Protege gambler 500 build

fishon1213

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2002 Mazda protege
I have an 02 Mazda protege that has served me well, however it has ran it's course as a daily driver. My brother purchased the car about 7 years and 100k ago, passing it onto me at about 200k. The old Mazda now has 225k, has been totaled 3 times, has not been maintained but still runs strong and drives ok.

The car is simply not worth selling, I was going to scrap it but wouldn't get much. The car has a lot of nostalgic value to my brother and I so I'm thinking it would be fitting to attempt the gambler 500 with it. The gambler 500 is a 500 mile on/off road rally with a $500 car.

I'm sure this is not something you Mazda ppl are used to seeing but perhaps you have some suggestions and insight on what cheap mods could make this car more gambler-worthy, such as...

1. Options for a mild lift and wheel spacers/adapters to fit slightly larger and more aggressive tires.

2. Better recovery points.

3. Snorkel?!? Lol

4. Weak points that will probably fail when using car for ''spirited'' driving far from intended purpose.
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Do it and post your results!

I don't know about rallying it in the dirt, but plenty of people have done well with Proteges in the 24 hours of Lemons races.

(Here's the Lemons website)
https://24hoursoflemons.com/
 
These are tough little cars. It should work well for you. Check out my rallycross protg page might give you so ideas. Rally tires aren't cheap, I say get a set of snow tires and call it a day
 
Hey man I'm new to the mazda scene. I recently picked up an 02 protege5 .. I'm a long time euro car guy. I built a 98 jetta vr6 that dyno 247 at front wheels as well as my personal favorite ride a 07 t5 volvo s40 I still have but really loving this protege 5 its dropped 1.5 on eibach with front rear tower bars any decent turbo options for this ? Big time rally fan love to see pic of your rally cross whip
 
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