Not your typical "learn me" thread.
Through my own stupidity, I turned my DD '92 Miata into a Locost donor last Thursday on my way home from work. I need a replacement and I need it fast, and tomorrow I'm going to buy a '93 Protege DX from a local dealer. It's super-clean, 84k miles, and $1600...I figure I can't really lose. On driving it, I was struck that it felt a lot stronger than the 103 hp it's rated at, and that it needs better suspension in a bad way.
In the short run, I'm planning on upgrading suspension and maybe brakes with junkyard parts, putting a decent stereo in it, putting the 16" NB Miata wheels with Falken Ziex that I already have on it, and driving the hell out of it.
My questions:
1) What's the best forum for these things? I've stumbled across a few, but if I could avoid the process of elimination to find a good source of shared info, I'd like to do that.
2) As regards the suspension, my initial thoughts are to find swaybars and springs off of an MX-3/EGT/Protege LX, and use the Ford Racing Tokico struts for a ZX2 (if I understand correctly, they'll fit with no mods if I use ZX2 strut bearings, and they'll drop me half an inch). As for the junkyard parts, which of the cars on this platform have the stiffest springs and biggest sways?
3) Any quick hop-ups for the B8? I'm assuming a Home Depot CAI and a bigger exhaust would be a decent start. Engine swap is not in the cards at the moment, although I know there are several good "bolt-in" options on that front.
