Brought The Probe Home

[Flat Toy]

Been fooling with the 89 Probe over at the shop for some months now. It is always hard to work on anything when you have to travel to work on it. So we brought it home today.
Can you guess who is going to get this to drive:

And of course after many months of starting on its own the day we need it to the battery is dead:

Got it started and headed for the trailer:

And got it on the trailer. (Looks like a few bulbs to replace):

Ready to head home:

And got it home:

Now to wash about 6 years of tree sap off and see what we have to work with.

 

[JoshT]

I never dealt with the first gen style, but I just gave a 96 SE to my local tech school. Only had it about a year but it was fun while I had it. Unfortunately on mine the PO about destroyed it, really they did I just prolonged it's death a little. Bought for $500, Replaced CV axles and clutch, it ran good with the exception of overheating. Tracked that down to a bad head gasket, discovered a bent rod while I was in there so rebuilt the motor. Then it ran great, but I had an odd oil pressure issue I never could find. Was going to track it down but third went in the transmission. I needed a car to drive, not another so I decided it was time to let it go. In all fairness mine had 230K on the odometer when I bought it and I discovered that it was still had the OEM shoes installed on the rear. They were still on there when I dropped it off at the school a little over a year and a half later, was going to swap to rear disks so didn't want to waste money on replacing drums and shoes that would go into the trash.

If you are looking for info on those I'd recommend the following two forums, I preferred the first.

Probe Talk
Performance Probe (click community on side bar to get to forum)

I'd love to own another second gen someday, but got too many other projects and vehicles I like better. The Kia Forte Koup is quickly filling the void left as a daily driver, it's about as fun to drive, and I'm beginning to think it looks better. And the First gen Ranger I totaled (84 in my sig.) was always more fun to drive, and I think the 86 I'm building will be just the same if not more so (it's getting lowered, with a V8).

Look forward to seeing how it turns out, doesn't look like it needs much from those pictures. Cosmetically that is, other than needing paint and matching wheels, it looks to be in pretty good shape.

 

[Flat Toy]

Washing some of the crud off.:

I guess it not a bad first car for free.
Had the boy swap out the tires. He got to see first hand what its like to break down a tire and swap it out with just two screwdrivers and a bottle of soapy water.

 

[shane96ranger]

My friend had an 89 Probe GT with a 5 speed. It was a pretty quick little car. It had an ugly red interior, but I liked it otherwise. I will say though, I'm glad they didn't say Mustang on them.... which was the original fate of the Probe.

 

[RangerFabWorks]

i have much experiance with the 1st gen (89-92) probes. very well made cars. couple of design flaws but all in all a very good reliable car.

the mazda 2.2 is an indestructible motor. watch the trannys as they tend to be a bit weak (mtx)

watch for rust under the back seat and the floor seams by the sub frame.


most things for that car are dealer only. i still have the last dealer made turbo coolant elbows. theyve been discontinued for some time and are EXTREMELY hard to find.

and if you have an mtx. change the slave cylinder now. it WILL fail at the worst time and leave you on the side of the road. its about 20.00 and 5 minutes to change.

any questions just pm me.