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95 GSX / 97 GST Spyder

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A few tips from your engine bay

Those red and black marine battery terminals need to be replaced. They cause more problems than they are worth and yours are already looking crusty. Yes you need to do them, it is causing your battery to be under charged and putting extra stress on your alternator.

Car has a 6 bolt valve cover, not a big deal, but could indicate other past problems. Also the eBay turbo and being stock everywhere else, makes me think previous owner was chasing down a smoking problem and an over heating problem (coolant flush fitting) and that the car possibly has a used cylinder head installed on it.

Id bet on the factory head bolts being re torqued wrong on the used head that was installed. (But that's a pretty far hunch based on just the valve cover heater hose flusher and turbo)
 
Well hopefully it’s just a bad head gasket. And it’ll be back up and running soon! I hate pesky headgaskets. But just make sure you get it resurfaced and check the valves. If you have time just lap them for safe measure. Looking forward for more updates!
 
Well it still runs for now, and doesn't show any sign of failing yet. Hopefully it stays that way until I get all the parts I need.

A few tips from your engine bay

Those red and black marine battery terminals need to be replaced. They cause more problems than they are worth and yours are already looking crusty. Yes you need to do them, it is causing your battery to be under charged and putting extra stress on your alternator.

Car has a 6 bolt valve cover, not a big deal, but could indicate other past problems. Also the eBay turbo and being stock everywhere else, makes me think previous owner was chasing down a smoking problem and an over heating problem (coolant flush fitting) and that the car possibly has a used cylinder head installed on it.

Id bet on the factory head bolts being re torqued wrong on the used head that was installed. (But that's a pretty far hunch based on just the valve cover heater hose flusher and turbo)


I've been wanting to get better battery terminals since I know they are crappy, just haven't done it yet ;) I already had my alternator tested and they said the voltage regulator was basically shot, so I'll be getting a 90 amp one from a Galant in the future. I can't stand having the ebay turbo, but I don't have another right now so I gotta suck it up for a while. Head bolts and gasket will be getting replaced soon :) and a full inspection of the valve train and cylinder walls.
 
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Dimming...

I decided to "tint" my tail lights today. Not the normal way I see everyone do it either. I don't like the idea of painting the lens to make it darker and then it makes the brake lights harder to see during the day. I pulled the lights apart and painted the silver inside the housings so they look a little darker during the day, but it doesn't hinder the illumination.

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Almost looks normal at night...

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Shift Swapping...

As of Saturday afternoon, I got a donor awd manual swap lined up for my GSX. I test drove a 96 TSi AWD that sadly is a crankwalk victim. She drove really smooth though, which is the main point of this. No grinds, no vibrations, just smooth operation which is what I want. So the Talon will be bought by a spyder owner in Denver, and picked up by me so I can swap the GSX to manual, and he's taking my auto drivetrain for his spyder's awd swap. The only bad part of the deal is that the Talon has an open rear diff. Lucky for me, I have a spare 2ga manual LSD in storage. Might just need axles since one of my LSD axles is somehow missing. I'm also gonna see if the guy buying it will let me have the drip rails since he has a spyder. The drip rails on the Talon are in perfect condition. And maybe some parts from the cruise control system since mine doesn't stay on when activated. So in the next couple of weeks, there should be updates regarding this being started. :D

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Got my wiper issue fixed on Saturday after test driving the Talon. Turned out to be the wiper motor. I ended up pulling the hood off so I could lift the window cowl to replace the passenger side hood hinge. It rattled horribly whenever I started the car. Not anymore. But since I already had all that removed, I decided to check the spare wiper assembly I had pulled of the red gsx donor I had for the old spyder. I plugged it in and it worked like new. So I swapped the assemblies and I now have intermittent wiper functions again.

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Took a couple pictures today too.

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Man, if I would have known you were looking for a manual swap, I would have traded you. I just stripped my awd Spyder and the whole swap is just sitting in my garage. Also, if you need cruise control parts, I have a whole setup about to be thrown away.
 
Yeah, that's how I did it on my old spyder. I tried to bend it on mine, but just didn't have anything strong enough. Might try it again for him since there will be 2 of us working on it.
 
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It had the same issues my crankwalked engine had. In and out play of the crank every time the clutch is pressed. Crank sensor rubbing on the trigger plate, although mine wasn't as bad as this one. No CEL though.
 
Instead of doing a trans swap you should just do a motor swap. It would be easier, and you wouldn't have to fill the holes on the quarter panels to run the 97 conversion on the tsi

I'm fairly certain the motor swap would take you a day or two, but two transmissions and axles, and the kitchen sink might take a few weeks. And then after the swap you still need to have the holes on the quarter panels welded on the gsx, if you swapped that to a manual.

It would also give you time to daily drive the tsi while you pulled the head on the motor from the gsx
 
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Not sure what you're getting at here. The Talon isn't mine, I'm just getting the manual drivetrain from it. The guy who's buying the Talon is taking the bad engine so he can salvage it if possible. I have two days to swap the drivetrain so that I can still drive to work after this, and then we'll be converting his spyder afterward. The only part of the swap that isn't a parts swap is cutting the hole for the clutch master cylinder. Correct me if I'm wrong there. What holes on the GSX are you talking about that would need to be welded?
 
Just pointing out the talon is cleaner than the gsx, and it wouldn't matter since he is cutting up the shell and rebuilding the motor which chassis he used. Just an observation


Yeah I’ve never heard of haveing to cover holes in the quarter panel.
? Really? There are 10 holes that need to be spot welded and blended then smoothed. I'm surprised neither of you noticed it.

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Same, I thought you were talking about the swap, not the wing holes that need to be filled. I have a friend that'll do the welding for me for $30.00. Just haven't gotten around to having him do it yet. Plus all the $$ I'd have to spend to buy the shell from him, and do registration, title, and insurance. I have thought about it though.
 
Stripper Duties...

Tear down of the donor Talon continues, and the body, minus a little hail damage, looks really good. Makes me want to keep it more and more. But anyway, got the engine, trans, dash, shifter pieces, and a bunch of other parts out. This is the first time I've needed to remove an aftermarket alarm system without cutting up the wiring, but that's fine. Whoever wired it in actually did a good job, but I was forced to remove the dash to carefully unwire everything, and still got a little bit to do before it's fully out. And it has an ACT 2600 6-puck unsprung clutch. I'm getting a good kit for my GSX.

More Talon Pics

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Started snowing finally, maybe I'll get a little fun in the GSX this year.

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The Never-Ending DSM Failure...

My engine has gotten to the point I just drove it for the last time so it doesn't seize up on me. The engine has been horrible lately and only gets worse every time I'm forced to drive it. The dead cylinder and knocking rod have progressed too far and I'm not pushing it more. The only good part about it is that the transmission conversion can be done without it being rushed. Will post more eventually whenever I get this all fixed.
 
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This year's Last Update...


This is going to be my last build update for the year since I know there won't be anything to add after this. I pulled the GSX apart and got the engine out and apart enough to have a good diagnosis and plan ahead. Way back I mentioned that cyl 3 was dead for compression. Turns out, as I had hoped, cyl 3 was also the knocking cylinder. The crank will need a replacement as I don't have the necessary tools to measure if it can be saved. Then I found the reason cyl 3 had such low compression. The middle piston ring was broken, and it scratched the cylinder wall pretty bad. So now I'm temporarily down a short block. Other than the cylinder wall and the #3 rod journal, everything looked good. So fortunately a really great person has found a replacement block and crank for the car and it'll be built up from there. Until then, everyone have a great Christmas and New Year's and be safe.

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New Progress...

This update has been a long time coming, but haven’t had much time for it because of changing jobs again, moving, life, and any other interference possible. It’s been over a year since I’ve posted anything for either of my cars, but in that time, plans have changed as often as I wake up, so…. a lot, and then again, and again, and again more times than I can even remember, but I think I’m now set on a plan that I’ll see to the end.


The GSX sat all last year since I started tearing it apart in Dec of 2017. After it came apart, I got a bigger storage unit so I could keep the car and still have a place for all my spare parts and crap my wife and I couldn’t fit into our tiny 1-bedroom apartment. I had to give up on doing anything to the GSX as I then had to focus on keeping the Talon running. Went through t-case issues, idle surging, oil leaks, coolant leaks, and the entire time, the dying eBay turbo that came from the GSX.

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As I said, the GSX sat in storage for a year collecting dust and dirt… my wife and I were also coming up to the end of our apartment lease and neither of us wanted to renew it or get another disappointing apartment. So, we started looking for a house and after more disappointments, we finally found one that suites what we both wanted. The best part though, I got a 3-car garage and no longer have to be separated from my projects and can work on them any time, and I’ve done a fair bit of work to keep the plans in motion.

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I decided that I’m doing a full rebuild of the entire car. The only problem holding up the major work, is getting a paint job. I know the color I want, but haven’t priced labor from any shops, although I know it won’t be cheap. So, that’ll come in time. Until then, work must be done. I’ve removed everything from the shell to include 98% of the wiring. The last bit of wiring, I just don’t want to mess with, and they’re on the driver side A & B pillars for the sunroof and rear hatch electrics. This car will be getting the manual swap that I had first intended on giving it, and a new engine that I started getting built last year. I still need to get a new driveshaft, fuel tank with wiring, rebuild the spare AWD rear subframe I’ve had for years, replace all the suspension parts, find 2GB bumpers again, fix the rear defroster, and a bunch of other little things.


I ended up building my long time stored 6 bolt for this car. Didn’t have a crank for it until I traded the silver 2GB bumpers for one and some Eagle rods. Since I had rushed the build on the Talon’s engine, I wanted to have a shop build this one so it was right, and I couldn’t have been more pleased when I got it back. It’s bored 0.020 over with Wiesco 9.0:1 pistons, the Eagle rods I mentioned, balance shaft delete, King bearings all the way, decked, hot tanked, and topped with ARP head studs, which I’ve never had in any of my engines before. I still need to get another cylinder head and have it cleaned, decked, and so on. I also got a “new to me” manual trans and t-case that seem to be in good working order. But the best part, is the new PF68HTA turbo. My wife found it for me for Christmas and got it for half the cost new, but it is essentially new still. It had never been mounted, still had the original oils in it, and even received it in the original packaging.

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Always Busy…


Now that I got the last year of inactivity with this car covered, here are the more current updates since mid-January when we got our house.


I got the GSX moved in a week after we moved in, so we could focus on moving, rather than moving my lawn ornament with wheels. One of my supposed friends decided to flake out and not help like he agreed to, so I had to get creative on getting the car onto the trailer… it wasn’t ideal, but it worked and nothing got damaged on either car.

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After getting it moved to its new home, I let it sit for another week while dealing with other things, and then stripped it down to nothing but frame and glass.

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This is all for now. There's more to post about parts collected and other things that I'll save for another update soon. Stay tuned....
 
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