92 Eagle Talon AWD

[DreamChaser7]

I spend a lot of time reading other build journals on here and DSMtalk just to keep myself inspired with the build, but man… it’s like a double edged sword! . I get excited for what’s to come, and also stressed about doing all of it haha. The build I have planned for this car is beyond my level of knowledge for sure. But there was a time where pulling an engine/trans and reinstalling seemed like an impossible task, and I’ve now done that so many times I can’t count. My biggest stress at the moment is a point that’s far away, but I can’t help to let it consume me. Creating my own engine and chassis wiring harness. The harness that’s in my car currently is hacked up in a few spots, and I’ve never even laid eyes on a running 1g DSM engine bay in person to familiarize myself with what goes where to know what I’m even looking at . I’ve done my fair share of minor electrical work, but definitely nothing to that extent. Here’s a few photos showing the state of the engine bay and harness before I got around to cleaning and then pulling all the suspension components out.

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I’m right there with you! Tearing mine to nothing and rebuilding from scratch “learnin’ myself” every step of the way. Engine and chassis harnesses got me like as well. One step at a time.

 

[1cleangsx]

Very cool build!! My first dsm experience was my my buddies 92 16g talon, first turbo car I’d ever ridden in and that got me hooked . Your suspension over haul is very impressive, I’m about to get up under mine this weekend, my j1h shows up tomorrow , and are you going auto? In the prior post I thought your t case looked like a manual one, either way I’m excited to see your cage install, congrats on parenthood, you think you love your car, wait till you hold that baby

 

[schmitty_z]

Very cool build!! My first dsm experience was my my buddies 92 16g talon, first turbo car I’d ever ridden in and that got me hooked . Your suspension over haul is very impressive, I’m about to get up under mine this weekend, my j1h shows up tomorrow , and are you going auto? In the prior post I thought your t case looked like a manual one, either way I’m excited to see your cage install, congrats on parenthood, you think you love your car, wait till you hold that baby

It is a factory auto car! Performance Partout had it listed as an auto t-case, so hopefully it is correct . Thanks man, I’m definitely excited and scared all at the same time haha

 

[schmitty_z]

My son was born on the 30th, and I’ve been enjoying my time as a new dad so while I can’t go wrench on the car currently, I did buy more parts! . I now have all the engine components I needed, plus some extra

 

[schmitty_z]

Picked up my trans today! Also, back in march I ordered a 10pt cage from S&W Race car. They have not answered phones or given any update in months. So I’m just hoping I can get a refund at this point. Probably will just have a local shop build a cage for me.

 

[schmitty_z]

Still waiting on my refund from S&W. They are in fact closing down, so in case there is anyone thinking about placing an order with them- DONT . Dropped off some parts today and contemplated getting the front wheel bearings out while I was there, but with it being 100 degrees outside I was already drenched in sweat from just unloading parts . The car looks so sad, and abandoned hopefully I’ll have an update that involves some wrenching soon.

 

[schmitty_z]

While visiting my parents this weekend I snuck away for a few mins and pressed out the front hubs to tackle cleaning them up and replacing the wheel bearings. Had to get creative with rigging them up on the press haha. Hopefully will have these painted and done this coming weekend. Also ordered the replacement caliper I needed. All that’s left now is the steering rack and tie rods then the front end is done, I think!

Btw, STILL no refund from S&W, I filed a fraud claim with my bank a few weeks ago but I’m losing hope, there goes nearly $1000.

 

[pauleyman]

While visiting my parents this weekend I snuck away for a few mins and pressed out the front hubs to tackle cleaning them up and replacing the wheel bearings. Had to get creative with rigging them up on the press haha. Hopefully will have these painted and done this coming weekend. Also ordered the replacement caliper I needed. All that’s left now is the steering rack and tie rods then the front end is done, I think!

Btw, STILL no refund from S&W, I filed a fraud claim with my bank a few weeks ago but I’m losing hope, there goes nearly $1000.

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I hate pressing wheel bearings. The press setup sucks. Id fabricate something if I did it more often

 

[schmitty_z]

Some good news! Chargeback was accepted and I’m getting my refund from S&W. Also, Gibbons Race Cars is local to me and will be taking care of a custom chromoly 10pt roll cage for me. Should be dropping the car off in about 3-4 weeks! Time to get the interior ripped out and the subframes back under it so it can roll around

 

[schmitty_z]

Man, the snap rings on those knuckles are a pain! Didn’t have a set of pliers that could get a grip on them well enough to remove so, switched focus to getting some interior (and all the parts I’ve stored inside) out of the car. Pulled the rear seats and spare tire cover/capet. Found a GBA cartridge under the seats . If anyone wants the rear seats, AC compressor, bracket, AC lines, spare tire cover/carpet, it’s all free please get it out of my way! No idea if the compressor works so, take that for what it is. Replacement caliper showed up too, just gotta throw some paint on it.

 

[schmitty_z]

Snap rings were a pain in the ass but I got them out and then pressed out the bearing races. Couldn’t find my 3 jaw puller so I still have to remove the inner races from the hubs. Cleaned the knuckles up a bit and slapped a few coats of gloss black on. Pulled the front seats and center console as well.

 

[schmitty_z]

Knuckles look good! Since I’m crunched on time I decided to just throw the new tie rod ends on and I’ll worry about the rack after I get the car back from Gibbons. Maybe I’ll swap on those red boots as well . Making progress on the interior, gonna try to get the dash out this weekend! Also couldn’t resist, had to test mount the kirkey

 

[schmitty_z]

After no luck with finding my puller I just went to harbor freight and bought a cheap new set. I had to grind down the jaws slightly to fit under the race, but got them off and hit them with the wire brush and some paint. It’s been raining like crazy the last 2 weeks here, but I had enough clear weather to get the A+B pillar plastics and headliner dropped out as well. Supposed to be clear this Sunday so hopefully I can finally get that dash out!

 

[schmitty_z]

Dash is out, knuckles are assembled with the new bearings and seals.

 

[schmitty_z]

I know it’s been 2 months since the last update, but I have still been working on the car! I’ve been in the process of buying a house for the last month and with some other unrelated things going on I just didn’t get around to posting updates. Let’s start from the first point, I didn’t get the car together in time to get it to Gibbons for a cage. I was honestly just going to hold off until next year once I’m settled in the new place, but a friend of mine offered to take the car and get the cage done for me, as well as modify the fuel cell to be bolt-in. I couldn’t turn that offer down! I got the steering rack and fuel fill neck cleaned up, engine bay stripped down, and started working on the rear differential refresh. The car is back on all 4 wheels and getting picked up Tuesday! Excited

 

[schmitty_z]

Off she goes! Can’t wait to get this thing back. Probably will be around the first week of December.

 

[schmitty_z]

Fab guy called me today, said “we should chop the front off this thing and tube front it while it’s here, and I can also do a chute mount” so, I guess that’s happening now! He also asked if he could use my fenders to make a mold off of to make some carbon fiber panels. So maybe we see some carbon on the car too? Would be sweet for sure! I mentioned to him that carbonetics seems to really be dropping the ball when it comes to getting parts made, and that there would be a potential market for some carbon parts that ship in a timely manner. Will keep the thread updated once we get to that point!

 

[92AWDHX40]

Yeah my friend got parts 6 months later but nice but the wait I really wa8a hood maybe vis carbon.

 

[schmitty_z]

Well since I had some free time today I was going to paint the rear diff and cover. Somehow I never noticed this crack. Removed cover and found more damage. Guess a billet cover is gonna come sooner rather than later

 

[schmitty_z]

And today I notice the pinion flange is bent! No luck finding a quick replacement online… if anyone has a spare they’d sell, definitely let me know.
*EDIT: Found one from a member on the DSM Facebook group

 

[schmitty_z]

Wow already been 3 months since my last update. Been super busy lately, bought a house/moved to a new state. My buddy doing the roll cage was out of state for a solid month and a half working and testing with another race team, then with the holidays and crazy bad weather we have had the last month, the car has really been taking a lot longer than expected. I haven’t even had the time to take him all the front end parts he needs like bumper/crossmember/headlights/radiator/etc. Hoping it is back in my possession before summer at least. In my limited spare time I did do a few things. Cleaned up the timing tins, and rear main seal housing. Made some bumper shutters/fog light block offs. Polished up my headlights. Got the transfer case looking much better, still needs new hardware and seals done. Also cleaned up the cylinder head a bit and will be starting disassembly on it. So much work still left to do, still haven’t got my transmission over to the new house either so that’ll be another job to tackle here soon.

 

[schmitty_z]

Totally forgot, I also picked up a few other pieces back around Christmas time. Aerocatch hood pins, a nice trans cooler w/fan, not pictured I have about 20ft of -8AN and -10AN PTFE line/fittings and 10/100micron filters for my fuel system. I previously had an aluminum Honda half rad for a different car, I’ll be using that for this build. I decided to go air to water intercooler as well. I am fully aware all the fast guys do just fine with air to air. No real reason other than I’ve never ran an air to water set up before and I want to try it out. Man I really can’t wait to see this car start coming together!

 

[schmitty_z]

A friend of mine had some 4g63 stuff from his DSM days I scooped up. 2 valve covers, 2 oil pans, and a EuroExport valve spring tool! Now having the tool, I started the head teardown last night. Exhaust side is done, hopefully I’ll have some time tonight to get the intake side knocked out. When I bought this head I was told it had bent valves, so I ordered GSC STD SS int/exh valves, guides, and new stem seals from STM last week, and they should be shipping out in the next few days. Once I get them in hand I’ll send this thing out to the machine shop! Just by eye I couldn’t tell if any of the exhaust valves were actually bent, curious to see how the intake set looks.

 

[dwb]

Just by eye I couldn’t tell if any of the exhaust valves were actually bent, curious to see how the intake set looks.

A quick easy way to check is to lay the valves sideways on a smooth flat surface and roll them around.

 

[schmitty_z]

A quick easy way to check is to lay the valves sideways on a smooth flat surface and roll them around.

I will definitely give that a shot after I get the intake side pulled!