MichaelSuch submitted a new DSM Profile :

1997 Talon AWD 5 speed 2.3L


Read more about this vehicle here...

I have never made a build thread before. I've read thousands of them on various cars. With my latest purchase I think it's time I make one. I've always been a fan of 2gb Talons. A kid in the local car scene bought one from Ohio with a bunch of issues, he worked on it for a couple months, then it's true colors showed and had a lot of bottom end noise after an oil change. I'm assuming the previous owner dumped in heavy weight oil, it never ticked when he picked it up. It just has a constant misfire. He always asked me for advice on these cars, so he asked if I wanted to buy it. On March 19th it came home for $1200. The car has 127k miles on it, tan leather interior, and very little rust.

Shortly after I got it home the engine came out. Oil leaks everywhere, it was all stock minus the intercooler, intake , and 3" exhaust. I didn't have much time to work on the car between working 6 days a week (9 hour days) and remodeling my parents old house so I could sell my current house.





I found the problem. I've spun bearings before and drove 10 miles home. They never looked this bad.





It was such a pain cleaning up this bearing material with no real parts washer other than brake cleaner

I was original hoping that maybe it was just a spun balance shaft bearing so I could still use the crank and rods, just do a simple stock rebuild and see for my self was a stock shortblock could do. But since the crank needed replaced, I decided to go with a 2.3L stroker. I have built 2 other 2.3 strokers for my 1g FWD and my 2g AWD auto. The off boost power it makes is hard to beat in these cars on the street. So I picked up a 100mm crank for $180 that was cut .020" over on the rods and mains. I was a little hesitant but others were wanting $300+ for a good crank. I've never paid more than $200 for any of my stroker cranks so I had to go with it and I was tired of looking around. I ordered a bunch of stuff from ExtremePSI, took the pistons to the machine shop, had the block bored .020" with .005" PTW clearance, hot tanked, and decked. The bottom end was assembled on 5/26. At this time I was also moving out of my house since my parents old house was remodeled and I had renters coming in June 1st.

Block was painted





Wiseco spring compressor made things easier and faster. No breaking rings (which I've never done in the past with your normal ring compressor.



Measuring rod bolt stretch



The specs of the bottom end:
100mm Crank cut .020"
Clevite 77 aluglide bearings
K1 Technologies 150mm rods
Wiseco 1400HD 2.3L .020 pistons
BSE elimination

That week of May 29th I finished moving everything from my garage and house to the parents old house. There is a nice oversized 4 car garage there, and a big machine shed but it is all PACKED with crap from my dad. He had a bunch of projects going on and never was able to finish them between farming and working at the mines. So once I get the car rolling under its own power I plan on helping him and getting things finished and organized in there. I slapped the head on with ARP L19s and Cometic MLS. The head was decked, has Supertech Dual springs, HKS272s, Fidanza cam gears. I had to drill and tap the intake cam for the 95 CAS. Wasn't that bad of a job with a sharp drill bit and hand drill. Just take your time drilling straight and it will save you $20 or so from the machine shop.



An 18g showed up at my house that I rebuilt and painted, the pictures were before the rebuild. I wish I had taken more pictures during this. I want to max out the turbo before upgrading to a 62mm sized turbo.



Here is a compressor wheel comparison from a 14b, 18g and chewed up HX35.

For some reason I never turned the crank a complete revolution until last night, rod #3 the block. I had to pull the pan back off, clean the gasket surfaces again, and dremel out the block for clearance. I guess not all 4g63 blocks are casted the same. My 6 bolt didn't need any clearancing, or did my previous 7 bolt with the same K1 Technologies Rods need clearancing

Plenty of room now



I also came across a deal on FP4R cams, I am a huge fan of FP cams. I run FP3X in my 6 bolt stroker, you can tell it's been cammed but it's not too obnoxious and the power is simply amazing across the board. I pulled my HKS cams out and installed these



CAM Specs:
STOCK Stock Turbo Cam 174 / 165 .366" / .343"
HKS272 HKS 272 195 / 195 .399"/.379"
FP4R Cams (270 duration) 224 / 224 .440"/.425"

I feel these cams would be a noticeable upgrade over the HKS 272's.

Also my Southbend SS-X PP Ceramic clutch kit showed up.

Very nice build, glad to be of assistance!

very nice! Wish I had your mechanical knowledge to take all this apart and fix/mod it!

It's really not that hard. There is so much information and knowledge available on the internet for these cars. I didn't know anything about cars at all until I bought my first DSM and took it all apart for new valve seals. I followed a build thread 5 years ago that had pictures of every step of rebuilding an engine, that alone taught me a lot. Having a garage to work on it makes things more enjoyable and easier along with tools. I invest a lot of money in tools and special tools for these cars since I am always working on them. If you don't have the right tools it's a nightmare. If you have the patience and willingness to learn you can do it.

MichaelSuch said:

It's really not that hard. There is so much information and knowledge available on the internet for these cars. I didn't know anything about cars at all until I bought my first DSM and took it all apart for new valve seals. I followed a build thread 5 years ago that had pictures of every step of rebuilding an engine, that alone taught me a lot. Having a garage to work on it makes things more enjoyable and easier along with tools. I invest a lot of money in tools and special tools for these cars since I am always working on them. If you don't have the right tools it's a nightmare. If you have the patience and willingness to learn you can do it.

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Oh ya tools are the worst part (if you dont have proper ones)

bratte88 said:

Oh ya tools are the worst part (if you dont have proper ones)

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Any chance you still have that thread?