Ford ZX2 MazdaSpeed Protege LSD upgrade

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Parts

  • MazdaSpeed Protégé LSD 2003 or 2003.5 around 500$. Available from:
  • 2 Carrier Bearing one on each side of the diff oem 42$ each around 25$ each from a bearing store #42008X.
  • VSS gear (pink) you can use the old one from the oem diff new 33$ from Ford.
  • 2 axles seals around 8$ each.
  • 2 locking nuts for both shafts around 15$ each.

Pictures of the differential

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Ring gear replacement

The ring gear does not have to be replaced to fit the transmission, however in this case the differential was aquired with a broken ring gear for a cheap price. In case the same route has to be taken, an ARP stud kit that only comes with the quaife diff has to be purchased from corksport.com. The cost is about $ 200 for 10 studs and nuts. The shift gate has to be shaved a bit to get the ARP bolt to pass.

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To get the VSS gear into place the seat where the gear goes has to be machined, as the MSP doesn't need it because it uses an abs sensor to get the speed reading. The vss gear can be ground at your own risk.

Without machining, it stands much higher:

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After machining:

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Welding

The diff can be welded but since they corrected the problem with the revised version of the LSD, welding is no longer required.

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More pictures

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Axles

The axles were acquired from Atelier Hp in Quebec, CA.

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Adapter plate

One difference with the use of MX-3 axles is the middle shaft does not use the same bolt pattern, hence an adapter plate was made to make it fit.

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Results

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The pictures were taken and modification performed by lamouche98zx2 on teamzx2 forums.

Also see

  • Ford Escort & ZX2 section for the entire index of all Ford Escort and ZX2 related articles.