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2.0 L Probe aftermarket Options

4K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  CatSkinner 
#1 ·
Okay so before you roast me for asking these question, I have done quite a bit of research on the model car. The ford probe is basically a sister car to the mazda mx6, both the v6 and i4 models. Like most japanese cars, they usually keep the best parts for themselves. My question is about eventually going forced induction on this car.

I am looking at a 96 probe SE. 118k miles female driven for its entire life (not trying to be sexist). Car was taken care of by its previous owners. I really like the look of the car and was always a fan of the odd ball tuner cars most people don't even know about at your car meets.

I'm asking my question here because probetalk is a dead forum. I can't even make an account with them cause they never sent out a confirmation email so I can create a thread.

What I do know is that the probe came with the fs-de engine inside from mazda. Based on what I have read, the engine and transmission internals between the second gen probes and the mazdaspeed protege are identical ( only major difference being the turbo and lsd). The main drawbacks to making any kind of power on these cars is the oil delivery system and the weak transmission.

My questions:

I am getting the feeling that parts compatibility between the probes and the msp protege and the probe is closer to 95% identical versus 100%. Can anyone shine light on this 5% difference if they know what it is? I have tried doing research on probe talk and mazda247, but all the pages I have looked at are unorganized, get off topic, never reach a final consensus that everyone agrees on, and are usually outdated (most recent one found was last updated in 2012) From an engineers perspective, 6 years is an eternity, especially with how fast technology is changing nowadays. I want to know if it would be more economical to build up the relatively low mile engine the car comes with, or just buy a new msp protege engine and tranny so I don't run into parts compatibility issues in the future. the msp protege lsd trans is inexpensive, so will that bolt up to the probe's engine? Can I get straight cut gears from PAR in the probes tranny? Will the aftermarket lsd's fit the probe tranny? What about axles and shift linkage?.

What can be done to these cars to improve the oil delivery system? The block is a closed deck which is boost friendly. I checked bore, rod length, and stroke between the probe's fs-de and the msp's fs-det: they are the same, so protege forged internals should fit. I believe that the msp protege came with a forged crank (correct me if i'm wrong). Is it the same for our car?

I was just gonna go with a mega-squirt ecu so that should answer anyone's concerns about wiring and tuning.:grin2:

Now most of you are probably thinking "you can get a much faster car for less money if you start with a different platform". This is true. However, EVERYONE has a boosted civic. Anyone can buy an sti, evo, or an eclipse gsx and make over 400 hp with simple mods. I'd be willing to drop over 10k into a probe build, whatever it takes to get the econobox up to good performance levels. :driver:
Getting a clean probe for close to 1k is not something that can be done with a more modern performance car. I could end up spending close to 20k on the entire build, for example, and end up with performance levels comparable to that of a brz with bolt-ons for less money.

Thanks for the help in advance!:hy:
 
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