New to the board / W????'s
January-24th-2003, 03:27 PM
#1
Protege Newbie
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Lynn, Mass
Posts: 34
New to the board / W????'s
I am actually bring home a 92 Protege lx tomorrow picked it up on ebay for 470.00 with 151k on it. What should i be looking out for as far as issues? and what are the first performance enhancements to make? I bot the car as a winter vehicle but going from a V8 to 4 banger I will need to squeeze a little extra juice out of this thing. Any ideas are appreciated.
thanks in advance
Mike
thanks in advance
Mike
January-24th-2003, 04:45 PM
#2
formerly chastan
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: California, USA
Posts: 2,350
Hey! What kind of car did you come from?
edit: (Whoops I see your sig I'm guessing the lincoln
)
If you've ever owned a little Japanese 4-banger before, it's about the same. There aren't any real particular trouble spots to look for, just the same advice you'd get for any other car, kick the tires, check the oil, etc.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised that the Pro is a fun little car to drive
As far as performance mods, look around a little, you'll see some advice. I'm sure others will be able to give you more specifics
Welcome
edit: (Whoops I see your sig I'm guessing the lincoln
)If you've ever owned a little Japanese 4-banger before, it's about the same. There aren't any real particular trouble spots to look for, just the same advice you'd get for any other car, kick the tires, check the oil, etc.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised that the Pro is a fun little car to drive
As far as performance mods, look around a little, you'll see some advice. I'm sure others will be able to give you more specificsWelcome
January-24th-2003, 04:54 PM
#3
Protege Newbie
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Lynn, Mass
Posts: 34
Originally posted by Chastan
Hey! What kind of car did you come from?
edit: (Whoops I see your sig I'm guessing the lincoln)
If you've ever owned a little Japanese 4-banger before, it's about the same. There aren't any real particular trouble spots to look for, just the same advice you'd get for any other car, kick the tires, check the oil, etc.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised that the Pro is a fun little car to drive As far as performance mods, look around a little, you'll see some advice. I'm sure others will be able to give you more specifics
Welcome
Hey! What kind of car did you come from?
edit: (Whoops I see your sig I'm guessing the lincoln
)If you've ever owned a little Japanese 4-banger before, it's about the same. There aren't any real particular trouble spots to look for, just the same advice you'd get for any other car, kick the tires, check the oil, etc.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised that the Pro is a fun little car to drive
As far as performance mods, look around a little, you'll see some advice. I'm sure others will be able to give you more specificsWelcome
Right now I drive a 89 Lincoln Mark VII with some mild mods. I generally like my cars big. But I spent a lot of time @ New England Dragway this summer and I am very impressed with the perfomance being squeezed out of the 4 cyl. engines. So I figure this will give me something to tinker with as well as provide economical transpo while I store and Pull the Mark apart. I look forward to any and all advise given
January-25th-2003, 06:27 AM
#4
Protege Newbie
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Lynn, Mass
Posts: 34
Originally posted by Gro Harlem
depending on how modded your mark vii is, I don't see it being that much faster than a 92 protege LX.
I think you will be impressed with the engine in the protege. I had a couple of people who are into old 5.0 mustangs drive my 93 LX and ask me if it had a V6 in it. When I told them it had a 1.8 liter 4 banger they were amazed.
if you won the car off ebay, you basically HAVE to buy it unless the guy advertised it wrong. So when you go to check it out you might want to check these common things:
Check the rear fender well for rust, also near the rear tow hooks commonly gets rust spots. Also check the A pillars exterior for rust bubbling up underneath.
Check the CV boots balljoint and tie rod end boots for tears. all 3 commonly tear over time.
Also start the car, let it run for a minute, then have someone rev it while you look at the tailpiope. If you see blue smoke that means it is burning oil which means the engine is on its last legs. These are tough motors so they can put up with a lot of neglect without much recourse but it is still good to know if the car burns oil or not (a little blue smoke would probably be expected on a car with that many miles).
Other than that, there are'nt many "problem" areas these cars have. Teh seatbelt beep might constantly annoy you but that doesn't really affect driveability and I wrote a how-to for disabling it on this board somewhere so look for it.
depending on how modded your mark vii is, I don't see it being that much faster than a 92 protege LX.
I think you will be impressed with the engine in the protege. I had a couple of people who are into old 5.0 mustangs drive my 93 LX and ask me if it had a V6 in it. When I told them it had a 1.8 liter 4 banger they were amazed.
if you won the car off ebay, you basically HAVE to buy it unless the guy advertised it wrong. So when you go to check it out you might want to check these common things:
Check the rear fender well for rust, also near the rear tow hooks commonly gets rust spots. Also check the A pillars exterior for rust bubbling up underneath.
Check the CV boots balljoint and tie rod end boots for tears. all 3 commonly tear over time.
Also start the car, let it run for a minute, then have someone rev it while you look at the tailpiope. If you see blue smoke that means it is burning oil which means the engine is on its last legs. These are tough motors so they can put up with a lot of neglect without much recourse but it is still good to know if the car burns oil or not (a little blue smoke would probably be expected on a car with that many miles).
Other than that, there are'nt many "problem" areas these cars have. Teh seatbelt beep might constantly annoy you but that doesn't really affect driveability and I wrote a how-to for disabling it on this board somewhere so look for it.
The Mark has the usual mods intake tube 3.73 rear end shift kit
underdrives. With just that done I took my 1/4 mike from 16.7 down to a best run 15.855. For a 2 ton car it gets out of the way pretty well. I am installing a Zex nitrious system as soon as it warms up and upgrading the brake system (yeah I know I should have upgraded brakes before
).I had a friend of mine go look at the car for me. He says it is suprisingly good condition. Says the front axels and new tires last march. har has on dent on the trunk lid but nothing major he detected a little slipping of the clutch under full throttle in higher gears (which I expected with 151 k). It takes a good friend to jack up and crawl under a car when it iss 6 degrees out!!!
I will post a full report tonight.
thanks guys
Mike
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