protru

I already posted this question on protegetech, so sorry for anyone who has to read it twice, but no one seemed to know, so here's the question:

I'm interested in getting the wings west kit for my 2000 protege, but
was wondering if anyone knows what kind of cost there will be on the
body work custom fitting it to my car.

I know this guy did the opposite in fitting a 2000 kit (erebuni) to
his 2001 car http://www.geocities.com/exotickustoms/jim so I figure
the work shouldn't be too bad.

Also, bear with me 'cause I'm not quite sure what I'm talking about,
but are the "bumper mounts???" in the same place on the 2000 and 2001
so that the bumper fits right on and no reinforcements have to be
removed...or added...making it illegal?? (sorry if that made no sense)

Thanks for any help you can provide,
Shayne

Kincaid

Firstly, there are a couple of topics discussing parts of this. So search for them as well.

You will need:
01/02 headlights
01/02 fenders
01/02 hood
MP3/P5 bumper rebar/reinforcement
MP3/P5 wheel well fender extensions
MP3/P5 upper grille

And boom. Just stick the WW front bumper right onto that and perfect fit.

Cost answer = expensive. The costs of these items have been mentioned in a previous thread.


But if you want to modify it to fit your current front facia. You'll need:
MP3/P5 bumper rebar/reinforcement
MP3/P5 wheel well extensions
And a body shop that can mold the bumper to your current headlights and fenders. I doubt this will be cheap and doubt it will look any good. Unless you bring it to a topnotch shop it will end up uneven, possibly wavy on the molds, etc.

Both costly to do.

reefruner5

hey not to sound dumb but there marketing the WW kit as a PROTEGE kit and not, i repear not as an MP3 kit, so it might not need nearly not that much

Kincaid

Put it this way. The only ones they've mounted it on has been MP3's. The bumper of the WW kit and the MP3/P5 bumper are wider than the sedan bumper. Thus reinforcement adjustments would HAVE to be made. It's quite simple. And you would obviously need the fender well extensions as well. As the WW bumper is obviously just as low as the MP3/P5's.

The other costs would only be incurred to someone who has a 2000 and wishes to upgrade. Which the person inquiring here is looking into.

protru

I know the first option will work, and that's what my dealer recommended I do, but I'd like to fit it to my current front facia, for one since I haven't seen it done, and secondly because I like the headlights on mine better (please no arguing, just my opinion, hahaha).

I don't think the link I sent worked...so hopefully this one will http://members.cardomain.com/protru . If you go to the bottom of the page, on the left there is an image which shows a 2000 front bumper put on a 2001 protege. By the picture it looks like there would be minimal body work, no remolding of the bumper, just some shaving around the headlights and maybe a bit of bondo. Take a look, what do you think??

Thanks again for the help, and any more you can provide,
Shayne

protetype

you've got to remember, the 99/00 protege's front ends are different than the 01/02 protege's. It is a "Protege" kit, but the 01/02 Protege's have the same headlights, fenders, and hood as the mp3. It would be expensive to do the front end conversion from an 00 to 01+. Take a look at the pictures on my site of the front of my car, and then look at your 01 protege.

Kincaid

But he put a 2000 bumper on a 2001. All he had to do was bondo the two little areas under each headlight.

You are talking about doing the reverse. Which will require cutting and molding of the bumper rather than just filling empty spaces. In other words you will have too much bumper instead of that guy who had too little.

And that Pro looks god-awful by the way.

protru

alright, cool...and sorry to keep bothering you, but if that's the case I won't get the kit, so I want to be sure that it'll be too many headaches before I forget about getting it.

So my question is, since I'd be doing the opposite, wouldn't I just have to cut off where he filled in, making it even easier and not harder? Why would I have to remold anything when he didn't. I don't know much about body work so sorry if I sound like an idiot.

Oh, and I hope the god-awful pro is the one with the erebuni kit, and not mine

Thanks,
Shayne

Kincaid

It's alright. It's a legitimate question.

And yeah I was talking about the Pro with the kit. Not yours.

The 2001 headlights shape up as they go around and form the corner lights. They are also pointed on the insides of both lights, Where the round signals are in the middles. Thus you would need to fill these areas as the 2000 lights are a straighter angle down from top to bottom on that side. AND you would need to cut the bumper on the outer sides below the outer signals where the 2000 lights come straight across the bottom [remembering that the 2001 headlights curve up and that is why there is too much bumper there for your headlights.

It wouldn't be to bad a job if you got a good shop to do it.