This is what I want my protege to look like

[redfyre]

Hey, welcome to the club. WIth your budget and goal of making your car looking like your avatar, I'd say spend the money on the body kit. Then go with an intake and exhaust. If you still have money left over get a header.

Good luck in your quest!

[RipperSnapper]

IMO if ya already have $1500. saved, save a bit more and get a turbo. The only thing is that has me worried is you don't have too much wrench time under your belt. Turbos are a bit more complicated than Altezza (yuck) taillights. Are you scared to mess with your electrical wiring? Droping the oil pan to have a coppler welded for the oil return feed is at hand; So do you know any good welders? An upgraded exhaust is recomended. The stock clutch (if you have a manual tranny) may not be able to handle the turbo and will need an upgrade. When all is installed do you know how to tune it. A turbo isn't exactly plug and play like an Xbox or something. Turbo timers don't come with a kit so you might think abot getting one. There is alot involved.
I don't want to keep you from wanting a turbo but, I just don't want to see ya screw up your car and waste all your money. Buying a Turbo kit is only a portion of the money you will spend. All the little extras and upgrades will cost you too. And if you plan on having someone experienced install it, thats gonna cost you too.
Anyways, Good Luck. Oh, and by the way IMO keep your car CLEAN looking. That means no BIG ASS spoilers an ****. Personally I wouldnt even put the white on the hood. The blue looks fine without it. Sleepers are so much more fun.

[Lil Freek]

to make it easy, as you seem to be at the same level as me.. go to Essential for a questioning period... just go in, drill them with questions.. they should be honest with you.
Like Ripper stated.. it's not Plug 'n Play.. there's lots more to it.. perhaps you should focus on the small things (which Essential/Clubpro could give you an exact list of, i hope) and then when your car is nice 'n ready.. toss in the turbo for a happy time.

-- side note: on essentialspeed, they say that 12psi is the most a P5 engine can handle.. i thought the Pros could go up to 18psi without any dangers. any insight?

[RipperSnapper]

I think 18psi is a bit too high for stock internals. 12 sounds about right. 15 may be pushing it. I've heard of peeps blowing the engine at 15psi BUT, that was at the track and it may have been over reved. I would go for 12psi on the track and 9psi on the streets if its a daily driver. Thats just me though.

[Kelly]

im no genius when it comes to turbos but, as far as i know 18 psi would call for a copper composite headgasket or something in that field, right?

[RipperSnapper]

I would go for the copper gasket. Seriously though, if ya gonna start opening up the engine, even a head gasket, I would just go all the way and get the stronger internals and then boost to 20-23psi. Wheeeeeee

[illeisist]

Thanks for the tips guys = )

As far as me Protege goes, I don't know if I want to put all my eggs in one basket and get the Turbo for $4k... I mean... It'd give me some extra Zoom Zoom but I still want the bodykit, seats, and stereo system =/
The Kit is like $800-900 USD (includes shipping) from Buddy Club 2, the Seats are like 600USD aswell, and as for the Stereo, I already know what I want and its comin out to about $1000 Canadian

So Im thinkin I/H/E and all that listed above... what ya'll think?

[Lil Freek]

so invest your 1500 into small engine mods.. primaly a CAI and exhaust.. if you have some $$ left, go for ignition wires, spark plugs and header.
just don't drive around to a body kit and racing seats if you can't even beat a Cavalier.

[Nim]

hey nim, you find any boltons for the 1/6 that make a big difference you let us know...or look around in past threads and see, that few "boltons" are available for the 1.6 unless you wanna experiment with parts from japan...If i had 1500 to spend on my car....i would contact wagner motorsports.... TURBO. http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4291978349

Welcom VULTZ

Illeisist's engine is the 2.0 not the 1.6. He's not getting a turbo, period. I wish he would, but a turbo isn't for him. He says so himself. Unless he wants to get ME a turbo... now theres an idea illeisist!

We already planned out the minor engine works. the boltons.. i/h/e, maybe an i-vtec controller... lol

We're just trying to find 1/4 times with these minor mods, to get an idea, or dyno graphs with listed mods to have a picture of how the pro responds.


The 2.0 LX is 130hp right? So it puts down like what? ~110 whp more or less?

[Lil Freek]

puts out between 97-103whp... so i've seen on dynos.
if you can get it up to 125whp with $1500, that'll be pretty good. that'll get you past a few stock Cavaliers.

Where's the Dyno in TO?? go to the shop and ask about package deals. Ottawa is ghetto and Tap is stupid... you gotta buy a pack of 10 rounds to get 10% off..

[RipperSnapper]

just don't drive around to a body kit and racing seats if you can't even beat a Cavalier.

Hey, easy there pal My buddies Cav moves pretty good. It has a 6 cylinder and a 5 speed manual. As far as I know the only mod is a muffler an the ram air hood (one that actually works). It handles like a big ole stankin' hunk a crap though.

[Nim]

puts out between 97-103whp... so i've seen on dynos.
if you can get it up to 125whp with $1500, that'll be pretty good. that'll get you past a few stock Cavaliers.

Where's the Dyno in TO?? go to the shop and ask about package deals. Ottawa is ghetto and Tap is stupid... you gotta buy a pack of 10 rounds to get 10% off..

hmm.. the pro seems to lose a lot of power to the wheel somewhere. Usually its about 15% loss from the crank to the wheel, kind of a rule of thumb. 15% of 200hp is 30hp... 200-30 is 170hp.. but the Type S dynos at 176 I think.

Theres a few dynos in TO... expensive as hell. I think its $75 for 3 runs or $100 an hour. Theres one in mississauga.. Neetronics.

125 to the wheel would be nice for $1500 CAD. Then we'll need another 100 to the wheel and we can start going head to head

[1ofdfew323]

I say go for it. If it will keep you inspired and wanting to own your Protege then I say keep it up.

Before you jump into engine mods, make sure you research your motor. Know it's weakness and strengths ... Then decide what sort of modications that you want to gun for.

A year or so after I got my Protege I came into contact with the familia's on corksport's site and then the phillipines ...
That was my inspiration for everything.

wut the heck u got hook up from the philippines?????????

[Lil Freek]

125 to the wheel would be nice for $1500 CAD. Then we'll need another 100 to the wheel and we can start going head to head

that's pretty much all you'll get for 1500... maybe some tuning involved... but that should be achievable.. mathematically speaking, anyways.
for the extra 100.. um... NOS or turbo... and i don't think NOS is a path he'll wanna take.

one of my friends went on this huge kick where he was gonna buy his own Mustang Dyno.. i pushed him to get one, but he moved outta his house, and his apt. doesn't have a garage.... damn him.. nothing more convenient than an inifinitly wealthy friend with his own dyno!
LOL

[Nim]

LOL **** thats a good idea... get a friend to buy a dyno!

Yo illiesist, forget modding your car!