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94 GTZE Build Thread

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  • 94 GTZE Build Thread

    You may have seen my thread a few months ago where I introduced this 94 PGT-ZE. If not, here's a quick breakdown. 94 GT with a decently healthy ZE. Black on black, tokico/eibach suspension, FDs, lots of old school PRD goodies, MTX, full Borla exhaust, power w/l, sunroof, and most importantly... NO RUST. This is my 4th PGT and it will be my last. I've always had the same vision in mind of the Probe that I wanted over the years...but for one reason or another, I've always had to sacrifice my project to bail myself out of som stupid financial situation. Well, long story short, I'm well established with my company and career and I'm in a better place to complete a project like this. Progress time will be varied (wife & 2 little girls who also need attention). But now I've got the luxury of having a set space to work and the ability to walk away when I'm getting sloppy. Not like my younger days where whatever project I started HAD to be completed or I didn't have transportation...

    My goals for my dream PGT are fairly modest. I want a vehicle that's extremely reliable with an aggressive side. I want to be able to drive the piss out of it on back roads, and then enjoy a smooth & quiet ride on the way home with all the creature comforts of a newer car. I.e leather, premium sound system, back up camera, quiet interior, fully functional AC/heat... Easier said than done with these older cars. But money will (and already has been) spent on things like sound deadening material, high quality suspension components, QUALITY tires, and things of that nature. I want a car that on the outside appears as though someone takes care of it, but nothing over the top...

    So here goes. Here's the work that's taken place over the last few months and where I'm currently at. As I'm typing this it is 6 degrees in St. Louis, so I have zero interest in working on it. Temps should rise in the next few days and I will continue.

    Here she is the day I bought her..As you'll see, not a bad starting point. Some pictures however do the car way too much justice. Whoever owned this before me attempted to reprint this car with roll on house paint... Can't believe that didn't turn out good...






    Here's the paint I was talking about...



    So, first things first, I couldn't be caught dead in this car with the paint looking like it did. So naturally, I set aside a weekend day to complete the mini restore and naturally, it took 3 days. My life. Anyway, my buddy and I got all the bs paint off, removed the door guards, and set her up to make it until she gets fresh paint in the spring. I am going to be keeping the CF hood, after feeling how light it is compared to stock, I don't want to go back. However, it will be painted the same color as the car.. I will be paying a professional to do all the work on the imperfections to the hood as I have no desire to.




    All in all... I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Still have to remove the license plate mount and debadge the front bumper.. But that will happen when I get around to installing my 95+ rear bumper... which will be taking place in the spring when it's a bit warmer. Once the body parts come off, all exposed metal is being treated, fasteners and clamps and screws being replaced, and overall reviving will be taking place...but that's for another time...here's how she turned out.




    Like I said, I'm really pleased with where I ended on the body work. The body of this car is flawless and will make for really easy prep come paint time. Since then, I've been in parts collection mode. Here's a quick list of parts I've acquired.

    RSX leather seats
    All new speakers, JBL 10" sub with Alpine amp, & a Sony 4 channel amp
    Everything needed for HEI mod
    Everything needed for MAF conversion
    95+ door panels
    95+ rear bumper
    Brand new Euro tails
    Center reflector
    Clear corners w/ switchbacks
    6000k bi-xenon headlights
    3000k fog lights
    Catch can
    Voltage stabilizer
    Miscellaneous gaskets, seals, etc.

    A few weeks ago I got around to installing the lighting setup. I chose to go with 6000k bi-xenon HIDs, however I've switched the polarity and the HIDs are set as my high beams, and the halogens are set to lows and will see the majority of the use. I anticipated the glare from the HIDs in the sealed headlights to be outrageous, and quite honestly, I was wrong. They're not bad at all and the light pattern is pretty uniform. I did buy the kit with the built in glare shield so if you're on the fence I wouldn't hesitate. But still, I like how I chose to set it up, and the halogens included with the kit are a MAJOR improvement over stock. So the times where I'm not wanting to be as noticeable (city streets, stoplights, etc) I just kick off the HIDs and really don't take that much of a hit on visibility...


    Last edited by panic37; February 21, 2017, 12:02 PM.

  • #2
    The RSX seats..one small tear in the bottom of the driver seat ( at the upholstery shop at this very moment ) but I'm stoked to have picked these up for less than $200. Besides the minor tear, they're immaculate. And once that's fixed, I'll have mint RSX seats for under $300. Look around and see if you can find a better price with local pick up lol. Now I'm just searching the entire web feverishly for a set of black leather rears...I'll find them one day.



    Now for more of where I currently am. Over the past two weeks, I've started the process of sound deadening the interior and installing the sound system. After hours of research, I decided to use roofing Peal-n-seal instead of the extremely overpriced Dynamat. You can find mixed reviews, but I couldn't be happier. At $16/25sqft, the savings are phenomenal and after several tests of treated vs untreated areas, it definitely does what I'm looking for. No rattles. Lightweight. The biggest knock on it I feel is how well it adheres...I've found that using a heat gun in accompaniment with a heavy roller does a fantastic job. So if you're on the fence, don't be. Spend the money you'll save on dynamat and grab higher quality audio components. It's really quite amazing how much affect doing this has on the overall quality of sound and how much you CAN'T hear from the outside of the car with the radio blasting. 2 rolls covered both doors and both rear speaker wells. Not bad for $32. I will be purchasing more to complete the trunk and roof. The floor will be done with roll on sound deadener as will all wheel wells. I'm really liking where this is going.






    That's all for now. I feel decent about the profess given the other parts of life pulling on me for time. More to come.

    Comment


    • #3
      Always glad to have a new project here on the forum. Keep posting the progress!
      Beautiful Beast- 1997 PGT in process of becoming an SC/NA Beast...
      Elo- 1990 BMW 325i weekend car
      Brunhilde- 2003 BMW Z4 3.0 6-speed daily driver
      The Beast- Sleeping in the junkyard...

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by panic37 View Post
        ...Progress time will be varied (wife & 2 little girls who also need attention)
        Don't worry -as a father of 4 -I do know that eventually they grow up and when they are all gone -you will get back your time for your projects!

        Looks like good work! Keep it up and keep the photos and updates coming.
        Success is a measure of determination!
        Bonneville Dreamer-(AKA Purple Pimp Mobile)
        $500 Gas-Electric-Gas Reconversion/Restoration
        Mini-me & 500k "Old Gal" RIP
        Restoration of a legend

        Comment


        • #5
          Nice one!! So good to see peeps coming back to Probes with a vengeance! I'm one of them, had 2 others when I was younger and now I'm back with a 97GT arriving next week - so I'll be following this with interest...

          Comment


          • #6
            Looks good. Its nice to read a couple build threads lately... there was nothing for so long.
            Whats the plan for colour come spring?
            1996 Probe GT - Bought April 2010, Boosted August 2014
            Fast FC04 18x9, Black Leather, King6, ADDCO, AWR, Yonaka, Quad J30s, AVC Pipes, Tial WG, Greddy BOV, Aeromotive AFPR, MS1v3
            1993 Probe GT - 110k, auto, parts car
            2011 Impreza Limited Hatchback - Daily, Lowered, WRX Wheels & Wing

            Comment


            • #7
              She'll be staying black when spring rolls around. Black was the color of my first PGT and it's what I've had in mine ever since. Whatever color Probe I came across was eventually going to be black--I'm just lucky enough that this one came from the factory that way and no door jams/engine Bay will have to be sprayed.

              Along with the fresh paint, I will be fitting her with some 18" hyper black JNC wheels. See below.. I feel these are just the right amount of offset without being too much. I have not looked into the weight per rim, but honestly it does not matter (to me). I've never loved these cars for their overall speed and power, but more for their ride and appearance. I applaud those who get serious numbers out of these engines, it's just not what I'm after...

              Here are the wheels, let me know what you think..









              Like I said, I don't look for speed from these cars. When I want raw power, I bring out this animal... 01 GSXR 1000, Big bore kit to a 1242cc, All bolt ons with aggressive tune. Over the summer she put down 232hp to the rear wheel (already more than the Probe lol ) and put down a 9.67 in the 1/4 mile. Once you've had speed like a street bike, not much else compares. Every year a few of us go to the exotic car show downtown just so that when it's over we can get some cool videos of us destroying $100,00+ vehicles. Good times.

              Comment


              • #8
                With the bouts of warmer weather over the past couple weeks, I've been able to log some garage hours. I'm still heavily in the process of sound deadening and replacing worn and rusted bolts/fasteners. Basically if I see something that's not perfect, I veer off in the direction of making it right.

                The past couple days have been very productive. I've completed the rear bumper swap, painted the reflector outline black from red, cleaned the under carriage of all grime and surface rust--also sprayed the rear wheel wells and half the undercarriage with truck bed liner. My work on the sound system install and interior work was halted by a faulty 4-channel amp. Once the replacement arrives and I test everything, I will begin reassembly of rear and trunk panels.

                Once the primer on the rear bumper dries and the rear panels are in place, I'll flip the car around in the garage and begin cleaning and upgrading the front half of the car... Pix will be added then. For now, here are some pics of the last few days









                Here you can sort of see the work I did on the undercarriage. I'll get better pictures tomorrow...


                Comment


                • #9
                  After wasting time on heated threads, I'm ready to get back to the main reason we're all on this forum, to share our progress and see what everyone else in the Probe community is doing. When we left off, I had just fitted the rear bumper. We've all seen the 93-94 to 95-97 rear bumper comparison, but I'm always happy to finish the swap. Also fitted the euro tails, this is my first set and I'm really digging the look:



                  And after about two months of my interior being gutted for sound proofing and audio upgrades, I finally wrapped all that up for the most part. Running an amp for my Alpine 10" and a separate and for my new JL Audio speakers. Also retrofitted Alpine tweeters into the hole in the door panels that was previously used for the manual windows. I definitely fulfilled my goal of a crisp and even sound system at all volumes. Also installed a custom inline bass control knob for a little added control. Very happy with it all.







                  And a little help never hurts



                  Oddly enough, after all the work I've done and upgrades this car has seen-- my favorite thing I've done is adding a Gentex auto dimming rear view mirror with temp and compass. Stupid I know, but it's one of those little things newer vehicles have that I've always liked. Hard to see in the pic but you get the point. My wife makes fun of me, I expect everyone else to as well lol.



                  Quick look at what a winter of parts collection looks like. This was only about half of the actual parts I blew money on. But nobody builds these cars expecting to get their money back lol.



                  Once I finished the sound proofing, audio, undercoating the wheel wells, and fitting the bumper and tails, I flipped her around in the garage and got started on the minor engine teardown. New gaskets, hoses, plugs, seals, MAF Conversion, HEI mod and overall cleanup of the engine bay. I'll upload those pics tomorrow.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by panic37 View Post
                    ...

                    And a little help never hurts

                    that is the best mod in my opinion!
                    Originally posted by panic37 View Post

                    Oddly enough, after all the work I've done and upgrades this car has seen-- my favorite thing I've done is adding a Gentex auto dimming rear view mirror with temp and compass. Stupid I know, but it's one of those little things newer vehicles have that I've always liked. Hard to see in the pic but you get the point. My wife makes fun of me, I expect everyone else to as well lol...
                    I like them. I had tossed around the idea of getting one myself. As you get older -your built-in boy scout compass begins to fail and especially on cloudy days. So a mirror compass would be the shiznit!
                    Last edited by KLZE Porsche; April 25, 2017, 04:38 PM.
                    Success is a measure of determination!
                    Bonneville Dreamer-(AKA Purple Pimp Mobile)
                    $500 Gas-Electric-Gas Reconversion/Restoration
                    Mini-me & 500k "Old Gal" RIP
                    Restoration of a legend

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I Know, Right... its the Little things in Life that Amplify the Driving Experience of Older Cars.. what model Gentex did u get/ from what vehicle?.. install pretty simple?

                      Comment

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