pksystems 1997 Eagle Talon TSi AWD street build

[pksystems]

Picked up for fairly cheap. $1400

The previous owner, purchased it from its previous previous owner, who spun a bearing, when they did a balance shaft removal incorrectly. (From what I can tell)

I don't think he mentioned what was wrong with it, when he sold it to him, but I was able to tell with work orders/receipts from inside the car, and googling the PPO. The PO did some additional work on it to try to fix the problem. There is more then $2500 worth of work from PPO receipts inside the car. Also contains 1/4 mile timeslips...etc....
I believe the car hasn't run since 2009.

Car had the following when I purchased (or so I was told) :

Copied from the PPO's forsale ad. He was asking $14,000 shortly before he spun the bearing.

Rebuild tranny 20000 ago
Low mileage RVR bottom end
Built 2G top end
upgraded lifters
new rockers
comp 264 cams
act clutch (<5000kms since installed)
greddy type rs bov
metal head gasket
arp head studs
greddy spec II boost controller
injen air intake
e-managment ultimate
Apexi N1 3" exhaust
Punishment Racing FMIC
hid lights
bastard 20g turbo (It's actually a jammed up ebay special --> trash)
Stock Talon 17's
Walbro 255HP

Backstory.....
I WAS interested in a new EVO X GSR, till I started seeing the ridiculous markup these cars get once they arrive in Canada. MSRP was like $34K USD in the States, when our dollar was on par, or higher. Same car in Canada was $45k+

Which leads us to the TSi AWD. I have a 98 ESi with brake/suspension I've upgraded, so I have some familiarity with these cars. Since global warming seems to be NOT happening, and snow/cold weather is getting worse every year, the goal is to build an AWD DD.

It will of course be getting some optional extras.

And the journey begins............

 

[pksystems]

September, 2013
Car had some small rust holes on rockers, near rear wheel wells. I figured it wouldn't take long to fix, I'd drop in a low mileage JDM motor, and be driving it by winter.

What you see is just the tip of the iceberg. I know this, and should have known better. My summer only project ('66 Porsche 912) looked decent when I purchased it, and I've replaced half the car.

Anyway.. 1 inch holes led to 2 feet of sheetmetal replacement. It was at this point I decided this car was getting a full refurbish over the winter.

Here is some pictures of the carnage. The visible rust in pics is just surface. Repair sections were sandblasted after I stopped cutting out rot.

Both sides the same...

Patch panels, and rust prone area sealed with industrial epoxy, after seam welding. Then seam sealed, then undercoated, twice. Inside of the rockers/repairs have been painted with rust paint through a flexible paint wand.

 

[pksystems]

During winter I started planning out the build/ordering parts.

Parts ordered:

Quaife front LSD
Evo 3 clutch type rear LSD
KAAZ clutch type center LSD --> Yes, that's 3 LSD's. There is no way this car should get stuck in winter.

Evo IX BBS Forged 17x8 wheels (Summer use)

Innovate MTX-L wideband
Autometer C2 Oil pressure gauge (matches what came with car)
03 Hyundai Tiburon black cloth seats
95-96 Talon twist skirts
ABS Delete
Outlander Bigger Big Brake upgrade
Braided clutch line
Braided brake lines
Energy Suspension bushings (Motor, suspension, shifter)
RTM underhood shifter bushings
OEM mudflaps (I may make rally style with CF/kevlar)
Torque solutions urethane rear subframe bushings
Torque solutions urethane drive shaft carrier bushings
RTM urethane rear diff bushings

Color scheme:
Car will stay black, but will be getting orange accents (calipers, random brackets, sway bars, valve cover)

Quick update to get everything caught up. I've since done the following:

Someone tried to jack the car in several places under the door, and caved it in till it hit the seat reinforcement rails. I cut out the collapsed area, hammered the floor back to where it was supposed to be, and made a new reinforcement section.

Fixed

Hammered pinch welds back to where they belong.

Cleaned entire underside of car/rear wheel wells, painted & undercoated everything.

Pulled all rear suspension/fuel tank shield..etc... Sandblasted/powdercoated everything. New ES bushings, or new arms if they aren't available.
3g rear tubular upper & lower contol arms are being used.

Added a 4th diff mount to rear subframe, and painted it. Pressed in urethane bushings.

Added rear through bumper tow hook (It's a DD, and a DSM, so it will be on a flatbed at some point)
I'll need to do some bodywork around it. My guestimate was off a bit.

Mounted 03 Tiburon seats

Made fender braces out of scrap ERW tubing I had in garage.

Started fixing some front strut tower rust. Drivers side has mild perforation, passenger has a small surface area to fix. I can't do a proper repair with the suspension in the way, and I don't want to have to wait to pull the engine till after front suspension is back on. Engine is coming out soon.

Pulled front axles, pulled transfer case.

Painted rear diff. I need to move the car to pull the engine, so I might aswell put in the evo3 lsd, and finish the rest of the rear end.

 

[pksystems]

Installed Evo III rear LSD.

Checked for backlash/runout....etc.......

Ground down one of the rear evo shims to get the backlash in spec.

Powdercoated rear diff cover & axle seal shields "mirror orange".
Powdercoated flat/lock washers, and heads of socket head cap screws "black magic"

Installed new axle seals.

Sealed it up with "The Right Stuff"

New plugs/vent are in the mail.

I will make a new label with printable vinyl.
Rear Diff and Door Jam labels.

 

[Ejanes]

Great color scheme

 

[pksystems]

Reinstalled rear differential. I'm so used to seeing pickup trucks, I was expecting more of the diff to show.

Installed zinc-plated socket head cap screws for rear upper control arms. The OEM10 (10.9+ grade) are like impossible to find locally.

I've been finding OEM4 on most other Mitsu/DSM cars in this area. Since mine were rusty, and didn't want 4's I had Fastenal order them in. 12.9 grade SHCS should hold.

Extras were used for the rear subframe cross bar reinforcement.

Rear swaybar will be getting the same orange powdercoat.

 

[6772owner]

Looking good so far, keep it up!

 

[pksystems]

Installed rear axles, swapped out all nuts/washers for new. Control arm bolts are all being reused, except for toe bolts which had to be cut out.

Started disassembling rear calipers for sandblasting/rebuilding/powdercoating.

 

[pksystems]

Powdercoated one of the rear calipers.

Pulled piston/seals. Put 2 pipe cleaners together, and folded them so that they are about 2" long. Put them in a cordless drill, and cleaned out all the gunk in the caliper slide bores.

Rubbed down slide boots with liquid wrench, and they look good as new.

Cleaned everything, applied lube/brake fluid where required, and reassembled with Carlson 15228 rebuild kit.

Applied Mitsu logo decal from GTA Decal.

Peek-a-boo

 

[pksystems]

Powdercoated the other caliper, and rebuilt it.

Powdercoated the 3G rear sway bar "Mirror Orange"

Powdercoated DNA Motoring front strut tower bar "Matte Black Tuscan" (Oven extension still setup from sway bar) It was a polished aluminum, which was blindingly bright in the sun. It has a satin black finish to it now. I will probably be doing most of the parts in the engine bay this color, with a couple orange accents.

Bolted up the rear sway bar.

Installed Techna-fit rear stainless braided (black sleeves) brake lines.

Rear end is ready to drop, so I can torque all suspension bolts.

 

[bduran1220]

Looks awesome!!!
Whats the benefit of using 3g rear upper Control arms?

 

[miliman13]

this .......................this is a F#$ing sexy build.

 

[pksystems]

Supposed to be lighter/stronger. I had to refinish a set of upper arms, and the local wreckers had a 3G sitting there, so I grabbed them.

Weight wise they are within a couple grams.

Comparing them side by side the 2g arms look really weak. 2G arms have basically 1 layer of steel at the knuckle mount. 3G arms have a bracket welded on for the knuckle, so you have a piece of tubing running over the joint. I'm sure the 2g arms are fine.... but it was a direct bolt on, and the ES bushings fit in either arm.

I used the lower 3G tubular arms aswell. They were a fair bit cheaper to buy new then 2g arms. Since the ES bushing kits don't have bushings for lower arms, you pretty much need to buy new arms if you want new bushings. Have to use the 3G sway bar with them tho. I grabbed the sway bar at the same time as upper arms. I'm not sure yet, but I may have fitment issues with the swaybar/exhaust. Soon as I finish powdercoating the rest of the exhaust hangers, I will test fit the rear section of the exhaust.

 

[sirbow2]

This build is freaking amazing. The orange black contrast looks awesome!

 

[pksystems]

Thanks.... I'm doing the opposite color scheme of my other "project"

Have to figure out how I'm going to change the rear badge colors from blue to orange. I'm leaning towards Plastidip Blaze Orange, altho Tremclad Real Orange is an almost identicle match to my PBTP Mirror Orange.

I just took the side 16V DOHC Turbo badges off to install the twist skirts, and the letters pretty much fall apart when you heat/remove them.

 

[sirbow2]

Don't remember where, but someone used dental floss, but it becomes harder the older they are. Maybe some thin wire, or even nichrome wire (thin wire that heats up a lot with power ran through it)

 

[Crowder13]

im partial to the orange and black.... as i look over at my High School letter men's jacket.... sniffles

 

[pksystems]

Installed rear sway bar/new end links.

Started installing my 2GA Talon skirts/door caps. They've been painted since last fall, and since the rear wheels are finally on the ground (wood block stands) I have access to the jack point area, so I want them installed.

Trying to do it the proper way. Used the grease transfer method to mark hole placement. Drilled like 20 holes in my freshly rust repaired rockers, got new clips. The holes for the clips were coated with permatex ultra blue gasket maker before I installed the panels.

Bottom mounts along the pinch weld have threaded inserts installed. I seam sealed the edges to the body of car to try to keep any moisture out.

FSM says to use double sided tape to keep the edges tight against the body. Only problem is the lip for the tape to stick to is maybe 1/8" wide (not much to attach too)
Tried the double sided tape on the edges. Maybe the super heavy duty stuff I tried wasn't heavy duty enough..... Was able to pull the skirt off after like 20hours.

Enough messing around. Time for something more permanent then double sided tape.

Moved right to Black Urethane adhesive.

Sanded the backside of skirts in area where tape is supposed to be applied. Cleaned area with methanol before applying urethane. Wet sanded car body where urethane will be attaching (removed the gloss) and cleaned with methanol.

Went to install drivers side. Hmm... this new tube of urethane is REALLY REALLY stiff. Having never used urethane before, I didn't know. 2 hands squeezing the caulking gun, and barely anything is coming out. Took forever, but I got then entire edge coated. Installed the skirt, clamped it. It's on, and doesn't seem like it will ever come off. After installing the door cap, I figured I'd contact the manufacturer, and find out what's up. Yes it's expired ~60 days ... and that explains why it's so stiff. They said it will still work.

Picked up a different tube from a different location. One hand on the trigger, entire edge is coated in a couple minutes. Awesome how non-expired product works.

Passenger side skirt installed/clamped. The door strakes will need to be re-attached, the oem double sided tape is letting go. They will be urethaned aswell.

 

[dfootedsm]

killer restoration

 

[yhype]

Top notch build you have going. Awesome color choices as well.

 

[pksystems]

Finally got around to printing some new decals. Papilio inkjet printable self adhesive vinyl for outdoor use.
They are indeed waterproof. After printing them I blacked the edges (where applicable) with a sharpie. I then gave them a shot of rattle can clearcoat for extra protection.

Decal went on a bit crooked... meh.... oh well... if it ever starts to come loose, I printed 2 extras. Orange color isn't a match. It came out darker on the vinyl.

The rear end of the car is sitting ridiculously high. I bounced it a couple times on the ground before I torqued all the bolts to spec (with weight on bushings) but I still have 4-4.5" of fender gap on the rear. I think the suspension needs to settle or something. My ESi has 3" of rear clearance with oem suspension.

Made some Carbon Fiber mudflaps. Made templates out of cardboard and clamped them onto the car. RA shape didn't look right next to the Talon bumper, so I started trimming the shape to better match the contours of the bumper.

Waxed a piece of glass, and layed the CF first. Let it cure, then did the kevlar.
1 layer of 8.9oz 12K Plain weave Carbon with clear UV stable epoxy.
3 layers of 5oz 3k harness satin kevlar with black pigment mixed into the epoxy facing tires. The black is embedded in the epoxy, so the color might start to fade, but it won't chip off like paint.

CF will be polished. I may put those RA decals on... we'll see. My cut looks horrendous compared to the CF weave on the drivers side. The flaps are stiff, but they can flex a fair bit. I don't think they will shatter (kevlar), but if they do, I'm out some material I already had, and time.

Flaps are secured with stainless bolts/fender washers/nuts through the fender liners. Outer bolt goes through flap/liner/bumper tab where there was a black plastic retainer clip. Wheel well side bolt heads/washers have been powdercoated black to de-bling them. Once the rear suspension settles more, the flaps should be 1-1.5" closer to the ground

Test fitted rear section of apexi exhaust (Downpipe isn't installed). I have no idea which rubber hanger goes where, and apparently I misplaced one of them. I think my guess is correct.

There is 1/4" of clearance with the 3g sway bar to the exhaust. There is enough give in the rubber I can make it hit the sway bar. Once the new engine is in, and downpipe is bolted up I won't be able to push the exhaust towards the front tho, which is how I can make contact. If I still have clearance issues, the easy fix is to add a spacer and some longer bolts in one of the exhaust joints, which will push it back.

 

[pksystems]

I took a square to the side/bottom edges of flaps and recut them. Then polished all visible rear facing areas.

Blacked out the kevlar fuzz (turns yellow when cut) with a black sharpie, and applied the RA decals I made.

They are only finger tightened right now. The holes are bigger then they need to be, so I can shift them if the angles aren't quite right before I thread lock them.

If you're really close you can tell they're fake. If they were die cut they would look better.

 

[pksystems]

Finally got around to pulling the engine. The car didn't come with engine hoist brackets, so I pulled some fairly thick angle iron out of the scrap metal bin, and made a couple temporary brackets.

I'm pretty sure the JDM engine I'll be picking up will have oem brackets.

RVR Motor with very low mileage ACT clutch. Spun bearing, so pretty much most of this is junk. Intake/exhaust manifolds will probably be reused on new motor.
PO had 3 bolts holding engine to transmission.

Since I have 2 projects in a 2 car garage (no room), I needed assistance pulling the motor. While I was waiting I decided to finally do something with my junk yard hatch cover. The carpet looked decent, but dirty, and it was grey. My interior is black/beige.

Since the main structure of the cover is like a chewed up chip board/cardboard sort of thing, I don't think the piece could handle a good cleaning. Which means I can't paint/dye the carpet. So my options are recover with different carpet, or do some CF overlays for the car.

The oem carpet pealed off pretty easy. I then gave the entire piece a quick sanding, vacuumed it, and gave it a very light wipe down with some cleaner. The rivets holding the chip board to the aluminum brackets were sticking up in a couple places, so I coated them, and all the other holes with JBWeld. When fully cured I sanded everything down, including the high spots on the aluminum rivets.

Since this is purely cosmetic, I didn't want to waste too much of my Twill CF. The chip board isn't painted/sealed at all, and any disorientation in the weave will show with a light background. I gave the entire piece a coat of epoxy with black pigment mixed in. Basically I gave it a roller paint job with epoxy. It's now black. Gave that a quick sanding, wiped it down with methanol, and whipped out the CF.

This is just the CF bonded to the cover. It will need several flood coats of epoxy, and an ungodly amount of sanding/polishing before it's done.

I will do the headliner (non-sunroof car) and the door inserts the same way.

I found some decent condition black leather Tiburon seats, which will match my oem Mitsu leather (It's really vinyl guys) rear seats. I'll swap the brackets off my cloth Tiburon seats, and make office chairs or something out of those

 

[Type1DSMr]

Wow just wow! Love the orange and black. Very nice on the cover as well. Definitely can't wait for more.

 

[pksystems]

Pulled the PP/Clutch/flywheel off and mounted the engine on a stand so I can move it out of my way.

I think this was a new clutch used less then 5,000kms, then the car sat for like 4+ years. It might have been a used part tho. Act2100 I believe.

First time I've ever seen a clutch. Anyone think this is still good to go? I see cross hatching similar to a new set of brake rotors on the FW. I didn't see any cracks or grooves, just heat discolouration.

The transmission was only being held to the engine with 3 bolts, and it sounds like the PPO liked to drag race.

If it's trash I will probably be looking at a Fidanza lightweight FW and Act/SB clutch.