95 Talon AWD Panda

[tay97gst]

Hey everyone, my name is Taylor and this will be the build thread of my 95 Talon AWD. This is the second DSM I have owned, with my GST being the first and I have loved every second of owning a DSM. My goals for the Talon is to make it a CLEAN 450hp DD on pump gas. This is going to be an ongoing build that will hopefully continue for years to come! Some of these updates may not be exactly upgrades every post but I will always use this to show my progress in even the little things I do. I want this car to represent myself and the pride I take in my cars, with that being said the motto of this build will be Do it once, do it right. Anyways, with introductions out of the way, I introduce you to my panda!
A little background on the car; it has a production date of September 1994 and is originally from NC so no rust :thumb; , was originally black but the PO spray painted the bottom half of it white (actually doesnt look terrible for spray paint haha) but that really doesnt matter because its getting new paint anyway. As it sits right now there is no engine but I will be replacing it with a built one once I find the right one. The rest you can probably see from the pictures. This will be quite some work but I know Im going to love it when its finished.

Not me BTW, thats the tow guys grandson. Oh... and thats a 3" straightpiped thermal R&D Exhaust

I think those are all the pics I have of when I first got it and will conclude the first post, from now on we shall see what I've done to it!

 

[tay97gst]

Because I have no engine ATM, I started focusing on what I could do to the interior, which stunk like smoke First line of business was ripping out the whole interior and cleaning it the best I could.

I also washed all the interior pieces but I didnt take pics of that. With the floor and interior scrubbed clean, there would be no point in putting back in the old,smelly, disgusting carpet and headliner, so I got new carpet from stockinteriors.com and some vinyl from JoAnns fabrics and redid them.

This vinyl headliner looks awesome! But a word of advice if youre going to do this... use contact cement or something like it because the glue I used (which was supposed to be for fabric, already started to lose its stickiness in the heat. So I will be redoing it with better glue and I will do a detailed writeup.

Gee, nice short shifter I'm hoping this is still useable since the shifter that was on it was thrown in the trash it was that ugly.

Another thing I've gotten to is sanding down the center section so that it looks like it should, instead of painted red and black like the first picture.

Still need to buff it out though and give the letters and middle a new coat of black. I know I'm going to be shunned for this but the 2GB talon bumper thats on it is cracked and I think the 2GB eclipse bumper looks way better so...

I also got her some new shoes that I still havent put on

Got this from Miller Import junkyard in NC to replace the one that's cracked

I think that's about it for right now, I just ordered 500$ worth of goodies from ExtremePSI consistinng of fuel upgrades and prothane inserts so when those get here I'll update with those. And I'm currently in the process of painting the stock intake manifold and fuel rail which will be added onto the engine when I buy it so I'll show before and after pics of those as well.

 

[Boost Demon]

I had a question about the carpet, it looks like a solid sheet compared to OEM, did that cause any problems during installation? Keep plug'n away good luck.

 

[tay97gst]

I had a question about the carpet, it looks like a solid sheet compared to OEM, did that cause any problems during installation? Keep plug'n away good luck.

It does require a lot of careful cutting, but from start to finish it took me about 2 and a half hours. If I were to do it again I'm sure I could do it a lot faster but I really wanted to get it right

 

[tay97gst]

Not too much of an update but I did get a couple things done today.
Started off the day by jacking up the car and taking out the whole exhaust system and driveshaft so I can roll it in and out of my garage

This is a Thermal R&D exhaust but it looks like it's seen some abuse You can see how extensive the seperation on the weld is between the tip and the barrel part of the muffler. Im going to bring it to the local exhaust shop to hopefully have it rewelded because I really want a thermal exhaust

Just a pic of the driveshaft out, this was not that much fun getting out

I also painted the stock fuel rail and intake manifold that I will be swapping over to the new engine once I get it. This aluminum paint looks amazing. It does however bring out the casting defects more but it looks way better than it did before.

 

[tay97gst]

Well it's been a while but I figured I'd update with where I'm at. I bought an engine off a guy on the forums, so it should be shipping soon! I've also got a ton more parts checked off my list.
-ECMlink v3
-an o2 housing
-fuel lab fuel filter
-fuel lab AFPR
-walbro 255
-prothane motor mounts
-egr block off plate
-Prosport boost/oil pressure
-MTXL wideband
I think that's it

Next on the list is to buy a FMIC, hx35 setup, and aluminum rad! I'll update again when the engine gets here

 

[tay97gst]

Just a little update.
The engine got delivered! No pics yet because it's dirty and I still have to clean it up and paint it but there will be some soon. I got the gauges installed in the car(still have to drill the pod to the frame) but they're looking awesome! The prosports turn orange when the headlights are flipped so it matches the gauge cluster and other interior lights.

Wiring mess xD Don't worry those are secure connections

I also got the AFPR installed and attached to the firewall.

On the engine I bought came a shaved valve cover with bungs for a catch can. The black paint on the valve cover really sucked so i covered it in aircraft stripper and the result is as shown. That stuffs really awesome, but don't let it get on your skin... or in between your toes! After the paint was scraped off I sanded it down and painted it with aluminum paint. I wanted to polish the aluminum but it would not have turned out nearly as good, there were too many imperfections. Overall I'm happy with the outcome.

I took a quick pic while it was out of the garage, kinda makes me wish I was gonna keep the 2gb talon bumper but it's cracked just hoping the eclipse bumper looks as mean

As for next time... I ordered a new Punishment Racing aluminum radiator was shroud and fans, a new Tial F38 external wastegate, a non cruise throttle cable and a 1g intake manifold/tb to go on the 6 bolt head. All i need now is a FMIC and the turbo setup plus some little things I'm also planning on painting some of the engine bay to make it look better. So stay tuned for the next update!

 

[Jesse2012]

Nice progress! I think it'll look better with the eclipse bumper, I've never been a fan of the 2gb talon bumpers

 

[tay97gst]

Nice progress! I think it'll look better with the eclipse bumper, I've never been a fan of the 2gb talon bumpers

Thanks bud, I've always loved the 2ga talon with the 2gb eclipse bumper so I'm hoping it'll look great too!

 

[TJCTalon]

I just went 2gb talon bumper on my talon that had the 2gb eclipse bumper previously. My car looks so much better.

The talon bumper looks so much better. So much rarer and uncommon. Everyone has the 2gb eclipse bumper. But to each its own.

 

[Squeegie]

This is an awesome build and is going in an awesome direction! definately going to keep my eye on this. What paint exactly did you use for the intake manifold and fuel rail?

 

[tay97gst]

This is an awesome build and is going in an awesome direction! definately going to keep my eye on this. What paint exactly did you use for the intake manifold and fuel rail?

It's a paint sent directly from the gods haha No but really it's this stuff from autozone http://www.eastwood.com/media/catal...e/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p40145.jpg

and it can take an old transmission from this

To this

 

[ehc14]

Solid build, very interested to see how it unfolds! Subbed!

 

[tay97gst]

Solid build, very interested to see how it unfolds! Subbed!

Thank you pal! I just ordered my hx35/bep setup, front mount got delivered, and I'm just waiting for my aluminum radiator and external wastegate to be delivered have all of the major things I need which is exciting. Next update will be in a few days when I touch up my engine bay

 

[johnmel]

very, very nice bulid man

 

[GofaST4life]

Keep up the good work!!

 

[HaveBlue83]

nice build! fix her up!

eclipse bumper.........FWIW, YES, do 2gb. I did. it's pimp. just get 2gb headlights and you are good

 

[tay97gst]

nice build! fix her up!

eclipse bumper.........FWIW, YES, do 2gb. I did. it's pimp. just get 2gb headlights and you are good

I'll do the panda club justice, I promise

 

[tay97gst]

Well guys just another little update. I got the engine bay painted, I painted everything but the firewall because it would have taken me so much longer to remove everything and put it back and i'll be honest I'm getting impatient with the build xD But all in all it came out good and looks way better than the almost 20 year old paint and only cost like 40$. Here are some pics.
BEFORE: (Crappy pics sorry )

DURING:

AFTER:

Other than that I got some other goodies in the mail. VRSF Fmic, PR aluminum radiator, HX35 with BEP housing and a 4" FP intake. It feels good to finally be able to assemble things instead of disassembling. Within the next few weeks I'll be trying to get most of this stuff installed and make all final preparations to drop the engine in. But before I can do that I still have to buy my clutch setup which will be done soon so I'm hoping to have the engine in it's home in maybe a month. t won't be road worthy then but it will be that much closer!

This is the VRSF compared to the one that came with the car xD

 

[tay97gst]

She has a new smile! It was actually a lot easier than I had expected to put on... wish I could say that about everything else xD

 

[AWD_]

subscribed !! Awesome build.

 

[952g63t]

Looking good man.

Knew I should have painted my bay when I had the engine out.

 

[tay97gst]

Looking good man.

Knew I should have painted my bay when I had the engine out.

That's exactly why I did it, I didn't want to regret it in the future so it worth all the work

 

[tay97gst]

Not much to this update but I like to try and keep this active. I'm currently waiting on a huge order from extremepsi which includes all new gaskets, turbo feed and drain lines and some other little things. I plan on ordering my southbend clutch setup this week which is what's holding me back from going any further. Anyways, me and my bud rebuilt the hx35 since there was some in and out as well as side to side shaft play, (even though the person I bought it from said it was rebuilt 500 miles ago ) Also painted the compressor cover black. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, I would do it again in a heartbeat, but hopefully I won't have too

Also my wastegate finally came in, just some teaser pics

This is the only ebay part that will be on my car, a MBC. Got it for 24$ and comes with a lifetime warranty, beats paying 80 any day.

Here's a current engine bay pic with the rad installed just to get a sense. Oh and I've decided to relocate the battery to the trunk which is why I can put the catch can there

Until next time gents

 

[tay97gst]

Well I haven't updated this in a while because... well.. I haven't got much done I've mainly been troubleshooting and buttoning the last remaining parts up for the last couple weeks so nothing was interesting enough to post. But this is where I'm at;
I've been working out what I was going to do to make the cooling system work and I'm pretty sure I've finally got it all figured out. If you haven't read I have a 6 bolt head on a 7 bolt block, with 6 bolt cooling components and a 1990 waterpipe. What this means is that it isn't too easy to use a water cooled OFH which is what I wanted to use and also means it's harder to get enough clearance for my big ole hx35. I got all my coolant lines ran to the OFH pretty easily(which I was able to do because my turbo is only oil-cooled) but I still had clearance issues with the coolant return line off the water pipe. So I had two options:
-Buy an external oil cooler and a nt 6 bolt water pipe and use the evo3 OFH I had($$$$)
-Or use a spacer I had laying around and push out the turbo 1/2" further from the blockaha
I chose option B because I have already spent so much money on parts and thought that where there's a will, there's a way. So I went searching for threads on extended manifold studs but there really isn't that much information on the subject. So I started going to local auto stores looking to see what was available but wasnt finding anything. But I went to advanced auto parts just for the heck of it and they actually had something that I think will work!
So now I have full clearance with my turbo and am ready to rock and roll.

I also received and installed my South Bend clutch. It's the SS-X TZ series which should hold more than my goals. I ordered it from Tim Zimmer and I gotta say he has excellent customer service and is an overall great guy. I also ordered a competition clutch forged clutch fork just for extra security while the trans was out.
The only thing holding me back now is waiting for a new TOB to come because south bend packaged me the wrong one, but Tim is helping me get the right one. So at this moment I have everything ready to go in, as soon as I get the TOB I will attach the trans to the block and install them into the engine bay together! I can't wait. Aaaaaaand some pics.

Edit: One more thing I wanted to show is something I found out when taking off parts from the old engine. As many of us know, holsets require a very large oil drain system in order to evacuate all of the oil properly. I thought I would be able to get by only using a -10an drain but comparing it to the stock oil drain, this thing is miniscule. Even though I spent 80$ from one from extremepsi there's no way I'm going to jepordize my turbo by ignoring my mistake. Just food for thought comparing the stock drain size to the -10an. I will be modifying the stock drain as the drain for the HX35.

Cooling lines setup

Clutch

Spacer setup

Current engine pics

Hopefully next update will have pics of the engine where it belongs!