I had a boysenberry purple 97 GT. Car was rusted so I pulled the KL in hopes of swapping into a Escort GT or 323. Never happened but fun car none the less. Love your direction and drive. Keep it up!
I had a boysenberry purple 97 GT. Car was rusted so I pulled the KL in hopes of swapping into a Escort GT or 323. Never happened but fun car none the less. Love your direction and drive. Keep it up!
It's getting there.
Turns out I was stupid and never bothered to check the clutch master and sure enough it's that. I'm probably going to do the conversion I've been putting off for a while, 1st-gen clutch master cylinder and convert the brake master to automatic Probe which will set me up for 1" Wilwood master
Annnnnnnnd I chewed up the 4th gear synchro, thanks Obama.
Oof. Cany you get the parts?
Parts are easy it's just going to be a bitch to get it off being FWD. It will give me the opportunity to do a light build on one and put in a reinforcement plate that's made for these gearboxes and maybe an LSD
Small update, it was actually the clutch master cylinder. If you have ever changed one on this car it is a HUGE BITCH it falls under the list of things I will pay some one to do because I'm not a professional contortionist.
Somewhere in the flotsam on this build this time down, the 4th gear synchro stopped working. It's not the linkage and all the other gears are fine, so the next point of attention is going to be a gearbox build. If I slip it into gear, when I release the clutch it will try to pop back out, so it's either the shift fork or the synchro, but either way I'm having to pull the gearbox off to fix it and if I'm going through ALL of that trouble, I'm building a ridiculous over-the-top gearbox for it I'm talking custom ratios, straight-cut dog engagement, cryotreated and shotpeened case, reinforcement plate, something for these cars called a Tranny Saver Bracket the community has made, and a rear MX3 mount.
Likely I am going to pay someone to help me with the swap, and the gearbox that goes on is going to be a stock-ish rebuild (possibly this one) with the mounts and the reinforcement plate.
Moral of the story, these aren't semi-trucks, don't float gears on them for 900 miles.
Ever consider posting a few videos of your Panda Express build on YouTube. The Ford Probe community would love to see and comment. Even quick and dirty videos are fine. More and more Probe videos are popping up again, after a 10 year low. Just make sure you have Ford Probe in the title.
In reply to Quaid :
I actually have a whole track day planned with it this year when things cool down and I planned on extensively filming that using some of the old school techniques from films like Le Mans and Grand Prix, I have been piecing together a fairly decent video setup for other endeavors and planned on trying it on the Panda Express.
Small update, I managed to find a quick-release steering wheel for it that I picked up cheap and quite possibly, a completely built engine, over in California. If things pan out, Panda Express is going to be getting a hell of a lot more "express". It has been gapped for high boost and has been top to bottom built, titanium Ferrea valvetrain which is unobtanium now. Rods, pistons, everything. I should be able to make crazy power on it.
Update time! We solved the battery charging issue one of my fans nuked itself while going down the road. We also put new window bushings in both doors, attempted a steering wheel hub swap to removable which didn't work out at all and found a 95 GT in the local junkyard with an almost-immaculate interior that I robbed of some stuff for my Squid guy who facilitates all of this.
Best suggestions for getting a Momo hub off without destroying it?
I just went back and read the whole thread. I loved my 96, and have enjoyed following along on this build.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
awww thanks
it still has a long way to go but its getting there. im probably going to switch to a slimline fan setup that draws less power and can be controlled separately. also im pretty sure I nuked my ball joints while carving up the local backroads like a Thanksgiving turkey.
I also took this opportunity to re-align my doorcards and replace all of the hardware holding them on.
Went through the highway N/A tune one last time and ran a bunch of updates on the T30. I have a newer T430 I bought for it but I need to get FTDI serial adapters for it to work right and I only have one and need one more for the wideband.
Until next time kids....
Been a while since a good update but this is a big one. On Friday I seal the deal on this fully-built Mazda KLZE 0-miles since build. This one has been in the works for months and it's finally ready to ship. Go big or go home baby!
-Wiseco 10.5:1 forged pistons
-K1 H-beam rods
-Balanced and blueprinted
-ARP headstuds and rod studs
-Felpro MLS gaskets
-CZT intake manifold, port matched
-Head decked 1/10,000th, Stage 3 port and polish exhaust and intake
-Knife-edge ports, all new seals
-1mm oversize valves
-Full Ferrea titanium valve train with locks and retainers and double valve springs rated for 12,000rpm
-Adjustable cam gears
-Colt Tri-Flow cams 216 duration .383 lift
-Valve covers with AN ports for oil scavenging
-Boundary Stage 2 billet oil pump rated for 13,000rpm
juicy!
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Go big or go home
I love this so much
Santa said I was a good boy this year.
Not sure if his sleigh is rated for 500lb pallets though, but I know Old Dominion's trailers are.
Now that the motor is sorted, I turn to the gearbox, which will be probably the most ridiculous Mazda G-series box ever built. Straight-cut dog engangement titanium gears, cryotreat and shotpeen cases and shafts, triple reinforcement plates, MX3 mount, something called a Tranny Saver Bracket which has been in the community for 20 years almost, solid mounts, this thing is going to be the business. I'm even working on a separate 5th gear brace and maybe a modified larger gear so when I grab 5th at the end of the 3rd mile I can really open up that built KLZE and let her eat.
This has already shown up on my doorstep, one of the CNC-milled outer reinforcement plates this one prevents shaft deflection at the big end under load, which apparently will not be an issue with straight cut gears, but a world record is at stake here and I'm not sparing any expenses on this part of the build. It will require some machining to the case.
In reply to jdogg :
jeebus maing, you're not effing around!
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
I told myself this is the last one of these cars I'm ever doing and if it's worth doing, it's worth doing completely over the top.
And honestly by Bonneville standards this is par for the course. There are some truly ridiculous cars out there that race. Some guy has a bubble-era F250 with a 12v92 Detroit Diesel semi-truck V12 engine, with two giant turbochargers larger than the single turbo on my actual Freightliner Cascadia Evolution semi truck. They had to push the interior of the cab back into the back seats to make room for the engine. There's a Jaguar XJ40 XJ6L called the Salt Cat with a turbo Buick Straight-8 Fireball engine that got an even more extreme treatment than my KLZE. They are the class record holders for whatever they qualified for. The body was channeled and chopped and given the full aero treatment which puts them in one of the ALT classes, if I had to guess they are B/BFALT or something. I know it runs in Altered Fuel and Altered Body and has a huge stonking turbo on it.
This car is F/BGC, which is F engine class (2.0L to 3.0L swept volume, all types), B for Aftermarket Blown which is all types forced induction (nitrous, supercharged or turbocharged or any combination) applied to a car previously sold only N/A, G for Gasoline Only which means no meth or alcohol, nitro etc. and Coupe for 2-door production car sold in the United States or a 4 door that was offered as a coupe, with no modifications or very few allowed for streamlining.
Yummy.
More parts arrived today. BNIB Quaife ATB LSD for Mazda G-series transmissions. Also came with the uber-rare ARP bolt-kit, this will end up with a straight cut final drive so no fooling around with rivets.
Any chance that this will make it to the Challenge in May? I would love to see this car in person!
In reply to singleslammer :
Small chance, March we're slapping a lot of it together but I don't know if I will be able to get the built trans together by May. I still have to get the case and shift forks cryotreated and shotpeened and have PAR fab a 1-5 straight cut dog gearset. The engine is basically almost ready too, just needs little stuff. The grand plan is to get them both ready and swap it in all in one fell swoop.
I'm also waiting to hear back from King6Fab about some upgraded crossmembers that add a bunch of braces to the transmission those will let me hold mega power at the big end. It's getting there I might just put what I got in and swap the gearbox later. The big one I'm trying to get done is for June at All Ford Nationals I wanna get it on the dyno there and lay some numbers down but at the same time, use the drive up there to break everything in so I can turn the wick up on it.
In reply to jdogg :
Your car is selling me on a Probe as my first challenge car, not gonna lie.
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
Second gen Probe GT is an awesome car. Good looks (for the 90s), good handling, good brakes, lightweight, the V6 sounds great, and the car has a pretty solid community. I miss mine.
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