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1Gb Talon Rust Revival

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Is that stud salvageable? It looks beyond that point to me but I don’t have much rust to deal with in my area. If anyone can save it, I’d bet you can.
Hard to say, but I'm going to try. what's the alternative? I'm guessing the stud is pressed into the frame like the bumper ones are. I don't see any way to access the other side of it. I suppose drill it out and tap the hole might work if the metal is thick enough, but I doubt it. Grind smooth and weld on a new stud? I'm no welder so that's out.
 
Think it should be fine as long as threads above it are ok. @Silverspyder is that the stud that’s on the rear passengers side? I noticed that was the only corroded nut holding my tank when I was back there last week.
 
Think it should be fine as long as threads above it are ok. @Silverspyder is that the stud that’s on the rear passengers side? I noticed that was the only corroded nut holding my tank when I was back there last week.
It's the middle one back there, but the passenger side doesn't look much better, Here's a better pic of them both.
rustyboltsgastank.jpg
 
I woke up yesterday and chose violence. I was going to get the damn fuel tank removed one way or another. Kept working on that stuck and rusted nut. This time I used an air chisel on it to try and shake it/cut it free. Just did more to mangle the whole thing.

mangledbolt.jpg


As you can see, the entire thing is completely mangled. Was time to pull out the cut off wheel. Because it's such a tight area, my Milwaukee mini grinder (with 3" wheel) worked great.
milwaukeesmall.jpg

But first, I needed to seal up the tank really well. Creating sparks and working around fuel vapor makes me nervous...especially since I can't smell it very well ever since I had covid a year and a half ago. My sense of smell is still jacked a bit. I used aluminum tape and sealed up the fuel sender opening and all the hoses before I went at it. turned my garage fans on high and began cutting.
coveredgas.jpg
crosscut.jpg
crosscut2.jpg
finnishedbolt2.jpg

this is what's left of this goddamn nut and stud.
mangledboltend.jpg


she's finally free!! The hose clamps for the return line and vent were so corroded, I just cut the damn hoses. The top of the tank is in much better shape than I would have thought considering the rest of the rear before I began this whole journey.
gasdtankbefore.jpg
gastank.jpg

Now, the messy part...grinding and wire wheeling this damn thing. Not sure how I'm going to coat it yet, but priority is getting rid of as much surface rust as possible.
wirebrushfueltank.jpg

Lots of little pea-sized and dime-sized areas of rust on this thing in seemingly random spots. Nothing too terrible, but it did cause some pitting.
wirebrushtank2.jpg

Next up is treating the rust, cleaning her up and I'll propbably POR15 the whole thing for some extra protection and then probably do what they did from the factory and paint the top black and redo the bottom with rubber undercoating. I also need to get back underneath the car and por15 the area where the tank sits, since I couldn't get to it when I did it the first time. I will also use RTM's stud repair kit. I had already done it my way in the past (drilled out the studs and threaded the holes and installed stainless hardware) but the repair kit is more solid and should last forever.
 
Today's goal was to install the stud repair kit and get the tank ready for coating. I did a bunch more wire brushing and grinding. Tons of tiny little areas under the paint with just a bubble of surface rust. I think I got them all. I made a point to get around the sending unit hole really well.
afterwirebrushing.jpg

Next up before I drilled out the new holes and shored everything up for the repair kit, I needed to flatten the top where the original studs were. When I repaired this years ago, I drilled out the studs and threaded the holes, then used stainless steel hardware from below to act as new studs. With doing so in the car, some of the old stud material was left intact. Time to get rid of it. I used a carbide burr bit on my cordless dremel. Made short work of it and smoothed it nicely. I used some aluminum tape, sticky side up to try and catch some of the crud I was creating. As you can see it did a decent job.


beforesmoothing.jpg
burrbit.jpg
smoothedout.jpg

I used the supplied drill guide to make sure everything was lined up perfectly for the new repair kit. If you haven't seen RTM's repair kit, the premise is to drill the holes out, with adding a couple more to then install 1 or 2 c-shaped metal pieces, which you then bolt the sending unit to. Depending on how many studs you have missing determines if you use one or both of the pieces. I had no factory studs left, so I used them both. In all honesty, this thing is such a meaty piece of metal, that I'd remove all the crappy factory studs anyway and use these. These add a substantial amount of new metal to this flawed area of the tank making it much stronger overall.
drillguide.jpg


Here you can see one of the pieces. I did a test fit to make sure all the bolt holes lined up and threaded in perfectly first. The second pic is of them both installed using the supplied button head screws. These screw into the pieces to secure them to the underside of the tank (these are completely new holes you must drill), then the remaining holes are for the sending unit to bolt into.
afterstufffix.jpg
studfixer2.jpg

I did a test fit of the sending unit to make sure everything lined up and bolted down perfectly.

sendingunittestfit.jpg
sendingunittestfit2.jpg


I then removed everything so I can prep for coating. I have some rust converter spray sitting around, so I decided to use it here because this is such a big area to coat. First, I washed the tank with soapy water, then wiped down with rubbing alcohol to remove any dirt and grease. I then sprayed 3 light coats of rust converter.
rustconvert.jpg


It takes about 24 hours to fully cure and convert, but after 20minutes you can already see it turning the rust black. I wanted to make sure I got all the little pitted areas, so this method worked well.
afterrustconvertor.jpg

I'll let this cure all week, then next weekend I'll POR15 the top of the tank and topcoat it black. I'll also begin working on the remainder of the underside of the car.
 
This week was all about getting the old lines removed and coating the fuel tank and underside of the car where the tank sits.

First, I removed the hard lines for the fuel return (rail to tank) and the vent line (tank to engine bay). These lines were pretty corroded and pretty much collapsed as soon as I moved them. I'll be replacing the return line with -6an teflon coated braided line and I'll probably vent the tank underneath the car in the rear using the stock valves like before.
fuellinesremoved.jpg


I decided to blast and POR15 this little shield piece that was adhered to the corner of the tank. It's also in pretty rough shape. I had to chisel off the large rust chunks before I could blast it.
gasshieldblast.jpg


Here are some before pics of what I coated. As you can see, the underside of the car is still pretty rusty. This was after I wire wheeled and scraped off the chunks.
gastankbeforepor.jpg
undersidebeforepor.jpg
undersidebeforepor2.jpg

After degreasing and metal prepping/etching, I went to work on two coats of POR15. Waiting about 2hrs between coats. I didn't do the entirety of the underside as there was no need to do the good spots. Next weekend I'll paint the top of the tank, undercoat the underside of the car and the bottom of the tank and shield, then install the sending unit and get it all back in the car.
gastankafterpor.jpg
undersideafterpor.jpg
 
Lots of topcoating and small details this weekend so far. Firs tthing was getting the fuel tank and accessories associated with it all buttoned up. Coated the top of the tank with a matte black and the underside in undercoating. same thing with the fuel tank shield...inside was matte black and outside is rubberized undercoating. I installed the RTM stud repair kit and got the sending unit installed as well.
fueltankafter.jpg
fueltankshield.jpg
undercoatedgastank.jpg

Same went for the underside of the car. I sprayed it with rubberized undercoating to offer it some protection. Looks a lot better too...now it matches all the work I did previously.
undercoatedrear.jpg

I'm also replacing all the rubber hoses attached to the tank. Added some AN fittings while I was at it.
fueltanknewhoses.jpg


The stock fuel tank drain plug was getting kinda round, and of course it's a bit rusty. I decided to source a new one as well as the fiber gasket. The bolt is slightly longer (5mm), but I went with stainless steel and it has a smaller head on it (17mm) compared to the stock plug (24mm). The gasket is a red vulcanized fiber typically used on Ferarri's...figured it was good enough for a DSM.
sidebysideplugs.jpg
gasdrainplug.jpg
newfuel plug.jpg


Replaced the pads on the underside of the tank while I was at it.

newpadsfueltank.jpg

I POR'd the opening for the sending unit as this area can get a bit rusty as well. I needed to paint it again to match the inside of the car.
trunkbeforepaint.jpg
trunkpainnew.jpg

Onto the fuel lines themselves. I am running all new -6AN fuel feed and return lines. So I got all the fitting installed on the hoses. I really like the ease of installing -AN fittings into PTFE hose. Cut hose, install the ferrule, jam the nipple into the hose and tighten it all up.
newanfittings.jpg
ptfeanfittings.jpg


Decided to make the fuel filter to rail line as well. Used black nylon covered line for this one to match the rest of the engine bay.
fuelrailline.jpg

installed the fitting for my -10AN turbo drain kit as well.
oildrainline.jpg

I started to feed the new lines up under the car, but ran out of time, so I'll be continuing that tomorrow.
 
Today was all about getting the tank back up under the car. Not too difficult, just kind of a pain balancing everything on my back.
tankinstalled.jpg


With the tank reinstalled, I could get the fuel feed line I made connected to the new sending unit.
sendingunitinstalloed.jpg

Next up was the cover. It's always been pretty nasty looking so I blasted it as best I could, then repainted in the stock gloss black.
sendingunitcoverbefore.jpg
sendingunitcover.jpg
 
Worked on the fuel lines this weekend. I prefer to route them using the stock mounting locations, but with rust taking it's toll on the clips, bolts and of course the new lines being bigger than the stock ones, that makes it difficult, so some time and modification is involved.
First, I installed the new filter. Love that pop of gold.

fuellabfilter.jpg

Next up was taking care of the clips that hold the lines clamps/looms onto the underside of the car. I blasted them, primed and painted black. Most of these were in pretty rough shape. I also modified the plastic line separators to accept the bigger lines, but retain the stock brake line. Since, I was removing three stock lines and adding two new (larger lines), it was fairly easy.
blastedclip.jpg
modedlineclip.jpg


I used the stock mounting locations in all areas, except one near the tank here...the one on the top is the stock location, the other I used a self-tapping screw. Just BARELY enough room to route the new lines under the new mustache bar.
fuelines1.jpg

Here are a couple of other mounting locations with the modified clips.
fuellines2.jpg
fuellines3.jpg
 
Worked on the fuel lines this weekend. I prefer to route them using the stock mounting locations, but with rust taking it's toll on the clips, bolts and of course the new lines being bigger than the stock ones, that makes it difficult, so some time and modification is involved.
First, I installed the new filter. Love that pop of gold.

View attachment 663857
Next up was taking care of the clips that hold the lines clamps/looms onto the underside of the car. I blasted them, primed and painted black. Most of these were in pretty rough shape. I also modified the plastic line separators to accept the bigger lines, but retain the stock brake line. Since, I was removing three stock lines and adding two new (larger lines), it was fairly easy.
View attachment 663855View attachment 663860

I used the stock mounting locations in all areas, except one near the tank here...the one on the top is the stock location, the other I used a self-tapping screw. Just BARELY enough room to route the new lines under the new mustache bar.
View attachment 663856
Here are a couple of other mounting locations with the modified clips.
View attachment 663858View attachment 663859
Nice work, what bracket is that holding your fuel filter. Did it come with the filter?
 
Finally finished up the fuel lines and got everything reinstalled and where I want it. One of the stock bracket location bolts was completely thrashed from years of that bolt being broken underneath the car. What I ended up doing (drilling it out would have been a HUGE hassle) was drilling a new hole slighter to the left of the old hole(which isn't even a hole anymore) and using an m8 RivNut to secure the modified bracket I made above.
rivnutfuelline.jpg

With all the lines firmly secured to the car from the tank to the front wheels, it was time to fish them up into the engine bay. I used the same routing as the stock lines and just followed the brake lines into the engine bay. I ended up securing the return line to the rail using the existing bracket to hold it to the firewall.
returnlinestockbracket.jpg
returnline2222.jpg

Next up was reinstalling the wiring to the top of the FPSU. I'll be venting the tank using the stock valves, but will be routing out the back of the car instead. You can see one of the valves here.
wiredfsu.jpg

Now that I have the entire fuel system re-done, I wanted to just get some stuff off my garage floor and back onto the car and maybe get this damn thing started one of these days.
I reinstalled the battery tray after a thorough cleaning. You can also see where the new fuel feed lines come in from the right. I have it terminated with a 90 deg elbow feeding into the bottom of the filter. This method just barely clears the new shifter cables.
batterybracketreinstalled.jpg

Next up was getting the stock fan and the radiator hoses back on. they also needed a thorough cleaning. The J-pipe was also installed too. All with new clamps/hardware.
cleanedfan2.jpg
cleanfans.jpg


Next was FMIC and bumper. My FMIC was filthy so i gave it a good cleaning. I'm not one for polished end tanks and what not, so I just cleaned her up really well and got her back on. I also used compressed air to blow a bunch of crap back out the front.
Before:
dirtyfmic.jpg

After:
fmccleaned.jpg

Installed with bumper:
fmicreinstalled.jpg

Headlights and sidemarkers were up next. This reminded me that many years ago, one of the side marker mounting tabs broke off on me. I made a metal plate and secured it on either end. It may not look super pretty but it's solid as hell and doesn't budge at all.
headlightfixbracket.jpg

sidemarkerfix2.jpg

installed: Heat shield re-installed on the exhaust manifold too.
headlightsreinstalled.jpg

Before putting my IC pipes back on, I wanted to address my stock CBV...I forgot to take a picture, but I wanted to change it from the old copper color I painted it a few years back to something more in line with the new color scheme. You can kind of see the old color here under this thin coat of primer.
primedcbv.jpg

Decided to paint it gold to add another subtle pop of color to match the new fuel filter.
paintedcbvgold.jpg

I've got all new LED bulbs coming this week to change out the lights on the front end...then I'll continue putting her back together...
 
Getting a lot of little things done today to hopefully get her back together and get her on the road a bit this season...

today, I started with the intercooler piping. Getting it reinstalled. It's been so long, it took me awhile to remember the exact orientation of the piping.

goldenginebay.jpg

Broke several t-bolt clamps. I've never had this happen before, let alone 3 times! Good thing I had new ones sitting around.
brokentoboltclamp.jpg
newtboltclamp.jpg



I also replaced all the lights up front with LEDs...including the headlights. If you need to know bulb sizes: headlights (low beams) are: 9006 bulbs, sidemarkers are: 168 and blinkers are: 1157NA
newmidbulbs.jpg
newheadlightsled.jpg
littlebulbsss.jpg

I reinstalled the battery as well...Odyssey battery.
batteryreinstalled.jpg


Then, the intake with UNI filter.

newenginebay.jpg


I then spent some time shortening the turbo oil drain line to make it fit perfectly.
newoildrainline.jpg
 
Going over a lot of the small stuff lately just putting the car back together. I went over the fuel lines again from tank to engine bay just to tidy things up and make sure they are securely fastened to the underside of the car and not in the way of any moving parts...especially in the rear.

fuellinestraight.jpg


I then swapped out the oil drain plug with a magnetic Greddy unit and while I was under there I noticed the NPT plugs for the spare oil housing ports were looking nasty af, so I replaced them with new 3/8" brass NPT plugs. I replaced the oil pan a few years back so it's still looking pretty.
greddydrainplug.jpg
oilhousingplug.jpg


Next up was cleaning and reinstalling the inner fender liners with new hardware. I ran out of time before I could get the smaller forward pieces installed. That'll be next up.

fenderlinerinstalled.jpg
 
A little of this and a little of that this weekend. Still getting the car put back together. Got all the fender liners/bumper supports installed. I'm using all new clips as the stock ones are pretty janky at this point. I like these ones as they are more flush and give a more "clean" aesthetic.

clips1.jpg
clips2.jpg
clips3.jpg

Since I got those on, I could put the front bumper cover back on too. She's starting to look like a car again.
bumperon.jpg

I needed to reinstall my coolant overflow can as well since I attach it to the passenger side front fender liner. I have a write-up on this install somewhere on this site if you're interested.
First, I needed to get it cleaned up again...
overflowcan3.jpg

overflowcan2.jpg

It's tucked up under the air filter
catchcan.jpg


Next up were the two rear fender liners...no matter how much I scrubbed, they just never looked clean and has a brownish tinge to them since they are 30yrs old. I had them installed, but it didn't look right with an all new rear.

fenderliner1111.jpg


So, I decided to put a couple coats of undercoating on them so they'll match the rest of the wheel well.
coatedfenderliner2.jpg

I think they turned out pretty well.
coatedfenderliner.jpg

Here's a pic of the rear-end as she stands now.
undersiderear.jpg

I then moved on to the interior. I had the center console all torn apart so wanted to get that and the new shifter all taken care of. Little did I know, if you want to use the stock center, you need to modify it slightly as the shifter linkage on the shifter base itself will rub.
shiftermod1.jpg

Carving out a notch on both the lower and upper sections of the center console was simple enough.
shiftermod2.jpg

There was no way the stock shifter boot collar was going to work here, and I did want to use the stock one, so I simply cut a slit so it would fit over the new shifter and used a black stainless zip tie to keep it in place. I think it turned out looking pretty clean. Looks almost stock and absolutely no binding on the console or anything now.
shiftercomplete.jpg

I had a brand new e-brake switch sitting around, so while I was had the center console all torn apart I wanted to get it switched out too. Only one screw and one connector.
ebrakesensor.jpg

ebrakecable2.jpg
 
major setback today, but I'll get to that in a moment...

The plan as of late is to get the car back together, fluids filled and bled, check for leaks, get started and maybe drive it a bit this summer.
Started with the fluids...coolant, easy enough and no leaks thus far. Oil, also added...went with Royal Purple 10W40 for our hot summers as I won't be driving it in the winter at all anymore. Expensive stuff, but I've heard good things...
royalpurpleoil.jpg


Filled her up and noticed a small leak at the new oil pan drain plug, so I torqued her down a little more and that took care of that. Next up was fuel...I've had E85 sitting around in buckets when I drained it to remove the tank. Also had a leak at the drain plug...torqued her down a bit and will watch that one for awhile but so far so good.

Before I buttoned up the fuel system, I wanted to redo the connections at the new fuel pump rewire relay. I installed this way back when (15yrs ago) and used cheap connectors in less than ideal location with limited tools. Back then I just connected everything and shoved it into the interior panel.

This is what it looked like...I already did one connection here.
fprelaymessy.jpg

All tidy and shortened up now... Found an existing hole under the panel and used a bolt and nut to secure the relay.

fprelay222.jpg


Since i replaced the entirety of the fuel system with new lines/fittings/electrical connections, I wanted to pressurize it and check for leaks. Got out the laptop and connected to the ECU via ECMLINK V3 and ran the fuel pump for a bit and checked all fittings...All good there too. I also needed to change my global fuel settings as well since I installed bigger injectors too.
tuning.jpg

Having no leaks, allowed me to finally close up the interior. Refinishing the FP cover made it look much better back there.
fpumpcoverafter.jpg

Next up was clutch and brake system. I filled up both reservoirs and gravity bled both systems pretty easily. Fluid through all the lines and all corners. Unfortunately, my brake system was not building pressure no mater what I did. I rechecked the engine bay to make sure all lines were attached on the brake booster/master cyl. I even redid the fittings at the intake manifold just in case there was a leak there. Still no pressure...so I went back through all the hardlines under the car and found the culprit...
brakelineleak.jpg

It was subtle because the new brake fluid is so clean/clear, but you can see the droplet there on the bracket. I located a total of THREE small leaks in the hard lines. All under/at bracket attachment points like this one. The other two leaks are more to the rear. At least now I now why I wasn't building pressure. I have new Nicopp lines and steel fittings on the way. the plan is to cut the hard lines at the front right where they exit under the front subframe, join the new line there and have all new hard lines to the rear. The front lines still look pretty good and I didn't see any leaks up there. This will allow me to easily remove the lines in the future if need be.

Either way, I wanted to keep working on stuff, so I got the boost controller reinstalled with new vacuum lines on it and as short as possible. I like to install my BC at this location. Easy access.
boostcontrollerinstalled.jpg

It's a tight fit with the fan blades, but it works great.
bclineclose.jpg

I wanted to make sure all the new LED lights I installed actually worked, so I started working on this rats nest at the battery. Re-routing, shortening, replacing and securing...I shortened my fuel pump power line and audio amp power cable quite a bit.

Before:
batteryratsnest.jpg


After: Not great, but way better.
batterytermsafter.jpg

All the new lights work great and are way brighter. As I was in and out of the car I noticed the door sills and associated hardware was looking pretty scummy...
doorsillscrewsbefore.jpg


Of course, par for the course as soon as I remove something, I notice more rust. Time to fix, but that takes a lot more time.
rustrepair44444.jpg
rustrpairprimed4444.jpg

As I was spraying this area and waiting for it to dry, I decided to replace the door switches as I had some brand new ones sitting around.

doorswitchbefore.jpg

Of course, once again, remove the cover and theres more rust...rinse and repeat.
doorswitchrust.jpg
newdoorswitch.jpg

Once that was all dry, I got the sills all cleaned up and installed with new hardware. I had some stainless allen head screws and I think they look way better.
doorsillcleanup.jpg

New brake lines come on Wednesday, so that'll be my project for next time...Happy 4th guys!
 
Last edited:
It's all about brake lines this weekend. Here's what I bought this week to get the job done...
allbrakestuff.jpg


First thing I needed to do was decide where I wanted to cut the original/rusty line. I decided to do it here, shortly after where the rear brake lines emerge from under the front subframe.
I cleaned the lines really well first to give myself a good surface to cut and flare...

cleanbrakelines.jpg


This little cutter is great for tight spaces. It's ratcheting so I didn't need to bend and twist the lines all up.
brakelinecutter.jpg
brakecut.jpg


then I removed the old steel brake lines for the rear.
oldbrakeline.jpg


This line straightener made short work of the new lines to get them nice and straight.
linestraightener.jpg


I decided I'd better POR15 the area these old lines took up that I couldn't get to easily before. A few spots were rusty, so I coated them real quick.
por15.jpg

I then flared the ends and joined them up to give me a solid point with which to start running the new Nicopp lines...
newflare.jpg


I offset the new connections from each other so they wouldn't create space issues when I got everything all clamped down later.
newbrakeunionjs.jpg
 
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