98 TSi awd - Autocross Build

[Black95TSIawd]

Black95TSIawd submitted a new DSM Profile :

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[Black95TSIawd]

Black95TSIawd updated 98 TSi awd


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[Black95TSIawd]

Black95TSIawd updated 98 TSi awd


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[Black95TSIawd]

Black95TSIawd updated 98 TSi awd


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[Black95TSIawd]

Black95TSIawd updated 98 TSi awd


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[Black95TSIawd]

Black95TSIawd updated 98 TSi awd


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[Black95TSIawd]

Black95TSIawd updated 98 TSi awd


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[Black95TSIawd]

Black95TSIawd updated 98 TSi awd


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[Black95TSIawd]

Most of my past experiences with my cars have been tailored to drag racing. I'd like to think I've "graduated" from that and am now willing to step away from MAX power and concentrate on suspension and chassis tuning. I'd love to do an HPDE event or the like one day, but for now, I plan on autocrossing as much as possible. (Although I will still "drag" the car since my buddies and I can make a fun day out of it. Go T25! )


I bought my current DSM in June of 2013. It was near mint, bone stock, and had about 53k miles on it. It was a gem and I was very excited. I didn't need this car to be my daily (at the time) so it spent most of its life being driven on the weekends or sitting in my grage. I think I put about 3000 miles on it the first year that I bought it.

(Pictures are after I completed a two-stage paint correcting detail.)







Also, part of buying a used car is checking its health status. While the car did come with many new items like stock brakes, belts, etc., you still never know the health of the motor. I'm happy to say, the compression was damn near perfect across the board.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

I was lucky to find a set of DG style koni coilovers for sale here on the forum. They were new in the box. The prior owner totaled his 2g before they shipped in. I had to have them so I jumped on it.

800lb front springs with 350lb rear. I had no use for them at this point so they sat in the box for a few months.





September 2013.

I got married! Big step in life and took most of my time and money. Between paying for a wedding, honeymoon, and what not, I was pretty tapped out. My wife and I agreed to 1 new car (car payment) and I was willing to let her drive it. My job was only 1 mile from where we currently lived and her's was much further. I also had 3 cars at the time so it worked out where the Talon still got to sit in the garage.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

Found a 3inch RNR racing o2 eliminator downpipe on the forums along with an evo3 16g and a no name (ebay?) 3inch catback exhaust locally. I had no use for either of these just yet so they sat around. Honestly, I was not too fond of the catback so I had no motivation for putting it on. I got it cheap enough where I was able to hang it in my garage as decorative art. No pictures, sorry. Also, I had only a few months remaining on my state inspection so I wanted to wait to do engine mods until I could renew it.

I couldn't leave the car completely stock so I put the coils on as well as a set of rims I had leftover from one of my old Evo's. OZ Ultralegerra 18x9, +35. Each rim only weighs 19lbs. Excellent for an 18. I'm surprised they fit to be honest with you. I had no intentions of over lowering the car so it worked out. Another inch or so and the tires would rub the body while cornering. Tires at the time were 255/35/18 Kumho ASX all seasons.





And this is how the car looked/ran until September 2014 when I bought a house and moved 40 miles away from work.


to be continued....

 

[Black95TSIawd]

Again, between my wife and I, we had a new Grand Cherokee, my beater Hyundai accent, and my Talon. After moving, my commute went from 1 mile to 38 miles. I'm not going to lie, the Hyundai was not in the best of shape. I could not rely on having to get to work and back in that car, especially during winter months. So, the talon went back to stock and I daily drove it for about 10 months. During this time I collected a few parts: Apex GT Spec 3.8inch catback exhaust, Greddy 24V FMIC, an Evo 9 metal BOV, and an Innovate electronic boost gauge. The easy stuff got installed first, while the larger items sat around while I collected more parts. Adding a mortgage into my monthly bills really slowed things down a bit, but we managed.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

June 2015

I'm back to being single. My soon to be ex-wife and I probably rushed into marriage and it didn't work out. Sucks, but whatever. Talon went back into storage mode and I traded in my Jeep for a new Evo.





Being single again gives you plenty of time to yourself so the RNR Racing downpipe, Apex Catback, and Greddy FMIC immediately went on the car including the prior coilovers and wheels.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

November 2015

Its starting to get cold out. Real cold. Winter is approaching and I know I don't want to drive the Talon with salt on the roads. Luckily, the new daily can handle all 4 seasons. At this point, the talon's stock clutch started slipping. Among other things, I had some maintenance and mods planned out while the car sat so onto jack stands she went.



Its real nice when you can have the car sit around for a bit while you get to work on it. I'm used to rushing to get things done so I can get to work the next day. Never again will I heavily mod a car I have to commute in. Its way too convenient to work at your own pace.

The winter work season included the following:

• Southbend SS clutch kit with sprung full Ceramic disc. (Tim Zimmer is good Man.)
• Paul Volk tubular front control arms. (Paul is also the Man.)
• RM Racing front and rear anti-roll bars.
• TCE/Wilwood Plus 4 BBK.
• Slotted Rotors and Hawk HP+ pads for the rear.
• SS brake lines front and rear.
• New inner and outer tie rods.
• New front wheel bearings
• Redlines fluids for the drivetrain.
• Flush brake fluid with high temp racing fluid. (Cant remember the name of the stuff I used.)
• New clutch master and slave cylinder.
• Rebuild my leaky throttle body and boost leak test.
• Plus a few random things I can't remember right now.
• Get an alignment.

Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

March 2016.

She's back on the road! Very exciting.

The Kumho tires I originally had on my wheels were showing their age. It was time for a new set, and NOT all season tires. On goes 245/40/18 Yokohama Advan A13C. Despite the size difference, only 3mm narrower than my 255's and with a 180 treadwear index, much stickier. I sorta got these for free as I took them off my Evo X to put on winter tires. Only 2500 miles on them at this time.



I took about a week or so to set my ride height and off to the alignment rack she went. Sorry, no pictures here. I'm itching now to start autocrossing. I sign up with Motorsports Northeast. www.motorsportsne.com They are a local club that runs at Metlife Stadium, about an hour from my house. I'm ready for our first event on 3/20/16. With my luck, the event gets cancelled due to snow in the forecast. Snow! It was 70 degrees a few days prior. Well, the snow never came and we lost out on the event. I'm kind of pissed, but whatever. I'm already registered for the next event on 4/3/2016. But, I'm itching to autocross now. I temp register with the SCCA and run their season opener on 3/26/2016.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

I had a f***ing blast autocrossing. I went once for fun many, many years ago. Nothing to cry home about so I was a bit nervous. I ran in NASP (Novice ASP) and came 3rd out of 6 cars. I was barely edged out by a 370z on Toyo R888's and 330whp. 1st place went to a really really fast BMW 1M on slicks. He crushed us by over 3 seconds.

Out of the 25 novice drivers, I came in 4th. I was actually very surprised and happy for the day. That was until I got home and watched my videos. My driving lines were terrible! I could have easily came in 2nd in my class and 1st from the novices. (My 4th place PAX, I had the 2nd fastest RAW time.)

It was my buddy's gopro so he made these videos for me. The hood shot was my last run and would have been my fastest had I not screwed up the last slalom.





Live and learn. Next event is next weekend and my driving lines will be my focus.

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Very clean DSM sir. Tasteful mods and you aren't afraid to drive it hard. Have you considered open track days?

 

[Black95TSIawd]

Very clean DSM sir. Tasteful mods and you aren't afraid to drive it hard. Have you considered open track days?

Thank you, sir. My OCD for cleanliness only grows as I get older.

I absolutely want to participate in open track days. The plan is to autocross as much as possible this year and try to squeeze in 1 track day event. 2 would be ideal, but we'll see. I already have a plan set for mods over next winter so I have to maintain a budget during the year. LSD's aren't cheap.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

4/3/2016. 1st event of the season with Motorsports NorthEast. Their base classing for cars is similar to the SCCA, but utilize a point system to give you your final classification. DSM's are in base class E and with my mods I land in Class C. This is usually the largest run group as "most" modded autocross cars land here. We did have the largest group today with a total of 19 cars. Total for the day was around 60-70 cars. We were fully booked prior to today, but many did not show due to the mild snow shower we had overnight. (There is that pesky snow again and in Spring!) This did benefit those who showed up as we were able to get our guaranteed 8 runs.

Today was cold. Super cold. High of 38 degrees with 40-50mph winds. Morning registration and course walk through was terrible. I worked the course in the 2nd heat so it wasn't completely horrible, but still bad. That means I had to drive the 1st heat. Cold tires with cold pavement is not fun. My first few runs felt like I was driving on grease. Cars were spinning left and right. I spun nearly 360 degrees on 1 run. I don't even know what my first run was but I was running around 55 seconds for the most part. After my 4th run, the tires started to warm up and I was getting comfortable with my driving lines. Finished the day with a 52.7, 51.6, 51.1 and lastly 50.5. I hate to speculate, but I'm sure I would have cracked the 49.x barrier with another run or two as even my last run was not "perfect". I don't know the final results just yet, but i'm pretty sure I finished 4th in class. An E46 M3 came in 1st with a 49.4, 2nd went to an S2000 CR with a 49.8, and I'm not sure what the guy in 3rd was driving, but he ran a 50.3. 2nd and 3rd place guys were instructors. So i'm pretty happy with how the day went. I did add a bit of negative camber up front and the car responded well. The open front differential really sucks, but the car is performing well nonetheless. I believe FTD went to a purpose built Evo X that ran a 45.X. Not 100% on that, but I did not see anyone else go faster.

This is my last and fastest run.





Next event is on 4/10/16. Lets see if I can crack the top 3.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

Someone from the event got an action shot.

 

[NoobDSMer12]

Very clean.. Definitely would like to have my own 2g talon at some point in life..good luck on the 10th

 

[Black95TSIawd]

Very clean.. Definitely would like to have my own 2g talon at some point in life..good luck on the 10th

Thanks, NoobDSMer12. My first talon when I was 17 was pretty much a beater. My old GSX fell apart due to rust. I'm trying hard to keep this one clean and around for a long while.

 

[NoobDSMer12]

Thanks, NoobDSMer12. My first talon when I was 17 was pretty much a beater. My old GSX fell apart due to rust. I'm trying hard to keep this one clean and around for a long while.

Rust seems to be the downfall of most cars in my life as well.. Especially here in NY. finally found myself a clean 1g here and I'm looking to hold on to it, just wish it were AWD

 

[Black95TSIawd]

Black95TSIawd updated 98 TSi awd - Autocross Build


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[JS4G63]

Exceptionally clean, and very hard to come by to begin with!

Out of 2523 AWD 2Gb Talons, only 43 are USDM 1998 Polo Green Pearl 5-speeds with gray leather. 13 of those 43 have the same Option Code as yours. 1 of the 13 has a California emissions configuration, so at the end of the day your car was built identical to only 12 others! And even then, they may not be 100% identical because the "TSi AWD" lettering seems to be highly variable within a group of like-painted cars.