Countdown to Autocross

[neoviper]

So it's just about time for me to start my own build thread for my car. My names Dan and i drive a 90 Talon AWD that im prepping to compete in the scca autocross in my region.

Heres a little history on the car. I've owned the car for about 4 1/2 years. not too long after purchasing the car i had an accident that forced me to take it off the road. Life threw one problem after another at me and the car sat for 3 years before i was finally able to start fixing it.

When i first started working on the car i had no intentions of autocrossing it so i starting doing as many mods as i could think of that didnt require me spending massive amounts of money, things like porting my exhust manifold, turbo, 02 housing, exhaust ports on head and stuff like that. Now that i've decided to autocross all thats coming back to bite me in the rear, i'll explain more about that later. My main focus was on freshening up my entire engine and modding anything i could in the process. So i changed the timing belt, water pump, rebuilt the turbo etc. I wanted to do a bse so i figured that since i already had the head off the block i would just yank the motor to do it, that way i could degrease the engine tranny and paint everything, along with clean up the engine bay.

Well for the past two weeks if i wasnt working at my job i was working on the car (like how i worked on it for 14 hours straight yesterday ). Time is running out though because the first event is on may 31 and the car is nowhere near finished. Crunch time has begun.

Well enough of the chat, time for some pics. I apologize ahead of time because i dont have a digital camera and the quality of them is crap.

 

[neoviper]

My rebuilt turbo, freshened up head and ported manifold, and cleaned up trasfer case

 

[neoviper]

The engine after being picked, me ready to fall asleep after 8 hours of straight work and the end nowhere in sight, and the engine all cleaned up and ready to be dropped back in

 

[neoviper]

I dont have any reassembly pics yet, well because i havent reassembled it yet . i'll take more pictures as the car progresses.

To tell you a little about myself, since i was in my mid teens ive always had a passion for cars. Unfortunately neither my family nor friends shared my interest or passion for them, so i had to learn all about them by myself. when i first came to this site 4 years ago i knew very minimal about cars. Thanks to the help of the many knowledgeable members here i can finally hold my own when it comes to these cars that ive been in love with since i first got my own.

Even though i completely respect those who drag race these cars my heart has always been on the road course, and that is where i ultimately aim to be. The problem with getting my car back on the road was not only the problems life through my way, but it was not having the surroundings to motivate me. lets face it, its difficult to build up a car when youre doing it by yourself and know that even when your finished no one will appreciate all the hard work you poured into it.

It wasnt until last year that i became friends with someone who shared my passion of cars. Being from the muscle car genre he was excited to start learning about turbos. and my god did he love my car . It was then that the task of ressurecting the Talon had begun. Following the build thread by gixxerdrew in his tiime attack spyder fueled my desire to finish the car. Only recently with the release of the ny region scca autocross dates have we gone into overdrive to finally get the car finished in time for the first points event. Its going to be extremely close but were determined to make that may 31st deadline

Tomorrow is another long day of work on the car so ill update with more pictures of the assembly as soon as i get a chance

 

[neoviper]

The reassembly on the car is going well. i'll update with pics as soon as i can.

In the meantime I need some advice from those experianced in autocrossing. Before i was interested in autox while in the process of getting the car going i removed the emissions equipment to clean up the engine bay. Now i'm finding out that that has bumped me into the street prepared category. After studying the allowed modifications for the sp category i realized that my car is simply not equipped to compete in that category. But that doesnt mean im not gonna try anyway. Reinstalling the emissions is out of the question so now im really just trying to brainstorm on some ways i can tweak my current setup to be more competitive. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Ludachris]

Seriously Dan, don't worry about being competitive the first season. Just go out and have fun and learn. By next season you'll know what you need without asking us.

 

[snowborder714]

Seat time is the one thing you'll want to get. I have no way of being competitive (SM class) but just getting in the car and learning from others there is enough to knock of a bit of time from my runs. I'd say go out to learn and have fun and not worry about competing.

The build is looking good! I love seeing clean builds. What'd you do to clean the transmission/transfer case?

 

[neoviper]

You're right, I should really be focusing more on the learning process rather than the building process. I quess sometimes I let my competitive spirit cause me to rush things a bit

 

[neoviper]

Seat time is the one thing you'll want to get. I have no way of being competitive (SM class) but just getting in the car and learning from others there is enough to knock of a bit of time from my runs. I'd say go out to learn and have fun and not worry about competing.

The build is looking good! I love seeing clean builds. What'd you do to clean the transmission/transfer case?

Yeah I need to shift my focus on just getting some seat time and learning how the game works so to speak.

For the tranny I degreased and power washed it while it was out of the car, than i painted it over with high heat rustoleum. the transfer case i just used degreaser and some good old fasioned elbow grease, than painted that with rustoleum as well

 

[neoviper]

The Engines back in and i got wires and hoses EVERYWHERE . and dont worry about the ugly chrome rims, theyre only on there while my other set gets painted.

 

[Ludachris]

You're right, I should really be focusing more on the learning process rather than the building process. I quess sometimes I let my competitive spirit cause me to rush things a bit

It happens to everyone - especially DSMers. We always want to modify everything before we set a tire on the track... it's in our nature I guess.

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

I've driven some slow cars (my laser), i have driven some fast evo's, and sat in some others, but its nothing like sitting in your car at a track, which i have never done, and raced with what you own. Everything is so much different, and what you think you can expect of your car, is usually not what you get. Or you have more, and aren't ready for it. I hope i have neither of these problems.

Clean build, and hope everything goes well.

James

 

[awdfun]

Nice work!

And like everyone said, use your first year to get in the game mentally. It doesn't matter what I have on my "DSM's gotta go fast wish list" prior to an autocross or road race, cause after every event it changes!

Just get the car running and drive it. You'll know what it needs next soon enough.

 

[neoviper]

Trust me I don't plan on getting in over my head for my first year. I am dedicating it to my learning process. Like everyone else though i can't help but ponder over "how can I make it better". And even though the novice side of me says "learn everything you can while you're in the drivers seat" the competitive side of me says "I'm not leaving it at that, I want these guys to know I'm here". So I'm always thinking about how I can improve not only the car but myself as well. Afterall the driver is the most important mod in a car

 

[Evan K.]

Other drivers will respect a good driver over a good car. Tighten the nut behind the wheel.

 

[ajinvista]

Was in the same boat your in last year, except mine was down for 15yrs. AutoX'ed it in 91 and 92 stock class.
I run in ESP and I'm getting more competitive every race. Won the first one of this season, results aren't in for the second race yet. Last year ran mid pack trying to learn how to drive a new car. Get some good tires, they really make a big difference in AutoX. AWD only helps in putting the power down coming out of a corner, so use that to your advantage. It will push like a pig if you go in too hot. Power helps but AutoX is about being smooth, sometimes slower is faster. Bigger sway-bars will definitely help a lot. I added one this year up front had a bigger one in back, because I was tired of scraping my elbows on the tarmac. Some say leave the front stock, but adding the other one in front made a huge difference for me(but I can adj dampning on my struts too). Good luck and like they all said just take it easy and you'll figure out what you need for next year, and a CLASS WIN! I'm out to put down the Camaro's and Stang bangers this year. That's about all that run in ESP, as you can see in the background.

 

[Jdog]

I like the wink the car is giving the camera

 

[ajinvista]

She likes her new look.

 

[TSi999]

Was in the same boat your in last year, except mine was down for 15yrs. AutoX'ed it in 91 and 92 stock class.
.

That car looks great! I want a 1g since I have heard they are easier to get the weight down in than the 2g.

Nice tire gap here.

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[ajinvista]

Thanks alot. It actually looks the way I evisioned it 15 yrs ago. I haven't weighed it since I put in an 8lb. momo seat and put the new rims on. It was 3140lbs with me in it and a full tank of gas. I am going to get a fiberglass hood to try and remove some more weight up front. No money for the power goodies so off comes the weight.
Yours looks excellent, clean as hell.

 

[neoviper]

The car is 98% done! It would've been done already but a screw up at the autoparts store left me with a tensioner pulley instead of the hydraulic tensioner. Now I just need to wait until that comes in so I can do the timing and start her up. The interior is put back together, and the body is reassembled too. We just have some minor adjustments to make on the front end and than primer it up. It doesnt look like I'm gonna have it painted by the deadline, but it looks like the cars gonna be ready to race on the 31st! as soon as the timing is done and the covers and engine mount go back on, and once the body work is finished and primered I'll upload some more pictures. But she looks GREAT!

 

[neoviper]

So of course life decides to throw a curveball at me. Progress was coming along smoothly with the car and it was looking like the car was going back on the road next week....... that is until i lost my job yesterday. Thats what happens when you're one of the higher payed employees and your job is looking to cut cost. I'm not giving up all hope just yet though, i'm still making a push to make the deadline. I have some more pictures that i'm gonna upload tonight but for now i gotta go file for unemployment .

Well the bright side is at least i'll have plenty of time to finish the car

 

[UofACATS]

Good luck, sir! Nice read too.

 

[neoviper]

The Tensioner finally came in and I was able to finish the car!...... Or so I thought I was. The car is finished except now I just need to find a thermostat housing. Apparently mine cracked when we were assembling everything back together and its leaking bad. No big deal, I'm just gonna go to a local junk yard and pick one up. If all goes well she should start up tonight!

 

[neoviper]

My Engine bay 99% done, The front end as it looks now (we still have alot of adjusting to do, My cars "good" side (I took the Ugly chrome rims off and put smaller black ones on). Till this point I've pretty much torn everything under the hood apart and rebuilt it, but for some reason I find the most satisfaction in having rewired my fuel pump . I guess it's because it's pretty much the first time I've done electrical work in a car , I know it's weird