Great thread, beautiful car, love the 2G Talons

Thanks!

I'm already missing it a ton..... only a few more months!

Spring will be here before you know it, xmas is right around the corner, I got a head start last year so when spring comes shell be all set to blast down the streets.

95talongirl said:

Got the cylinder head back from Force Engineering:

Too bad the car currently looks like this:

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Those valves ok? Second cyl down on the left side. Are thier cams in the head? Those 2 don't look like they are seating properly

Yes the cams are in it.

Started up on the first try after sitting since November!


And my little sidekick:


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWpf_4LuYGU&list=UUKFuwbk7FT0KWOjxZRxhfTQ

Now to do the clutch and fix the oil leak, and will be good to go.

95talongirl said:

.

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I love your car! So clean and that color always looks amazing!!

Thanks!

I didn't even wash it in this photo. That California car cover is amazing.... was not expecting it to look like this after 5 months under a cover.

One of the best looking DSM's hands down. Love the blue/black mix. Hows the hatch holding up?

The hatch looks the same as it did this time last year.

However, as you can see, this car does spend a great deal of time under a cover when not in use. I did that for the hood, as well. Since the VIS Hood tend to fade, too. Also waxed both the hood and hatch before they went on the car. So hoping the combination will help make the clear last longer.

And thank you! Always trying to keep up on the car.

Pictures to come, but this weekend was a big one for the car.

New clutch, master cylinder, rebuilt transfer case, and fixing the oil leak were on the to-do list. Then it should be good to go for a little bit. Going to drive it around for the next month or so still on the 16g to see if I can get it to the 11.49; (i.e. when you need a cage). Then will see about switching the turbo. I'm still on the fence, as I'm getting used to this setup.... so it may be one more complete season on the 16g. We shall see what happens.

Updates!

Ok, so the past three weeks have been pretty crazy. Memorial day weekend, ripped the car apart to install a new clutch, t-case, and viscous coupler. Also installed a new intercooler form ETS, as well as tore the front end of the engine back down to try to fix the oil leak. The seal around the oil pump shaft was tore up a little, so figured it was that. Slapped a new seal in it.

Three days later, got it all back together. Drove the car around the block. It shifted fine, and drove fine..... but then.... saw it. Was hemorrhaging oil. From the SAME spot. So parked it for the week.

the following weekend, took the front of the engine back apart. Ran the car for a few seconds with the front of the motor exposed. (before taking the belt off) It was spewing oil from the oil pump again. So took the timing off, and pullies. Come to find out the oil pump had a LOT of play in it. Well, guess we found the problem. So ordered up a new front case, and covered the car back up for the week.

Around Wednesday, the part came in. I then had a discussion about the plight of oil pump failures and how they relate to the balance shaft. Without the BS there, the side load on the gears from the belt cause the gears to eat away at the aluminium housing. Some people have found decent luck with using the 1990 straight cut gears vs. the helical ones. So I got a set of straight cut gears to put in the new front case. However, the next engine build will be getting a race balance shaft put back in. I honestly believe that that is still the best option in preventing premature oil pump failure.

I am just glad this was discovered now and not at the big end of the track!

So, got the car back together, fired it up on jackstands, and everything looked ok. So we slapped on yet another new timing belt. (4th one now since october due to oil saturation.. !) Drove it around a little bit yesterday, and no more puddles. *whew!* So HOPEFULLY now she will be set to go back to the track.

Some photos:

It's always something ain't it? Glad to hear you got it all fixed up again and good luck with it. The "mad pic" made me laugh and the "front yard pic" with both cars is super-cool.

It is! I really didn't think to much about what a lack of a balance shaft would do after a while. But since the rear one runs right through that pump, it makes sense that it would provide some strength to counter the pulling force of the timing belt on the front gear. I guess it's not to bad if the car is driven normal without a lot of high-rpm use. This car has about 20-30k on its current build. The first year was mostly driving around town/highway. The second year saw quite a bit of track time..... Hot Rod Drag Week, specifically, really put the car under some stress.

I'm going to write the milage down, and see how long the straight cut gears last. See if there really is a difference. In theory, it should help out some with the side load.

, glad you got a laugh out of the pic!
The Daytona saw its first day "out" for the season, as well. So figured would get a shot of them together!

Clutch break-in downtown chicago.

95talongirl said:

Clutch break-in downtown chicago.

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Sweet pics as always Marybeth! Glad to see it up and running again.

Thanks! Hopefully, it'll stay together for a little bit. Should be back at the track here, shortly, too.

Took the car up to the Shelby Dodge event this weekend. It was nice to see the car make it up there, but I ran into some issues at the track.
The first one was my own fault, which made for a funny video. (I'll get a copy eventually and post it.) I apparently didn't have two intercooler clamps tight enough, and the entire pipe blew off off the launch. oops! In the photo below, you can see the pipe dropping.

It autocrossed good. I was a solid middle of the pack out of 26 cars; which is ok by me since I do this a whopping 2 times a year. !

At the drag strip the next day is when I ran into bigger issues. For a shakedown pass, to make sure the car holds together, I ran it was 20psi, shifting easy to a 12.6@114. So I started to try to turn the boost back up and launch it harder... the clutch wanted none of that. All it did was slip. Come to find out, this clutch needs a good 1500-2000 miles of break in. (It has around 600 now) So I hung it up for the day, and will drive it around more and see if that makes a difference.

I blew a coupler lastnight haha, no matter how many times it happens it still scares the shit out of me! Car is looking good, I see you haven't update the thread on your new dent though

Thanks!

No, I didn't... I have an insurance adjuster coming out to look at it. so for now, would rather keep that kind of stuff quiet.

Well, she went in for the repair on the 1/4 panel. Just got it back yesterday. VERY happy with the repair work! So now, the random driving around commences, so that I can try to get this car dialed back in for the shootout.

Disapointing weekend. :/

The new clutch appears to be a dud, so the trans will have to come back out this week. Becuase of work, this is really my only weekend to get another clutch in the car, otherwise it'll be out of commission for the shootout.

Long story short, It's a SSx-TZ-b kevlar clutch. I ran the car back at the Shelby dodge event, and it was giving me a REAL hard time. Slipping under load in all gears. Then it became rel hard to even get it into gear. So called it a day. Re-adjusted the hydraulics, and it seemed to be ok. Was told that it requires a ton of break in miles. So, drove it around town, to and from different car shows. Took it back to the track this past weekend for the Ladies' Race at Byron Dragway. Ran the car on low boost.. ~20ish psi. I didn't launch it hard, either, since it was a bracket program.... figured I should drive it easy to take out the launch variable. It ran a few pretty consistent 12's. 12.6, 12.8, and 12.6. Was knocked out first round, because I suck at bracket racing. So decided to now try to get the boost back up. Clutch DID NOT LIKE THIS. Launched good off the two step, then slipped bad in 2nd, bogged in third before it gripped. I was now on the verge to scream. Called it a day.

Later on, we took the car out for a cruise. After about 15-20 mins of city driving, we did a few test hits in "mexico" to see if the clutch healed or someone maybe was going to mircaliouly hold. Nope. Slipped like a SOB again. ARGH.

Contacted Tim about this... looks like we are going to swap it out for the ceramic version. However, I am being send another pressure plate, as the way this thing is acting, (slipping plus hard to shift gears) it could be a problem with that.

So we shall see. I'll post up some photos later this week.

*sigh*

Bummer. Hope you can get it back together and running well for the shootout. Good luck!

thanks!

Yeah, it really is... :/

Replacement is on the way, so hopefully this weekend it'll get town down.

Hope you get that beautiful car fix soon. Just read whole build thread just simply amazing. Good job and can't wait for more.