PROBE GT GLOSSARY -- Back A Addco Rear Sway Bar 22mm (7/8") bar made by Addco (Florida), P/N699. Available at J.C. Whitney for under $100 US. The stock 12mm is virtually useless. The Addco bar greatly reduces understeer and maintains flat cornering. Ride is barely  affected. This bar is recommended only for people who understand how to control oversteer as the tail can come out if hard cornering is combined with braking. Installation has been problematic for many. Removing the nuts that hold the stock sway bar in place is best achieved with a  nut splitter or hacksaw. New nuts (10mm fine thread) can be purchased for about $1 each at a Mazda dealership (Ford charges about $4 each). When mounting the new bar, wrap it with Teflon tape (available at any hardware store). Also, apply waterproof grease  liberally. The new bushings have a very smooth finish on the inside surface which may contribute to binding and sqeaking. Roughening the bushing a bit might help to eliminate this. Overall, the Addco bar is an excellent upgrade especially considering the price. Also see Sway Bars Air Filters Cone filters are a popular performance upgrade. K&N cone filters are the  most common. A K&N RE910 or the smaller  RE930 will fit right over  the VAF, but this is not the best installation method as the engine will  be breathing hot air. A  Hotshot cold air tube will draw air from below  the splash guard. It works great but water ingestion is a risk. Some have  made home-made cold air tubes... Picture courtesy of Darin ( bottlefed@hotmail.com ). The K&N, RS Akimoto and others use a cotton gauze element soaked in oil to trap dirt. They are relatively cheap ($60 CDN) and work very well. I own two cone filters -- an RS Akimoto Funnel Ram, and a K&N RE910.  Some rough measurements yielded the following filter media area measurements: K&N:194000mm2 RS Akimoto: 188100mm2 Very close surface area numbers even though the RS Akimoto is much more  compact. Allan Wong Owner of a custom turbo '94(+/-) Mazda 626. The turbo system was built  by MRU of Mississauga, Ontario. His system  consists of a T3 Super60-trim  turbocharger, and a RX-7 intercooler. All the piping is stainless steel  and looks great. The  A/F ratio still needs some tuning, but so far with  7psi of boost the 626 has put out 217HP at the wheels.   Aluminum Pedals Simply take a 0.100" panel of solid aluminum (got mine at work, for free) and cut to the desired shape using a hacksaw. Mark a hole pattern and drill away! Don't forget that you need to make at least two countersunk holes per pedal for the mounting screws. Remove the rubber covers on the clutch and brake pedals, and drill two small mounting holes in each. Also drill a couple of holes in the gas pedal too. Mount using matching flathead screws and bolts. For my pedals, I made the gas pedal slightly wider so that it would be easy to heel-and-toe. If you are concerned that the pedals will be slippery, don't be. Even when they are wet, I never have any problems. ATS Turbo The only source for turbo and supercharger kits (thus far) for the Mazda 2.5L V6. Here's an e-mail I received from Mr.  ATS Turbo himself, Geoff Knight. I've heard that he is great to talk to. ATS has been recently renamed TKT. Axxis MetalMaster Brake Pads In winter (Toronto winter, that is), these pads never reach their optimum temperature under normal driving conditions. They still stop as well as stock pads, but nothing like when they're hot. Once warmed up these pads grab and won't fade. You'll be able to smell the pads burning before any significant fade sets in. With warmed up pads, ABS-engaging 130km/h+ stops are possible. A stock Probe GT can match the best cars in the world at braking from 100km/h. With upgraded pads, a GT can probably out-brake any stock automobile on the road. B Brake Pads High performance brake pads offer two benefits: 1) higher fade resistance, and 2) a higher coefficient of friction. Most brake  pads have a coefficient of friction of about 0.3. The Porterfeld RS4 pads (street version) have a COF of about 0.5, the  racing version slightly higher. A higher COF results in reduced braking effort. Axxis Metal Masters I'm guessing have a COF of 0.4. All figures are for warmed up pads. Breather Tube When replacing the airbox with a cone filter or intake tube, a filter must be fitted over a small breather tube that formerly  plugged into the airbox. The simplest and most economical way to do this is to purchase a small conical fuel filter and simply  slip it over the tube. The filter I use is is 0.3" in diameter and 1.5" long. Light oil can be applied to increase filter efficiency. Battery Replacement batteries tend to be more expensive for our vehicles. If your battery dies, instead of buying an OEM  replacement, get a cheaper, more powerful off-the-shelf battery (try 800 cold cranking amps) and mount it in the trunk. My  setup has about 20 ft of 4-gauge cable running through a grommet in the firewall along the door sill. A marine battery case is  strapped to the floor of the trunk immediately behind the fold-down seat. It is a good idea to have a fuse connecting the positive battery terminal. There is a concern for hydrogen gas buildup inside the vehicle if the battery is not sealed in an air-tight container. All I have to say is that it's been over a year now, and I haven't blown up yet. C Camshaft Cover Gaskets Often the cause of oil leaks and damaged plug leads, the cam cover gaskets on the 2.5L V6 will need to be replaced at least  once during the life of the engine. The front cam cover is not a big deal to get at, but the rear is buried under the VRIS intake  casting. If you're going to replace the front and/or rear gaskets, replace the friction gear spring on the exhaust camshaft too. It's only about 20 more minutes of labour. Rear cam cover removed Cat-Back Refers to the part of the exhaust system from the catalytic converter rearwards. The stock exhaust is nice and quiet. Aftermarket systems like the Greddy or Borla are great and will net about 5-10HP at the wheels. A custom bent system with a straight through muffler (like my Magnaflow) are very affordable and a great bang for the buck.   D Dan Dunhem Dan has a turbo on his 2nd gen Probe GT. Dan is running 9psi on the stock engine. Check out Dan's page... http://www.superford.org/pgtpwr/  Dynamometer (Dyno) Dynojet seems to be the most popular dyno system out there. For great dyno plots of the Mazda 2.5L V6, check out Dan Dunhem's page... http://www.superford.org/pgtpwr/home.html . The G-Tech Pro ( www.gtechpro.com ) is a portable accelerometer that calculates pretty accurate horsepower calculations  in addition to 0-60, 60-0, and 1/4 mile times/distances. It claims HP accuracy of +/- 3HP. If you average multiple runs, this  accuracy then improves by the inverse of the square root of the number of runs. For example, if three runs are performed, the accuracy becomes +/-3 / root(3) = +/- 1.7HP Dual Rear Sway Bars see Sway Bar Dunlop D40M2 Tires In Toronto, the best deal around is at Public Tire. These guys even send you a 'Thank You' card in the mail! The Dunlops are not as sharp handling as my bald Goodyear Eagle VR's -- I know, it's not a fair comparison. Bald tires handle better in the dry. In terms of dry grip, I would give the upper hand to the Goodyears, but in the rain, the Dunlops have a decissive advantage. If I had the cash, I would go for the Michelin MXX3 or the Yokahama Nexus. In cold weather (<5°C) the Dunlops have a bad habit of becoming stiff. Even after sitting overnight a flat spot develops that  gradually disappears after driving around a bit. Until the tire warms up and becomes round again, the ride feels like the tires are out of balance.     Counter installed April 1, 1999