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Project Peregrine Falcon

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I apologize in advance about formatting, spelling and all the other things I might get wrong, I’m from a small town in Oklahoma and my education wasn’t the best.

So I’ve always wanted to do a build thread, but my first dsm was a hack job and wasn’t worthy and I really wasn’t ready. Now 10 years later I’m back at it with the 98 tsi that I actually found here in the classifieds and it was only a two hour drive to get it. My ultimate goal for this is car it to just have fun and build something that will be reliable and have some power behind it.
Backstory time
After I got out of the dsm scene I went got into jeeps and that is where my first major rebuild came in. It was a 95 wrangler that I did long list of fixes/upgrades to. After that one my family grew but the Jeep was small, so I sold it. Next was an 08 wrangler unlimited(4 door), but it was a mistreated 2wd. It a couple of month before I finished that project which it it now a 4wd on 35s with plenty of room for the family but with one major downfall... it’s slow.
Backstory over

On to important stuff, now this car is sitting in my garage with the battery, intake, and SMIC out of the engine bay trying to make room to start rebuilding process. Now a lot of used cars have their problems and when I started on this project I thought this one would would be on the easier side of things. Well I found the issue with this car and I wasn’t too happy about it and that was the wiring. So here is is list of what is wrong with the wiring.

1. Radio hack job, factory plug was cut and all the speakers ran off one set one speaker wire
2. Some sort of alarm system install that I am afraid of.
3. Battery rubbed through the main harness. Patched with gorilla tape
4.Uicp rubbed through where the wires go into the fuse box under the hood
5. Maf plug was at one time cut off and put back together.

This isn’t all of it but here is the kicker on the whole thing EVERY wire connect and spliced were just stripped wires twisted together and electrical taped. At least the good part of the story is I got lucky and found a harness out of a 98 gst that was unmolested that I bought for $100 off the classifieds which will make life a lot easier. Ok novel over for now I’ll post pictures and update when I get the chance.
 
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Well I found a little time to work on the Talon and sometimes I feel like its just going to get deep and deeper in.

Before I dive too much into the rebuild process I'll give a little more back story. I originally drove an hour and a half to look at another seemingly nice eclipse for $2900 and after some haggling I was able to get him to knock off another $400. A side not is at the time time I was working nights... and 12 hours a day, the plan was to leave as soon as I got off work, go look at the car and if I liked it then drive it home. Well we all know how those plans work out, I arrive to a car with jumper cables hooked up so a "20 foot" car(Looks good from 20ft away)(first picture). The car was nothing like he made it out to be and he was a young kid that probably got in over his head with this car so he was just trying to cut his loses. Pros on the car- it was an eclipse gst. Cons on this car- poor Plastidip paint job, didn't run, chinese 16g, ragged out interior and you know the mods all the young kids make(Yes the one I made to my first one) that they thing will make it go faster. So I shook his hand and thanked him for is time and I got back in my car and left.
I have to admit it I was sad because I really was looking forward to owning another dsm, my wife could see it and she just wants me happy so she asked if there was another one around since we were already in that far from home. I looked and sure enough I found one in the classifieds on here... ok ok enough of the novel on with the show

tl;dr found a car it was bad, so I found another

Update one. It is early in the morning and the family is still asleep, so that makes it a little hard to swing the hammer in order to get the rotor off.(second Picture) So I supposed I'll have to wait till they wake to finish that one. There will be a pattern to all this and that it there will be no pattern to this, I have a short attention span so I jump around, a lot.
So I then went onto removing the old for the undamaged wiring harness that I found on a FB dsm page for a good price . I have to say I am glad I made that move, while it is in my ability to repair the old one I wouldn't have been happy with it.(Third Picture) Then it came time to start on the alarm system that they taped in.(Fourth) The sad thing is that it was a nice system but I don't have the FOB and as I mentioned before all the connection were just electrical taped in. {maybe he worked at a place were he got the tape for free, there is tape everywhere} So I found the install manual and I'm pretty sure I can remove it without issue. I just hate the thoughts of some having to troubleshoot those gremlins, but as I said I want reliable and if something happens and that thing activates I'm sunk, so might as well fix it while I'm rebuilding. Well that all for this episode hope to see you all in a few days
 

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Well I was lucky enough to be able to work on the car again. I decided to focus on just one thing and tackle the front passenger suspension and wheel well. The Previous owner had already purchased most of the suspension and brake parts so that makes life a little easier. I still couldn't get the dang rotor off the hub but after some inspecting I just decided to remove the hub and leave that stubborn thing on, why not I have new ones.

I replaced the upper control arm, lower control arm and lateral arm with new parts as far as the suspension goes and the hub, rotor and brake pads for the brake parts. One one the pieces I didn't have new was the knuckle so I took my grinder and with a sanding disk and cleaned up the casting edges and gave it a fresh coat of paint. On the rest of it I had soap and water in a bucket with a brush to clean all the gunk off. I still need to get some miscellaneous pieces to finish things up but I am really happy how it all turn out, and yes I know I don't have the axle in. Now the part everyone loves, PICTURES!!
 

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Well it has been a while and I bet those of you who have viewed this thought this build was long gone. There were a lot of things that happened around the time I purchased this car and life got real busy to say the least. So almost two years later, new job, new state later I finally have the opportunity to update how the project has been going.

The First thing I did was return to the wiring harness and finally got it switched out. The new one was in much better shape other than a few differences I found. The biggest one was the 98+ dsm had a fuel tank pressure differential sensor on the tank where as the other did not, so there are a few wires missing from the new harness for this. I really don't think that is going to be that big of a deal as I am going to be doing away with all the other emissions stuff. The second one was one of the connectors was cut at the main branch that went to the egr solenoid I think, but again I am doing away with the emissions so no big deal. Last is that there was one more plug at around the reverse sensor/maf sensor area, still haven't figured that one out but not worried.

As stated earlier in the build thread I really don't stick to one area for too long so one short attention span later I order a bolt dress up kit for the engine bay. The main reason I did this was because I was missing more than a few bolt here and there to hold things together, so replace the old visible one and create a supply for the missing ones. In this process since I was removing a lot of bolts I took the time to clean up all the brackets associated with the bolt and paint them with Rust-Oleum flat black to help the appearance and to stop any possibility of rusting. While I was working on looks I also used a couple of scrub brushes and an old tooth brush to clean the grime off any area I could find.

Once done with those things I decided since I rebuilt the passenger side front suspension two years ago it was time to start on the driver side. This time I was prepared for the fight of getting things apart by one having the previous experience and two I gathered all my tools up so i have at least some of the right tools for the job. In the process of taking things apart I found the one of the large caliper bolts was stripped out of the caliper so I guess I will be replacing the calipers. The next thing I discover which I wish I knew on the passenger side was that the rotors have a tapped hole on them for separating the rotor from the hub, who knew. After disassembly I cleaned everything up with some de-greaser and a wire brush I painted everything with the same Rust-Oleum flat black and Installed the new upper and lower control arms.

Now on to the whole reason most people come to these build threads, here are some pictures for you guys
ps. Ignore the cardboard spark plug cover, It looks better for pictures.
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Update Time
Today was a good day, I received some parts from another member that would allow me to do some more work. In the box I got some of the factory ic piping to at least have something to start with and a factory radio to get rid of the crappy off brand head unit. Today I decided to work on the raido.

When I bought the car it had an aftermarket radio that was hooked up. After digging in more I found out why the previous owner stopped at just setting it in the slot. It appears that some time in the cars life that one of the owners wanted a cd changer and did a very poor job installing and splicing the wires. Lucky for me there was at least all the parts in the car to restore it back to factory other than the radio and even more lucky for me is that the one I bought was the exact one I needed. I then spent the time to do things right and soldered then heat shrank it all. Without further ado here are the pictures.
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Time for another update.
Unfortunately I have been a little lazy on the build updates but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on the car. In reality I have about six updates to catch up on but I think what I will do is spread these out a little that way I am not adding a wall of text followed by a ton of pictures to try and sort through. I know I could structure my pictures and paragraphs to something more pleasing to the eye but those classes in school are the ones I didn't pay any attention to.

So the next and by far the most daunting project I had that I mentioned earlier in the build thread was the removal of the security system. I know that the car ran just fine before I started this and even the previous owner didn't have the key fob and there was no ill effect. My theory on this is we all know that adding a system such as this adds a couple more points of failure and instead of waiting for this to poke its little head, leaving me stranded, I might as well get it out of the way. I am no stranger to trouble shooting wiring but this is one of those make it or break it things that could stop this project dead in its tracks if I got the the point were I felt I couldn't get any further, so I took some more time and studied the wiring diagram. With that done I felt I had the confidence to get started, so here we go.

After a couple of minutes trying to lay all awkward upside down on the drivers seat I decided that I could get this done a lot faster with a lot less aches and pains with removing the driver's seat. For anyone who has to work under the dash for any amount of time I can guarantee you that it is very worth removing the seat, you can almost take a nap with all the room you gain, almost. At the end of it I was very pleased and very confident with the removal and repair of the wires associated with the security system. Here are the results.
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P.S. For those that have seen my build thread before, I did change the name. I really wanted something different and something that would catch peoples eyes. Plus the peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making it the fastest bird in the world(Wiki)
 
As promised I am back with another update, this one is going to cover a couple of small projects that didn't take much time but was needed.

I was bored one day at work so I got on extremepsi and just ordered all the cheap things on my wishlist that way I got the "I got to buy something!" feeling without making my wife too upset
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For those of you unfamiliar with these products, I purchase an egr block off(Top right) because I am removing the emissions crap mostly due to the fact one of the previous owner already started it. Install has been document and was very easy because I already had the battery tray and throttle body off to do other upgrades. In the top left I have a fuel feed line upgrade with a stainless steel line with AN fittings. The main reason I did this was mainly for aesthetics but it probably will have a little performance benefits. Next in the bottom of the picture is the factory brake and clutch reservoir caps. The ones on the car were either broke or wore out so it was needed, though I haven't really decided if I will eventually go with after market or possibly paint these a different color, thoughts?
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Also hiding in the bag with the fuel feed line was the fiav bypass plate. I really struggled with this modification because I really like the full block off plate to cleanup the engine bay but other things I have planned for this counteracts that line of thought, you'll see. The other issue is I have seen videos and read threads of people having to sit in their car holding the throttle for a few minutes until the car has warmed up with the full block off plate. On the other side of that I have read where people haven't had any issue at all and I really don't know if I will be driving this car during the winter, with my line of work I pretty much work 12-15 hours a day, 7 days a week from middle of October to the middle of January.

The older I get the more I like my creature comforts like just starting a vehicle and it runs, AC, and cruise control.(Hinted to this earlier) I suppose I will see how this one goes. Also did the best I could to clean the throttle body and if someone knows if the other metal looking stuff around the shaft is normal or not let me know. Lastly on the pictures above I really debated on posting the top one due to my feet being in them, I couldn't find my house shoes and I couldn't wait any longer to get in a little work on the car.

That is it for today, I am waiting on another package due any minute now and I will try to give another update tomorrow. Bad thing is I am about 3 updates behind but I think I type too much and don't want to run off the two people who read this
 
When I put on new rotors a little over a year ago, I kept wondering what the threaded hole was for...looked it up and found out (just like you did) that is for threading a bolt into to pop the rotor off the hub. Definitely made it easier than pulling the knuckle, prying or hammering. It helps to put a coat of anti-seize on the new rotors when putting them on.

I don't mind the stock brake/clutch reservoirs and there is a guy on here that sells custom aluminum brackets with a DSM logo for them.

So far, so good on the build!
 
“{maybe he worked at a place were he got the tape for free, there is tape everywhere}“

The older I get the more I like my creature comforts like just starting a vehicle and it runs, AC, and cruise control

Had to laugh at your tape comment. Who hasn’t just been shaking their head, finding the unbelievable wiring and mechanical “fixes” by previous owners of these cars?

Am enjoying reading the build thread. We’re so glad there are DSM owners like you that are restoring these cars to be respectable specimens. I know exactly what you meant by “creature comforts like just starting a vehicle and it runs”. HA!

Keep up the good work.
 
Another day and another update, hopefully I can eventually get caught up.

I feel like every project on this car I run into one issue or another but I am slowly slugging through it. This time the issue stemmed from the attempt to replace the rotor and brake pads, in the process of removing the caliper I noticed one of the slide pins on was stripped. Hopefully the picture is clear enough.
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No big deal right, this gives the perfect opportunity to do a little upgrading. I really would have liked to go with a big brake kit or a dual piston setup but the rotors and brake pads were some of the parts that came with car.
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I ended up just opting to go with the powerstop rebuilt calipers and a set of stainless brake lines. Big shout out to RockAuto for having the best price on these. Now red is not one of the colors I'm going for in this build but that's the color they came powder coated in ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and of coarse this couldn't be an easy job now could it.
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As I tried to thread in the new banjo bolt it just wouldn't go. ###Active trouble shoot mode### hmm maybe wrong caliper..........nope they are correct, maybe different bolts................nope they are the same, maybe the threads are messed up..!..!..! maaaayyybeeee. So off to find a m10x1.0 tap. For those of you wondering how I knew the tap, every garage needs one of these and on the back has all the thread per inch(standard) and thread pitch(Metric)


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That of course took an order to O'Reilly Auto Parts but one day and $4.50 later really isn't that bad.
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Success that was the problem even though I have no clue how that happens on a rebuild caliper. So after fighting with this for about a week total I was finally able to mark this off the list.
Behold the "hey look at me calipers"
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That is it for today, right now I have another issue that has the exact same feel to it but I'll post about when I get that one solve. I really don't like cliffhanger.
 
You could have semi-upgraded and gotten Outlander brackets; they are a direct fit and allow you to put on the larger Outlander rotors on the front.

Also, gotta commend you for working in the Texas heat. I've been rather lazy just because it's brutally hot in the garage.
 
Well I have been lazy again, not that I haven't been working on the car I just haven't updating the thread. I haven't decided if I want to make this one a long one or separate into several smaller updates. Oh well lets see how it goes.

As I alluded to in my last post I ran into another problem with one of the previous owner not quite doing things correctly. My goal with this car it to take a look at as many maintenance point as possible to make this car last for a long time to come. This area on attention went to the injectors, when I removed them I notice that one of the pintle caps was missing. I panicked a little when I did this thinking that I dropped it into the head but I realized that the lower seal ring would prevent that, so I have to assume that it had been missing from the start.
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Hey I had shoes that time. Now I have to say I have no clue about the importance of these pintle caps and I have see a lot of injectors with them. The thing I didn't like about no using them is one, their job is to protect the injector from build-up and two it really help with how they fit into the socket. So I did a little research on these particular injectors and order a kit that replaced serviceable parts.

Once again things can't be simple and the kit and every kit I looked at after the fact really didn't fit these injector.
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As you can see everything is correct other than.... that's right the only piece I needed. So off to trying to find the correct ones. It took a couple of days and some creative word searching in google and eBay, I finally came across ones I thought would work. Now I hate just throwing money at problems but I did ask around the forum and other places without much help.
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These specific caps say they are for a Mitsubishi 2.4 liter and that was the only information it gave. Luckily when I received them they fit albeit a little loose but definitely better than nothing. Also if you look closely you can see that my micro filters we in need of changing, damage was made from removing.

Once I was done with the injectors I came to a cross roads, option one start tearing everything out to do the timing kit/water pump and clutch flywheel or spend a couple more hours finishing up some loose ends and starting the car for the first time in two years. I know I was taking a big chance with starting the car since I didn't know the condition of the timing components. I ended up opting for starting for two reason, one was it would let me know that the changes I made to the two wiring harnesses work and I thought it would be huge morale boost for me and with continuing this project. I didn't record all the problems I ran into with this process but they really weren't a big deal.

Here it is in all its glory

Hopefully that works.
 
I have been busy this past... month??? Man time just flies. I really need to catch up on the thread so here are a couple of updates.

So since I got the car running it was time to start the rest of the restoration with tearing it apart.
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Getting the engine out only took me a couple of hours which was a lot faster than I thought it was going to be. The biggest problem I ran into was even though I tried to be diligent on disconnecting everything I forgot the exhaust, and of coarse since I thought I got everything I wrestled with it longer than I care to admit.

Since the engine was out it was a real good time to do some cleaning, touch up painting and other modifications. Unfortunately we know all too well that you can no longer buy the front abs sensors so to fix that issue along with cleaning up I decided to do the non-abs proportioning valve and brake lines. An issue I ran into was the seller couldn't find the short line for the passenger front caliper, so as you can see when I took the picture it isn't hooked up. I did fix that today with measuring the line and double flaring it.
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Ok I will try and do some more updates tomorrow.
 
Honestly I am 99% done with the car and I have been driving it around. The problem is I haven't been updating the thread like I should have been, but I was so anxious to get it done I sent every hour possible just working on the car. That didn't leave any time for sitting in front of the computer. So I will take the time now to update what I went through.

The first thing I decided to do was while the engine was out to take a look at the starter, it is one of those things you really don't want to have to work on it after the fact.
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I found that for one it was extremely dirty and two the ground brushes were nearly toast, so I that just justifies that when you can, you need to at least look into things to save time. I found a website that has all the parts needed to rebuild the starter so I ordered the brushes and installed them as well as greased everything back up.
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In this picture I had just replace the positive brushes and was about to do the negative. One thing I found out after the fact was I should have just ordered the whole bracket which came with the negative brushes already and just put the new positive brushes with it. The hardest part of attaching your own negative brushes is that there really isn't a good way to attach them with the tool I had, I assume a spot welder would be what you would use. My only option with what I had was to solder it. After reassembly I had one issue where I installed the brush lead to the wrong side of the solenoid, it took me a day to figure out what I had done and why it wasn't working. So for anyone reading this the positive lead goes to the far side on the solenoid. So far I have been very pleased with how it turned out and it hasn't missed a beat so far.
 
Well let me start off by saying that don't worry this car isn't another one of those it just gets part of the way through and then gets too overwhelming and then just stays on jackstands. I will try to go through some of my photos and see where I left off in order to update the thread. Just a small spoiler, was able to complete everything I wanted and more. I'm now running a 16g on 20psi and looking to go bigger and faster.
 

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