1Gb Talon Rust Revival

jamel16 · Jun 2, 2023

Silverspyder said:
Been a couple weeks since I've been able to work on the Talon...I've been doing some landscaping projects in the mean time. I did find time to work on it today though. This particular project is taking much longer than I thought.

I wanted to get the driver's side door done today. That meant getting speaker wire into it, sound deadening it, wiring it, installing the speaker and re-doing the vapor barrier...

I started with the speaker wire. It's a huge bi*** getting it through the accordion tube from the door into the interior. Took awhile, but I managed. I'm using 12gauge wire from Knu-Conceptz.
View attachment 673034

I then began sound deadening the interior of the door. Way back in my teens when I used to do more car audio installations, I recall the "rule" being to cover approx 25% of a panel to achieve 90% effective sound deadening. So that's what I aimed for. The "tap test" on the outside of the door confirmed this pretty well. I used more deadening the close I got to the speaker housing.
View attachment 673032 View attachment 673033
This piece that houses the grab handle was a bit rusty, so I used rust converter, primed and painted it black.
View attachment 673036
I used a sponge bass blocker pad right behind the speaker housing, on top of some sound deadener for max absorption. I'm trying to get as much of the sound from the speaker into the interior of the car. I'm using 6" JL Audio speakers so these are sized for that.
View attachment 673031

In areas where the wiring harnesses in the door may vibrate and make noise, I cover them with neoprene rubber and secure with Tesa tape.
View attachment 673035
I re-did the vapor barrier where I couldn't use sound deadening effectively. Our doors are kinda weird how they routed the lock and handle mechanisms...they go both inside and outside of the door, so I used new plastic in these areas. I used Killmat sheets cut to size to cover the holes where I didn't want to use plastic like the stock configuration. To secure the plastic, I used strip caulk. Here's the finished product. I also used foam speaker rings on the outside of the speaker and techflex on the larger wiring harness.

View attachment 673029 View attachment 673030

I will definitely be using the speaker foam blockers. Had no idea these existed.

Silverspyder · Jun 24, 2023

I recently bought a new project I'm been meaning to pick up for awhile. this one just happened to fall into my lap so I had to snatch it up. New-ish, C63S AMG with only 6000 miles on it. Fully loaded. If you're not aware, it's a v8 with twin turbos. So you can expect that I'll be upgrading this bad boy as well.

I haven't given up on the Talon. I'll be working on it soon. My pup is getting a bit bigger so I'll be able to get out in the garage and wrench on it hopefully soon.

Silverspyder · Jul 23, 2023

And I'm back...the Benz is in the shop getting full PPF on it, so I thought I'd take this opportunity while I have more garage space to get some things done on the Talon.

Firs thing I wanted to do was replace my fuel/brake line separators. I had the new brackets made for me and modified the stock plastic separators to allow for the -6an fuel lines. It worked, but it wasn't the prettiest. Thankfully, when chatting with @92Turbski, (Thank you sir!) he pointed me in the direction of some brand new line separators from HEF 3D. You can get these customized depending on the size of the lines you have. 3D printed and sturdy. Came in a nice little case and he even included some caramels. Those darn Canadians are the nicest!

Had to get under the car and remove my brackets again and load these up, but that's not a big deal.

Next item on the list was to get the ugly red fender all prepped and painted. I got this fender many years ago because I just knew I'd need it eventually. I had replaced my other one years ago for the same thing. Rust likes to form where the fender meets the front bumper cover by the side markers. My stock one was in rough shape as you can see if you scroll up a bit. I bought a cheap little part stand from Harbor Freight just for this purpose.

This fender came to me with a couple broken bolts still installed in it. In the typical spot they usually break, in the same location I mentioned above. That area just must accumulate moisture. These damn things wouldn't budge. I had to torch them out. Lots of heat and lots of penetrating oil and I finally got them to turn out.

I started with 100 grit on a sander and went to work. This fender had a lot of failing/flaking clearcoat. I went over the entire thing getting rid of all the shine and making everything smooth. I noticed there was a spot with some previous bodywork. Couldn't really tell what was repaired. The fender looks nice and straight with no rust. Inside at that spot looks good too. I then went over everything again by hand using 600 grit and a sponge to make it even smoother, but still keep it rough enough for paint to stick.

Cleaned it up nice, then began applying several coats of a 2K primer. First time using a 2K primer so interested to see how much more durable it is.

That's where I stopped for today. Didn't get a chance to get any basecoat on. Next weekend I'll wetsand it with 600 grit to make sure the primer is nice and smooth, then I'll apply a few coats of base, then 2K clearcoat. FYI, I'm dong all of this with rattlecans. It works just fine for small-ish parts like this.

92Turbski · Jul 25, 2023

Silverspyder said:
And I'm back...the Benz is in the shop getting full PPF on it, so I thought I'd take this opportunity while I have more garage space to get some things done on the Talon.

Firs thing I wanted to do was replace my fuel/brake line separators. I had the new brackets made for me and modified the stock plastic separators to allow for the -6an fuel lines. It worked, but it wasn't the prettiest. Thankfully, when chatting with @92Turbski, (Thank you sir!) he pointed me in the direction of some brand new line separators from HEF 3D. You can get these customized depending on the size of the lines you have. 3D printed and sturdy. Came in a nice little case and he even included some caramels. Those darn Canadians are the nicest!

View attachment 702711

Had to get under the car and remove my brackets again and load these up, but that's not a big deal.
View attachment 702709 View attachment 702710

Next item on the list was to get the ugly red fender all prepped and painted. I got this fender many years ago because I just knew I'd need it eventually. I had replaced my other one years ago for the same thing. Rust likes to form where the fender meets the front bumper cover by the side markers. My stock one was in rough shape as you can see if you scroll up a bit. I bought a cheap little part stand from Harbor Freight just for this purpose.
View attachment 702705 View attachment 702713

This fender came to me with a couple broken bolts still installed in it. In the typical spot they usually break, in the same location I mentioned above. That area just must accumulate moisture. These damn things wouldn't budge. I had to torch them out. Lots of heat and lots of penetrating oil and I finally got them to turn out.

View attachment 702708

I started with 100 grit on a sander and went to work. This fender had a lot of failing/flaking clearcoat. I went over the entire thing getting rid of all the shine and making everything smooth. I noticed there was a spot with some previous bodywork. Couldn't really tell what was repaired. The fender looks nice and straight with no rust. Inside at that spot looks good too. I then went over everything again by hand using 600 grit and a sponge to make it even smoother, but still keep it rough enough for paint to stick.
View attachment 702706 View attachment 702712
Cleaned it up nice, then began applying several coats of a 2K primer. First time using a 2K primer so interested to see how much more durable it is.
View attachment 702707

That's where I stopped for today. Didn't get a chance to get any basecoat on. Next weekend I'll wetsand it with 600 grit to make sure the primer is nice and smooth, then I'll apply a few coats of base, then 2K clearcoat. FYI, I'm dong all of this with rattlecans. It works just fine for small-ish parts like this.

That's awesome, man! Looking good!

92AWDHX40 · Jul 25, 2023

That's really looking good im motivated to do more to my dsm

arfbarkyPrime · Jul 25, 2023

That wheel well rust and the POR15 .... do you have to eradicate every speck of the existing rust before using it?

I'm looking at fixing my 05 Toyota Sequoia which has similar rust on the lower dogleg area which is common for those. Looking at it, I'll have to grind it out and it's kind of a complicated area where panels are coming together etc.

Silverspyder · Jul 25, 2023

arfbarkyPrime said:
That wheel well rust and the POR15 .... do you have to eradicate every speck of the existing rust before using it?

I'm looking at fixing my 05 Toyota Sequoia which has similar rust on the lower dogleg area which is common for those. Looking at it, I'll have to grind it out and it's kind of a complicated area where panels are coming together etc.

No, not at all. POR actually stands for "Paint Over Rust". Just scrape all the really flaky stuff off and go to town. Two coats for sure, waiting about 2 hours between coats. Then topcoat after a day or two. If you can get to both sides of the rusty area that would be best. go back a ways as I used it a ton during this build thread to get some tips I used to make it easier...like prepping the area. That is essential.

Silverspyder · Jul 30, 2023

Continued and finished the fender today. Wasn't thrilled with the smoothness of the finish after last wek so I did some more sanding with 400grit sandpaper. Smoothed out the areas of concern, then re-primered them. After it was dry, I then wetsanded the entire fender with 600grit sandpaper.

I then began the basecoat. I love this color so this was my favorite part. If you don't have this little spray can accessory, get one. It makes jobs like this way easier.

I did about 4 coats of base...here's the first and last coats.

If your paint has any kind of metallic flake/sparkle, you don't want to wetsand the last coat of base. I typically don't wetsand my basecoats. I then coated with 2K clearcoat for added strength. Here's a couple coats and the final finish. I think it turned out pretty well!

92Turbski · Jul 31, 2023

Silverspyder said:
Continued and finished the fender today. Wasn't thrilled with the smoothness of the finish after last wek so I did some more sanding with 400grit sandpaper. Smoothed out the areas of concern, then re-primered them. After it was dry, I then wetsanded the entire fender with 600grit sandpaper.

View attachment 703418 View attachment 703419

I then began the basecoat. I love this color so this was my favorite part. If you don't have this little spray can accessory, get one. It makes jobs like this way easier.
View attachment 703417

I did about 4 coats of base...here's the first and last coats.
View attachment 703416 View attachment 703415

If your paint has any kind of metallic flake/sparkle, you don't want to wetsand the last coat of base. I typically don't wetsand my basecoats. I then coated with 2K clearcoat for added strength. Here's a couple coats and the final finish. I think it turned out pretty well!

View attachment 703413 View attachment 703414

Looks great, nice job!

Dericsh · Jul 31, 2023

Always impressive, great job!

Silverspyder · Nov 14, 2023

Small update for you guys. I had some time last weekend so took care of a few minor things I've been meaning to jump on.

First things first, I wanted to address my door handle squeaking a bit ever since I did all that stuff inside the door panel. So, off the door panel came (broke more clips, <sigh>) so I could get to the linkage. I applied some white lithium WD-40 liberally. Here's what you're aiming for inside the door. My squeaking was coming from the assembly on the lower left there, but I sprayed it all. and used the lock, and door handle several times. No more squeak and I have to say everything is just much more smooth and responsive. Next time you have your door panels off, give these a spray. You'll thank me later.

the main task though, was to remove my crusty and very loud door stop and door pin on the driver's side. You have to access it inside the door. I found going in through the speaker hole was easiest.
Here's the old nasty: the two 10mm nuts are on the other side of the door in the jamb. Remove the pin with a small hammer, remove the two nuts and pull it inside of the door to remove.

Here's the comparison old and new:

If you're ever replacing these, they are labeled which side they go on. The side you're doing faces up.

While I had the old one out, I noticed the tab it connects to and the tab above it for the fender were a little rusty. I def don't want either of these tabs rusting out, so I removed the rust, primed and topcoated. Here's the before/after

after:

Here's new doorstop installed with new pin:

One of the big reasons I lost my motivation the last few months, is because when I pulled off the old rusty fender, I discovered this huge gaping hole that rust had gotten ahold of. I'm still trying to think of a way to fix it. I think it would be hard to acquire this piece as a patch panel from another car. For now, I'm just going to try and ignore it (that's super difficult for me) and move on with the project.

92Turbski · Nov 14, 2023

Silverspyder said:
Small update for you guys. I had some time last weekend so took care of a few minor things I've been meaning to jump on.

First things first, I wanted to address my door handle squeaking a bit ever since I did all that stuff inside the door panel. So, off the door panel came (broke more clips, <sigh>) so I could get to the linkage. I applied some white lithium WD-40 liberally. Here's what you're aiming for inside the door. My squeaking was coming from the assembly on the lower left there, but I sprayed it all. and used the lock, and door handle several times. No more squeak and I have to say everything is just much more smooth and responsive. Next time you have your door panels off, give these a spray. You'll thank me later.
View attachment 713028

the main task though, was to remove my crusty and very loud door stop and door pin on the driver's side. You have to access it inside the door. I found going in through the speaker hole was easiest.
Here's the old nasty: the two 10mm nuts are on the other side of the door in the jamb. Remove the pin with a small hammer, remove the two nuts and pull it inside of the door to remove.
View attachment 713025

Here's the comparison old and new:
View attachment 713026 View attachment 713027

If you're ever replacing these, they are labeled which side they go on. The side you're doing faces up.
View attachment 713023 View attachment 713024

While I had the old one out, I noticed the tab it connects to and the tab above it for the fender were a little rusty. I def don't want either of these tabs rusting out, so I removed the rust, primed and topcoated. Here's the before/after
View attachment 713033 View attachment 713034
after:
View attachment 713032

Here's new doorstop installed with new pin:
View attachment 713029

One of the big reasons I lost my motivation the last few months, is because when I pulled off the old rusty fender, I discovered this huge gaping hole that rust had gotten ahold of. I'm still trying to think of a way to fix it. I think it would be hard to acquire this piece as a patch panel from another car. For now, I'm just going to try and ignore it (that's super difficult for me) and move on with the project.

View attachment 713030 View attachment 713031

Nice, man! Couple little sweet victories there.
Don't sweat the patch, when you're ready it'll be easier than you imagine!
Have you done any work to the Benz? Ecu flash...etc.

92AWDHX40 · Nov 14, 2023

That's common por 15 for now cut out the rust. I'll probably be a issue once the fenders goes on.

Silverspyder · Nov 14, 2023

92AWDHX40 said:
That's common por 15 for now cut out the rust. I'll probably be a issue once the fenders goes on.

That's the problem. There's a mounting point for the fender down there all rusted away. :notgood:

92Turbski said:
Nice, man! Couple little sweet victories there.
Don't sweat the patch, when you're ready it'll be easier than you imagine!
Have you done any work to the Benz? Ecu flash...etc.

So far with the Benz, I have tinted the windows, full PPF to protect the satin paint and I did a Eurocharged Stage 1 Tune. I put it away for the winter two weeks ago. I'll be putting wheel spacers on it in the spring to make the stance more mean. I like my wheels flush with the fenders, not tucked in at all.

92Turbski · Nov 14, 2023

Silverspyder said:
That's the problem. There's a mounting point for the fender down there all rusted away.

So far with the Benz, I have tinted the windows, full PPF to protect the satin paint and I did a Eurocharged Stage 1 Tune. I put it away for the winter two weeks ago. I'll be putting wheel spacers on it in the spring to make the stance more mean. I like my wheels flush with the fenders, not tucked in at all.

Heck yeah. I'm not even familiar with any of that powertrain but I'm sure it made it even more intense. Haha

Silverspyder · Nov 14, 2023

So, after I made my latest post I got to thinking about how to fix that rusted out area. I decided to reach out to Stephen of Kannapolis Auto Parts (Formerly Miller Import Parts) and see if he would be willing to cut out an oversized patch from a donor car he might have in his yard. As luck would have it, he is going to do just that. It should be on it's way soon. I guess I'd better start perfecting my welding technique. If any of you guys need anything from these cars, def reach out to Stephen. He has helped me out MANY times sending parts. He def deserves our business.

Silverspyder · Feb 18, 2024

Weird, I thought I had updated this awhile back...anyway, here we go.

My door handle was squeaking, and while I had the door panel off I noticed the moisture barrier was not sticking very well, so I added more caulking to get it to stick better. Very secure now. Put the door panel back on, everything working like a charm, but this guy wasn't helping much. He likes to be IN the process.

I got the section I ordered from Stephen several weeks ago. I'll need to match it perfectly to what I have so I can butt weld it all together at some point.

Today, my goal was to get the new oil pressure gauge sending unit all squared away. I went with an oil pressure sensor tee to get the job done. I'm not loving how the wiring is coming down to it though. It'll be either getting in the way of the axle or the crank pulley. I'll have to lengthen this wiring. Anybody know if that will be an issue? I assume I can lengthen them and not have it effect how the gauge reads? Let me know guys. I'd like to route it along the washer hoses and down front by the alternator.

since I'm working on the new gauges I decided to test fit the mounting pod with the gauges installed. Going with oil pressure, boost and wideband. Also looking at where to drill the 3rd hole for the top gauge in the factory trim.

Last thing I did was to repair this lower dash piece as it was starting to separate from itself essentially.

92AWDHX40 · Feb 19, 2024

I jhad a some metal welded there, but doors work find and the pinch isnt so bad stil refining.

Silverspyder · Feb 25, 2024

Continued with the oil pressure gauge this weekend as well as getting the gauge pillar installed. First thing I needed to do was lengthen the oil pressure sender wiring so I could route it in a way not to get caught up in the belts. I routed all wiring through the steering grommet and I wanted to route the wiring along the stock harness.
So, I started by cutting off the plug and using these soldersticks to lengthen the wiring. Good thing I already had several rolls of the same colors and the same gauge.

First time using these...pretty cool. Use a heat gun and the low temp solder in the middle melts and solders the wires together. I didn't need to, but I also used heat shrink tube over these.
Next up was wrapping the entire thing in Tesa tape like I've done with the stock harness in the past. To get tension on the wires while I wrap, I just clamped them to a drawer.

I then wrapped them in mesh loom for even more protection (and because it looks way better) I followed the stock harness up by the alternator using zip ties and up near the driver's side headlight and then followed the washer nozzle lines. I may change this up later because it seems like it rubs on the hood when I latch it. If I do change it, I'll have it follow the power steering pressure line.

Next, I needed to join the wiring together at the original spot where I cut it. I used the same method and loomed it up to the firewall.

With that part done, I wanted to get the gauges in the pod and get it bolted into the car so it was out of the way and the upper part was done. Since I routed the wiring in the cabin awhile back, the hardest part was getting the wiring all crammed in behind the stock a-pillar panel. I may have broken a few of the clips, but I have tons. Oh, and don't do what I did and get it all bolted in before you put the speaker cover back on.

I always screw these into the A-pillar. Some guys use double-sided tape, but I've never seen that look good. It always gives way. I drilled through the center between the first two gauges. I then use a countersink bit so the screw head sits flush and then use a screw cover so it looks clean.

Next weekend I'll be working on the bottom side wiring to get power and ground. Probably be working on the Wideband portion as well.

92AWDHX40 · Feb 26, 2024

Looks good where did you find the plastic cover for the screw

DreamChaser7 · Feb 26, 2024

Great job love following this build. Where you getting the soldersticks and wiring from?

Silverspyder · Feb 26, 2024

I get everything on Amazon. Just search for "automotive wire" and pick your gauge. I bought a pack of six, 100ft rolls in a few gauges. The solder sticks are easy enough to find and the for the screws just search "plastic screw cover" and you'll find a bunch.

Silverspyder · Mar 3, 2024

Still wiring up everything this week. Kinda boring but has to be done. Worked on getting the gauges and the control harness for the LC-2 all setup. I wanted to de-pin, pin #4 on the ECU harness so I could make a pigtail to hookup the connection for the wideband controller, but I tried for an hour and could not for the life of me get it de-pinned. My pin tools were just not cutting it today, so I went with a tried and true wire tap method. It's not my first choice but it should get the job done. Just splice in, use a pliers to snap it on and put a spade connector on the wire you want to use. In this case it's the wire coming from the controller.

For the power for the gauges I used a fuse add-on and put it in place of the "cigar" fuse in the fuse box. That should be a 12v connection with key-on. I didn't test it, but if it's not I can easily change this out.

I used bullet connectors on the power and ground connections for the gauges in case I need to remove them for some reason or need some slack in the wires if removing the a-pillar again.

I also fed the sensor wire through the steering column grommet so it can connect with the controller that I'll zip-tie underneath the dash. Next week i'll remove the stock O2 sensor and install the wideband sensor and route all the wiring and button it all back up. then I'll need to calibrate the sensor. The hardest part is already done. It's boring doing wiring and Atlas here agrees.

Silverspyder · Mar 10, 2024

I wanted to get the gauges all done this weekend, BUT I basically re-did everything I did last week too. I just wasn't a fan of the bullet connectors and how they looked...it was quite a mess under there, so I found some wire connectors. Basically WAGO's. Figured I'd give them a shot. They are small and they hold the wires nice and tight.

I have a 4-in-1 and a 5-in-1 I used. four powers and five grounds. Worked great and takes up way less space and the best part is they are re-useable and easy to swap out. With lots of routing an re-routing of wires under the dash, I managed to get everything nice and tidy and in it's place using the add-a-fuse in the "cigar" fuse spot. It's a 12v switched fuse as I was able to successfully calibrate my wideband O2 sensor.

While I was under the dash, the foam around my vent opening disintegrated so I replaced it

I also got the boost gauge connector and wideband controller all buttoned up under the radio where the shifter cables are behind the ECU. On the engine side I tee'd off of the FPR line to intake manifold.

Next was getting the new wideband O2 sensor installed in the stock location (I'll simulate narrowband using ECMlink). In order to reach it I removed the power steering pump and bracket as well as dipstick tube. A pain in the ass, but makes it much easier. Surprisingly the O2 sensor came out nice and easy.

I routed the new controller wiring through the engine bay along the same route as the stock one. It was a tight fit, but it fit in the stock holder as well. I used the stock clips on the exhaust manifold as well.

While I had the PS pump out, I noticed the PS heat shield was looking a little rough, so I sandblasted it, primed and re-painted it. Looks pretty good now.

Everything all bolted back up. Eventually, I'll get a stainless PS heat shield.

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