'cause I'm going to do that myself
I actually pondered that looking back at my pictures, I figured that I would gradually remove more material until it swung into place. For guys in the future though I was hoping to find a compatible shaft. Looking over at onlinemazdaparts.com I found the following:
Shaft, 626, mx-6, 6 cyl, manual trans 00-02
Shaft, 626, mx-6, 6 cyl, manual trans 98-99
Shaft, 626, mx-6, 6 cyl, manual trans 96-97
Shaft, 626, mx-6, all, 6 cyl, manual trans 1994
Shaft, 626, mx-6, 6 cyl, Manual trans 95-97
From this, I'm willing to bet that all shafts from 95-97 are the same and that the 98-02 shafts are hardly different but the site wont give me part #s so I can only assume there are 3-4 variations of shafts from the 626: '94, 95-97, 98-99, 00-02. My junkyard is usually running over with 626's so i'll see if I can't drop by and at least take a look. I went through my reciepts last night and my shaft cost me a whopping $17 from a '93 Ford Probe GT.

Shaft, 626, mx-6, 6 cyl, manual trans 00-02
Shaft, 626, mx-6, 6 cyl, manual trans 98-99
Shaft, 626, mx-6, 6 cyl, manual trans 96-97
Shaft, 626, mx-6, all, 6 cyl, manual trans 1994
Shaft, 626, mx-6, 6 cyl, Manual trans 95-97
From this, I'm willing to bet that all shafts from 95-97 are the same and that the 98-02 shafts are hardly different but the site wont give me part #s so I can only assume there are 3-4 variations of shafts from the 626: '94, 95-97, 98-99, 00-02. My junkyard is usually running over with 626's so i'll see if I can't drop by and at least take a look. I went through my reciepts last night and my shaft cost me a whopping $17 from a '93 Ford Probe GT.