1990 TSi, Roll-over ready.

[Sebba]

I guess most people around here only give a #### about going fast in straight lines :/

Been watching this thread since the start. Glad to see she's still kickin'.

I would love to see this car with a top mount setup.

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

I guess most people around here only give a #### about going fast in straight lines :/

Been watching this thread since the start. Glad to see she's still kickin'.

I would love to see this car with a top mount setup.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

I think it might have to do with the journal seeming a little disorganized compared to some of the others around here. I'll work on that one of these weeks.

 

[AngelOfPassion]

I guess most people around here only give a #### about going fast in straight lines :/

Been watching this thread since the start. Glad to see she's still kickin'.

I would love to see this car with a top mount setup.

I would take Road Race/Rally over Drag any day

 

[Drew84]

I hope to see you at BRS, I was there last year shooting photos. The car is looking good.

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

I hope to see you at BRS, I was there last year shooting photos. The car is looking good.

I'll make it, though without a little help I might not finish!

Stop by and say hello!

 

[Drew84]

I will

OH also you were at ESPR ? What car? I was shooting photos there as well.

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

I will

OH also you were at ESPR ? What car? I was shooting photos there as well.

#96, Turbo'd Mazda 323 in 2WDHeavy

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

Got her out in the sun for a little bit, not good lighting for pictures... But since I just got my DSMTuners.com stickers, I had to take one!

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

Car is currently at a shop getting the exhaust finished and replacement rear crossmember supports, with new body attachment points, as the old had completely sheared. Not sure how the bolts were still hanging on, they spun freely.

Got a decent picture of the Daily and the Talon together.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Car is currently at a shop getting the exhaust finished and replacement rear crossmember supports, with new body attachment points, as the old had completely sheared. Not sure how the bolts were still hanging on, they spun freely.

Got a decent picture of the Daily and the Talon together.

The Talon sure cleans up nice! I just noticed all your older pictures have disappeared. Any chance you could reupload them, this time hosted here instead of linking them from another site? I just posted a picture of your car today on the DirtyEvo Facebook page. I'm not sure if you're on FB or not but if you are check it out!

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

The Talon sure cleans up nice! I just noticed all your older pictures have disappeared. Any chance you could reupload them, this time hosted here instead of linking them from another site? I just posted a picture of your car today on the DirtyEvo Facebook page. I'm not sure if you're on FB or not but if you are check it out!

Thanks for the heads up, looking into it now.

Finally got the car to sound civilized;

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

Changed the transmission fluid, seems the syncros have been chomped into a bit... Oh well.

Next up, transfercase and rear differential

Realized pretty quickly when trying to get the differential fill plug out that I'd need to get the grinder out.
Had lots of "custom" tools for my Lotus, here's the first one for the Talon.

Nasty magnetic sludge on the drain plug.

Didn't get to the transfercase, maybe tomorrow.

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

Just a few things left to get done before the rally in September.

Ordered a new ABC extinguisher.
An extra road triangle since one seems to have gone missing during the move from Colorado.
An updated first aid kit.

Still to do:
Wideband o2 bung welded.
New tires.
34mm turbo restrictor.
Change transfercase fluid.

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

It's been a while since I last updated this, and unfortunately I didn't get to race the Talon at Black River Stages.

I ordered quite a few safety/tech related items and never got them, so wasn't able to compete in my own car... Couple that with losing my job, well... Sh!t happens

So I decided to Co-drive instead, one part scary, one part terrifying.
~350whp 302ci V8 Extended cab extra-shortbed Ranger, driver had a stroke 3 years ago and had a difficult time processing notes for turns we weren't at yet... which made fast sections a bit scary, and "intos" pretty useless.

Then this happened;

Lost 35 minutes on Stage 2, it was raining, muddy, and starting to get cold.
Light sweep came through in a late 90's Subaru and said he didn't wanna pull us out. But a little bit of pleading I convinced him to atleast try.

Out in a pull and a half.

The next stage and service is a bit of a blur, lack of sleep, food, water, zero traction, getting pulled over etc resulted in a total of 9 minutes of early to TC penalties... Whoops.

Also managed to destroy the windshield and dent up the hood on the Talon... Check hood-pins.. twice, then check them again.

Had the same thing happened the night before the race in the rally Ranger but it had a fiberglass hood so no damage was done.

All in all we finished 7th in class, 22nd (I think) over all out of 41 car entries... Without the off and without the penalties we would have been roughly 12th overall, not bad for a stroke survivor driving basically what he see's and a nervous co-driver

I got the medal I missed out on from ESPR last spring.

 

[Paddy1337]

Really digging this thread, thanks for making it. I am currently planning a 1G build for stage rally. I used to RallyX my Evo, and would love to do stage rally, and think a 1G would be great fun.

Thanks for sharing all the info (rally info seems like super secrets) you have. Some of it will surely be useful in the preparation of my first stage rally build.

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

Been a while again guys... Had a few issues including a seized caliper so the Rally car has been sitting on stands for the past few months...

I did manage to hit up ESPR again this year, this time with Erik Potts, in his very quick Ford Focus.

Managed to get 1st in 2wd, and 3rd overall out of about 40 entries.

 

[Drew84]

Nice you guys where looking fast out there when I took that picture.

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

Nice you guys where looking fast out there when I took that picture.

Thanks for being out there taking pictures!! My favorite thing the few days after is finding all the pictures to help combat the rally hangover.

Also, Erik is a super smooth driver... Zero drama, zero moments(Other than the header separating at the turbo for the last 2 stages), though I know sideways looks cool.

 

[OffThePace]

The roll-over ready 1990 TSi is under new ownership and the documentation of its adventures will continue on this thread.

I purchased the car mainly for the fact that it is log booked and legal to race. I have had a long-time goal to rally and finally decided to pull the trigger. The other reason I purchased the car was that I can ice race it with the Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club (AMEC) in upstate New York. I plan to race it in the street legal studded class (SLS4) as well as the AWD class that allows serious off-road screw-stud type tires. Ice racing is as close to rally as you can get and the cost is unbelievably low at $50 for 3 heat races plus a warmup heat for a total of about 60 minutes of sideways fun. PM me if you'd like to learn more about it or check us out at www.icerace.com, www.youtube.com/user/ameciceracing, or on Facebook.

Here is a picture of me picking up the car:

I'm new to DSM so I've been using the forum here extensively to get up to speed quickly. My first goal is to get the car reliable. It has completed 34 stage rallies since new which is a huge accomplishment. It has been ridden hard and needs some TLC to get back into shape.

I look forward to sharing my adventures and getting help from the DSMtuners community.
-Michael Waterhouse

 

[Dhan]

I met the old owner back when the car was here in CO. Definitely a cool ride. Glad it lives on to fight another day!

 

[OffThePace]

Besides getting the car inspected my first project was to not blow the engine. The car didn't come with an air/fuel gauge so I didn't know if the GM MAF with translator or other mods or problems were running the car lean.

I did get the car inspected without too much trouble. It needed several new bulbs but that was really it.

I decided to go with the Innovative Motorsports MTX-L wide band AFR, Auto Meter 48009 pedestal mount gauge holder, and the Daystar KU20040BK firewall grommet/boot to get the cable into the car. The boot is large enough that the massive connector or sensor can go through the hole.

The exhaust on the car was done terribly by a shop when the previous owner had the car. The shop gave him his money back and refused to fix it. It looks like it was their first time welding. I did a leak check on the exhaust system by jamming my boost leak checker into the down pipe and taping a plastic bag to the exhaust tip. I could only put a few psi into the pipe but that is probably enough to find major leaks. What I found was swiss cheese.

I priced out new exhaust parts and was around $250-$300. Since the exhaust could probably be fixed and I'm trying to fight my tendency to put too much money in cars, I decided to fix the welds. I used 309 wire since the joints were stainless to mild steel. I used my new Everlast iTig-200T which I'm very impressed with. It's working very well and the price versus features is unbelievable. The only problem is that there is a gas leak inside the unit so it leaks a little Argon when I'm not welding. It's a bit of a problem because the Argon isn't free and there's an Argon shortage.

I'm teaching myself to weld and I'm fairly happy with the results. They're not professional looking but they aren't leaking.

I cut a 1.25 inch hole into the passenger foot well. I should have checked where my pilot hole ended up when I drilled it from under the car. I ended up nicking the wiring harness so I had to repair a few wires head first down in the wheel well. A couple minutes of checking could have saved me a lot of headache.

Today I'll reinstall the exhaust and run it for a while to see if my welds crack.

 

[OffThePace]

So I put the exhaust on and bolted everything back together. It was a pita maneuvering the entire exhaust as one long welded piece.

I put it back together and the car wouldn't start! It would crank and crank but wouldn't catch. I confirmed fuel flow by disconnecting the fuel rail discharge. I didn't have spark confirmed by using an in-line spark checker. I poked around and found that the MIP fusible link was broken. I think the MIP stands for Multi-Point fuel Injection. It wasn't blown, the wire broke off the connector. I was actually able to jamb the wire back in and drive the car 7 miles to the parts store.

So once I got it started the AFR was reading around 19! Way too lean! I jumped on-line for the MAF Translator manual. I was quickly able to adjust the idle dial to make it more rich. The whole band was a bit lean so I played around with the translator on the trip to and from the store. I couldn't get the idle AFR rich enough by turning up the idle dial. I knew the idle was high but I finally realized that the Translator thought I was off idle so it was using the mid band. I ended up lowering the base adjustment even though the car has 550 injectors.

When I got home I looked into lowering the idle speed. The hole for the BISS (Base Idle Set Screw) was filled in with silicone and this is what I found when I dug it out:

I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking at but I believe it's a broken wood screw. I guess I'll try to remove it and see if a proper BISS will fit.

 

[DogWhistle]

Thanks for keeping the updates coming. Most DSMer's only have to do repairs that will hold up to street use, but racing is a whole other level. We don't race our DSMs, but do race motocross. We know that preparation is key and you have to have ingenuity to repair at the track. Kudos to you on your racing ventures and letting us watch your DSM rip it up on the track.

 

[buddahboost]

Subscribed for future updates!

 

[OffThePace]

An ice racer friend of mine changed his race plans and sold me his Talon stuff super cheap. The stuff includes a complete car, hood, hatch, two doors, front and rear bumpers, rims, and a motor. Since I need to fix the throttle body I took tarp off the motor and this is what I found:

It's the most bad-ass spare engine ever!