Hi,

I'm looking at possibly buying a Protege and I'd like to know about the options for aftermarket suspension for the 1st gen cars. My plan is to buy a 1.8 1st gen, but knowing myself, I know I'm going to want to install aftermarket suspension in it and I want to know what my choices are, or if I'm better off biting the bullet and going with a newer model.

To give a little bit of history of where I'm coming from, I drove a Miata for 6 years as a daily driver, autocrosser, track day car. It had Koni's, Ground Control coilovers with 550#F/325#R rates and Flying Miata sway bars. I've also raced SSB, ITA and SM Miatas.

So, I'm all about light, momentum and high G's.

My interest in the 1st gen is because it's cheaper and it's lighter. It will serve the same duties as the above mentioned Miata (except for having a baby seat in the back).

I have a 2003 Subaru WRX that I'll probably be selling to buy the Protege (and to free up some funds for my ITA Miata).

Thanks for your comments.

 

the subaru isn't good enough?

 

The Subaru is great, but I can either have a car payment or buy parts for the Miata race car.

I really want to improve the race car...


PseudoRealityX, thanks!! This sounds very much in line with what the setup for the WRX would be also. I just can't stand to have a boring daily driver. I think that a Protege with a nice suspension setup would keep me happy, even if it is a lot less powerful than the WRX.

 

Hope you find one!

Here's a thread about a company in Australia (Whiteline) that makes some cool stuff for the 1st gen - i really really wish someone here in the US would give them a try

http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/sho...threadid=24795

and here's a thread Pseudo posted about a nice coilover set from PPC-Racing in Canada

http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/sho...threadid=26574

 

Whiteline sells a bunch of stuff for the WRX also. They seem to design good products and have great prices. I don't have personal knowledge of this, but they have a very good reputation.