AWD PROTEGE TRANNY SWAP

obidun-ms-bp · Post by **obidun-ms-bp** » January 4th, 2005, 9:24 am

I JUST SWAPPED A BP 5 SPEED TRANNY IN MY MX-3 AND IN MY SEARCH FOR THE TRANNY I SAW A 1ST GEN AWD PROTEGE SITTING IN A JUNKYARD AND WONDERED IF ANYONE HAS EVER TRIED SWAPPING IN AN AWD PROTEGE TRANNY IN AN MX-3.I KNOW THAT THERE ARE AWD 323'S BUT I CANT GET MY HAND ON ANY LIVING IN VIRGINIA.HAS ANYONE EVER TRIED THE SWAP AND IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE?

schwankesmx3 · Post by **schwankesmx3** » January 5th, 2005, 12:04 am

yes its been done there is a guy in ocala fl with a awd mx3 hes says that everyone on this site said it couldnt be dont so he said f this site and did it any ways its very quick but it took alot of money and alot of fabrication and took some time to get it done he runs low 15's with the 1.6 dohc hes got miata cams flw..act clutch and headers i custom fabed and a few other normal bolt ons if it where up to me i wouldnt do it cause hes only .4 sec. of me just get your tranny rebuilt and have them but a .388 diff set in it

BuGS · Post by **BuGS** » January 5th, 2005, 12:27 am

Hey man, Tell him just because a couple guys said it couldn't be done he shouldn't avoid this site. I would love to see some AWD setups. There is a guy pretty locally trying to do one. Could you maybe ask him for some pics and post em up? Thanks!

Typhoonk · Post by **Typhoonk** » January 5th, 2005, 1:43 am

word!!
Here here to the AWD MX-3!!!!!

LongJohn · Post by **LongJohn** » January 5th, 2005, 12:40 pm

I think this would be awesome because then I could take the MX-3 on ski trips and mostly I wouldn't have to put on the chains and drive under 30mph.

BuGS · Post by **BuGS** » January 5th, 2005, 12:55 pm

???? Just get some decint tires man. I bomb it up my local mountain at like 45 mph with 3 inches of fresh snow on top of ice. All i have to say is go Triple Studded baby! YAY!

LongJohn · Post by **LongJohn** » January 5th, 2005, 4:50 pm

I wish that were feasible. I live at sea level where it never even comes close to snowing. When I drive to the mountains, they have checkpoints, and you either have AWD or you put on the chains.

BuGS · Post by **BuGS** » January 5th, 2005, 9:12 pm

I guess that would be different. But ya know, it could always snow

schwankesmx3 · Post by **schwankesmx3** » January 9th, 2005, 9:14 pm

he dont want any part of this site but i will tell u what when i start on my new 95 1.6 mx awd conversion i will give all the updates and how-2's its ......all u have to do is buy a plazma tourch<lol> and cut some holes in the mx and transfew everything from the donar car and there u go its just alot of time custom fabin and MONEY!!!

Josh · Post by **Josh** » January 9th, 2005, 10:49 pm

so far i have almost everything i need to do the swap. its not going to be as hard as everyone thinks. to anyone who knows how to weld it wont be too hard, but it is time consuming and could be quite expensive if you dont do it your self. the hardest part about the hole thing is going to be fabbing some mounts for the AWD tranny and crosmember. and the tunnel needs to be a couple inches wider. i will have it done by spring. my wiring going on the frits just makes me start the job sooner. ill get pics up probably next month when i get the rear end mounted. what i would say to anyone saying it couldent be done, is their full of $***. its just time and money.

if you can get that whole protege do it. its better to use a protege anyways. iv heard that the rear end is stonger. also its way better having a doner car than trying to salvage parts from all over like i am. their is no parts in any wrecking yard in WA. it kinda sux

stepchyld · Post by **stepchyld** » January 16th, 2005, 6:50 pm

as soon as I learned the 323 was available as awd, I knew it could be possible. BOOO to the naysayers!! I then had no clues as to how to make it happen, but I knew there HAD to be a way. Congrats to those who've done it, and best of luck to those who are attempting it! I'll join you if I ever get the money to tackle such a worthy project.

Post by **MX-3.com** » January 16th, 2005, 7:03 pm

schwankesmx3 wrote:he dont want any part of this site but i will tell u what when i start on my new 95 1.6 mx awd conversion i will give all the updates and how-2's its ......all u have to do is buy a plazma tourch<lol> and cut some holes in the mx and transfew everything from the donar car and there u go its just alot of time custom fabin and MONEY!!!

That's really too bad he doesn;t want any thign to do with the site. I understand why he is mad thoguh if all he got was negative responses when he posted here.

Would it help if you told him the owner of the site would like to apologize to him and is very interested in seeing the work he has done on his MX-3??

phredren · Post by **phredren** » January 16th, 2005, 9:57 pm

stepchyld wrote:as soon as I learned the 323 was available as awd, I knew it could be possible. BOOO to the naysayers!! I then had no clues as to how to make it happen, but I knew there HAD to be a way. Congrats to those who've done it, and best of luck to those who are attempting it! I'll join you if I ever get the money to tackle such a worthy project.

You realize that the 323 that shares the chassis with the MX3 and is AWD was never sold in North America, and even if it were you wouldn't be able to do it easily because the AWD BG chassis 323 and the MX3 have completely different floor pans?

projectmx · Post by **projectmx** » January 17th, 2005, 8:22 am

if it could never be done why have two people done it so far... i doubt there is as much custom fabrication needed and believed... the awd gtx guys can even do the same zx2 strut swap as us and use the same springs so theoretically most stuff should bolt up... the hard parts will be the trans mounts / custom drive shaft / and space for the drive shaft

Joe Carlson · Post by **Joe Carlson** » January 17th, 2005, 9:31 am

I have also have an Isuzu Impulse that i looked into coverting to AWD, since the Impulse was offered as a Turbo AWD, i figured it would be pretty simple, but like said before the floor pans are different, like the whole center section of the floor pan has to be cut out and redone to allow room for the drive shaft, along with shifter linkage, the gas tank has to be changed, and the whole rear suspension from the AWD car put in, I would think it would be a similar process in converting our mx-3's, the parts are available, and it can be done, but sounds like it would be a pretty big hassle, but i bet it would pay off in the end.