2002 Protege5 AWD conversion---> Possible?

as soon as i get a truck for everyday driving, i ripping everything out of my p5 and customizing every f'ing thing i can. But if i can i would like to try and convert to AWD. I have access to a machine shop so making custom parts will not be a problem but i dont know which junk yard parts would best suit the conversion. i really would like to find a jacked up subaru wrx and try converting the differentials on that beast. ANY IDEAS anyone, new to this forum so whats up?

Regards,
T.Cress
 
I think there was a awd version of the P5 in australia or something like that, that was made. It was turbo AWD, i wish they would have brought it here. Maybe some one on here knows what it is. Best of luck to you.
 
They did make the familia in AWD and it was available as an option in japan and some other countries I beilieve. Not sure where exactly got the AWD system though. It wasn't turbo charged however, as the only turbo charged BJ chasis cars were the MSP's.



You can def make it AWD if you can source these parts. I would hate to see the price tag on that project though!
 
This is brought up a couple of times a year. Nothing ever comes of these threads, sorry but it's just the way it is.
 
No harm in trying...Let's try to encourage, not discourage! (thumb)

Welcome to Mazda Forums, T.Cress...Definitely keep us updated with lots of (pics) and vids...Good Luck! (rockon)
 
ive heard rumor that some importers can get you the parts you need for the "conversion," but it pretty much consists of you buying an entire Fieldbreak edition Familia and having the bottom half (from door handles down) shipped to you. id really like to see it done here, but it hasnt been done as far as i know.

i could be wrong, its happened once before.

edit: on that note, the cost of the conversion would far outweigh the popularity of the car considering the fieldbreak front bumper alone is a couple grand.
 
There was an AWD BJ chasis released in Japan, which I think was called the Familar. It was powered with the FS-ZE engine and Im pretty sure there was never a factory AWD/turbo combination.

Some think that the driveline for this was based off the BF AWD Familar of the late 80's. I have heard of BJ AWD in Australia but it was imported via New Zealand, who have a penchant for grabbing some pretty sweet second-hand cars off the Japanese market.
 
ive heard rumor that some importers can get you the parts you need for the "conversion," but it pretty much consists of you buying an entire Fieldbreak edition Familia and having the bottom half (from door handles down) shipped to you. id really like to see it done here, but it hasnt been done as far as i know.

i could be wrong, its happened once before.

edit: on that note, the cost of the conversion would far outweigh the popularity of the car considering the fieldbreak front bumper alone is a couple grand.

Exactly.....it could be done but $$$ would be the factor. If you have the money then anything is possible.
 
...i really would like to find a jacked up subaru wrx and try converting the differentials on that beast. ANY IDEAS anyone, new to this forum so whats up?

Regards,
T.Cress

If you're going to use a Subaru transmission then use the engine too, and probably the uprights. You're going to have one hell of a time getting your east-west engine mated up to a transmission made for a north-south engine.

You will almost definitely have to do custom sheet metal work to allow clearance for the central drive-shaft to the rear axle, and probably for the rear axle. I hope you have a welding shop on top of the machining!
 
Good point. Has anyone succesfully mounted a wrx engine in p5? As long as it fits under the hood i should be able to find a way to mount correctly, but some help would be nice.
 
doing a WRX swap into the P5 would be a positively monumental task.. completely different engine configuration... honestly, I think you would likely end up cutting up everything. firewall, trans tunnel, inner fenders, front and rear crossmembers... it would literally be a one-off car. that is assuming you didn't have to completely rearrange the front suspension in order to fit the horozintally opposed engine. you're also probably looking at custom driveshaft and custom half shafts, in addition to custom mounts for the engine, trans, and differential. a true mountian of work. it is 10x harder to do this kind of work on a unibody car than it was back in the body-on-frame days. back then all you had to do was build the frame to bolt in what you needed, then make the body fit around it and bolt on, now you have to make everything fit AND be structurally sound all at once.

doing the AWD familia swap would be a LOT more feasible... but also a SIGNIFICANT time and cost commitment. the sheer cost of importing the parts is what has stopped most from doing it. the other complication is sourcing parts if you break something..

I would LOVE to see someone with more money than brains do this, and would be HAPPY to help someone spin the wrenches to put it in... but realistically its financially prohibitive.
 
Last edited:
Has anyone succesfully mounted a wrx engine in p5? As long as it fits under the hood i should be able to find a way to mount correctly, but some help would be nice.

Really? How much money do you have to waste on this project?

At this rate you'd be building a silhouette, tube chassis race car with a Subaru drivetrain and a P5-esque body....
 
I think i will stick to the familia AWD conversion then. I dont have much money right now, the project is going to take me 1 to 2 years just an estimate. First i need to make sure my job is secure, the project i am on right now is coming to an end in a couple of months. If i make it through the layoffs coming in the next couple of months then i will be good to go. If all goes as planned then i am going to buy a house and use the $8,000 tax credit to start the project, for now i will be re-searching junk yards and get anything i can.
 
i would love to see it done! the only real negative outside of the outrageous cost would be, from what I have heard, the awd on the familias were somewhat weak. but here is some motivation for you! God knows I wish my p5 could do this.

<object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JtcmToDWbgk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JtcmToDWbgk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>
 
Update!

ok screw that plan. Searched a couple websites, found some 4wd familia's for sell in japan from 6,000 to 8,000 dollars not including shipping. I dont want a 4wd p5 that bad.
 
as retarded as this might be, did the ford escorts have an awd car? cuz i think they might share chassis. i am NOT too sure about it, but if thats the case, it would be cheaper.
 
Back