rwd protege conversion?

[driftking988]

I have come up with a plan...correct me or change anything you dont think would work. Ok...half chassis the front, make a custom tranny tunnel, awd rear diff, awd cvs, fuel cell in the place of the spare tire, either 13bt or kzle w/ rx7 tranny. The main question left is the steering rack. Any ideas?

[jay]

If you're gonna go through all that crap, don't bother with the mazda rear end. I've sheared the teeth off of two gpA rear diffs. You don't need to worry about matching up final drive ratio or anything like that and since you're making a complete custom subrame, making it to accept (insert stout rear diff here) is peanuts compared the the rest of the worklist you put up. I looked at how much trans tunnel mod was needed and decided that it was asking too much of a thinguage unibody, even with a full cage. Tread lightly. Never did figure out what to do about the rack either, though I didn't really put much effort in on that problem.

[therieldeal]

and just think jay, your steering rack is set up even higher than the rack in a fwd protege.

[jay]

Nuthin a hole through the bellhousing and a flexible input shaft wouldn't fix :p

[driftking988]

with a 13b being only 79ci if I go fmic then could I set the engine up a little higher to accomidate the steering rack? Also I seen this guy on ebay once that had a 13bt in a MX-3, does a MX-3 have the same steering rack problem?

[jay]

IIRC setting it higher makes the problem worse. Only way to be sure is to start measuring sh@t up.

[SgtRauksauff]

If you're putting in a custom subframe for a RWD car... mount the rack on the front side of the frame, and swap knuckles from left to right, which'll put the steering ears forward. You'll obviously have to fab up something in the steering column anyway. Just go to a JY and look at other RWD cars and see how they're set up. A miata or RX7, if you want to stick with mazda...

--sarge

[driftking988]

A guy was just tellin me to use a subaru steering rack and swap the hubs around do you guys think that would work? And if so what modifications would I have to do to the steering column besides extending it?

[jay]

Let's see a show of hands for how many here have converted a fwd protege to rwd, and thus would know whatall would be needed to run a sooby steering rack with reversed hubs.


I'll wait...




hmm.





I think in order to answer those questions, you are going to have to find out by blazing a trail.

[808]

Not to be a nay sayer... but if you have to ask that question... this might not be a project for you.

[Turpro]

[IMACHU2]

I should not be encouraging you, but I can't help myself LOL

My idea:

Buy a cheap last gen RX-7 (right hand drive ones go for peanuts) cut the whole body off it and sell all the body panels. Sell all the mechanical parts off the protege too. Then cut the floor out of the protege and weld the protege body to the RX-7 floor. It sounds extreme. But in my other Scene (Mustangs) This is actually becoming quite common place. I have seen this done with 60's Mustangs. They weld a 60's Mustang body to the floor of a late model Mustang or T-bird floor. That way it will look like a protege but will have all the factory engineering work done for you (by the pros). Just remember to measure 100 times and cut once. Not sure what a RX-7 wheel base is, If it is exact, plunk it on. If it is close modify the wheel wells with bolt or bond on flares. If it is apples and oranges the floor could be shortened or lengthened to match.

Proof of concept: A 65? Mustang on a Miata! LOL



Am I going to hell now

[therieldeal]

idk the rx7's have a longgggg hood

[KaleoXtreme]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0f4mGY72Y8

^^^This guy Stefan, used a miata trans and rear end for his rwd Escort GT. You should be able to do the same with a protege.

[teqnyck]

How on earth does he keep that rear end together with 600hp.