AMS Black Talon

[CrackedDSM]

So ecstatic. Today is a good day, man. Just got back from the doctor for my EMT Physical and passed with flying colors. Even my cholesterol was low! BOOM. Then I came home just in time for this.

What could this be?

Lots of packaging...hmmm..

Yay candy! A box full of candy! Let's dive in further!

is this? This isn't candy! Where the hell is my candy? Someone sent me this damn brand new FP Green instead?! I need to speak to a manager immediately.

Ah well, guess I'll keep it.

Gorgeous, man. I'm so excited for this. Brand spankin' new. Now I just gotta get various lines/gaskets for it, and I can start getting it ready to start and drive. Damn what a good day. Lol.

That's definitely my new profile pic/avatar. Lol.

 

[Spleen8urLSX]

I’ll be the first to admit the Gundam collection is nearly as badass as the Green!

 

[CrackedDSM]

I’ll be the first to admit the Gundam collection is nearly as badass as the Green!

Thank you for sure. I went a little crazy during Covid and bought a ton of them. All the Gundam Wing suits, all of the Gundam 00 suits, also got a few suits from the Mobile Suit Gundam. They're everywhere. Lol.

 

[We're on Boost]

I saw your ECMlink for sale last night and got worried, maybe he's going to part out the whole car? But no, I guess. What the heck? It looked like exactly the same one you bought just about a month ago.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I saw your ECMlink for sale last night and got worried, maybe he's going to part out the whole car? But no, I guess. What the heck? It looked like exactly the same one you bought just about a month ago.

No part out at all. The kiddo needs some dentistry done, and I debated selling the ECMLink to help offset the cost. But after doing some math and moving some bill dates around, we can swing it. So I took it off the market. Gonna sell my little backup Eclipse instead.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Stupid small update, but the guy I bought my seats from sent me the seat belt guide bracket that he took off the seats. So I put them on and torqued the seat down. So much cleaner and the belts function properly now!

I only included the pictures for posterity. I was searching for these brackets and could never find a good picture of them or how they bolted on. So there ya go future searching person! Also: for the little rectangular trim piece the seatbelt comes out of in the center console, you need to flip that 180* than what’s pictured or your seatbelt will have a ton of slack and not come out properly. I flipped it after the picture was taken.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Well, was motivated to do some mechanical stuff to the car today vs interior/gauge stuff. So I went to replace the caliper, and immediately stripped the brake line. When going to remove it, it snaped/crumbled in my hand straight in half. Weeeellll time to replace all four brake lines with some Goodrich lines, because I wasn't yanking or cranking on this one for it to break like that. Not about to experience a brake failure.

Once recovered from that, moved on to rewiring my fuel pump. Standard stuff, ran it from the battery up front, under the car(it actually tucked into the fuel line holder extremely nicely), up the tank, and through the rubber that the stock/OEM wiring comes out through. If you cut the factory tape off, and slit the side a little, you can slide it right out and just re-tape it and it looks OEM. I think it turned out well.

Finally, all tucked and hidden away. Love it. Once I custom fabricate a floor cover, you won't even be able to tell its here.

Finally was replacing these horrid transfer case bolts. These were the bolts that came off the tcase. Yes, it was completely missing one.

Gotta love the random allen headed bolt with a million washers. . Anyway, all OEM replacements went in and were torques to 41 ft/lbs. So much better!

Not a ton of progress, but a couple more things off my list. Got to order some rear mount bolts(for the two that go into the block, and the three that go to the subframe) as well as some brake lines, but it's coming along. Glad I'm finding this stuff now vs later.

 

[92Turbski]

Nice, dude! Keep that motivation train rolling, progress is progress, no matter how small.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Well, I was grinding the 2G exhaust manifold I have to install it in my talon, when I discovered both of my spares have cracks in them.

Sigh. And I don’t want to bother putting a WTB ad out because people are gonna want $100+ for it.


Add $500 to my parts list to buy an FP Manifold and extremePSI heatshield. I swear the more I touch this car the more money I find needs to be spent on it.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Felt kinda bad doing this but I finally borrowed an angle grinder and cut off the staging brake bracket AMS welded on back in the early 00’s.

There were a couple holes previous to my cutting out the bracket and my cutting attempts opened one or two more so I borrowed some seam sealer from a body shop friend and sealed them up. They’re small so this will work great.

Seriously though this bracket is downright incredible and the welds were fantastically strong. You could take a 20lb sledge and not make a dent on it. The floor around it would cave before the bracket would. Hell of a staging brake bracket! But now it’s all clean and smooth like it should be and the drivers side kick panel will bolt up no sweat.

Seriously though. Shoutout to AMS. Almost didn’t want to throw it away as it’s a piece of history.

 

[Tina94]

You make a lot of progress fast. Good going. Admire the dedication

 

[CrackedDSM]

You make a lot of progress fast. Good going. Admire the dedication

Thank you. It means a lot. Because it feels like it’s slow going. I love how the interior is now though. So much better than it was. I wish I could find a super cheap 1G parts car near me but alas.

Anyway, thank you!

 

[CrackedDSM]

Seam sealer I used to patch some holes in the floor dried, so I finished bolting the side panels up. It’s finally all together and bolted in. Just waiting on my door panels and then it’s 100% complete. Love it!

Bam. This thing has come a long way. Now to focus on getting it running. Need to finish wiring a power and ground for the gauges and the three/five wires at the ecu then the rest is all mechanical/exterior.


Before:

No a pillar pod, gauges were on the steering column and a giant tach/gauges in the center vent. Aftermarket seats and wheels, no seatbelts except some terrible harnesses bolted to the seat itself. Nothing bolted down.

After!

Nuff said. Actually scratch that, black leather hotness, OEM wheel, seatbelts all around, all the trim panels bolted in and secured. Love it!

I'm definitely gonna have to replace the carpet, because that patch that's cut out for the staging bracket bothers me...but honestly that's far...far down on my list of priorities. So happy with its progress.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Also in case anyone is curious, the 1G horn button screw size is M4-0.70 x 6MM. Found it at Ace Hardware for $0.70 in stainless steel, including the lockwasher(overkill, but meh. Now it won't come loose. Lol). So that's nice. It's all officially bolted in and tight.

 

[CrackedDSM]

After finding cracks in both my spare manifolds, I heavily...HEAVILY considered just buying an FP Race Manifold, but an awesome local had a bunch of spares. He offered me to pick one for free, so I went and picked the best one. It's actually still silver/gunmetal in a few spots, and crack free! So that's cool. Now we're back on track. Gonna resist painting it. Lol.


Now I just need $100+ of OEM fasteners and spring washers, and I can bolt the turbo to the manifold. Tomorrow I'll bolt the manifold up to the head just because I want to, so get off my back about it okay?

 

[CrackedDSM]

Alright, I'm f**king done trying to fix other people's projects. Every single thing I go to do to this piece of s**t that should take a few bolts and like 15 minutes ends up with something breaking and then me having to plan to spend more money on it. I'm done.


Expect a for sale ad soon. Not parting it out, someone's either gonna get everything or it'll just sit and rot or I'll give it back to the OG owner. Absolutely done with fighting this car.

 

[Dericsh]

A attempt to be encouraging-

Sometimes you just gotta step back and take some time away to focus on something else. Take a break from spending so much time and money on the car. You’ve gotten a lot of progress knocked out very quickly! Take a deep breath man- it’ll be worth it when you’re ripping gears down the road in a finished project!

 

[CrackedDSM]

A attempt to be encouraging-

Sometimes you just gotta step back and take some time away to focus on something else. Take a break from spending so much time and money on the car. You’ve gotten a lot of progress knocked out very quickly! Take a deep breath man- it’ll be worth it when you’re ripping gears down the road in a finished project!

Upon some reflecting and getting my blood sugar under control(forgot to take my diabetes pill), I'm happy to say nevermind. But I am gonna take Deric's advice and just take a step away for awhile. I did however order the manifold and stud kit from ExtremePSI, but after that I'm gonna let it sit for a little while and focus on other stuff. Gonna helicoil the holes that are stripped in the head too without pulling it and just see where we go from there. When I come back to this, I'm gonna drop the pan and check every single bolt underneath there and if I find something stripped...idk. Probably just put the project entirely on the backburner for a year or two while I get a built engine for it.


But, hope for the best!

 

[Dericsh]

I think that’s a good plan. It’ll be better to know for sure either way.

 

[Tina94]

Upon some reflecting and getting my blood sugar under control(forgot to take my diabetes pill), I'm happy to say nevermind. But I am gonna take Deric's advice and just take a step away for awhile. I did however order the manifold and stud kit from ExtremePSI, but after that I'm gonna let it sit for a little while and focus on other stuff. Gonna helicoil the holes that are stripped in the head too without pulling it and just see where we go from there. When I come back to this, I'm gonna drop the pan and check every single bolt underneath there and if I find something stripped...idk. Probably just put the project entirely on the backburner for a year or two while I get a built engine for it.


But, hope for the best!

Hahaaaaaa I had the literal exact same reaction to the exact same problem. Ended up being glad I helicoiled it because it actually feels more secure than ever now.

Must’ve posted my 3rd gen on Craigslist at least twice while working out kinks during the swap due to shitty parts failing. Power steering hose blew apart resulting in an engine fire and my fire extinguisher was dead. But in the end i fixed it and when I stepped on the gas a bit too hard for a yellow light and lit up the tires completely at 55 mph, I realized I was glad I fought through. Think you will be too.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Hahaaaaaa I had the literal exact same reaction to the exact same problem. Ended up being glad I helicoiled it because it actually feels more secure than ever now.

Must’ve posted my 3rd gen on Craigslist at least twice while working out kinks during the swap due to shitty parts failing. Power steering hose blew apart resulting in an engine fire and my fire extinguisher was dead. But in the end i fixed it and when I stepped on the gas a bit too hard for a yellow light and lit up the tires completely at 55 mph, I realized I was glad I fought through. Think you will be too.

It's true. It's why I'm pushing so hard on the car to complete it ASAP. I wanna drive this damn thing. Lol. It's been like 4-5 years since I've driven a DSM of my own and I'm getting antsy. I'm so close, but I'm incapable of cutting corners so everything that sets me back, no matter how small, feels massive. Lol. It's silly, but yeah. Gotta be okay with taking my time.

 

[CrackedDSM]

For anyone that's still even following this, can I make a dumb request?


Can you take a picture of the 1g rear motor mount bolts for me? Both sets of bolts please, the one that goes into the block itself, and the one that goes into the subframe/bolts the mount to the subframe. Just the bolt by itself. I have the OEM bolts but they got mixed into an abyss of other bolts and now I'm just all confused. Lol.

 

[bastarddsm]

maybe the car life isn't for you, or anything that requires patience really....

 

[Stapl3]

Ay man if you're gonna jump ship or let it sit for a few years, let me get them seats.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Ay man if you're gonna jump ship or let it sit for a few years, let me get them seats.

you got it.

But nah, if you're diabetic make sure you take your diabetic meds folks. You say and do stupid sh*t when your blood sugar is out of whack. Instead of deleting the whiny/weird post I decided to leave it up for posterity's sake. Unlike other people on this forum who walk around as if they are perfect and never make a mistake, I'm man enough to show when I mess up. Cowards around here can't seem to do that, but talk reaaaal tough. (not talking about you Stapl3, )


Edit: Also, someone sent me pictures of the bolts in question. So disregard the request post above Stapl3's post.