DSM Project Car/Build Updates

She LIVES!!!!

Out of the garage for the first time in over a year. It feels great!! There's still some bugs to work out and things to do... but the fact that she runs and drives down the road... omg.. SO EXCITED!

Pics!

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The other day decided that 3 spoilers would look awesome on the Talon. Here's a mock up:





Just kidding.

However, did get the new/used decklid installed after respraying...

For those who are curious about the 2gb Talon spoiler and what's involved to use this on; say.. a 2ga car.. here's a little "primer."


A few years ago, woke up one day and thought that a 2gb Talon conversion would be a super duper fantabulous idea. All went according to plan except for one piece: The spoiler.

Scene 1: The tale of a Thousand Decklids....

and....

Car runs again after the oil pan re-seal. Also got the Thermal exhaust modded to fit that 3" DP. So naturally, there's a leak at the DP to 02 housing now. ha..

Going to buy another gasket for that tomorrow. Also noticed that the WB gauge appears to be on the fritz. When datalogging with the laptop, the WB A/F reads a steady 14.7 to 15.0. However the gauge...

Ok, So not a whole lot going on with the car this week. Dropped the oil pan, since it was leaking. Also took the test pipe to get it expanded to fit over the Thermal exhaust. That exhaust had the wrong flange on it; so had to cut it off. It was made for a stock downpipe, not a 3" one.

Also worked some more on the interior and made sure the radio still works. It does! Yay!...

Did a few things to the illustrious car today. One included fitting the Recaros.

Here's some pics:


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TrboBLu decided that she really, really likes life up on jackstands. Either that or she has a thing against the Brad Penn green oil. Regardless, a leak developed from behind the timing cover. Fearing the worst, the cover was removed... but come to find out it's just the oil pan.

Still.. she decided to give the preverbal



Did some test-fit on...

She's alive and kicking! Yesterday rolled it over on the stock ECU (just incase something was haywire with the wiring...) Today swapped it to the DSMLink-chipped ECU. Loaded the last tune into the computer, which had the correction for the GM MAF; then let her run for a good half hour or so. Here's a short video of the car running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORyfqVUGO2Q...

Got the bumper on the car today; with the headlights. Also put on the coolant hoses for the turbo, spark plugs and wires. Now just got to modify the exhaust, continue to figure out what bolts go where, and just keep on truckin'.

Pics:

Is it time for an update? Perhaps.

....it still doesn't run...

Anyways, did get some more items "fixed." First we'll start with the windows. I have no idea why anyone would remove the window guide felts, stoppers and plastic guides on the bottom; but this a$$clown did. So the window would roll up too far and cause the door to not shut. For anyone...

Ok, so besides this car causing all those involved with it to loose their minds, I think it's finially starting to come together.

Regardless, the engine cranks over! *yAy* This was after replacing the main start cables that were corroded. It's not running yet because it needs some 3/8" heater hose for the turbo lines. And spark sticks. Yes, spark sticks.. I keep forgetting about...

: hmm:

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Needless to say... I'm thrilled to have the engine and trans back in the car. Things should start to move pretty quick now!

"As per tradition" here are some pictures!

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Well, sort-of.

Got to work on the Talon again today... and was able to get quite a few things back together. It's nice to finially start seeing this 5000-piece jigsaw puzzle starting to look like something.

The engine was assembled; and the transmission was bolted back up. Also installed the intake and a few accessories. Continued on the wiring nightmare. I REALLY...

Well the weather looks like it has finally broke for summer! That makes working on things so much easier...

Cometic sent out the correct gasket this week and I got it yesterday. So Just got to package up the old one and sent it back. They, did, indeed send me one for the EVO8 block. The coolant jackets are different. Who woulda thought? It's a thick gasket, that's fo-sho!...

Well, the newly painted sides and rear bumper are offically on the car and bolted on. Tails were put back in, as well.

Went to install the head on the block only to find that Cometic sent me the wrong headgasket. This one looks like it belongs to an EVO block. So got to call tomorrow and see if they can fix it.

However, did get the cams degreed in. The intake...

This week, in addition to picking up the engine... also picked up the bumpers and sideskirts that were resprayed blue. I was thrilled with the results! Of course, I'm sure they will make the rest of the car look bad now.

I was quite "impressed" with just how many bolts attach the rear fascia on. haha! Honestly, it seemed a bit overkill. Had a few of them break...

Tomorrow is the big day! Picking up the engine from the machine shop! I will post a more detailed post about this once I get it home.

Meanwhile, was able to get a few more things done on the car this weekend. The ABS was deleted using a very nice "delete kit" from STM. The stainless brake lines are quite beautiful.

Also was able to finally repair...

in my last post, I think I mentioned something how the engine surprised me with needing machine work. One would think that by now I would've learned that nothing gets by "easy" with this car.

Still love it, though.

Anyways, the machine shop told me that I should see the engine mid-April. It is being bored over .020, line honed, maganfluxed, balanced, cleaned,...

Well over the weekend decided to take apart the engine from the white car, as well as look at the other blocks I have. I now understand why the white car had temperature issues. The deck was warped on the block. Oddly enough, the head seems to be ok. So I guess who ever rebuilt it last spent the time to get the head work done, but not the block. The Cylinders were found to be out of round as...

TrboBlu is still under the knife. There were some hairline cracks in the towers. I'm going to guess these were from the *awesome* high-performance suspension parts that consisted of ebay coilovers on stock, blown struts. The car could probably rattle my brain back into being sane.

Also grabbed the washer line from the white talon; which is looking kinda sad... all up on the trailer....

Turbo Blue was treated with a product called Rust Encapsulator while the rear suspension and tank were out of the car. I have used both POR-15 and Rust Bullet before. POR-15 proved to be ok; however did not work as well as the Rust Bullet. I found that an unprepped surface worked better for the POR-15.... so decided to try out Rust Bullet. That product is holding up better on the Dodge Shadow...

Once upon a time; back on July 7, 2007, (that would be 7-7-07 for those who like numbers) I purchased my first dsm. It was a black Tsi AWD autotragic car. I say "autotragic" because on what was suppost to be the luckiest day EVER, the car goes into "limp" mode as soon as a drive away with the title.


Haha... Should've known then and there that this...