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Street Build Bringing Life to my 1993 TSI AWD

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goalie6263

10+ Year Contributor
78
1
Sep 2, 2010
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Background: Hey everyone, I decided to start a little journal of my journey so far with my Talon. I picked up this 1993 Talon TSI AWD in the summer of 2014. I bought the car for $1000.00 not running due to, what I was told was, bent valves from skipped timing. While this was true, it turned into a much bigger headache than initially intended. Follow along with me as I dump way too much money into this and attempt to get this car running and driving beautifully for a stock talon on a Poor College budget.

Beginning:
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This is the car as I got it in the beginning. The plan was to find a hood and headlights for the car and tear the head off and take it to the machine shop to get the bent valves fixed. I ordered up some parts including ARP Head studs, gaskets, ect.

Here is the car with the head off:

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Around July, I got the head back from the machine shop. They replaced 4 bent valves and decked it and cleaned everything up and got it ready to go.

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After getting everything almost all together, a friend that was helping doing the timing belt noticed the balance shaft felt funky. After reading around, it seemed obvious that the balance shaft bearing was spun, so now I had to make the decision on if I wanted to delete the shafts with the motor in the car, or pull it out and do it over the winter.


ENGINE

I decided I wasn’t going to mess with the car in my driveway, so I took over the garage and pulled the motor out. This is when I was starting to realize that this car wasn’t quite in as good of shape as I thought.


Taking the motor out:

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I ended up having to remove the knuckles and everything to get enough room. The whole front suspension was horribly grimy and just nasty.

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After messing with getting everything out, I made a parts list of what I needed to replace chassis wise. That includes: Ball joints, axles, struts, tie rod ends, brake pads and rotors, driveshaft bushings, rear calipers because they were seized up and once I got them apart, they were all rusty in the piston bore and I didn’t want to mess with it. I also needed front knuckles because I couldn’t get one of the axles out of the knuckle. I tried everything..pb blaster with the axle tool and impact, BFH, little garage press I have, BIG heavy duty press at my work, and of course heat. Nothing worked so I ended up getting a pair of pretty good used knuckles cheap.

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ENGINE INSPECTION/TEARDOWN

Now that I had the engine out, I began the inspecting. I took the oil pan off and found a nice surprise. The front rear balance shaft bearing was completely spun out and chewed up and broke in half. At this point I decided I needed to inspect further, so I brought the motor into my basement and put it on the stand and set up shop.

I got the pistons and crank out and measured everything.

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Even though I measured everything, it wasn’t good news.

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The bearings were toast and there were spots on the crank where I could catch my nail. There was also scoring in cylinder 2 where I could catch my nail. This is where I took a breath and decided this car was going to be rebuilt and restored and the amount of money I would probably have to spend probably would be stupid for what the car is. Off to the machine shop it went.



MARCH 16 2015: A lot of time has passed between then, winter came and I didn’t do much at all with the car except wait for the machine shop to get the motor back to me. I was busy with school and life, but I finally got the block and everything back. It ended up needing to be bored 020 over and the crank needed to be ground. This is a stock rebuild unfortunately, budget wouldn’t allow for upgrades.

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I got to the part of installing piston rings, and one of the compression rings decided to snap as I hardly expanded it. That put me on a multiple week journey ordering rings and getting the wrong ones and finally finding the correct NPR rings. I continued with the process of putting everything back together checking clearances,gaps, specs, ect.

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April 29, 2015:

This is the day that I actually sit here writing everything. I got the pistons and crank installed and carried the motor back up to the garage a few weeks ago. I got the front case, tensioners, pulleys, water pump, oil filter housing, ect all bolted up to the motor along with the oil pan. I also got the rear calipers and all of the parts I mentioned earlier at my house and piled up waiting for me to have time to do it all. This week/last week I cleaned a few brackets and painted them and started cleaning the rest of the little crap. Everything in or near the engine bay was just absolutely caked with grease and oil and dirt. It looked like the axles exploded because the sub frame and transmission was just covered in grease, almost like someone went to the store and bought a can of it and just slapped it all over the place for fun.

As I stand there looking at this mess of an engine bay, I decided I was going to drop the sub frame to clean everything. I got all the nuts and bolts out easily except one. The last bolt would not budge. I soaked it in pb and left it overnight and went to the store and bought a 17mm impact socket that would work better than the socket I was currently using. After nailing it with my giant impact, it began to turn ever so slowly, and eventually came out. I disconnected the steering and it came right out.

I was planning on sticking the sub frame in my dad’s truck and taking it to the self-wash so I could power wash it today, but that plan didn’t work. I ended up sitting on a stool and scrubbing my transmission with a brush and a couple bottles of purple power (that stuff works wonders, I keep a gallon of it around). After a couple hours, I got the transmission looking pretty decent after hosing it off.

Before Picture (if you can tell how bad it was, it was BAD)

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After Picture – Still a little dirty but I slaved long enough and looked like a cow with all the grease splatter over my face and arms.

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The next step is to clean the sub frame..I ended up ordering front sway bar, control arm, and sub frame bushings because, like everything on the car, they were rotted and needed replacing.

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That is it for now, but I will update as I get things rolling here with school almost ending. The upcoming plans are: Bushing replacement for Friday, order axles, install motor, trans, tcase, driveshaft, and anything else that needs installing. I will also be getting some wheels from a buddy since mine are bent (hah of course right?) along with tires because guess what, those are bad as well! Feel free to pm me any questions or suggestions. Thanks!
 
Keep at it! I just got my 93 talon tsi going, love it. It is all worth it in the end!
 
another survivor nice man, I'm in the same boat as well, just got my 93 up and running after it sat in some hillbillies poll barn for 5 years with no drive train Or motor
 
Keep at it! I just got my 93 talon tsi going, love it. It is all worth it in the end!

another survivor nice man, I'm in the same boat as well, just got my 93 up and running after it sat in some hillbillies poll barn for 5 years with no drive train Or motor

Thanks, That's the plan is to let this car survive. It is rust free (minus surface rust under the car obviously im from Wi LOL)
 
5/1/15:

A little bit of an update today. I disassembled the sub frame and burnt some of the bushings out. I also started sandblasting the subframe in order to paint it, but I didn’t get any pictures for that.

Here is everything taken apart. It came apart pretty easily actually, but the impact sure helped that. Everything will be sandblasted and painted. The boot on the rack is tore on one side, so I’ll find a boot for it, and also get my new tie rod ends on.

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People say installing the subframe bushings is a pita, but I’m not too daunted by it..I’ve done it on my chevelle and it wasn’t too difficult. I have a press in the garage if needed. Removing the old bushings was a cake walk. I took a little propane torch and torch each bushing until they popped then hammered the metal sleeve out and then let the things burn. The smell was horrible and made my dinner taste like burning rotted bushings..other than that it was a good time. A few pics

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5/2/15:

I got a tiny bit done this morning. I didn’t wake up as earlier as I thought I was going to, but it is what it is. Managed to get a little more blasted and that’s about it before I had to go somewhere.

I’m using a crappy harbor freight blaster and blasting in my back yard on a tarp and catching what I can to reuse. The sand gets sifted after being used before being used obviously.

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My garage is a horrible mess, everything takes way too long to get done because I can never find anything!

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Looking good bro, I'd clean up the bay while you've got it all out
 
5/22/15:

It has been a while since an update, I have been crazy busy with school and exams, but I am finally all done. I worked on stuff today and got a decent amount accomplished. I have all of the new bushings installed and the subframe is all back together and in the car. I also had my buddy come over and we got the timing on the motor all done. Oil pan is on, water pipe on, head on, almost everything is on the motor, so I will be dropping it in soon.


Here is the subframe after all the bushings were put in and everything put back together. I have the new tierod ends on and a new boot on the rack. The tie rod ends took way too long to do. They did not want to come off and needed a lot of persuading with some heat and a hammer. The sway bar was also a pain to get back on to the subframe for some reason. It didn’t want to sit back properly with the new bushings, but I eventually got it with the help of my dad and the impact.

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A Side note with the poly bushings: I ordered bushings for the front subframe, control arms, and sway bar. They did NOT come with bushings for the front cross member that has one of the motor mounts. (the one by the radiator). I didn’t know this, so had to order up some more bushings from JNZ tuning that pieced a kit together. I’m sure I could have found others to work, but this was easy and I needed them yesterday. I also had to get new(used) control arm brackets because my dad was trying to help while I was busy with school, and he ended up burning and cutting the bushing and sleeve out of the old brackets. All is well that ends well though!

I didn't get any pictures of the motor as of right now, or any pictures of the subframe in the car. I will try to get some up tomorrow if I remember. I will also try and clean the bay up a little, but I will more than likely end up just cleaning it on a lift once I get the thing driving.
 
7/5/15

It has been a while since I updated, but it has been crazy! The car is coming along, almost ready to go! The motor and transmission and transfer case are all in. The only things I have left to do are to bolt the driveshaft up and finish hooking all the connectors up and put the radiator in and fill all the fluids. I ended up replacing the slave cylinder and line. The only thing holding me back at this point is the TPS connector. Someone cut the old connector off because it was broken, so I have to find a different one. It’s crazy seeing the car almost done!

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02/23/16

I know last time I said it has been a while since I updated, but this time it has really been a while! Life has been crazy busy, new job, new school, and moved away! It’s hard for me to spend time working on the car because it is at my parent’s house since I have nowhere to put it at my apartment! I’ll just get updating then!


Fall 2015:
Got everything put back together and filled with fluids. I managed to get this thing started for the first time at the end of summer/beginning of fall. It was having a few issues. It would take a bit of cranking to start and the idle was completely messed up. It kept surging and almost dying. I managed to go on its first drive where it wouldn’t boost at all, it would just sputter. I ended up finding a rebuilt ecu on a Facebook page and got it for $35.00 shipped to my door. I popped that ecu in there and sure as shit, the car fired right up with no idle problems. I took her for a little spin and she boosted like she should! There were a couple of issues from the drive that I need to address. There was a lot of wheel bearing noise, a couple of small coolant leaks from hoses not being tight enough, and the power steering pressure line was leaking at the fitting that goes into the rack. Winter came, so it has been sitting outside my parent’s house on a thick gravel slab since November.

Winter 2015-current: So since the car is at my parents and outside in a Wisconsin winter, I haven’t really had time to work on it or do anything to it. I did try starting it, but it wouldn’t start. Noticed the wires to the coolant sensor were broken, so figured that was the issue. Haven’t fixed that yet. With it being February now, the temp got to about 50 the other day, so I tried putting the battery in to start her for the first time since fall, and she fired right up with 1 crank. Idled at 1400 and then dropped right down to 700 and ran smooth as butter. I must say, I sat in the car just admiring how well it was running. It is an awesome feeling starting from nothing and redoing everything by yourself and being able to see and hear the product of your labor. I was also amazed that everything in the car works like all the windows, lights, fog lights, and the radio..even the speakers sound good in the thing! I’m in the process of trying to find a power steering line for it so I can drive it over to my buddies shop so we can tidy up the rest of her. I also picked up a couple sets of stock wheels and tires for cheap. I need to swap the tires over to the set I’m going to keep and then refinish them. I’m looking forward to getting this thing on the road though, that’s for sure.

Here is a picture of the car as it sits..minus the garage, it is still outside (with a hood on of course).
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The funny thing is, the garage doubled in size this past summer, but there isn't room for the talon in it. I was doing all the work while having people building the garage around me LOL.
This one is taking up the room in the garage along with My dad's motorcycle and a Harley SX250..
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Last edited:
Nice man, your story is much more short and sweet than mine, tho we've pretty much started with the same piece and encountered all the same obstacles.

Bushings are on my list for the near future, among other things.

Awesome job tho, keep at it!
 
Nice man, your story is much more short and sweet than mine, tho we've pretty much started with the same piece and encountered all the same obstacles.

Bushings are on my list for the near future, among other things.

Awesome job tho, keep at it!
Thanks man, it definitely turned into more than what I was originally planning. I only wish I had money to add performance mods while doing all the work, but I just don't with paying rent working 1 day a week during school LOL. It's coming along though, hopefully will be driving it around this summer! Good luck on your build!
 
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