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1992 Talon Tsi AWD Re-habilitation

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tmoney20g

Proven Member
890
224
Apr 16, 2014
hammonton, New_Jersey
Hi guys! First post about anything DSM related in years! 10 years ago I could tear down a dsm in my sleep, had every bolt size and torque spec memorized, and some of you may have even used my msd dis-2 how-to @ http://my.prostreetonline.com/2013/09/03/how-to-install-a-msd-dis2-in-a-dsm/

I'm now 37 and I missed the turbo sounds of my 92 fwd laser (12.7 @ 113 at Atco), so I'm back at it again.

So last summer I found a torquise 92 talon awd in Delaware. 222,000 miles or so, had some mods done already, but the owner passed away due to cancer back in 2011 (I think). His wife held on to the car for a couple years and finally decided to sell it. It has now become my 15th (or so) lifetime DSM. Included with the car was a huge folder of stuff, all his receipts, another Haynes manual for me, and other various paperwork from oil changes and stuff. Its nice when a car comes with records.

Pics in previous owner's driveway:
1aPdv8jl.jpg

WxH2OcYl.jpg

aFCc4Jzl.jpg

3c1IZyWl.jpg

DCSXoWA.jpg

Just getting it on to the trailer was an issue, because the rear brakes were locked up, so it took a couple hours to just re-arrange the car's position in the driveway using a jack and pushing the car around on axis. Then I pulled it up the car trailer with some nifty portable winch thing I bought from HF. So I got it back to south Jersey, unloaded it, and it sat in my garage all winter.

First project: Rear subframe
Jan 2014 - April 2014
When I got the car home, I knew she'd be a jackstand queen for most of 2014. So I lifted her up front and rear, and jackstanded the 4 points. Tires and rims came off first, and were tossed to the junkyard. For christmas, I ordered myself new black slotted/drilled rotos from brakeperformance.com, reman'd calipers from advance, and a black foliatech paint kit for the calipers. I also ordered Wheels/Tires from Discount Tire (17x7.5 Konig Deception Black with Blue Ball stripe / 215/45/17 Falken Ziex ZE-612 tires).

Pic of car in garage:
RZAtrP2l.jpg
Pic of wheels/tires:
oTj2Dt3l.jpg
Pic of painted calipers:
(pic soon)
Pic of black rotors:
mg8nIiul.jpg

I went with these rims because I wanted something that looked good, were black, easy to clean, and only had the 5 lug holes meant for this particular car, and not the rims that have 10 lug holes to fit 5x100 and 5x114. I have always been a fan of falken tires, and since I plan on driving the car all year, I'd like tires that are somewhat quiet, yet provide good all-season performance. $862 shipped for the wheels/tires/mounted/balanced, plus hub rings and the tuner lugs. For whatever reason, they sent me chrome tuner lugs, thanks for that, when I ordered black rims. I also decided on the KYB AGX's, (as I've had them before) and Eibach Sportline springs. From my past DSM days, I had random poly bushing kits laying around, so I pieced together what I had, and what I was missing, and ordered all the stuff I was missing in order to have the entire car covered, including the subframe/mustache bushings that I found on here.

FINALLY, it stopped snowing after this brutal winter, and I unbolted the driveshaft to the rear, and proceeded to drop the rear subframe. I tried to unbolt the camber bolts, and seriously, they're all time-welded to the bushings. Upper CA, Lower CA, trailing arms, etc. Forget it. I got out the sawzall and cut out the 2 upper control arms bolts to the subframe, but this is rediculous. So I spent some time looking around on Ebay and the like, seeing if I could find a used subframe crossmember, lower control arms, and trailing arms. Those I didn't find, so I went to car-part.com, and took a chance contacting a guy that listed trailing arms pretty cheap. Turns out he's a dsm junkyard specialist. Stevie Miller at Miller Import Parts sent me a subframe and trailing arms from a 93 awd at a great price, and shipped them immediately.

Pic of my banged up subframe:
fRLUcPIl.jpg
Pic of 93 subframe:
YiKkiKtl.jpg

So yay, I could finally work on it instead of just looking at it and getting frustrated with it.

Saturday April 12th:

Today I planned on making some progress. I took the factory rear struts, lower control arms, and new rear springs / agxs over to my buddy's shop.

LCA: we torched out the factory bushings and sleeve, pounded out the factory ball joint. I wire brushed the LCA's for a an hour or two, and prepared to primer them. I picked up dupli-color spray etch/primer from Advance, on sale ~$5 a can. This stuff is awesome!

Pic of Primed LCA's:
EpLpReDl.jpg

From RockAuto I ordered six (6) mevotech ball joints and 2 rear sway endlinks, so they're on their way.

On to the struts/springs. My buddy has this wall-mounted spring compressor, and lemmetellya, what a difference using that versus they way I had always done it, on the bench, with 2 huge adjustable wrenches, and the same "spring compressor" kit most of us have. After surveying the existing components to be re-used (strut mounting top, bellow, bump stop) I knew I'd need additional new parts. The bellow cap and strut hat weren't too rusty, but I decided to wire wheel those as much as possible, etch/prime, and flat black paint them. I picked up new strut mounting hardware and bellow kits from Advance and re-assembled everything once all my painting was done.

Pic of assembled rear strut:
C4WJfawl.jpg

This week I wanted to make more progress on the prepping of the subframe crossmember and trailing arms. I only have an 8 gallon compressor, and my buddy only opens his shop every other Saturday, so I was on my own. Die grinder with a wire-wheel doesn't go very far on a little 8 gallon compressor, so I decided on something else. I went to HF again, picked up the 1 litre blast gun and the engine cleaning wand. 2 air tools I *could* use with my 8 gallon comp.
The nearest Home Depot that has the kiln dried sand isn't a week night drive for me, so I'll hold off on that for now. But I still wanted to try it, so I raided my wife's baking supplies for baking soda. I filled up the container on that and proceeded to blast the subframe crossmember in a couple spots. It sure cleaned the surface, and removed tiny bits of paint, but it wouldn't really take rust off the metal. We'll see how the sand does on the rust spots.

Update 4/26/14:
Just got home from my week-long wedding trip in Mexico at like 1am, got some beauty sleep, and went off to Home Depot to get the "commercial" fine sand to try out this sand blaster thing. Grabbed 2 50lb bags for 10 bucks, and headed back home to pick up some parts to work on today. I figured I'd work on the subframe cross-member and the mustache. First I burned out the old subframe bushings and cleaned up those holes, then set up a little sandblasting stand to start on the mustache. (in the pic you can see the subframe hanging off the truck, with nice cleaned out bushing holes.
WJQ3fE6l.jpg


I also wire-brushed the 4 large washers that were rubber covered from the original subframe bushings. They'll just get the etch/primer and flat black spray. Here's the washers with a coat of primer, and the result of the sand blasting the mustache:
czmy5Ecl.jpg
Here's the first coat of spray etch/primer on the mustache:
S8tfgL6l.jpg

Update 5/3/14:
It was an off-week since my buddy has his daughter every other week, but he was doing stuff outside so I had a chance to do some work over there anyway. Since I didn't know how much time I'd have over there, I figured I'd bring something small to work on, which was one of the trailing arms. After yanking the hub/bearing/seal with a slide-hammer, I setup my little sandblasting station again, and got to work:
pMMtHYXl.jpg
Primed TA and dust shield:
gEsaDD1l.jpg
 
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due to 20-pic-per-post limit, here's post #2:
Comparison between primed and untouched (dust shield with a coat of flat black):
kLDYwKwl.jpg

Next to-do's:
Sandblast subframe
Prime subframe
Remove existing hubs from trailing arms
Sandblast ta's
Prime ta's
Install new hub/bearings in ta's
Future:
Replacing U-joints and Carrier Bearings on the Driveshaft.
Driveshaft already removed, snapped 1 frame studs (fix for this will come after subframes are done and we have a rolling chassis again).

Future:
Clean/Paint Rear (with new seals)
Rear before cleaning:
KIZBz7bl.jpg
Prime/Paint Subframe (with Roll/Brush-on Bedliner)
Install Rear Sub-frame bushings / install subframe.
Bed Armor:
4v6uKEDl.jpg
Install Rear Brakes and SS brake lines

Future:
Remove front brakes, axles, subframe
Current front brake:
HwaPWaWl.jpg

Future:
T-case seal replacement / cleaning / painting

Future:
Does it even run?
 
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Update: May 26, 2014
Picked up some more sandblasting stuff, including the 50lb portable blaster from HF, and some safety equipment to go with it such as the blasting hood and a good respirator. I decided this would be a good setup to start on the subframe, so here's the setup:
Xj0Kqs9l.jpg


close up of the blasted crossmember:
q76z4xEl.jpg


I got most of the bottom half of the crossmember done, and primed any bare metal with that etch/primer spray i was using previously. Since it was MDW, had some bbq's to go to! Should have the crossmember done next saturday, and just about ready to start putting the components back together.

Also, got the front spindles and control arms off and apart, so they'll be cleaned up, bushings/bearings/ball joints removed and ready for blasting as well.

Update 6/1/14:
I have the crossmember about 80% blasted. This weekend I took the stock front springs apart to survey what I needed to get the new AGX/Eibach's together, re-using the typical factory strut hats etc. The boots and bump stops were shot, so I picked up replacements from Advance. Sandblasted the strut hats, primed, painted flat black. Found the top-top strut hats w/ the bearings from Mevotech on ebay for under 60 shipped for the pair, so they'll be in this week and I can assemble the fronts.
*pic of front struts assembled*.

Decided to try out the bedliner on the LCA's. Followed the directions and decided I'd brush it on.
oJQsxh9l.jpg


I didn't really like the results of the brush-on, so I decided to test the same product in the spray-on model instead. Also pitted one LCA against another, by using the duplicolor on one (left in pic), and 3m rubberized undercoating (right in pic) on the other:

GPmCQXHl.jpg


The 3m rubberized undercoating definitely is a better product, sprays on easier, looks better, but I don't think its what I want for this application. The duplicolor is good, dries real fast, and to a nice hard coating; but the can's spray characteristics suck. Some reviews said heat the can in warm water for 10 minutes first, so it breaks up the chunks inside the can for spraying. I'll have to try that and test on a couple other parts moving forward.
 
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I had enough of coming home like I rolled around on the beach, so I picked up the Harbor Frieght standing blast cabinet. I'll be putting that together this weekend. Also ordered bearings/seals/nuts/bolts and what-not, from JNZ, so I can start piecing this rear sub-frame together.

Josh showed me a car he was working on at JNZ, came in like this:
QJrE7hGl.jpg

And ended up like this:
yetnosal.jpg

Much like how I envision mine, but not with that rear diff cover, or aftermarket sway bars. Mine won't be powder coated like that one either, as you saw above, I'll be trying that roll-on/brush-on bedliner instead. Hoping it provides a nice flat/matte black finish and is very strong protection against random road debris.
 
There are a few threads somewhere that allow you to order the necessary parts to make them, but people have them online as well.

I ordered mine from 3xs: Rear Adjustable Control Arms Gen1 90 94 AWD Eclipse Talon DSM Fix The Camber | eBay

Let me know how the bedliner works out for you, used the same stuff on my whole engine bay and it just scrapes off to bare metal when stuff hits it like a wrench or what have you.
nice work so far man. Those front rotors look bad!!
 
oh, it can't take a hit ? that's not good news. there will be rocks and whatnot hitting these parts at 60mph, i hope its stronger than that. the other option was the herculiner, but i went with the duplicolor because of coupon codes at advance.

I guess we'll just wait and see...
 
That's one nice subframe that's my project this fall, and winter looks really clean gonna replace everything worn and upgrade where I can already have the 4 bolt lsd.
 
June 26, 2014:
Last couple weekends I was doing some stuff. Finished sandblasting the rear crossmember, primed, and started with the spray-on bedliner. So last saturday I sprayed one side, let it cure all week and tonight went and hit the other side:

frBArLcl.jpg


Looks pretty good in the picture. Also used the New England DSM Method of removing the rear wheel bearings, found here: http://onelap.rochesterdsm.org/2013/05/1g-awd-rear-wheel-bearing-replacement/

But I did use a press to get the races out:

Y94DmWPl.jpg


Screwed up some of the threads trying to figure out how to press it out properly, good thing I have 4 of these hubs.

Here they are pressed out:

SPjWkRIl.jpg


So I'll sand blast the best 2 of the 4, get the new bearings and studs on, and start re-assembly of the subframe!
 
7/12/14: Today I sandblasted the rear axle cups, primed/painted the stud area, and hammered down the new bearings:
5seSvyCl.jpg


86YjWjDl.jpg


V81nWy1l.jpg


Now I can start putting the rear subframe assembly back together!
 
Saturday 7/19/14: This week I was preparing for re-assembly, putting some of the bushings in that didn't need a press, and yesterday finished painting the trailing arms with the aerosol bedliner and also installed the new rear wheel studs...

R5qZfSml.jpg


So its time to press the new bearings inner bearings in the trailing arms. It was pretty easy with the shop press just make sure everything is lined up so it doesn't go in crooked and ruin anything...

uAXoMool.jpg


I didn't want to push the press plate into the trailing arm housing, so this 32mm socket came in real handy, fit the outer bearing race near perfectly:
rPMSjDul.jpg


New bearing in a happy home:
pSNfFFRl.jpg


I went to install the axle cups, with the dust cover installed on the axle cup, but that didn't seem to want to work out. So instead, I installed the dust cover onto the trailing arm, looked around the shop and found this race from probably a Ford truck bearing, and it fit the dust cover good for a little hammer tapping:
JpsnzVtl.jpg


Instead of trying to press the hub end in, I just made sure it was lined up, and used the air gun to torque the axle nut, which in turn would evenly pull the axle/hub end in through the assembly and seat the bushing that way, so now I have one side finished:
XhKTG1vl.jpg


I touched up the paint/bedliner that I messed up anywhere, and I'm almost ready to assemble the rear subframe components, except I couldn't find the other dust cover in my little JNZ parts box. I must have misplaced it so I'll have to order another one :(

Sunday: I cleaned up 2 of the old eccentric sets off the car, since I didn't get a non-eccentric set. I figured going to Home Depot or whatever would get me the right bolts and such, but they wouldn't be the same socket size as the other mitsu bolts. So instead I'll use the eccentrics, even tho I now have adjustable upper control arms. I'll just set the eccentric full-over to the side that the nut will tighten the bolt, that way it has the least chance of moving. So I've assembled what I could so far:
h3XxTY5l.jpg


7/27/14:
Paul from JNZ sent me another dust shield, so I popped that in the trailing arm and assembled those parts and hand-tightened everything up:
wwYP55Kl.jpg


Since I've been taking things apart in the engine bay during the week after work, I have lots of things to wire-brush/sandblast and repaint. One easy quick item was the radiator brackets. I saw a how-to on here and decided that was the way I'd go. Since my car is blue, I noticed that Advance has driveworks mustang stabilizer bar links with blue bushings, so that's what I picked up. Here's the bracket side project: After wire brushing and primer:
34BQK4wl.jpg

After a few coats of flat black with the new bushings:
YXdwmrcl.jpg


Since the link comes with 4 bushings, and you only need 2, I have 2 spares if anyone wants em :)
 
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The obligatory tear-down-the-engine-bay shot...
F95hapul.jpg


Got the stock radiator and condenser out, a/c lines removed, factory emissions stuff is gone. Removed T-case. Drained the transmission, and well, let's just say there was more fluid in the t-case than there was in the transmission.
 
7/30:
Welp, I think I figured out why he parked it...

Trans is out:
QXPtjIMl.jpg


Decided to remove the clutch and as I'm loosening the pressure plate, I hear some metal sound:
6U7YvNzl.jpg


One of the tabs must have broken off and the spring got loose, doesn't really seem to have harmed anything but the clutch assembly itself, and it wouldn't allow the clutch engage/disengage. This must be why Ms. Steele said that it was "stuck in 2nd gear", if I recall.

H63hjv3l.jpg


Trans side of the engine:
JTZC9rrl.jpg
 
8/2/14: Preparing to re-install the subframe into the car, means cleaning and new seals in the rear diff. I don't want to touch any of the bearings here because they're not broke, so I'm not fixin' em, hehe. The rear spins freely by hand anyway, and the bearings have shims/spacers I don't want to mess with. But I would like a nice clean rear diff...

Dirrrrrrrrrrrrrrty:

zcfwQIXl.jpg

Uvvv4EOl.jpg


Cleaner:
6Zl2UHul.jpg

3nsltBbl.jpg


In the picture above is the harbor freight "engine cleaning gun". Well worth the under $10 price, and I was using the odorless mineral spirits with the gun... http://www.harborfreight.com/engine-cleaning-gun-68290.html

To plug the holes, I first tried the white plastic solo cup jammed in there, but on the other side I found a similac container cap, which fit the side seal near perfectly.

Took the rear carrier cover off to clean/polish it up..

1kZUvM0l.jpg
\

But after cleaning it a little more, I noticed cracks in a few places that didn't really sit right with me...

v9bEnInl.jpg

cEPHhqxl.jpg

s3zcbxTl.jpg


And I only want to redo all this stuff once, the right way. So I guess a new diff cover is in store, and no, not one of those $400 billet ones. If they're still available, new diff covers are ~$75 from JNZ, so I'll talk to Paul on Monday.
 
Awesome ! Subscribing!!

Quick question if you don't mind. The radiator brackets, did they use the regular "off the shelf" bar links, or a specific year mustang link ?
 
Awesome ! Subscribing!!

Quick question if you don't mind. The radiator brackets, did they use the regular "off the shelf" bar links, or a specific year mustang link ?

I still have the box right here, Driveworks part number DW-K8265, cross-references with Moog K8265. I put 1993 Mustang LX for my car in the "advance garage" to order it online with some other stuff and use the 15%+$25 discount code.
 
Great pics bro! I just picked up the 40lb(medium size) blaster from HF and 50lbs of soda. Nice to know how cheap you can get sand at Homedepot. It didnt clog or cause any problems? I would be worried about the random grains being too big but i know nothing about media blasting.
Staying tuned to this one!
 
Great pics bro! I just picked up the 40lb(medium size) blaster from HF and 50lbs of soda. Nice to know how cheap you can get sand at Homedepot. It didnt clog or cause any problems? I would be worried about the random grains being too big but i know nothing about media blasting.
Staying tuned to this one!

Around me, there's about 5 equi-distant Home Depots, and only 1 has the "premium" bags of sand. So I'll go to that one and grab 4-5 bags. If you search their site, you'll see that bag is a little different, it's sifted and dried, most importantly. Sure you can use the multi-purpose or the playground sand, but I've seen brand new playground bags with water droplets in them and wet sand. Big no-no there.

Here's the one I've been using:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Quikrete-50-lb-Commercial-Grade-Fine-Sand-196152/100318518

Lastly, that portable blaster's gun is a pos, once the nozzle wears out, there are no replacements. So since I had that other gun(update 4/26 picture), you can use that instead, just put the draw tube from the portable blaster to the pickup tube on that gun, and the nozzle is adjustable, and all-metal.
 
Yea I found that exact sand at Lowes around here.
As far as the media blaster, I saw the one in the pic you posted. My kit didnt come with one. Its basically a shutoff valve connected to a piece with interchangeable ceramic nozzles. Not the best to hold and work with. Still, even with soda it was impressive to see how fast and thoroughly it cleaned. Im gonna end up blasting every damn part and painting just like you. Very nice work, btw

This is the one i picked up: http://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-pressurized-abrasive-blaster-68992-8608.html
 
Yea, I read the reviews on that and decided I wasn't getting it. For a shit-ton cheaper, that portable thing has impressed me a lot, coupled with that other gun, its perfect for sand use (and my buddy keeps his shop at some ungodly high 160psi for whatever reason), using that crude setup with the sand is just super powerful.

Edit, looks like the reviews have bumped up since I last looked, maybe they improved that pressurized blaster somehow. I just don't like that deadman's valve that comes with it. I'd like some way to feather the trigger, you know ?
 
good to see another jersey car under the knife! subscribed and possible we can share notes. what is your end goal for the car?
 
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