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pksystems 1997 Eagle Talon TSi AWD street build

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Just in time for the good weather. The curse continues.

Something broke on engine. I thought it was the turbo, but it seems to spin freely, no additional play, with some oil pre-turbo that isn't recirculated.

It still revs fairly quick, but makes no boost at all. I pulled into a parking lot when something was clearly wrong, and there was smoke that looked like it was coming from 2 of the breather ports on the transmission.

I babied it home keeping it under 2500rpms.

Car starts and runs, but makes a rattling noise. Sounds like valve train. My inspection inside the cylinders with my crappy usb endoscope looked like bits of molten aluminum on the pistons. I'm hoping it's just the crappy camera tho.

Updates will be coming.


OH NO! Thats not good. Hopefully the camera is wrong and had some shmutz on the lens. I hope its alright. You put so much love and work into this thing. :(
 
Finally trying to figure out what is wrong.

The car shifts into gear fine, and moves under it's own power. I've been moving it out of the garage to do other projects. There is a rattle noise that sounds like it's coming from the block, near the transmission. I don't think something is wrong with the clutch, because it shifts fine. When you rev the engine, the noise seems to go away. As soon as RPM's drop back to idle, the rattle comes back. I'm preparing to pull the transfer case, so I can pull the flywheel inspection cover, and will be pulling the oil pan. I pulled the valve cover, and everything seems tight. I re-torqued the headstuds. There is some rust on the lobes of the camshafts, which I assume is because the car hasn't run for more then a couple minutes at a time for months, but the noise was there the next morning after the issue arose. The rear catchcan was 2/3 full, and the front had some liquid in it aswell. Yellow water.

Ideas, before I start pulling everything off?
TOB? It was new, OEM.
Alt/PS/AC bearings?
ACT Clutch fingers broken off?
Hotside turbo blades rubbing?
Rod bearings? I have some lifter tick, but this doesn't sound like rod bearings from other videos.


 
The rattling noise has been found.

Since some lunatic went crazy with the RightStuff, I will need a new oil pan, so I will be putting on an aftermarket aluminum one. It was leaking anyways.

 
Transmission is almost ready to pull. I will get to use my homemade engine support bar for a second time. :)

Not going to order parts till I'm 100% sure what I need, but I'm assuming new clutch/PP, and flywheel. When the car broke down, there was smoke coming out of the breather ports on the transmission, so I'm pretty sure something messed up with the clutch. I tried to use my fiber optic camera through the breather ports, but didn't see much. No visible broken fingers on the PP, but I couldn't inspect them all.

Opinions on parts? I'm looking at ACT2100 PP, with 6-puck unsprung disc, and ACT Streetlite flywheel. New OEM TOB. The Fidanza FW was used, and seemed to drive fine, but this doesn't appear to be a one-off with Fidanza after checking on the web, so I'm going with the ACT.

Going to rebuild my Evo 3 turbo, install a new alternator (hopefully this fixes my battery drain) and reinstall my aluminum radiator, while I have everything pulled apart.

I am determined to drive on my new wheels/tires (that I bought 2 years ago) for the first time this summer :p
 
Engine support bar made with scrap. Only cost was a couple nuts, and the welding consumables.

20190728_123546_1600.jpg

Looking for opinions. I was hoping to see something more obvious. PP/Clutch/Flywheel were all used, but low mileage. They looked decent to me. New OEM TOB looks fine, but I will replace it anyway. Clutch started to get uneven wear on flywheel side, and overheated the flywheel, which loosened the starter ring? I don't seem to recall the rattling noise till the next morning.
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20190728_123640_1600.jpg


Clutch disc and flywheel matching wear marks.
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Rebuilt EVO III 16G with Tradergreg kit.

New parts!
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And of course, while you're in there.....
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OBX knockoff of the Moroso oil pan. **UPDATE** It might be due to the stroker, and aftermarket bolts/rods, but I would not recommend this pan. It's not worth the time to make it fit.

Lots of issues to overcome with this thing, but it bolts up. Both pans have similar issues, but I can see why this is so much cheaper then the Moroso.

I enlarged all holes, and hogged out a couple of them. I'll have to find longer bolts (thicker flange), or studs, since some of the holes will be very difficult to install bolts around the sump kick outs.

The studs by the rear main seal hit the side. I test fit, ground, test fit, ground..etc... Eventually I ground down the end of the ARP studs, so they are a bullet shape, and removed the washers on those studs, which allows the 12 point nuts to clear the pan. There would have been too much material to remove on the pan alone.

The reason I wanted the aluminum pan is for the thicker flange, so I can surface it flat. Unfortunately OBX didn't seem to have sanded it much, if at all. Several hours of block sanding, and DIY surfacing on a piece of granite. Upon re-test fitting the pan, the ARP rod bolts (Stroker) on cylinder 2 and 3 hit the pan. Cylinder 2 is right on the edge of the sump. I can't hammer out the aluminum to clear the rod, so I'll be adding material. I will have a couple beads tig'd onto the outside of the pan, and then grind down the inside to clear the rods.

The turbo return stud/flange piece fits fine on the outside of the pan, but does not fit on the inside, where it has to go. Couple seconds on the belt sander and it's fixed.


------

More parts on the way, heat reflective sheet for the bottom of the oil pan around the downpipe (Hopefully it and the transfer case clear) I touched up the paint, and wrapped my downpipe with DEI Titanium to keep the heat away from the oil pan.

20190814_211345_1600.jpg

I'm pretty sure my parasitic draw is being caused by my old alternator. Amazon had a NEW (not re-manufactured) 90AMP one with some decent reviews for $68cdn shipped, and I couldn't pass it up. Looks like a new alternator, and seems to spin fine.
20190814_211550_1600.jpg


Fumoto drain valve for the oil pan. Other issue with both OBX/Moroso is stripping out the drain plug threads.
 
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The modification continues. The pan fully bolts up, and clears the rods.

I also had to trim off a small section of the flange to clear the oil filter housing.

No amount of block sanding would have got this thing flat. I did end up adding JBWeld on both ends to fill the low spots, then surfaced it on a piece of granite. JBWeld should have no problem with the heat, and it's chemical resistant to pretty much everything. The RTV will fail before the JBWeld does.

20190821_151122~2.jpg

The panel around the pickup needs some trimming and apparently racecars don't use dipsticks. Holesaw time.

20190821_150850~2.jpg

Flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, Competition forged clutch fork, oem TOB installed.
20190822_121027_1600.jpg

20190822_122042_1600.jpg

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I don't like the way the TOB clip is sitting, so I may try to bend it to get a tighter fit around the TOB

20190822_155253_1600.jpg

Fumoto valve for the OBX Racing oil pan.

fumoto.jpg

Checking for clearance for the Fumoto. I bought the longer one with the nipple on it, so I can attach a length of hose. No problem clearing the axles, and the subframe. I am pretty (not 100%) sure the driveshaft/downpipe will clear the pan. I'm using stainless bolts, next to bare aluminum on the bottom of the car, so galvanic corrosion would be an issue. Nylon insulating washers should negate this. I still need to double check if the bolts by the timing belt are short enough.

20190822_221640_1600.jpg

While making it fit, I was a bit worried that the sump kick-out was going to be taking rock hits from the drivers side wheel well, so I loosely installed the splash shield. The pan tucks in behind it nicely.

20190822_221516_1600.jpg
 
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Leak testing the OBX Racing oil pan complete.

Yep, it's junk.

The only difference I can see with this and the Moroso is the fully welded exterior flange. If OBX had copied that it would be leak free. You can see water seeping through in a couple sections.

Screenshot_2019-08-25-22-27-17~2.png
Not sure I agree with their slogan.

Time to fully weld the flange, and then print a Moroso decal ;)
 
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Car is back together, and seems to be working fine. This clutch definitely drives different. Much easier to stall.

No more parasitic battery drain. New $68 amazon alternator appears to have fixed this.

OBX Racing oil pan received a coating of JBWeld around the bottom of the entire flange to seal it. I also gave it a coat of JBWeld around the top sealing area, before I block sanded it flat.

Applied aluminized fiberglass heat shield to the bottom of the oil pan, and painted/wrapped the downpipe to keep heat out of the oil pan.

20200204_195051_1600.jpg
20200205_185520_1600.jpg
20200205_185624_1600.jpg

New BBS wheels are finally installed.

20200417_075615_1600.jpg
 
Couple issues. It appears I am still losing some oil, but nothing is dripping on the ground when parked. Yesterday I ran into a Hot start issue several times. I don't think my fuel tank vent (emissions delete) is working quite right. Coolant levels when parking are around 210F which is about the temp the fans are supposed to turn on.

After driving the car, I let it idle for a couple minutes before shutting the car off, and it will not restart.
I was able to restart it every time by: Open gas cap to relieve pressure, disconnect and reconnect the battery, and it seemed, only with my hood open.

When I get some room in my garage, I will pull it in and take a look. I want to verify the rear catch can is not full, and look for oil leaks.
 
Hot start issue still happening. I'm beginning to wonder if the extra thick Mishimoto radiator is just not letting enough air flow through the radiator compared to the stock, thinner factory one. I may try swapping the stocker back in. I have not been stranded yet. :) The oil leak is from the ends of my turbo oil return. I'm leaning towards tossing the AN-10 startlite hose, and just going with the OEM hardline thing.

I took the car out to the mountains for some hiking on the weekend, and was grinning the entire drive.

 
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Hot start issue fixed I believe.

Too bad I hate this hood. I'm playing around with cutting up my damaged steel hood and adding some extraction vents.
 
Reinstalled the OEM radiator in hopes of fixing the hot start issue with factory hood.

Added a wire between relays so both fans turn on when the main fan is activated.

Exactly the same problem.

Even with a thick washer added at the rear of the hood to let heat escape out the back, I'm still having the same prob. If you stall the car in traffic, it's not a quick procedure to get it running again.

It looks like I will be running a vented hood. I may modify the Evo style hood to help hide those vents, and have them only open on the rear facing side.
 
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Since my stock hood has some damage, I'm not too worried about messing it up. Mealing Racing had an OEM hood with extra vents cut just in front of the strut towers. It did not look too bad, even tho it was just holes in the hood. Some louvers would definitely make it more effective.

Break out the styrofoam for some lost core molding. I may not use these. Just playing around with ideas.

I'm also toying with the idea of making a hood bump extension, with vents just behind the radiator.

hood vents.jpg
 
Very rough cut, after I removed the styrofoam plugs. They need a fair bit of sanding/trimming and some more epoxy before they look pretty. I'm still going to make a vented hood bump extension before I make any cuts to factory hood. Whatever I do, will most likely be transferred over to an OEM style carbon hood.

20200628_093233_1600.jpg

Added a flood coat of epoxy. Still needs trimming, and then I need to start wetsanding/polishing.

20200701_110108_1600.jpg
 
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