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96' talon restoration; restoration of self.

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Anthony Lupori

Probationary Member
6
0
Nov 29, 2013
pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Hello everyone, my name; as I am sure you guessed by my username, is Anthony. Now allow me to give you a brief background on myself and my history with dsm's before I explain the unique title of my tread.

My, what you could say is a borderline obsession with dsm's began two and half years ago when I bought a 99' rs with more problems then your average chevy or crack addicted prostitute. After chasing the idea of a 2gnt turbo car for a while and finally understanding its futility, I picked up a 95' talon tsi awd rolling shell, it was pretty stripped out and thats what I wanted, a blank slate. However times where not at forgiving, one chilly fall day I receive in the mail a letter from my university saying if I intend to complete my education that I will have to forfeit about 8000 dollars (double major in engineering isnt cheap). So thus I part out the talon, which i was about 100 dollars in parts from finishing mind you, well at least getting it running, are project cars ever really "finished"? So all the east stuff sold, then because i was being charged 75/m in late fees on my student account I started selling parts that i wanted to keep, the fuel pump hat, and rear axles, etc. In the end though I got what I needed. I still have the shell, and have very exciting plans for that later, ill explain for those interested in a crazy ass idea. Honestly I probably need some outside input on it anyway. As for the 99' RS, it; as is the eventual fate of all 420a's, blew a head gasket, promptly warped the head, and was traded in on what is now my daily driver. A 2006 mazdaspeed6 (seriously one of the best bang for your buck, awesome DD's money can buy, heated leather seats with 350 whp (with bolt ons) like really you can not do better for under 10k)

So this brings me to the cryptic and unusual title of my thread, how is building a car a restoration of self? Well in may of this year I got some bad news, I was diagnosed with early onset (I was 22 at the time) stage IV squamous cell carcinoma of the base of tongue. So after substantial surgery to remove my entire tongue, all the lympnodes in my neck, and replace my jugular vein with tissue taken from my leg, followed by what is called a free flap reconstruction (basically a chuck of meat and skin from the thigh area is graphed into the mouth where the tongue used to seal your mouth from your neck). All told I spent 20 hours in surgery, two day in ICU, and a total of two weeks in the hospital, followed by an eight week recovery period, then right into seven weeks of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. So when a friend from highschool informed me she was selling her old talon I jumped on the chance. At first I was thinking this would be a great parts car to get my other talon going, then I went to look at it where she was having it stored. the paint is damn near perfect, none of that faded dsm business except for a couple patches on the mirrors, the interior was in excellent shape, baring the vacuuming of all the dog hair, and mechanically its solid, needs a tune up because it sat for so long but aside from that its great. (pretty much stock, it has an fp intake, greddy bov, and megan racing turbo back exhaust.)oh and its RUST FREE, just one tiny spot on the strut tower, which ill nib in the bud before it becomes a big problem, it also came rolling on brand new enkie imolas with brand new tires, the tires actually still have the lables on them. so with that said, I want to turn this car into everything it can be, and at the same time regain my strength and get back to what i love to do. (i am a certified ford mechanic professionally). now to the plans for the car

my overall goal is a nice streetable car, that I can hit the track with, and just enjoy overall. The first thing on my list is to change all the fluids, belts, seals and gaskets. for this I stopped into my local napa for some items (discount thru my employer), and purchased somethings online. I got new belts, upper and lower rad hoses, coolant, oil, gear oil, timing belt kit, master gasket set, and new head bolts. to begin I also ordered some performance parts, picked up a freshly rebuilt 14b, a stainless o2 housing, front mount intercooler, dsmlink v3 full, crower 272's, evo 8 valve springs, battery relocation stuff, fic 550's, an areomotive afpr, and i have some stuff laying around from my part out, like prothane motor mounts and stainless oil feed lines and drain kits for the turbo. eventually i intend to switch over to electric heat and power steering, while dumping AC and cruise control. ill do a wire tuck as well, (did one on my other talon, hopefully it doesnt take me 40 hours this time), ill switch to a non-abs set up and possibly tuck those lines. i have 3000gt vr4 4 piston calipers and early 95 talon vented rear brake set up ill drop onto it as well. while im sure some of you will laugh, ive always liked the look of the fast and furious interiors, with the race seats and harnesses, the sparco steering wheels and gauges everywhere. so ill probably go that direction without making it super tacky. alright so less wall of text and more pictures...


here is how I found her, sitting for almost 2 years
talon1.jpg

talon3.jpg


and here she is safe in my driveway =D
talon4.jpg


If anyone has any questions, concerns, comments, trolling, insults, and other nonsense comment, reply, and post. Ask whatever you like, anything about the build, my cars, my job (if you have a ford problem i probably have a ford solution, or could get it for you), my cancer, anything at all. aside from documenting this build for the sake of doing it, its also going a little deeper into making me more of an open book. thanks for reading.
 
Good luck on the build! A question about the schooling, double major in engineering and then Ford mechanic? Doesn't seem you'd need that level of education?

I am still a student, working as a mechanic is just my college job. I did not go to school for auto mechanics, just the classes in high school and what I learned on my own. Once I graduate college I intend to either work for the army corp of engineers on major civil projects, or find some career in environmental engineering. My second major in mechanical engineering was more just for my own use when working on my project cars. It could also land me a job in automotive engineering too, which could be fun.
 
Just a quick update, I thought those of you following this would like to hear about the parts that I have acquired thus far, it would seem like I am getting a little more into this than intended this quickly. Well here goes.

eBay short route front mount - 200
eBay tubular o2 housing and down pipe - 130
eBay tubular manifold - 45
Crower 272 cams - 145
DSMlink v2 with eprom ecu - 335
DSMlink v2-v3 upgrade - 195
rebuilt 14b turbo - 115
MSD DIS 4 - 120
Sparco steering wheel and hub - 200
Areomotive AFPR and fic 550 - 115
Evo 8 oil filter housing for air to oil cooler - 25
Evo 8 valve springs and Al retainers - 30

Now flame away for my use of eBay parts, but how badly can they screw up some piping? Surely a name brand product will perform better, but I doubt the price difference is justified for the slight increase in performance. My point I guess is I would never dream of using say, eBay cam gears or an eBay turbo. Once I get everything in and organized pictures will follow.


PS: Are Crower cams made well enough to not require adjustable cam gears? I have not heard much about them, if I did not get them so cheap I would not have bothered and just went with Kelfords. Anyway, thanks again for the comments and support.
 
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