Infamous33
10+ Year Contributor
- 100
- 2
- May 30, 2011
-
Chicopee,
Massachusetts
After letting this car sit for almost 6 years, I have decided to rebuild it and make some mild/moderate upgrades. I wanted to share this rebuild with everyone and will try to post updates/ improvements as I go.
Let me start with a little background. I have been an auto tech. for over 19 years now and have worked on everything you can think of. About 4 years ago I decided that I would never be happy working for someone else, so I started my own business.
As for my DSM background.. I bought my first one back in '94. A 1990 Eclipse GSX, a sweet car that was bone stock and only had 85k on it. I drove the crap out of it, blowing the trans. twice. The second time it happened was racing a Honda. When I shifted to 3rd and let the clutch out to pass him, all hell broke lose and I laid down a 4 wheel skid mark that went for about 60 feet. After having the car towed to the shop I worked at, I pulled the trans and found out I broke the 1-2 shift fork, upon shifting to third, I effectively put the trans in 2nd and 3rd at the same time. This didn't really work out well for my race or the tranny, as it blew the side cover open when 5th gear came apart as well as breaking the counter shaft clean in half.
While looking for another trans. I heard about an 'old Talon' that some guy was selling. I went to look at it and found out it was a '90 TSI. It didn't run, and he was told that it had 'wiring issues' but he wasn't interested in spending $100's to fix it. I bought it for $500 and he even towed it to the house for me !!
My wife was less than pleased to see another car towed into the driveway and parked next to the other tow-in.
Once I explained the reason I bought it to her, I headed out to have a look. Within 15 minutes it was running ! Turned out the caps leaked and ruined the board. As I would come to find out, having an identical car parked next to this one would come in handy.
Once I had it running, and sounding fairly good I might add, I took a good look at what I had. I realized the interior left ALOT to be desired... The 'party' colored flecks in the fabric felt sort of like a reflection off a disco ball.
Thus came the interior swap: seats, carpet(covered in dog hair), door panels, and the dash which was lifting and separating more than a Victoria's Secret bra !!
Now that I was able to sit inside without feeling like a member of the BeeGee's, I took it for a ride and realized it was in no way street ready. This marked the first rebuild, dubbed the 'hillbilly rebuild' I swapped pretty much everything (in hindsight, it would have been easier to just put the damn trans. in my Eclipse and go back to driving...) The downpipe was broken at the flex, swapped.. the pass. side axle clicked bad, swapped.. the P/S rack leaked like a senior at BINGO, swapped.. I even swapped in my 'just about new' plugs, wires and fuel filter.
Then came the day that my current vehicle (a '97 Dodge Ram) got traded in at the dealership. 'twas a deal I couldn't pass up and I bought it. As if to spite me, the last time I drove the Talon... putting it in the garage at the house, I blew a brake line and almost put it through the back wall into the pool.
Fast forward to present time, I have had my own shop for 3 years and I get a 2g AWD towed in that won't run. Of course this got me thinking about how much I really miss being a DSM'er....sigh.... Once I got his running and waiting for more parts, I pushed the TSI into the shop and found out it needed more than a brake line and a battery.
The ECU needed caps plus, and after having no luck finding a good '90 EPROM, I sent it off to ECMtuners.com
While that was out and waiting for a quote, I decided I might as well pull the intake and exhaust manifolds and turbo to do some porting...
Of course, this was the point when I said... 'Self, if you are going to port the mani's you might as well do the head too and why not freshen up the gaskets....
Insert hours of cleaning, porting and polishing 'here'
Ahhhh, with that done, I sent the head off to the maching shop for a bath, a shave and a valve retouch.
Next I looked at the brakes...(remembering that this is a budget rebuild) and said
Well, crap. Those won't stop a Yugo stuck in first....
Therefore I decided if I'm going to clean things up I might as well do the needed upgrades that Mitsu couldn't do
Fresh 2g pads, rotors, calipers and hoses for the front, stock pads and rotors for the rear. I had to rebuild the calipers due to bound up pistons. Pictures of the clean rears to follow.
That is all the worth while pics I have right now, more to follow in a day or two. This is not planned to be a race car, I just felt I would share the 'common man' resurrection with all of you. As for anyone that is wondering why I am calling it a Mitsubishi Talon....
Stay tuned for more pics and you will understand
Let me start with a little background. I have been an auto tech. for over 19 years now and have worked on everything you can think of. About 4 years ago I decided that I would never be happy working for someone else, so I started my own business.
As for my DSM background.. I bought my first one back in '94. A 1990 Eclipse GSX, a sweet car that was bone stock and only had 85k on it. I drove the crap out of it, blowing the trans. twice. The second time it happened was racing a Honda. When I shifted to 3rd and let the clutch out to pass him, all hell broke lose and I laid down a 4 wheel skid mark that went for about 60 feet. After having the car towed to the shop I worked at, I pulled the trans and found out I broke the 1-2 shift fork, upon shifting to third, I effectively put the trans in 2nd and 3rd at the same time. This didn't really work out well for my race or the tranny, as it blew the side cover open when 5th gear came apart as well as breaking the counter shaft clean in half.
While looking for another trans. I heard about an 'old Talon' that some guy was selling. I went to look at it and found out it was a '90 TSI. It didn't run, and he was told that it had 'wiring issues' but he wasn't interested in spending $100's to fix it. I bought it for $500 and he even towed it to the house for me !!
My wife was less than pleased to see another car towed into the driveway and parked next to the other tow-in.
Once I explained the reason I bought it to her, I headed out to have a look. Within 15 minutes it was running ! Turned out the caps leaked and ruined the board. As I would come to find out, having an identical car parked next to this one would come in handy.
Once I had it running, and sounding fairly good I might add, I took a good look at what I had. I realized the interior left ALOT to be desired... The 'party' colored flecks in the fabric felt sort of like a reflection off a disco ball.
Thus came the interior swap: seats, carpet(covered in dog hair), door panels, and the dash which was lifting and separating more than a Victoria's Secret bra !!
Now that I was able to sit inside without feeling like a member of the BeeGee's, I took it for a ride and realized it was in no way street ready. This marked the first rebuild, dubbed the 'hillbilly rebuild' I swapped pretty much everything (in hindsight, it would have been easier to just put the damn trans. in my Eclipse and go back to driving...) The downpipe was broken at the flex, swapped.. the pass. side axle clicked bad, swapped.. the P/S rack leaked like a senior at BINGO, swapped.. I even swapped in my 'just about new' plugs, wires and fuel filter.
Then came the day that my current vehicle (a '97 Dodge Ram) got traded in at the dealership. 'twas a deal I couldn't pass up and I bought it. As if to spite me, the last time I drove the Talon... putting it in the garage at the house, I blew a brake line and almost put it through the back wall into the pool.
Fast forward to present time, I have had my own shop for 3 years and I get a 2g AWD towed in that won't run. Of course this got me thinking about how much I really miss being a DSM'er....sigh.... Once I got his running and waiting for more parts, I pushed the TSI into the shop and found out it needed more than a brake line and a battery.
The ECU needed caps plus, and after having no luck finding a good '90 EPROM, I sent it off to ECMtuners.com
While that was out and waiting for a quote, I decided I might as well pull the intake and exhaust manifolds and turbo to do some porting...
Of course, this was the point when I said... 'Self, if you are going to port the mani's you might as well do the head too and why not freshen up the gaskets....
Insert hours of cleaning, porting and polishing 'here'
Ahhhh, with that done, I sent the head off to the maching shop for a bath, a shave and a valve retouch.
Next I looked at the brakes...(remembering that this is a budget rebuild) and said
Well, crap. Those won't stop a Yugo stuck in first....
Therefore I decided if I'm going to clean things up I might as well do the needed upgrades that Mitsu couldn't do
Fresh 2g pads, rotors, calipers and hoses for the front, stock pads and rotors for the rear. I had to rebuild the calipers due to bound up pistons. Pictures of the clean rears to follow.
That is all the worth while pics I have right now, more to follow in a day or two. This is not planned to be a race car, I just felt I would share the 'common man' resurrection with all of you. As for anyone that is wondering why I am calling it a Mitsubishi Talon....
Stay tuned for more pics and you will understand
glad that having my car sit there is worth something to someone...
