After 4 years, it tears up the streets again!

[blackcrow64]

Just recently the Talon was brought back to the point of being able to be driven on the streets. Up until now, it has been plagued by problems preventing me from actually driving it anywhere. Brand new oil pump seized, timing belt jumped and bent valves, fuel line blew up, adapter snapped off sending unit, wouldn't idle, you name it, it has happened in the last 4 years...

It felt so good to drive it again and be blessed by the sound of a BOV. Something my severely underpowered DD Cobalt lacks...

This is a good thing. I have been driving it for the last few weeks now and it runs awesome so far. It has a few bugs still, oil leaks, power steering, etc. But it is drivable and could probably pull a 12 at the track right now and that is decent enough for the time being performance wise.

Now it's time to focus back on some of the things it needs attention with first. The body... Oh the poor poor body... I fixed the rusted out strut towers while everything was torn apart but now it has started rust in other spots of the body that need addressed very quickly. Under the passenger door has a few little spots starting to bubble about the size of a dime each. The hatch has started some rust on the underside that has spread very quickly and I don't like that one bit... Also in the fender well behind the doors has started as well...

My plan of attack is this... I'm going to pull the wheels off and sand everything down in the wheel wells and coat it with some POR15... I also plan on doing the underside of the car with this as well, but haven't decided if it needs it now also or if that can wait...

After that I will take it to a body guy I know to repair the rust under the passenger door and to also paint a set of 95 Talon side skirts to mount on my car at that same time.

That leaves me with just the hatch... Do I try and repair it or do I swap the hatch? Or do I even dare consider getting a carbon fiber hatch and just being done with it? Haven't decided yet...

After that, I will move onto addressing the interior... Back in the day I thought it would be a good idea to paint the interior black and dye the seats and carpet black as well... It all turned out great in the beginning but now the painted stuff is starting to fade and wipe off with all the sun damage over the years. The seats and carpet has held up great though with the dye! They turned out so well that somebody thought I had actually found a set of black seats for my car. So back to the painted crap... I'm gonna tear it all out and figure out a new solution... I haven't had much luck on finding a black dash around here anywhere either... I have to ponder on that some more...

I ordered a new oil pan the other day as mine has a crack in it and is leaking. It was welded and repaired once, but I don't think welding again will fix this thing. The oil pan was just too beat up from the last owner of the 6 bolt.

So I guess that is all for now... More updates will come on this and the next one will include pictures too!

**EDIT**
Here are a few before pictures so you guys can see what point the project was at in the beginning.

 

[ExtremeDimensions]

Don't let people get you down. Keep up the good work.. I hope you hit that 10 seconds.. Goodluck!

 

[phunny]

Must feel great to have it on the road after so long man. Post some pictures

 

[spyderdrifter]

Hey bro, what was your idle problem like, and how did you fix it? Mine idles way too high and I'm out of ideas. Thanks. (If I'm not supposed to be posting this question here, I've already made a post for it in the newbie maintenace forum or you can send me a PM)

 

[jnelson1888]

I bought a parts car and swapped the hatch out. It was actually really simple but it requires another person to help lift it off. The car I used didnt have a rear wiper but that was a plus for me so I left it off, but it woulndt have been hard to switch it over. As far as the carbon fiber... Im assuming it would be just as easy to bolt on, you may have to swap a couple wires or something like that. If you could find a parts car with a good hatch and get it at a decent price you could get your hatch (and any other parts you could use), scrap it, and get all or most of your money back... WINNING!!