New to the forum, I've had a stock protege for a while now, fresh rebuild on engine. Just found a Mazdaspeed Protege that runs bad, I can pick it up for $300. My current protege is the base model, crank windows, boring light grey interior, no tachometer, minimal features. Anyway I'm wondering how much work it will be to take my engine and swap it over to the other one. From what I understand, internally they are the same engine, the mazdaspeed just has a turbo on it. Is this true? If so, I assume the swap would be pretty easy, and then I've got myself a faster car with a nicer interior, and a clean title, (my current is a rebuilt/restored title), all for relatively cheap. Both cars are 2003, both 5 speed manual. My biggest concern, assuming the engine will bolt up to everything correctly, is piston ring gap. I didn't do the engine rebuild, but I assume the ring gap was set to stock specs for a naturally aspirated. Will I need to pull the engine back apart and widen the gap? Or will it be ok, as it's not an incredibly high boost application? Also, are the transmissions the same? I've been told that the protege has a weak transmission, so I thought maybe the Speed has a more heavy duty trans. if they are the same, I will transfer mine over with the engine, since it has new fluid in it, and i know it shifts well. if they are different, I guess ill be keeping the Speed trans in the Speed. Any info helps, thanks.
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