just did a swap in a 2000 it was a 1.6 but i amm told not much differnet in this sense
took me 4.5 hours to pull old one out 5.5 (including smoke breaks) to put new one in including doing the timing belt.
it will come out with out the tranny the only snag i had was lining up with tranny took a few minutes beacuse of the studs in the tourque converter but all in all a fairly easy job

 

It took me a little while to finish due to only working on it on weekends. No hurry. But its done, and was very simple. Studied and got mental picture of all connections and assembly before starting. Wireing harness and vacume lines were very simple. Did it all myself except removing hood and setting engine and trans back down into. Engine and trans came out top together. New: engine with 58K $950, timing belt $39, water pump $59, clutch kit w/bearings $225, thermostat $15, belts $30, plugs $13, new radiator $125, new front motor mount $55,misc other, allaround $1400 total. Runs like a top now.
I will remove old head and see what I find was wrong with old engine.

Thanks for the couple replys I recieved (MazdaES).

 

Hey just to bump this thread, I have a question about a 2.0L swap. I have a 2002 Protege 5 with a manual transmision, im replacing the engine. I found a used engine that is off an automatic transmission and when I went to bolt it up to the manual transmission, there is only 1 bolt hole that doesnt match up. Does anyone know what the deal is with putting an engine that came off an automatic transmission on to a manual transmission?