The $400 97 Talon Awd Rescue

[96Formula6spd]

Well the car is no longer for sale. Only had some kickers but nothing solid. Decided to keep it as my walking progress has continued some. That and I got a few more things for the car. So its not dead yet just a work in progress that is still a few months out.

First up got a new turbo. No more fixing the busted T-25. Buddy got a 14b with a miata he bought and he does not need it. No j-pipe but say hello to the new turbo.





Its been on the shelf for a year and a half. So it will be getting a good clean up. Depending on shaft play it may also get a rebuild. But hey got my 14b.

Second up and what has helped. Brother was able to pick up a back light in the junk yard. Everyone of these has been missing. Well now I got one and it even works. Its the little victories.

 

[lasershark]

Well the car is no longer for sale

Now that's what I'm talking about
Glad to see you are sticking with it!

 

[gfritz25]

Good to see you're continuing with the project man. Love seeing progress.

 

[froodawg]

I've been watching your build for awhile now, and I'm really glad to that you've kept the car. I look forward to more updates!

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well back to doing some work on this again. Been really unmotivated to work on it. I think once this paypal money hits the bank account I am at least going to order the basics to put the head back onto the engine as well as new bearings. This way with it more complete it would make me want to actually get it back together.

I also need to grab a set of 3g lifters. These 2g ones are clean on the outside but the inside is full of crap. Perfect time to upgrade and hopefully not get the lifter tick.

Also thinking of picking up a harmonic balancer. The car came with a under drive pulley. Reading people are iffy on it. As this is just going to be a daily driver unless I jump on the c5 corvette train. Anybody know off hand if the 1g 7 bolt one works on a 6 bolt. There is a 7 bolt na car in the pick and pull and its going to leave soon. Looks like its 1g and 2g so I will be picking that up.

Got to get this project moving. Its just sitting on jack stands in the way right now. If I don't its not going to get moving anytime soon.

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well got a set of 3g lifters from a 04 hyundai sonata with a 4g64 dohc. Went to get the balancer on the 1g eclipse but it was falling apart. Missing some rubber and it looked very dry rotted. Will have to look around some more. Could just keep the underdrive pulley for now.

Did recheck the cylinder head with a new straight edge and it looks flat. So looks like a good machine shop clean and its ready to go.

 

[spyderdrifter]

Just keep in mind that although you may not feel like working on your Talon (rightfully felt), it could very well be your motivation to recovery. Great find though, it deserves new life.

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well some more work has been going on. Slow put still going. Good news once an engine sells I will have the cash to throw at the talon. Todays update this is nice as finding a set has been work. Anyways.

Look Seats





Saw a car on copart with some high miles and hit in the front. Well that car showed up in the local pick and pull. Seats have some light tears starting in the bolster but are full manual and actually bolt in. To bad they don't match the factory style for this car. Either way factory safe seats. More to come soon. Hopefully.

 

[96Formula6spd]

So after a long break stuff has been ordered. Engines sold so I ordered all this today

- Radiator
- Coolant Hose set
- Fuel Filter
- Engine Mount
- Acl Race Bearings
- Timing Belt with new bearings and Tensioner
- Thermostat and Gasket
- Engine Gasket Set
- Water Pump
- Couple Oil Filters
- Clutch Master and Slave Cylinder
- New Wiper Blades
- 20 New Lugs Studs

This week I am going up to Miller Import Parts to pick up

- 1g Turbo Cams
- 1g J-Pipe
- 2g Exhaust Manifold
- Rack and Pinion
- Maybe a new 1g Water Pipe

Finally this project is coming together. There are a few small things I need to get. However the bulk of stuff has been ordered. The cylinder head will be going to the machine shop sometime next week. Finally getting excited. I had the car for sale again and the phone would not stop going off this weekend while I was at the track. I think what made me do it was going down to Roebling I made a stop and saw this sitting on a trailer.



A twin 2gb black eagle talon awd. So stay tuned for updates.

 

[charles greene]

Saw this car for sale on Craigslist when I was looking for a 2Gb. It deserves to be driven as originally intended!

 

[96Formula6spd]

Saw this car for sale on Craigslist when I was looking for a 2Gb. It deserves to be driven as originally intended!

You happen to message about it. Had a few from Tennessee message about it.

 

[charles greene]

I don't recall messaging you, I was looking for a running car before a shell. But it definitely looked like a good candidate for a project. Keep it up man!

 

[ShockDSM]

Awesome rescue dude. I've rescued quite a few dsms in my day some worse than others. I do remember buying a 95 fwd tsi 5 speed that I got for 400 bucks that was out in this mosquito INFESTED swamp field we had to use a come along to ratchet up onto a rented trailer. It was hit in the quarter that had the rear wheel on that side almost sideways.. Sold it for 800 and someone fixed it and I saw it driving one day! Great feeling. Keep up the good work man, anything is possible and you have an awd gem here that's going to make you smile ear to ear every time you drive it once shes finished.

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well got some good news. Boxes are arriving. Rad and gaskets showed up as well as the clutch items. Also made a trip to Miller Import Parts and picked up a Rack and Pinion, 1g water pipe, 2g exhaust manifold, 1g turbo outlet. I also got a set of A cams. However under closer inspection the intake cam has some scoring on it. Looks like somthing went threw the intake side. Exhaust looks fine. Intake cam has three lobes with some marks. This is the worse one one. My finger nail catches this one.




It might polish out but it may not. I'll message Miller about it on Monday. They are open tomorrow but I will be busy with Family. What do you guys think?

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well more update. Miller sounds like he is digging up another set of cams. Should know tomorrow. Will have to make a trip Friday. Sucks but its not the end of the world. More interesting news. Found the ACL Race bearings in the size I need for the mains, however the rods are out of stock. Getting a refund then will be seeing if anybody has a set on the shelf. Otherwise this project is going nowhere till mid January.

Good news tho. Loads and loads of parts

 

[charles greene]

Always a good feeling when you have new parts stacking up!

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well car is back on delay. Nobody has the ACL race bearings in stock for the rods. Everyone is on back order till Mid-January. So I can either go with King bearings which I have used in other cars or just sit and wait. Also waiting on miller for the camshafts. Might have to source a new set of cams from the forum. Will find out soon. Also need to figure out how I am going to set up the 14b. Car is a complete 1g but has the oil feed for a factory t-25 off the oil filter housing. Going to need to mix and match. Then order either a few lines and banjo bolts. Also need to get the dam 1g o2 housing off so I can install my 2g one. More flow is always better and my 2g one is in much better shape.

Guess I get to decide what to do as a cheap car came up that I could flip for some spare cash.

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well Picked up a replacement set of cams. Just a set of 2g ones but they will work for now. Also picked up a factory harmonic balancer. So the underdrive pulley can come off. Doing this for factory belts and watched a miata blow apart because it was missing its harmonic balancer. Was using a underdrive pulley kinda like the one that is on the engine now. So now its just bearings and some timing belt tools. Then head to the machine shop.

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well stuff is finally moving along. Now on to the fun stuff of cleaning everything. First up I have tools on the way to clean and lap the valves. Got them all out with the socket and hammer trick. Just going to have to wait for the install tool. New valve seals will be going in. Also this will allow me to clean all the crappy goo that is still in there. Dont want that going into the oil right away. Also checked the head and it passed the straight edge and feeler gauge test everywhere.



All nice and packaged up with labels. Valve seats cleaned up and the valves look good as well.

The rest of the parts are in minus an air filter and maybe some small things here and there I got moving onto cleaning the goo out of the bottom end. Lets just say this crap is nasty. Finally took the old Fram oil filter off. Had the fun of using a screw driver on that sucker. Anyways here is the nice good that came out.



Called a buddy of mine and asked what could help clean this stuff up. I was thinking of some mineral spirts but he said just get some gas. Well the 7 gallons from the tank of the talon will work as well. Ended up pouring some of that into a bucket and it did wonders.



Stuff that was full of goo went in and came out clean. The oil cooler is being a little stubborn. But the things like the oil squirters came out looking like new. As well as the oil filter housing. Even some of the clogged turbo lines washed out. So calling that a win. Still need to go threw with some compressed air. But for the most part this stuff cleaned up. Oil pump also cleaned up. needs a little more time with a razor blade. But since it tested well within specs and its clean I will be reusing it. Just got to remember to pack it with some grease.

But coming down to the short list. Need a new air filter for the injen intake as the current one gave up years ago. Valve spring tools will be coming next week. I dont have amazon prime so even tho they carry it the free shipping means it wont ship till the 26th. Thanks amazon. Last tool I ordered a timing belt tensioner tool. Should help getting the torque done right on this one. All my other engines have been timing chain or manual tensioners. Still easy enough to learn. Still need to either buy a set of good used rockers or source another one from the junkyard here.

Other than that its clean. Install bearings and check the oil clearance. If it all goes well the engine might be going in before the end of the year.

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well ups and downs. Took the head to the machine shop and had it cleaned. Much better than spending years cleaning it out by hand. All the goo is now gone. So tomorrow I will try lapping some valves. Started working on the body and swapping the used rack and pinion in. Got the old one out with no issue. Decided its inner tie rods were in much better shape than the one that was going to go in. So removed them off the old rack. Went to the new rack and removed the boot to find this.....



Yeah the new rack needs a rebuild as well. So buying one from miller was a bust. Figured $30 used rack vs $30 in a rebuild kit would make it easier. Well now I get to rebuild two racks. Debating taking the one that was supposed to go into the car and just deleting power steering for now. These setbacks are not helping my enthusiasm. Have not been wanting to work on the car at all. Kinda wishing I had just sold it for the $2000 and let it go. Guess its back to it. Was going to try to install the engine next weekend but who knows if that will happen now.

 

[Laxman]

Awesome deal on the car. Hopefully things will start to smooth out for you and she will be properly saved

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well enthusiasm has come back a little bit. Since I am waiting on parts again I decided to tackle the horrible bubbled tint. Overall not to bad of a job the front windows came right off. The hatch took the longest time as it was wanting to flake into a million little pieces. But now I can see out of all the windows. The back hatch was so bad you could not see in.

This was the start. You can see how bad this stuff was.





After loads of heat gun I got it down to the glue. Only the drivers window came off clean. Everything else left the glue in place.



I find the good old Dollar Tree Awesome cleaner works well awesome. Use it on other things and as a degreaser. Anyways it pretty much ate the glue right up. A few coats of that and the back over with some invisible glass to get the cleaner off. There is still some work to do on the hatch around the edges. I figure a warmer day might help get it off. But this was the end product.



Now I can actually see out of the car. I don't know if I will get it tinted later down the road. But for now I am just happy this stuff came off. Tomorrow I hope to have a cylinder head back together. Just need to clean the valves, springs, retainers. Do a valve job on them. Then install the springs and then its move onto the bottom end. Hopefully have it built by the end of the week. With snow being possible Saturday I doubt I will be installing an engine. So got to find a day when I can get some help installing the stuff. Could probably do it solo but its always good to have an extra pair of hands.

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well more bad news from the talon. Decided that today would be getting the bottom end back together. Went and grabbed the crankshaft to clean it and do a good visual check. When I removed it I took it out then bagged it as it was getting dark. When I had taken the number 3 main bearing out I had found some evidence of something going threw that bearing. Big scrape around the whole bearing. Anyways pulled the crank out of the bag. Start going threw the journals. Front sides all look good lets flip it over......oh no that is not good.

#3 Main



Found this sucker. Fails the finger nail test. Loads of color change. This journal was not happy. So at this point I am not sure what I am going to due. Crank is already turned .25mm. Not sure how deep Mitsubishi hardened their cranks. All I know is I do not like going to .50mm or .020. So I guess this crankshaft is trash. Budget is very low right now so I guess this car gets to sit around some more. Really wished I had taken that 2k offer. I guess I get to decide on what to do with the whole car. Debating doing a part out or just listing it back for sale.

 

[96Formula6spd]

Well no real updates. Been shopping for a crankshaft. However was able to go out today and put the fuel system back together. So that is just ready for some fresh gas. Hope to have a crankshaft soon. See how this car goes. If its like normal very very slow.

 

[sexyxe]

Sounds like you've had some rough luck. Sort of sad to read. Here's to hoping things improve for you.