ok well as you can see by my name i got a 97 dx w/ 1.8L A/T. im pretty new to mazda's, had a jetta and a blazer& my experience is mostly on GM's but i actually am a mechanic in the air force so i do have experience. But my question is how difficult or has it ever been done to swap the front end to a 99 protege? i mainly just hate the headlights on the 97. i know its extremely hard to find some aftermarket ones and the ones everybody else had were JDM's but tended to point the wrong directionbecause japan is all RHD, or atleast thats what they said. also i just like the front end a little better than the 97, i know i can just go to a local junk yard and start pulling fenders, bumpers and hood (which im going to paint later anyways)i just want to know from you guys that have experience with mazdas first before i go at it with no clue. either that or a diff. suitable mazda front end swap

 

this is a kind of sketchy swap. they are in the same generation, but the headlights are shaped slightly different which, IIRC, cause the fenders, hood, and front clip to be shaped slightly different. if you just didn't like the clip, it would be different since you can modify for the later model clips pretty easy. you don't like the headlights though, which poses pretty major fitment issues.