Personal project - Ford Probe 2.5 V6

Got myself a little project car today
Always wanted one of these.

I just learned it is a Mazda engine, which is interesting.

Plans are full respray and exhaust repair. She's MOTd until Oct and drives beautifully.

Watch this thread for updates..... excited about this one

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Cool..

Do you know you had some little darling trying to Hotwire it

 

That little darling was my colleague, who was looking at a parasitic power drain earlier today (if you mean the fuse box connection)

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Lol I just realised my son is in the photos He has well and truly taken to it and was determined to get it started

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Erm.....
Is that a wild goose chase, parasitic drain and you’ve removed the battery.....
I’d be looking for the battery first (haha)

 

Yeah I meant him, the things with sons, they always copy what their dads do!

 

My son had one of these a long time ago, I quite liked the Probes but they never really took off sales wise .

 

that is a rare beast now you didnt see many of them about back in the day but you very rarely see one on the road now

the whole car is built on a Mazda midsize platform so you may find a few more Mazda bits when you start digging around. what is the original paint like?

lt would be nice if you could keep the original paint. and if the car still has 100% paint cover l would have a go at it with a mop and a heavy compound and see if l could drag it back from the Brink. looks like single stage paint with no clearcote and has never had much protection on it.

a friend of mine went to look at a new probe back in the day but decided against buying one

 

It is a rare beast.

I only learned yesterday that Ford and Mazda shared platforms and engines, and to be honest that was what made me decide to buy it. It's been stored outside my place by a friend since last Nov and was looking neglected. It already has a quad exhaust SS fitted and runs really well.

We replaced the exhaust bracket into the manifold as a temp repair but it will now be going into Pro Flo Exhausts (did my Subaru Outback H6) for a full repair or part replacement if necessary.

The original paint is quite good. I gave the engine bay and shuts a blast with an air compressor yesterday to remove the cobwebs and leaves/detritus and then pressure washed the body to see what we are looking at. And the red shines really well.

I'd like to keep the colour original if possible as it will look good if compounded and polished/waxed I believe. I have a large bottle of Farecla G3 en route (thanks Slim again btw).

The seats are in great condition with only a stitching repair required on the driver sest bolster, which will be done eventually.

So a promising start. My son loves it which is really nice as he learns alongside me about the 'red racing car' as he calls it



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Lol

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When I briefly worked at a Ford dealership I was always surprised at how many Ford parts had Mazda written on them

 

l think Ford used to hold about 33% of Mazda shares but in 2008 they had to sell the family sliver to stay afloat and sold shares and dropped to a 13% holding and l think that the 13% that they did keep have now gone as well so no more ford Mazda platform sharing

www.car-recalls.eu/mazda-121-1986-1999

l bet you cant guess what platform that Mazda 121 shares?

 

Interesting.

BMW and Toyota sharing technology in the new Supra is the modern equivalent I suppose. Although I really don't agree with the new Supra having a BMW feel about it... fftopic



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Couldn't sleep, so decided to have a late night gym workout

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Quick jet wash and 2 hrs of T Cut later...

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l guess you have done that using the blue polisher In one of the shots? lf so It Is not really up to the job and needs something a bit more aggressive to get better results
T cut still seems to be the go to for many but is not something l would use now it dries out to quick and wont work well on a machine polsher

something like this on a machine polisher and for that car i would start with a rotary with cheap foam pads on it that you could use once and then bin them

www.in2detailing.co.uk/koch-chemie-heavy-cut-compound

the new cutting compounds have a long work time before they start to dry out so you can work the polish for much longer getting better results

now whilst would never put this combo near my car for a heavy oxidised single stage pant would use a rotary polisher with foam cutting pad and something like the koch chemie heavy cut compound or the scholl or megs equivalent to get good results

looking at the car some areas will need paint but most of t should come up to an acceptable level of finish

 

Thanks for the tip

I was pretty knackered at 3am so didn't post the full routine I went through with the Probe.

It was as follows:

Air compressor to blow the leaves and cobwebs
Jet wash
Dewalt Dwp849x polisher with T Cut for an initial test on the bonnet
Polish to test how much the T Cut improved the paint

I'm waiting for the G3, due to arrive Monday, to really get to work.

Plus I got hold of a DA Air tool with a 2" and 4" head for the smaller areas.


Last night was all about starting, and working hard as I've missed the gym the last week.

Will continue to update.

Next up today, exhaust repair and tyres to be sealed to alloys.




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the Dewalt is the tool l would use that should do the job

l have never used ferecla G3 but a quick google suggests it should do the job

lt wll take lots of hours of hard work but you should get the pant back, the bonnet looks a lot better already

 

I love early deliveries

That's my wkend sorted!

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that is handy

what pads are you using ? the Airline in the workshop wll be handy for blowing off the pads between sets to keep them from clogging up with crud