Newb, Intro '89 Probe GT Build

Been a lurker for far too long, decided maybe I should share, I haz an '89 Probe GT.

Little history on the project, this is not my first probe. The first ended here, as the result of 20 or so New england winters :

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Being the stubborn individual that I am, I wasn't quite ready to give up on the platform and move on, especially since I never had the chance to finish the car how I wanted. (first probe a 3.0L underpowered turd) So I looked around a few months and was presented with the opportunity to purchase an original owner '89 Probe GT for next to scrap price. The added bonus was that it had sat for close to 10 years in a barn and was from lands far beneath the rust belt. 1300 miles later this is the condition that it arrived in:

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A thorough weekend of cleaning, plug wires, a battery and a fuel pump later, it was up and running again. Bascially every aspect of the car needed some form of attention, the end goal for the build was a fun weekend toy that I could take to the occasional autox or track day. First order of business after basic maintenance was addressed, were some power upgrades. Step one, downpipe/02 housing/ intake:

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Brakes and suspension were also on the menu:

Suspension was upgraded with 93-97 probe Tein coilovers, utilizing an fc/s13 camber plate combo to bring aliment back in spec.

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At this stage I also determined that given the state of all other things rubber on the car, a full poly treatment was in order.

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With the mechanicals mostly sorted out, the crusty upholstery was next to go,

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Scored some forged traklites on the cheap and also took a stab at rehabbing the paint:

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So after a year of swearing, learning, trial and error, few late nights and way more dollars then I had planned, I got to enjoy it a little bit this summer:

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Recent projects were a front mount intercooler upgrade with a side of battery relocation and some rewiring ( 25 year old wiring gremlins...fun) I'm currently at a stand still with a bad alternator and severely leaking radiator, so its probably posted up in the garage for the winter at this point. I'll try to keep up with my progress and hope to have some action updates next season now that most of the bugs are worked out.

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I apologize for my extremely long winded newb intro post, comments and suggestions welcome!

Welcome to the fold!

You have done an incredible amount of work! Your Probe looks great.

Great looking car. Where'd you score those seats?

Ive always thought the probe was a good looking car. Looks like yours is turning out well.

Great work!

Where did that O2 sensor housing come from, and does it fit behind the AC compressor?

I've always loved the first gen probes!

Guys with Mazda-based Fords are cool. Just sayin'.

In reply to Xceler8x:

Thanks! Seats came from thmotorsports, cheapest place I could find them, I wanted a cheap sturdy seat and there were no affordable used options.

In reply to JamesMcD:

Thank you all! The o2housing's are made by a guy that is most active on Performanceprobe.com, he takes orders and a friend of his fabricates them. They can be had for $150-175 depending on the quantity that are being fabricated and they do clear the ac!

Looks great. I like it with those gold wheels too.

Hot rodding a first gen Probe means you must be in the right place at GRM. I remember these being surprisingly quick for the day. What kind of hp/tq and weight figures should you be putting out?

Very nice, 626 based if I recall?

mbruneaux wrote: Very nice, 626 based if I recall?

Gd chassis to be exact. 626 gt and mx6 gt are cousins. F2t all the things.

That rear 3/4 shot.... hnnnngh

Nice to see a Probe servive. I haven't seen one of these is in a while. I look forward to future posts.

When these came out, there was a ton of bad press, because it was being developed to be the first FWD Mustang until public outcry squashed that. Then you get a- ahem, poorly chosen name, and what I considered mediocre styling on the base models. It was easy to give them a miss. But 25 or so years later, I love it. The ground effects, lowering, and hatch spoiler make this a dang sweet ride. Don't even get me started on the wicked cool engine GRM has been kind enough to educate me about. In short, kudos, very nice ride.

wheelsmithy wrote: When these came out, there was a ton of bad press, because it was being developed to be the first FWD Mustang until public outcry squashed that.

Also, remember that the Chevy Beretta was supposed to be the next Camaro....

Hey buddy! Welcome to the GRM forum! Great place and lots of really awesome people and knowledge here.

Hey Dan! The more and more i read on here the more I become hooked, thanks for the kind words everyone! Stay tuned for updates!

Finally got some work done over the holiday. After my 2nd plastic end tank china radiator let go I decided to upgrade to an aluminum unit. While they do make a direct fit piece for this car, several guys have had good luck with fitting an S13 radiator which can be had for 1/3 the price on ebay. Dimensionally they are a good fit however there have not been many attempts to properly mount them though.

To solve this I fabbed up some quick rudimentary hooks, to hold the bottom with a rubber insulator. As well as some brackets on the top. Fitment was great, Also using a fan and shroud that came with the radiator, I had to remove one fan due to the proximity to the turbine/downpipe. I may cover the hole where the second fan was located, thoughts?

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Also ditched the wilwood big brake setup on the front and installed stock front brakes using an ebc pad and stainless hoses. Brakes feel MUCH more responsive now and have a good bite which is what I was after. While I was in there finally added proper hubcentric spacers with the correct sized hub rings in hopes to correct a slight speed wobble and got myself a proper set of lugs (to replace my cut open closed ends)

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Projects to accompany this winter are to finish buttoning up my interior as I've neglected to do so since the car has gone together, replace my leaking clutch slave and master cylinders, and do a timing belt and water pump.

if you open the engine again... Ive done a bit of porting on that type of head....

oldeskewltoy wrote: if you open the engine again... Ive done a bit of porting on that type of head....

I have yet to open this one up, but if and when looks like you do great work!

Good god that probe is epic. Always liked them. Looks like yours is quite well sorted.

Fitzauto wrote: Good god that probe is epic. Always liked them. Looks like yours is quite well sorted.

Thank you sir, another project that just came to mind for the winter is building an new compressor-IC pipe now that the new radiator is situated, to pull it farther away from the exhaust manifold. I did not build these pipes originally, I had picked up a parts car MX6 that ended up being a treasure trove of aftermarket pieces.

Looks great man! Keep up the great work! I gotta replace the clutch in mine this week. 2nd time I've had a spring retainer come apart. I ordered an XTD Stage 3 clutch and Flywheel for my MR2 Turbo that suffered the same. . Absolutely love these cars, after the shell on this car let's go enough to where its not safe, I plan on finding an '88-88 MX-6 GT and swap my drive line over.