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pksystems 1997 Eagle Talon TSi AWD street build

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Finished cleaning up and powdercoating the rear springs.

What should have taken 20min, took hours, trying to figure out how these GC upper rubber bushings mount. I was missing the upper aluminum cup washer thing that centers the bushing on the shock rod. Finally found a picture of the assembly with red annodized upper washers. Mine were chewed up bare aluminum (GC kit was used) and 1/2 of them were no longer round. Anyway... rears are ready to bolt in.

konis.jpg
 
Rear coilovers installed.

konis01.jpg

Rear brake pads installed. (PBR Ceramic)
New rear brake bleed screws installed.

Bolted in Tiburon drivers seat.

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Bolted E-manage ultimate to floor under drivers seat.
 
This is an amazing build! I wish I could weld like you, but I suck terribly at it haha. I wish I could switch out the interior in my car it has red interior and I despise red. I got to figure out a way not to break the bank, but get some black interior.
 
Wanted to make sure that the abs-delete hardlines I made didn't leak before everything on the front end was installed. I filled up the new 3G booster, and bled them. I didn't bench bleed it, I just used an automotive use vacuum pump to pull fluid through the lines to the calipers. Then bled them normally with my Dad. One small leak at one of the new hardlines at prop valve. Tightened it a bit with a wrench and it sealed. Brakes are ready to go.

Loosened all rear suspension bolts that need to be torqued with weight of car on the ground. I managed to get the rear to settle down to 15.5" from center of the wheel to the fender lip, which is approximately the same height as my ESi. This is the lowest I can go without needing helper springs on the GC coilovers. I will try to find some decent priced helpers/perches. It might be cheaper to just buy some 9" springs. The 8" springs I have, have approximately 2" more room to lower on the sleeves. The front has not been adjusted yet (no weight in engine bay)

Tossed the eventual winter use wheels/tires on the car. All four wheels are on the ground, on wheel dollies. I can now push the car sideways and get some more room to work.

Fender braces are installed.

New bearings for the Quaife front, and Kaaz center differentials have been ordered. I will be opening up the Kaaz and setting it to 1 of the 2 looser settings which are recommended for street use.


brace.jpg
 
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Ordered helper springs/dividers for rear coilovers. I don't know why these things cost so much, since they do nothing unless you are at full droop. My used GC coilover sleeve kit/springs cost less.

Picked up a low mileage Fidanza lightweight flywheel off the classifieds. I think my ACT2100 is in good enough condition to reuse, but the flywheel was OEM.

Started moving parts so I could finish up the last bit of rust. It's mostly surface rust, so I've wire wheeled and treated it with acid etch cleaner. Once it's dry, I will paint the insides of the rad support, and do a bunch of seam sealing on the front end. Then some rust paint over everything. After unbolting the A/C receiver/drier and bracket, I was able to move the condenser out of the way to clean up the rust. Bracket is waiting to be powdercoated.

It looks like someone tried to tow the car with the drivers side radiator bracket. (on bottom of car) It was deformed pretty bad. I used a series of metal wedges, and clamps to get it mostly straight again.

Bracket that holds horn and daytime running light relay is waiting to be powdercoated. Cleaned a bunch of sludge off of the horn.

Installed drivers side wheel well splash shield. Cheap non-oem ones holes don't quite line up, so I redrilled a couple of the holes. With the shield in place, I can see how much room I have to mount my oil/powersteering coolers.

Went to install passenger wheel well splash shield, but it appears to have taken more damage then the fenders that were in my backyard during the biggest hail storm to hit this city. Shield is shredded... Fenders look like golf balls. I'll grab a cheapie passenger splash shield, and the fenders are going to need ALOT of attention and a repaint.

Pulled rear wiper so it can be powdercoated.

Found some parts for sale locally that I couldn't say no to. I'm pretty positive they will not be used on this car, but we'll see. Maybe they will end up on the classifieds on here one day. NEW (Still in Dealership boxes) Evo X Brembo front calipers. $400cdn for the pair. These things are HUGE, and that's part of the reason I probably won't use them. The outlanders fit under 17's and I doubt these calipers will fit under anything but 18's.

brembo.jpg
 
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Some parts have arrived.

Used Fidanza lightweight flywheel off the classifieds. I will have to order an aluminum flywheel kit with a shim plate.

fidanza.jpg

Helper springs and spring dividers for the rear coilovers. 4" springs. I went with red dividers, so I could easily see where the black helpers stop, and the black coilovers begin. The coilover sleeves are the same anodized red color. I believe I'm about stock height at the point where you need helpers, so these are plenty long.

helper.jpg
 
Started working on my oil cooler mount.

Played with cardboard until I figured out how to hit 2 of the 3 unused M8 bolt holes on drivers side of the car behind the bumper. They are at different heights/angles, but I thought I had it done right with the cardboard. Trace onto steel, cut it out, and transfer the bends. As usual, it didn't work out quite right. Cardboard tends to flex alot more then you think it is. :)

I ended up hacking off one mount, and slicing the other so I could bend it till it fit nice. I then made a new upper mount, and riveted it onto the main section. It will be spotwelded, and then the rivet removed. Oil cooler fits in good, and is fairly stiff, but I wanted to make sure, so I took some lightweight round steel tubing out of the bin, and crushed both ends in the shop press. Bent the ends till they were the right angle, and I now have the 3rd available M8 hole holding the cooler. I will be using a rubber gasket around the front of the cooler, and where the brackets attach to it. This will give the cooler a little bit of flex, similar to the radiator.

I added a flange all the way around the front face (One is missing. I will add when I do the welding) so that I can rivet a rubber lip that will press against the back of the bumper cover. This should give me a decent seal, forcing the air through the cooler. Most would stop here, or possibly before that front seal, but the plan is to make a duct section on the back of the cooler. Lost core molding (same way I did fog lights) with a flange for 3" aluminum ducting. The ducting will then snake around the AC drier and connect to a second cooler duct for my power steering cooler. There is LOTS of room for the powersteering cooler, since I removed the ABS pump.

After all the welding is done I will powdercoat the front frame black.

cooler01.jpg cooler02.jpg cooler03.jpg cooler04.jpg

Styrofoam plug for the oil cooler duct finished.

plug.jpg
 
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Made mounting bracket for the power steering cooler. Very similar to the Oil cooler. It is mounted to 2 of the original 3 points of the ABS pump (the third is used by oil cooler) I used alot thinner steel, so I added some dimple holes with DIY dimple dies. Drilled hole, placed it on a piece of tubular steel slightly larger then hole, put rounded side of ball peen hammer in hole, and hammered it down till I had a decent looking bevel. Bracket is ready for a light sandblasting, and powdercoat.

My carbon duct is facing the wrong way, so I'll probably mod duct section so it curves back towards the PS cooler. I will be making another CF duct for the PS cooler. I will rivet some mesh into holes cut in the fender liners to let heat escape.

pscooler01.jpg

pscooler02.jpg
 
Oil cooler duct is finished. I had to extend the lip, and add a flare so I'd have more to clamp hose too. I wasn't planning on polishing these things, since they will only be visible if your are laying on the ground under the radiator, but it was looking pretty nice when I started wetsanding. Visible side polished.

cooler_duct.jpg

Powersteering duct was also finished, except when I extended the lips, I changed the final positions for the hose. They were beside each other, rather then facing one another. I made a new plug out of styrofoam. New plug is in direct alignment with the oil cooler outlet. I will use a piece of 3" silcone hose to join them.
The aluminum ducting I was going to use seems to be crimped together, and started falling apart when I was trying to make it work. I don't think it would have held up to highway speeds.

If the fenders didn't get pounded in the hail last year, they would already be mounted. I cleaned them up to see just how bad they are, and then soaked the bottom section in Fast Etch to treat the rust. I circled the hail dents. They look horrible.

fenders.jpg

The entire fender will get a sanding with an orbital sander, and then anything that still shines (low spots) I'll remove the paint with a rotary tool. Then a skim coat of body filler over the entire fender to fill in the golf ball dimples. :)
 
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Seaaaatttts!! What are those seats!? :D
Do they bolt up to the 2g rails?
 
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2004 Hyundai Tiburon seats. Hyundai sliders heavily modded to fit the Mitsu mount points.

Powersteering cooler duct finished.

Fenders got a skim coat of body filler, and 90% of it got block sanded off. Primered them with grey, then a light coat of red primer (guide coat) Looked awesome, till I block sanded them again. Low spots got 2 coats of spot putty.

The fenders are probably smoother then the rest of the car, as I've been noticing lately. Car has some pretty nice dings, that weren't caused by me, and a couple days ago I noticed a couple dents on the roof. It looks like someone sat on the front edge of the roof.

If my rattlecan paint on the fenders doesn't match close enough, I will probably plastidip the entire car matte black. The sideskirts are the same paint I plan to use on the fenders, and they look pretty close. Matte black would help hide some of the dings.
 
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Fenders are painted. Tremclad Gloss Black. Went front to back like 5 coats in rapid succession. I will wetsand/buff them in spring. Not perfect, but it's got less orange peal then a new Scion.

Ordered some more parts.
 
Bolted together the finished power steering cooler assembly and installed on car.
ps_cooler_assembly.jpg
ps_cooler_assembly02.jpg

Forgot that the front sideskirt caps need some more holes for mounting. Used the grease transfer method to mark the rockers/fenders, and drilled some more holes.

Adjusted drivers door/striker so it closes smoothly.

Started mounting front mud flaps.
 
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Parts have arrived. Funny how the little bits start to really add up price wise. :p

3" silicone coupler
Gaskets (manifold/o2/turbo/J-pipe)
Spark plugs
check valves
Aluminum flywheel install kit
SS valve cover bolts
Silicone vacuum hose kit
Silicone vacuum hose for catch cans
Passenger side splash shield.

parts.jpg

Installed the 3" coupler between the oil/power steering coolers. The coolers are even more solid now that they are tied together. Prepared to start cutting the drivers splash shield for vents.

I will need to try and source some 3M 8531 (or equivalent) gasket material. I want to seal the fenders to the body similar to the factory.
 
Cmax (Napa paint store) carries the 3M 8531 fender sealant if anyone is looking.

Disassembled the fender snorkel so the steel portions can be powdercoated.

Test mounted fenders and hood. Fenders will need to come off once more so I can install the fresh air snorkel, and to apply the sealant.

Now that I can test for clearance, I've started on the cold air box. I have an injen intake, so my stock air box has been removed. I guess the engine can breathe more air now, except it's breathing nothing but HOT air. The plan is to make a two part box that fits around the cone filter. A lower U shape with flanges on the top, and a top lid that bolts across those flanges. Both sections will have a cutout around the MAF with some rubber edging or something. The side next to the fender will be open to the fresh air snorkel, but sealed against the fender. I'll make it the same way I've been making alot of parts. Make the plug from styrofoam, wrap it in carbon fiber and melt out the foam later. The lid needs to match the curvature I've shaped into the box, so after it's done, I will wax the top section, and make an lid right off the bottom box. Then the top of the lower section will get sliced open, so I can actually get the air filter in.

cold_air_box.jpg

Found some more cheap parts locally. Picked up some black plasti-dipped EVO X Enkei's. I now have one set of wheels that will clear those EVO X Brembo's I bought a couple months ago. These things are ridiculously huge. 18x8.5. They are surprisingly light for the size (22 lbs). They weigh the same as my 17x6.5" GSX winter wheels. My Evo IX BBS wheels are just under 18lbs for 17x8".

evox_enkei.jpg
 
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Refinished some parts.

evap.jpg

Battery tray. PO torqued the hell out of the battery bolt, and bent the flange and the tray. I straightened it out as best I could, cleaned it up and powdercoated it.

Passenger side fresh air snorkel. Drilled out the rivets, cleaned up the steel bracket, powdercoated it, and put in new rivets.

Fuel vapour evap canister. Cleaned and powdercoated the rusty clamps, and the mounting bracket.


Put 3 layers of Carbon on my styrofoam cold air box. Ripped/wire brushed the styrofoam out of it. This seems to leave less mess of melted styrofoam residue. Ready to polish the areas that will be visible that aren't under the lid. The notch is to clear the headlight adjustment gear.

air_box.jpg
 
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Reinstalled fresh air snorkel and passenger side fender with the 3M sealant. Stainless fasteners for all fender/splash shield bolts/screws.

Cleaned a bunch of crud out the radiator overflow tank. While the car was sitting for 4 years, I think most of the radiator fluid evaporated, and left what looked like mud in the bottom.

Tossed the RA decals on the front mudflaps.

Polished the lower section of the cold air box. Lower section looks good enough. The plan is to wax the top/sides, and make a removable top lid section that matches the shape of the lower box. Once it's good, pop off the top section, and cut the lower section. Yellow lines show what will get cut out. Red dots are where bolts will attach the lid to the base.

carbon.jpg
 
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Cancelled the plans for louvered splash shield vents, when I saw how weak they were with only 2 layers of kevlar. They wouldn't have let much air through either.
Decided to use mesh. 2 offset layers of gutterguard urethaned onto aluminum strips. Aluminum strips then riveted over holes on the drivers side splash shield.

SS_vents.jpg

Reinstalled drivers fender.

Reinstalled both headlights.

Made the lid for cold air box. It's almost ready to polish.

Ordered the last new bearing needed for the front/center diffs. I found alternate bearing part numbers, but nobody seemed to be able to locate the part. NOS OEM MD727860 ordered.
 
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Installed drivers side splash shield, and side skirt fender cap.

Made some spacers out of neoprene and bonded them to the top edge of the mudflaps. There is a gap above the fender cap, and without some sort of an insulator the mud flap would be rubbing on the metal portion of the fender.

Installed the drivers side mudflap. It still needs some adjustment. I'm pretty sure it's way too low, and probably sticking 1/2" to far out. I have some adjustment in the oversized mounting holes.

flaps.jpg

Popped the lid off my cold air box project. Took a jigsaw to the lower portion. It needs a bit more trimming, but I can get the filter assembly into the box. The lid needs a U-shape cut out of the middle, and it should drop down fairly air tight around the filter. The lower box will be bolted into the car, butted against the fender with some sort of a seal. It will be open to the cut outs and the fresh air snorkel. I might make some sort of curved duct to the open vent hole on the passenger side of the front bumper.

ca_box02.jpg

ca_box01.jpg

Started making a plug for Carbon fiber spark-plug cover. The plan is to see if I can actually get vacuum infusion working, and this is a fairly simple project.
 
Trimmed lid for cold air box. Its fits nice and tight on the engine side. I will put some weather stripping around the fender side to seal it up. All mounting points are threaded. Ready to polish.

cab.jpg

Reinstalled the battery tray so I could start planning out fuel filter/catch can mounting. The aftermarket Fuel Lab filter is larger then the OEM one, so it has to go somewhere else. It's a perfect fit under the windshield cowl sheetmetal, behind the battery. Since I don't have the factory alarm, I removed the horn for it. I reused the top mounting bracket for it, and made a new vertical bracket out of some scrap metal. Both those brackets are being cleaned up for powdercoating.

fuelfilter.jpg
 
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Powdercoated some parts.

Had some weird issue with the metal brackets when I threw them in the oven to ensure they were dry from the acid etch. I think there was some oil left between the layers of the radiator overflow bracket, and when it got hot enough it splashed all over the other parts. They came out of the oven looking like I just dipped them in dirty motor oil. Gave them all a good scrub down with degreaser, and then took a torch to the overflow bracket to ensure any oil was burned off. Re-sandblasted them, cleaned again, and powdercoated.

evo_intake.jpg

Evo III intake. This had some gold coloured coating on it when I received it. It was full of oily gunk, so I cleaned it in hot water/cleaner. Most of the gold coating came off when I was cleaning the insides. I don't know if it was plasti-dip, or paint/powdercoat that was applied to a dirty surface, but some of the gold bonded really well. Wire wheeled what I could, and gave the intake a light sandblast to remove the rest.

Used cast parts tend to outgas alot when powdercoating, so I threw the intake in the oven for like an hour at 450F. It came out looking almost the same. Cleaned it with acid etch cleaner, and tossed it back in the oven to dry it. Looked good, so I masked all the flange surfaces/bolt holes with silicone powdercoating tape, and hit it with Black Matte Tuscan.

Coated the stainless fender washers/screws for the mudflaps and licence plate with the same black. This isn't for additional protection, just to de-bling the stainless, on the all black area of the mudflaps.
 
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