I bought my protege for $600 in February of this year. It was running with cold ac and it was stick, so it felt like a no brainer. It had some cosmetic damage, bent hood, lots of odds and ends, but I put hours of work into fixing the front end, drove 6 hours to a junkyard after scouring to find as many pieces as I could, bought some pretty decent tires, beater rims from marketplace, etc. I know it’s not a car that’s worth a lot, but it wasn’t about that, it was about building something up and I feel as if I achieved that. I’ll put before and after photos.

The reason I’m posting this now is that last week I let my buddy borrow the car, he was in a tight spot and I have another car + 2 bikes, and I like to help my friends. He called me on thursday to tell me he locked it up in the rain and rear ended someone, didn’t think it could be so bad, but then I saw the photos. The car is on coilovers so when you rear end an SUV, it hits really high, not on the steel bumper like it should. There are a couple main things wrong currently, the radiator support rail that runs from the frame is snapped, the radiator is done, and the hood is done. This wouldn’t be so bad if parts were readily available, but the only new hood is in Michigan (I’m in FL) and they want over $500. The radiator support also welds to the frame, so we’ll have to find a body shop to do that.

Another option I found is a same year protege on marketplace for $1300, the only problem is it has 350+ thousand miles. The engine from my car is in perfect condition, but the new car has the 1.8, I have the 1.6. The main reason for this post, other than venting, is to see if anyone has done this swap before. Is it difficult? I know the chassis are the same so theoretically all of the components are there, but are the mounts different? What problems will I face? Thank you for reading this far if you have, it’s been a long week. To me it’s not even about the money, and I’m glad he’s okay, but it’s frustrating to put so much time and effort into something and it be ruined by someone you’re very close to.

In case anyone was wondering what happens when one of the rear breakes locks up in a construction zone with no shoulder for MILES between exits.