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I am swapping a 1.8 SOHC into my 92 rs because it is easy and I want to do it myself, but I had an idea for down the road if I wanted to upgrade to the DOHC 1.8 BP plus G series tranny. Here it is:
Buy a 91-94 protégé lx with 50,000 - 80,000 for around $2500 (I have seen them on auto trader for around that price) Pull the tranny, engine, axels, gear box Etc. Then put the 1.8 SOHC engine back in the protégé lx with the mx3 tranny, axels, gear box etc. Then sell the protégé lx as a dx. Since the 1.8 SOHC engine only has 30,000 miles on it, I should be able to get the $2500 back out of it. Anyone see any problems with doing this? I am also posting this idea for guys with a 1.6. Could you swap a 1.6 into a protégé LX and sell it (assuming you were honest with people about what you did) ?

<small>[ November 01, 2004, 06:07 PM: Message edited by: rukick ]</small>

why not just skip to the 1.8 DOHC?

I am new to working under the hood. I only learned how to change the oil in my car about 2 years ago. The 1.8 SOHC and 1.6 SOHC are basically the same engine (so I'm told). The only difference is a longer stroke. The swap will basically be taking out the engine and putting one exactly like it back in. If I can manage that then I will dry something more difficult.
If someone wanted to put the 1.6 SOHC in a protege LX would it be way under powered?

<small>[ November 01, 2004, 09:31 PM: Message edited by: rukick ]</small>

to what i understand, the 1.8 DOHC drops right in like the 1.8 SOHC, just later on you will have to run the 2 wires for the VICS, someone on here has a bit more detail to it than i do

I know, I think you told me that before on another post. I just don't want to get in over my head on my first project.

The Protege LX only came with a DOHC.

If you had that-- you could (if you wanted to, which I recommend) grab the Engine, ECU, Wiring Harness, tranny, etc from the LX and swap EVERYTHING to the MX-3. Then all the VICS stuff would already be hooked up and you would not have to do any other work.

I guess you COULD swap all your MX-3 stuff back over to the Protege, but thats up to you... kinda a lot of work if you ask me.

The answers to all your questions are in the 4-cyl FAQ.

Rukick i would recommend just doing a little bit more on reading up on some stuff and going BP the first time. I know after you swap in the SOHC you will regret you didn't get the DOHC BP.

Another issue is finding a good engine. I really lucked out with finding this 1.8 SOHC with 35,000 miles in great shape for $100. I looked into getting a 1.8 DOHC and it seems that you either have to pay big $$ to get one that is guaranteed or take a big risk that you are buying a large paper weight, or take what you can get and rebuild it (also big $$). I really don't like any of those options. The only other way to do it (that I can see) is to take one out of a running car, but then you have a car with no engine to deal with. If I can put another engine back in and I can find a low miles protégé lx near me, I might just swap the BP DOHC first. I am just to the point now that I am really tired of 80 whp and anything different will be better.