Back in Black

[DSMxTSi]

DSMxTSi submitted a new DSM Profile :

Back in Black


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[DSMxTSi]

Longtime DSMer here but have been out of the game for several years. So I've had my current 1997 Talon TSi AWD since 2009 but she's been garaged since 2013 due to a massive oil leak, plus life circumstances hasn't allowed for much time to work on the car. She was bone stock when I bought her in Tampa FL and only added 3" downpipe, 3" hi-flow cat, 3" Thermal cat-back, 1G bov, Taylor plug wires and K&N back then. The aftermarket has changed a lot since I was really involved back in the 90s into mid 2000s, so I almost feel like a newbie again.
I've enjoyed seeing other's build threads so am starting my own. Right now I'm just going to swap the T25 for a FP Big 28, replace all coolant, oil and vaccum hoses, and anything else I come across just to get her back on the road and enjoy driving a DSM again.......

Summer of 2013 - Major oil leak. No time or funds. Garaged.

3/5/2020 - Drained coolant and oil. Removed radiator, coolant hoses, air box, intake, and heat shield. Found the plastic where the upper coolant hose attaches to radiator to be cracked off (big surprise ). A local DSMer has an ebay aluminum radiator he's selling me along with his FP Big 28. I have a feeling he's gonna be useful!
I hope to find where the oil leak was coming from, but after 7 years I can only recall it was down in the area of oil filter housing to turbo. I suspect it was a hose so will clean those up and inspect for holes. Already finding rusted bolts such as the radiator bracket bolts. Yeah, this is gonna be fun.

 

[midwestmopar]

Are you going to be doing the timing belt on it? When I picked mine up from sitting 8 years I figured I'd go ahead and do it even though it looks brand new.

 

[DSMxTSi]

I had done it around a year prior to garaging it. But am debating whether or not to do it. I likely will just to be safe.

Also thinking if I go ahead and do the timing belt then I'll pull the head off for a MLS head gasket and ARP head studs.

 

[DSMxTSi]

5/19/2020 Got a bit more done the past few days. Valve cover, front bumper, stock turbo, intercooler and piping all removed. Cleaned up the valve cover and added some color to it, though I'm not too happy how it turned out. It was suppose to be a metallic black but ended up more dark grey, plus it's not perfect due to crap in the air getting in the paint but it's better than it was. I knew I should've stayed with wrinkle black as I've done a few times before on past DSMs but I thought I'd change it up. That's what I get for thinking! Pressure washed the front of the motor from the old oil leak and seepage. That was quite the mess but I still need to do the whole engine bay once I can pull it out of the garage. Today I cleaned up the headlights and the water neck and t-stat housing.

Quite a few parts arrived/picked up already, fresh rebuilt (rebuild by G Pop Shop) FP Big 28, turbo and valve cover gaskets, VR1 oil, driveline fluids, ebay radiator from a local DSMer, ebay hose kit, new battery, t-stat, radiator cap, plus more I'm sure I'm forgetting. Still waiting on more recent orders such as VRSF fmic, Mishimoto coolant reservoir, Vibrant vacuum lines, fuel pump rewire, o2 sensor, and Hallman MBC.

Had quite the time trying to locate a p/s pump pulley. All the new and remanufactured units for sale don't come with the pulley, plus the one 2G in a local salvage yard had already been picked clean. So online I went and thank god for the DSM community as I had half a dozen replies willing to sell me the pulley they have. The one I got should be here tomorrow. I ended up removing the hard p/s line that loops in front of the condenser and replaced it with a short hose at the p/s pump.

Still need to get a 3" hole saw to make way for the short route i/c piping and locate the couplers to attach my FP intake to the turbo and maf. My Talon was a Florida car so thankfully I didn't have too many rusted bolt issues. The manifold to turbo bolts and nut actually broke loose easily, though I did spray PB Blaster on them the night prior. But three of the four little bolts holding the bracket above the condenser broke as well as the two bumper bolts on the right side.

All in all, she's coming along well.

 

[DSMxTSi]

6/8/20202 - Made a little progress with the fmic. Got it mounted and bumper trimmed, the 3" hole saw was a pita but it worked and have the cold side pipe mounted up to throttle body. All that has led to figuring out what to do with the overflow bottle, which in turn has led to oil catch can(s) research, which has all led to the decision to pull the cruise control out and find a non-cruise throttle cable to make room for everything. I never intended to pull the cruise control, but since it's no longer a daily I easily decided it wasn't necessary.

I have the T28 mounted to test fit the aluminum radiator and stock fans along with an aluminum intake pipe and the intercooler hot side piping. I need to take the turbo back off to modify the outlet to down flow as there isn't enough room to bring the piping over any further. The aluminum intake pipe is much longer than I anticipated, so the stock air box will not fit. I'll either need to find a short open air filter that fits or just stick with the stock rubber intake pipe for now and save the aluminum pipe for when I switch to SD. Thankfully the aluminum radiator and stock fans fit just fine with plenty of clearance. I think I'll go ahead and have the exhaust housing and manifold ported while It's all off.

I also removed the oil filter housing to replace the gasket at the block, and also the o-ring. Now the decision is what oil feed line to use. After research it looks like feeding from the head isn't a good idea for Garrett turbos, but can't find whether or not to use a restrictor with a -4 an ss line off the oil filter housing. Tuners is a treasure trove of info but sometimes it leads to not being able to find exactly what you're looking for. While I was removing the oil filter housing I checked the timing belt and fortunately all looks good there. I had changed it not long before garaging her for 7 years so I should be good there, plus being in a garage has definitely helped.

Also got the PS pump mounted and all accessory belts back on. Had to get a bolt for the a/c bracket tension as mine was missing, probably why there wasn't an a/c belt on there. After 7 years it's hard to remember exactly why I did the minor things I had done before on this car, but usually I run into something that jars the memory! One thing I have definitely figured out is that some parts are hard to find or simply aren't stocked at the auto parts stores anymore. Getting old sucks, even for cars!

 

[DSMxTSi]

Finally got the motor back together after having the T28 outlet modified to downflow and ordering a few pieces such as exhaust manifold gasket, stud and nut/washer as well as ss oil feed line. The turbine housing was ported to match the FP manifold I ended up using due to cracks in the stock 2g manifold. I drilled and tapped a nipple into the aluminum intake pipe for the catch can hose and also had to find a way to route the bov return hose. It's just temporary right now as I plan to switch to Link and speed density soon. I used the stock rubber piece along with a small section cut from washing machine return line. It's not pretty but thankfully only temporary.

I am running a two catch can setup, both sealed, as can be seen in the pic. Sure it's a little overkill for not running too much power over stock, but it certainly doesn't hurt and am planning ahead. The stock coolant overflow bottle is simply tucked in near the stock location. I have a Mishimoto overflow bottle but can't find a good location right now due to using two oil catch cans. I tried putting the stock overflow down in the stock sidemount location but I just really didn't like it. Eventually I'll probably locate the battery to the trunk to open up space.

So once I got the motor buttoned up I went ahead and changed the transmission, xfercase and rear diff fluids. The trans and diff went smoothly, but the xfercase didn't leak a drop when I pulled the drain plug! Found the fluid to be sludged up inside both drain and fill plugs. That really sucks as I was excited to hear it run after 7 years. So now that's where I'm at, looking for a good transfer case, having mine rebuilt, or flush it out and hope it's good. It ran fine from 2009 till 2013 though I did see signs of the rear seal leaking when I pulled it off the other day. Am not sure if the remaining fluid turned to sludge sitting this whole time or not. So the wait continues till I figure this out.View attachment 606054 View attachment 606055 View attachment 606056 View attachment 606054 View attachment 606055 View attachment 606056

 

[stormbird]

Glad to see somebody putting some quality effort into their 2G. Why do you assume your t-case needs replacing? Might as well just flush it out and re-fill it and see how it goes.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Thank you, it's been a long process but half the battle is sometimes simply finding parts. Thank God we still have some dsm specific vendors.

I am going to flush it. I came to that realization today after some research. I've never messed with the transfer case too much other than remove and install for other needs. I'll order the seals for it tomorrow and replace them while it's off the car, then flush and fill once those are replaced. I was told that atf fluid is a good choice for the flush so will do that versus diesel. I have Heavyweight Shockproof waiting to go in and will still likely do a quick fluid change again just to be safe. Honestly the sludge kinda scared me but after research it appears to be a fairly common thing. I should've changed it after I bought the car in 2009 but it was bone stock and didn't think too much about it then. Live and learn I guess.

Glad to see somebody putting some quality effort into their 2G. Why do you assume your t-case needs replacing? Might as well just flush it out and re-fill it and see how it goes.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Today I flushed the xfercase with some atf I had remaining from my Ram's trans fluid change. I simply rotated the driveshaft by hand for a while, the car is up on Jack stands. Pulled the drain plug and the fluid came out clean. I have a feeling the old fluid was caked up around the two plugs only. Likely parking it when I did saved the xfercase.

Ordered the seals from STM this morning and will swap those out when they arrive.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Went to replace the seals a couple weeks ago and when messing with the rear seal I found the shaft has a LOT of play. Up/down, side-to-side and in/out. I took it to a local DSMer who has another 97-99 t-case to compare and possibly swap, his has very little play but the splines are trashed. So back to square one. I've been trying to get to Iowa over a weekend (6 hour trip) to give the t-case to my best friend up there who can rebuild it, but our schedules just haven't matched up. I thought about shipping it but don't want to risk it after hearing some horror stories. It'll be at least two weeks till I can possibly get up there, so am thinking about rebuilding it myself. Problem is that I can't find any videos or tutorials about rebuilding these t-cases. Another thing I'm trying to track down are the caps and clips for the new yoke I have. I have no idea when or why I got the yoke, nor why it doesn't have the caps and clips, but it's definitely a new piece. So the wait continues....

 

[DSMxTSi]

Well almost a year later and I finally have my t-case done. My friend in Iowa rebuilt it with new OE bearings but found the rear bushing to be badly burned up. After some research I found that I had two options, either pay big money for a 300M upgrade or find a tailshaft housing with a good bushing. My Talon isn't high horsepower so while I'd love a bullet proof t-case I couldn't justify the cost for the 300M upgrade right now, and actually found a good tailshaft housing pretty quick at a salvage yard not too far from me. They almost trashed that car when the salvage yard had a big flood and the car was under water, but thankfully I caught it just in time.

Last week I had a local performance shop install a new u-joint onto the new yoke and onto my driveshaft. Plus they also cleaned and balanced my stock injectors and the FIC 650s I've had laying around for years.

So things are coming along nicely now. Should be getting the t-case and driveshaft back onto the car soon. I just put the stock injectors back in and changed the spark plugs. Still need to change the fuel filter and get the old gas out of the tank, plus get my gauges installed as well as have the wideband o2 sensor bung welded onto my downpipe. But my daughter's graduation looms in a few weeks so that'll take up some time.

A few months ago I got ECM Link V3 so as long as she starts up and runs good on the stock ECU and fuel system then I should be installing Link shortly thereafter along with the FIC 650s and Walbro pump with rewire.

Side note: I recently bought a set of 95-96 Talon twisty skirts, but without the door caps and fender caps. So If anybody has any for sale please let me know.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Just realized I hadn't updated after my new coolant overflow bottle was installed. I just didn't like any option re-using the stock overflow bottle after installing the VRSF intercooler. So I got this one from Paul Gamble. It's a nice unit and am sure it'll work just fine.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Got the t-case, driveshaft and downpipe all back on. Drained the gas tank and got four gallons of 91 in and went to fire it up. Let it crank with the engine fuse pulled for a bit then tried to start it. No luck. Cranks but won't even try to fire but I hear a small backfire. So now I need to test sensors, check timing and figure it out. Sitting for 8 years now I figured it wouldn't be easy. I have a Chiltons manual ordered since I can't find the one I already had, so will hopefully get it figured out soon.

 

[DSMxTSi]

It's freaking getting there, slowly but surely!

Verified that she's got fuel and spark, sensors are ok. But timing is off. Got timing components ordered. So close I can taste it haha. Am also suspecting the rings may be hugging the pistons and not building compression, from sitting for so long. The timing isn't too far off and should probably start if that was the only issue. So I'll try to get that corrected once the timing is fixed.

Did have a popped 20A Engine fuse, new one works fine.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Got the timing fixed and still cranks but no fire. Re-verified the fuel and spark is fine. Gonna run a compression test soon and check the coolant temp sensor.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Welp, zero compression in all four cylinders. Verified with two different gauges. I'm thinking that when I tried to start it a couple months ago when the timing was off that it bent valves and is now causing no compression. Everything else checks out fine. So now I'll be pulling the head, may as well upgrade parts while it's off!

 

[DSMxTSi]

Found a stock 2g head locally for a great deal, just needs refreshed. Bought it last night and will be taking it to the machine shop next week. Also ordered ARP head studs and Topline revised lifters from STM today and the Felpro head and intake manifold gaskets from Rock Auto.

I might have the machine shop do a mild port just to remove the casting flash.

Am also contemplating a set of street cams, EVO3 intake manifold, and maybe a bigger turbo. The FP Big 28 is new and may keep it for the time being, but a 20G or 68HTA is what I ultimately want.

I'll pull the head off this weekend and hopefully verify the valves are indeed bent, either way I couldn't pass up the deal on the other 2g head. At worst I'll have a spare head for down the road.

 

[Silverspyder]

Looking good! Great to see another "old guy" in here still wrenching on these cars.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Looking good! Great to see another "old guy" in here still wrenching on these cars.

Thank you. It's been a slow progress but seems to be coming along now.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Haven't had much time plus the weather got cold but did get about halfway through the head removal process. I do have the rebuilt head back from the machine shop. Just waiting on cam oil seals to arrive and can finish assembling it. Found the CAS and ignitor connectors broke so they won't clip on anymore, got those ordered as well. It should be warming up soon so I'll hopefully get it back together sooner rather than later. I'm really praying at this point as I am moving to Florida in 4 months.

I also decided to get an EVO III exhaust manifold. Reading enough negative comments about the FP race manifold with smaller turbos made me rethink that setup. They are hard to come by but I finally found a ceramic coated one here in the classifieds, thanks to 'fourgsixty3' for the easy communication and quick shipping. I'd also like to find an EVO III intake manifold as well but those seem to be even more rare.

Now I am contemplating his Greddy 18G he also has for sale. I love the idea of an old school setup. Ultimately I want a fun street car without having so much power that would necessitate a dogbox. Just keep it at a reliable power level. An 18G can achieve that on E85 and Link. But in the meantime I'll run this little FP Big28 and wait to install the 18G once I have the block built with forged internals, maybe next winter.

Eventually I'll find a different DSM (clean chassis and auto) with every intention of building a drag car.

 

[pauleyman]

Very likely i've asked this before but where did you get that pic in your avatar? It's a very old pic.

 

[DSMxTSi]

Very likely i've asked this before but where did you get that pic in your avatar? It's a very old pic.

I bought that 90 Talon back in 1999 from the original owner. He took that pic when he was in SF at some point. Was a great pic and I've used it ever since I bought the car. Sadly I went through a divorce in 2006 and sold the car with just 52k miles to a buddy in Arkansas who ended up getting it repossessed a couple years later while he had the head and ECU pulled off. It was in mint condition while I had it. I posted trying to locate it last year but didn't find much. Someone said they think it's in the KC area and not nearly in the condition I remember. I had rebuilt the block with Wiseco pistons, installed a full TD06 20G replacing the blown Buschur 20G, added GM MAF, but never got it dialed in before I sold it. It was driveable but not track ready at that point. I'd still love to find it but it's probably been ragged on and nowhere near what it used to be.

 

[pauleyman]

I bought that 90 Talon back in 1999 from the original owner. He took that pic when he was in SF at some point. Was a great pic and I've used it ever since I bought the car. Sadly I went through a divorce in 2006 and sold the car with just 52k miles to a buddy in Arkansas who ended up getting it repossessed a couple years later while he had the head and ECU pulled off. It was in mint condition while I had it. I posted trying to locate it last year but didn't find much. Someone said they think it's in the KC area and not nearly in the condition I remember. I had rebuilt the block with Wiseco pistons, installed a full TD06 20G replacing the blown Buschur 20G, added GM MAF, but never got it dialed in before I sold it. It was driveable but not track ready at that point. I'd still love to find it but it's probably been ragged on and nowhere near what it used to be.

I remember that thread. I didn't know the original owner personally but I knew him as a member of MDSOG. OLD OLD OLD school...like before internet almost.

I went and looked at the old thread. That car was pretty. I was fortunate to own a 90 from 92 on starting at 35k. It was mint until it got older and I had to start parking it outside. I crushed it a decade ago.

 

[DSMxTSi]

I remember that thread. I didn't know the original owner personally but I knew him as a member of MDSOG. OLD OLD OLD school...like before internet almost.

Yeah he was an older guy even back then. Scott Miller I believe was his name. He had quite a bit of work done at Buschur's; 20G, 264 cams, ported head, fmic, HKS VPC and GCC, 550s, Walbro. It's best time was 11.52 in 1/4 when he had it. It dumped lots of oil under boost when I bought it, figured it was the turbo as it had been on there a while at that point, so I replaced it with the TD06 20G. Still dumped oil out the exhaust and figured the rings were shot and eventually pulled the motor. He had ran some sort of nitro fuel additive and I figured the rings didn't last because of it. Wish I had never sold it as I was just getting it back to it's former glory.

I went and looked at the old thread. That car was pretty. I was fortunate to own a 90 from 92 on starting at 35k. It was mint until it got older and I had to start parking it outside. I crushed it a decade ago.

What thread is that? I'd love some pics since I never took many of it.