtain a WHP output of 130 would probably require a BHP of 154, or 24 more than stock. This is probably about the max that could be obtained through modding the normally aspirated engine. Only you could determine if that would be enough to satisfy your power urges.

The Modifications to the stock engine that I have done, detailed throughout the forum, have resulted in a "seat of the pants" experience of increased power and performance but again that's strictly an individual assessment.

There's plenty of information about na mods right here in this forum as is plainly obvious, and you're well aware.

IMO if you're looking for a really big boost in na performance, dump the Protege and look elsewhere.

You could have titled this thread, "Should I Keep or Sell My Protege?" as one example. With properly descriptive titles, you'll get many more meaningful responses to your threads.

Edit:
For an overview of how various mods affect power output, you might want to check out:

http://www.wihandyman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47067

For a guestimate of how much power various na mods added to my engine, see my Worklog at:
http://www.wihandyman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51915

Happy Motoring!

[norwood1026]

Thanks. For the most part I was just looking for an overall general opnions on those who modifed it to said point. Was trying to get some idea of cost to see if I wanted to spend that kind of money on this project or save the money for a Miata. I do love the car & the lines of it I know with ANY project car it's personal when you get down to it. Just looking for my opnions other then mine, having trouble deciding a lot of things these days lol.

Yeah I know the title of the thread sucks!

[1Mazda323Fan]

You should be able to achieve your horsepower goals while staying away from boost, but it will almost certainly be expensive. You can probably get where you want without replacing the pistons to bump compression, but you're still looking at quite a bit. I didn't find any cams for the 1.8; they may be out there somewhere, but they may need to be custom ground too. An intake will run around $250, catback exhaust is around $400, high-flow cat is around $100 (unless you don't care about emissions inspections, then you can run a test pipe instead). I didn't find any exhaust manifolds either; even if there is one out there, manis are expensive, at least $500. You can get some adjustable cam gears too ($225-ish).

http://www.protegegarage.com/1071-product-1071.html - this links to a ported/polished head for your car. Check the rest of the site, as there are other parts too.

http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/perf.../Mazda/Protege - there's some good parts on here too.

Also check out Corksport; there are a few items on there too. Disregarding the head, an intake and catback will probably net you 10-15 HP. The manifold will make a fairly big improvement when combined with an intake and catback. Higher lift/duration cams and adjustable cam gears will probably net another 10-20. A good port/polish on the intake manifold and/or head will get you a few more (keep in mind this is all crank HP; at the wheels it might not be that much of a gain). Bumping the compression will get you...some more; I have no idea how much. All of this also assumes you are doing the work yourself. Labour costs on a replacing pistons will be rather high. Cams too. Good rule of thumb for modifying a car: set a budget for the mods and installation, then double it. So, yes, you could see 130 WHP on your engine, but if you have doubts about spending several thousand dollars and a good amount of time to get there, don't do it. Save the money for the Miata instead (which is the exact opposite of your Protege, by the way. Where'd a Miata come from? You never mentioned that before...) and start tuning that instead. It was embraced more by the aftermarket than the Protege was, and is most likely easier to tweak. Keep in mind, though, no matter what you choose to modify, you're still looking at roughly the same amount of money for the same types of parts (or more, depending on the car).

[norwood1026]

Thanks for the info again. With everything that has been going on I've been questioning if I wanted to spend the money on the Protege. As I stated above I have always loved these cars, before I got married I drove a 93 Miata ever since then I have been hooked on the little car after the first tight corner I tossed in into. The more I read the more I want to get my Protege ready to sell. Part of starting a fresh life I guess. I know with a Miata I could enjoy it like it is more stock then I can my Protege for the time being. I keep going back & forth on this & that’s why I posted this. IF everything works out as I am hoping then I'm going to drop another $1,000 into the Protege I'm going to lose my butt on the sale of the car. I guess that's pretty typical though. Having it painted, tires & some much over due maintenance isn't cheap as it is. It seems I have already made up my mind....more then likely change it again lol