1989 Probe GT barn find rebuild

[plx92]

Attended my first autocross this past Saturday. Had a blast, learned quite a bit. Needless to say I am now hooked. Only thing that I am in need of is more driver mod. Attending an autox school day at the end of the month to hopefully learn some better techniques. The first few runs were with an instructor and that helped immensely. Car performed great with no issues aside from traction in the wet, second gear in the 1g is...rather short. Even though it was my first event I was not at the complete back of the pack so I felt pretty good about that.

[plx92]

Few weeks ago, I purchased a new carpet from Rockauto, I was an ACC branded carpet and one of the cheaper "direct fit" (I'll get to that later) kits and they also had matching floor mats which was the selling point. Spent the morning disassembling the interior. Since the car had been siting so long in a barn it had been thoroughly infest with 4 legged critters, and i found quite a bit of evidence underneath the carpet....gross.



Spent several hours vacuuming and 409'ing the crap out of the floor pan an any spot I could find.



Once clean it was time to fit the carpet.



I started from the rear and worked forward, slowly trimming and fitting, hardest part was making the the commitment to cut a piece off. They leave about 8-10" of material in all directions. Also getting the new carpet to lay thin enough in locations like the seat bolt holes and the bracketry for the under seats controllers/computers.









I did manage to bugger up the threads on the passenger side seat bolt bracket (stud sticking up as opposed to the 3 other bolts that thread into the floor.) So if i can't source another bracket I will weld a grade 8 stud into this bracket and reinstall. Fortunately there is access to the bracket with the center console out. The car does smell quite a bit bette now and it definitely helped the interior look 10 fold.

[Brizzy]

Looks great A+++++

[KLZE Porsche]

I had never been much of a 1st gen fan until now. Great looking car -and fantastic care for it. I love how well fit the carpet turned out. Very clean and professional work on everything!

[plx92]

Looks great A+++++

I had never been much of a 1st gen fan until now. Great looking car -and fantastic care for it. I love how well fit the carpet turned out. Very clean and professional work on everything!

Thanks for the kind words

Hoping to sort out the seat issue and finish buttoning up the interior soon.


Also took delivery of a pair of addco sway bars that will be installed at some point.

[MonoxideChild]

Your going to love those Addco's. Specially that rear! Makes the car a completely different beast.

[plx92]

Better daylight pic of the new carpet. The interior is finally all back together for the very first time since I've receive the car.

[plx92]

Little before and after engine bay shots, still need to either coat or wrap the charge pipes. Also need to do something about the manifold heat shield to clean it up. Full weekend of autocross coming up sat-sun, just gave the chassis a thorough look over and everything looks ship shape. I'll try to get some footage of a few runs uploaded!

Before:



After:

[plx92]

Attended an autocross school as well as a regular event this past weekend. Saturday was a warm sunny day, split up with classroom lessons and obstacle practice in the morning and a basic autox course in the afternoon. Had a lot of fun and met a bunch of great people, also learned quite a bit and felt more confident behind the wheel.

Early Start


Found some ford friends




On the grid


Some other cool cars found in the paddock, e30 had an s52 swap (E36 M3 Engine)



Sunday was a regular points event for this club, since I was about 2 hours from home, I decided to stay in the area and enter in the novice class to get some more wheel time.



First run group was able to get in a few semi dry runs by the time the 3rd run group got a start it was raining and pretty saturated. Still had a blast and continued to improve throughout the day! Took home 3rd place in the novice class so I was pretty satisfied and my raw time was faster than the two cars ahead of me (Lotus elise and a 16' WRX). Still have a lot to learn but the car performed well. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to make a dry event and see how it stacks up. These are were my two fastest runs, still working on smoother steering inputs and judging braking distance. Biggest thing I was working on for the day was looking ahead and braking before turning

[ame="https://youtu.be/mzbQbCTk_ZA"]https://youtu.be/mzbQbCTk_ZA[/ame]

[ame="https://youtu.be/jRcTwF6onKI"]https://youtu.be/jRcTwF6onKI[/ame]

[plx92]

Few shots from the autocross, few weeks ago.

[plx92]

I sold the momo wheel I had and bought a larger one with a deeper dish. Also replaced the pacesetter shifter with an extended one and a more ergonomic knob. I have to say its probably one of the most satisfying mods I've done to the car. Hand position is way better and the shifter feel is fantastic. Need to figure out a boot/trim panel solution but I'm not too concerned right now. Excited to see how it improves the drivability at the next autox but I can image it will be much smoother

[KnezicDex]

Love your interior, especially the steering wheel. Do you know the model name? Is there a short throw shifter for this car?

[plx92]

Thanks!

Steering wheel is a momo mod.08 and the shifter is actually for a honda civic lol

[M0rphine117]

They make coil overs for the first gen probe?!

Also, How did it stand up in the duress of autox? I suppose with newer suspension and other parts it would stand up pretty well.

[plx92]

They make coil overs for the first gen probe?!

Also, How did it stand up in the duress of autox? I suppose with newer suspension and other parts it would stand up pretty well.

Several companies make them. And the 2nd generation coilovers will fit with some work as well. The car stands up well, much better than the driver at this point haha. Im getting better though.

Did another 2 events this past weekend. There are some areas that still need improvement with the car. I need a set of tires that are meant for the type of driving I'm doing (read extreme performance summer category).

The steering rack needs to be replaced and the brakes, as well as they do currently, could benefit from some better pads. Exploring porterfield r4-1's currently, they are quite pricey though and I will probably wait till I replaced the tires to see how they effect the current setup. Lots to learn still