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1997 Talon TSi AWD to Eclipse GSX Conversion, should I do it.

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DeathJunior

Proven Member
34
2
Jan 19, 2017
Springfield, Missouri
Alright so I'll start buy saying that these two cars were my first DSM's. I have wanted an eclipse GSX since I was 10 or so. These are my cars

I found an opportunity to pickup an 1999 eclipse 5 speed GS with the stock 420a 130k miles for really cheap. I expected some issues however, the previous owner had let it run with really low oil and killed atleast 1 rod bearing. Honestly I didn't care, and expected the engine to be fried when he told me the price. It runs and drives but its barely hanging on. Though has the full OEM GSX body kit, a perfect leather interior, and a really cool set of Rage Breaker Wheels that I just finished restoring and some new tires. The trans and AC work well and electrically its sound. It needs new rod bearings and probably a crank but otherwise the car is decent just needs some TLC. I have a freshly bored and polished block with a new crank I can use as well. There was something missing though, I didn't want front wheel drive I want all wheel drive and I want a turbo.

Two weeks ago I managed to get a hold of a running and driving 1997 Eagle Talon TSi AWD automatic with 233k miles. I drove 3 hours there and drove it 3 hours back. It runs and drives however either the engine is starving for fuel or its piston rings have gone beyond there service life. The likes to have its idle randomly spike when you put it in nuetral or park and after its gotten warm its idle bounces I haven't had time yet for a compression check but I'm betting its wayyyy down. Also it needs an O2 sensor and possibly a MAP sensor. The body is in really great shape but it could use a buff and polish and some new door window rails, and the windows are rattling so I'll need to fix that. It has a front mount installed and it came with a spare turbo, transmission cooler, timing belt, bunches of gaskets, and a full service manual. I drove it all the way home and parked it next to the eclipse and until I can work on them monday or wednesday there they sit.

So these are what I'm working with. At this point I have two options.


1. I can do what I want, which is swap the interior, exterior, and wheels from the eclipse to the talon giving me a GSX automatic (i'd prefer a manual) . I found a really solid 6 bolt block at my local pick and pull which already had ARP head studs installed. So I would be using the stock 2G head and reaming out the head bolt holes for the new studs and boring out the 2g intake manifold for the 1g throttle body. Then the usual wiseco pistons and manley rods. Then it will sit stock while I work on paint and turbo options. After that I can sell all the eagle parts since those seem to be in high demand and sell the eclipse with the 420a block and crank.

2. I can sell them both as is, and if I do I have no idea what I should ask or who to sell them to. If i sell them I'd hopefully be able to get a decent amount to put towards a real GSX LOL

So any opinions are really appreciated. I'd love to hear what you all have to say, dsm veterans tell me if this is a stupid decision LOL.

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If you swap any bumpers the colors wont match and thats gonna hurt the resale. If you can fix the eclipse for cheap then do it and sell it. My first eclipse was a 98 with the 420a and i sold it and bought a 95 talon awd. I would swap the leather seats into the talon asap and whatever rims you want to keep.
 
Ohh I'm not building it for resale. That isn't the intent, if I swap the bumpers and interior rest assured I'm swapping everything and repainting it all. Ill leave the roof black I think though. Everything thats green will be red.

I just don't want to offend anyone when I do it. Some people getting really unhappy when people swap talons over to eclipse parts. At least they do from what I have seen in a couple of forums.
This way before someone
 
Dont worry about offending anybody. You own the cars and you can do whatever the hell you want with them LOL. I personally like the 95-99 talons better. Mine was red and I loved it and would never swap it out for an eclipse. If you really want a gsx just fix and sell the 2 cars you have now and get the gsx.
 
I'm one of the guys that gets offended when you ruin a 2gb tsi awd. While these cars are never going to be collectors items or worth lots of money, it'd still be nice to have some nice ones left in the world when we're older.

There were about 2,519 AWD talons made in 97-98 combined, that's it, making it very rare. There are probably less than 500 still in operation in the US. For those of us wanting a 2gb talon AWD specifically, they are extremely difficult to find.

IMO, leave the talon whole, as long as it's in decent shape that is. I'll take it off your hands if you want a gsx ;)
 
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Well everything is for sale for the right price, before I got into the nitty gritty I was going to do a basic checkup on the talon, compression check, leak down if any showed 0, then a fuel filter, air filter, and an 02 sensor if that showed anything off. I'm more than happy to sell the talon as a whole though. I plan on posting the pair up on my local craigslist once I've done some decent maintenance. I may try to polish up the talon and just sell it separate. It wasn't easy to find and it cost me a lot of gas to get it here though.
 
I can support both sides of this situation. Although I am very supportive of building a car that makes you happy, I do believe in preserving the talons. Have you considered trying to find someone to trade with? Several years ago, I had a red 99 gsx, and if someone would have offered me a 2gb talon to trade, I would have done it without question.

In the end, they are your cars. But keep in mind that you can buy reproduction eclipse bumpers on eBay. Can't do that with talon bumpers.
 
But keep in mind that you can buy reproduction eclipse bumpers on eBay. Can't do that with talon bumpers.
++1 ^^ on that!
I love the 2gb and always give them a double take. There has been a few occasions that I almost bought whole cars (2gb esi) just for the body parts but the front bumbers ended up being trashed so I declined.

I would vote to keep or sell the talon as a talon; and buy a gsx. No such thing as too many cars!
 
Hey welcome to the Club! Listen, at the end of the day you're the boss of your cars, so you can do anything you really want. However, as a believer in the #savetheEagles, I would suggest against swapping out the Talon's bumpers/lights/spoilers. Like others have said, these are very rare nowadays and they certainly look unique. Eclipse GSX's are much more common with the facelift, and I think it wont be long before you find what you're looking for. Thus, I would suggest selling both cars, and getting a GSX with the trim you want.

I used to hate how the 2Ga Eclipse looked, untill I owned one and fell in love with its looks. Good luck with your projects!
 
A little snippet from the registry about my 97 tsi AWD. Just to give an example of the rarity of these cars.

"Another confirmed alternate windows car, that makes five.

138 Bright Whites with gray leather (25 1998s). 104 of 138 are 5-speeds. Of the 5-speeds, 59 are USA and 45 are Canadian. The really interesting part is your G67 option code. Out of all 2519 cars, only eight are G67. Three of those are white, and yours is the ONLY Bright White 5-speed with G67. GAWD I wish I knew what those codes meant!

*AND* it has the special windows!!!

EDIT: I just noticed that your build date is the highest of the five confirmed alternate window VINs. Hypothetically speaking, if that was the final week of alternate windows then the total number of AWDs with them would be 345."
 
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*AND* it has the special windows!!!

EDIT: I just noticed that your build date is the highest of the five confirmed alternate window VINs. Hypothetically speaking, if that was the final week of alternate windows then the total number of AWDs with them would be 345."

Those aren't the alternate windows. Both cars have the exact same quarter windows.

If you do swap the rear bumpers, you will need to do some welding, since the bumper tabs are in different locations.
 
I'm well aware of cars being built in very low quantities being that my daily driver was only sold for 3 years in the US and only 43k were sold with only about half surviving and thats every color, and every option mine due to options is 1 of 1. So no, I really don't want to take away its rarity. On the other hand, with the brand new tires I have under 2500 in them. Between the two I have essentially every part I need to build the perfect GSX. Now if someone wants to buy the talon in the condition its in I dunno what its worth. Minus a random GSX that just popped up in texas which I think is fake. The GSX's seem to go for an arm and a leg. The one closest to me has a GSX that has no engine, just a body and drivetrain which needs paint, and the guy is asking 1800. Its rediculous, I could pull what I wanted off of the eclipse and sell it with the fresh block and crank with no bumpers for a decent amount. So unless I can get close to 2,000 for the talon its really not worth it.
 
Those aren't the alternate windows. Both cars have the exact same quarter windows.

If you do swap the rear bumpers, you will need to do some welding, since the bumper tabs are in different locations.
Not sure what you're saying here, the info I posted was about my car not his, and my car came with the special windows.
 
The swap will also require that you either swap the doors and fenders over, or drill the side skirt holes in the talon parts. Holes must also be drilled in the rocker for those clips.
 
^I know all of the above, I've been researching the swap, I have to drill out spot welds on the bumper tab and move it then reweld it and Ill have to drill holes in the doors to mount the skirts. I have an entire car next to it for reference so it won't be that big of a challenge.
 
Don't do it. Plenty of 2G GSX's out there for you to build up to your tastes. An AWD 2Gb Talon is pretty rare, seeing one "converted" means there's one less Talon out there for someone to enjoy as is.

The conversion isn't as straight forward as you'd like to think. Holes will need to be drilled for the GSX sideskirts and ground effects and the rear bumper tabs will need to be relocated to acommodate the GSX bumper cover. It's not hard, but it's a fair amount of work to do just so you can have a car that looks like every other Eclipse on the road right now.
 
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Just Sell the Talon or Trade it for a GSX. I dont understand why everyone who wants a GSX buys talons, yet when I am looking for a car I never can find a 4g63 2gb talon. All the 2gb talons I manage to find are 420a cars. Hell my next DSM is gonna be the next clean 2gb talon I can find, and if its a 420a I will just swap it to an evo drivetrain.

Talons are are, leave it alone. GSXs are much more common.
 
If someone wants to trade for a gsx I'm in. If you want to know why I bought this instead of a gsx. It's in my above post. At the time the cheapest running and driving gsx within range of me was well over 4000$. Theres one nearby me with no engine that has ruined paint and he wants 1800 just for that. Budget wise I bought a running and driving talon AWD for less. It needs a lot of work but it drove here. That's why I bought the talon, for your answer. Please though if someone who wants it badly wants to buy it I'm all in. Otherwise this swap is probably happening. If someone has a line on a trade pm me I guess. I'd much rather just swap over my interior and let the talon be a talon.

I'm doing a checkup and basic maintenance, fuel filter, compression test, and so on and so forth while I wait for the title to come back in my name from Missouri. So the swap probably won't start for a few weeks. Anyone know if the full black and grey dash has to be swapped or if the lower panels and be swapped from tan to grey?
 
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Shoot me a pm, I don't want to turn this post into a sales post. So far I like this community and don't want to cause the admins any trouble since this isn't the classifieds section.
 
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