Street Build Resurrection of the Red 90 Talon

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Just stay "tuned" and Thank You!
This was my 1st DSM so I am glad to be making progress back again.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Ahh, 2g blocks, have you written up anything in here about what to do with the crankshaft thrust bearings in the 7-bolt engines? I have a friend who is kind of shopping for a JDM Evo 4, and he is trying to figure out how scared to be of the crank walk problem that those apparently have worse than most of the other 7-bolt engines.
Love the way that cylinder head build sheet is written up. In post #14.

I am thinking that somewhere I was reading about modding the thrust bearing to take on more oil and retain or pick it up faster, kind of like slotted disk brakes if I am even close to what I think I recall. Just letting you know while its on my mind.

 

[Dericsh]

Making fast progress since you got back on it, nice work!

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I worked all weekend on it Deric. Thanks for watching the progress as it goes along.
I'll be timing it with a new HKS belt tomorrow.
I went with my HKS Head Gasket after a long pondering on that subject.
Those Kiggly Beehive springs are TIGHT. Trying to roll a cam over for checks sure showed that! 94 lb seat pressure. Good for high rpms. All is panning out good so far!

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Timed in time first stab. Dam I shouldn't be that good at it but I have a few tricks.
I might write a article sometime but for now, she's about ready to come off of the stand.
Yay!!!

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Is the HKS better than the gates belt in your opinion?

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

It is Kevlar reinforced I believe but so is the Mitsubishi EVO Black belt I have. I trust them not to stretch or deteriorate.
That dirty HKS belt is just that, dirty. I will clean it up ( only 1k on it) and look it over good for a backup that should clean up good. I clean with Dawn and water for the belt so I don't ruin it.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Well Jeff, here are the marking on the belt. They are BOTH (Blue and Purple) Gates belts.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Ok cool, i wasn't aware of the pink ones I've only seen them in blue.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Just showing I'm not sitting on my ass!
Not alot but just posting up as I go.

Motor is ready to really button her up!

 

[We're on Boost]

Pretty funny, I was going to ask you about clearance between your Zaklee timing cover and the revolving and rotating bolt heads on the AEM wheels. But you beat me to it. I see nice new holes now, where the center bolts are.
On mine I also had the heads of the smaller bolts scraping the cover, so I widened the cover. It was the first polycarbonate project I've ever done.
Oh yours is an HKS cover? Mine was a Zaklee and it looks pretty darn similar!

 

[pauleyman]

I was not aware HKS belts are gates. Are they the same as the blue belt? If so HKS is overpriced. Any details?

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Well I bought the HKS off of a vendor here and still have the wrapping. I will post a picture Paul. Notice the photo on the cover shows the belt saying HKS but the belt that came out was the one on the motor.....or I had it special made for $500 just because, which ever suits the answer
But yes they are more expensive for whatever reason over a black EVO belt and Blue Gates.

It came with HKS instructions to but I'm glad its a GATES!

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

On mine I also had the heads of the smaller bolts scraping the cover, so I widened the cover. It was the first polycarbonate project I've ever done.
Oh yours is an HKS cover? Mine was a Zaklee and it looks pretty darn similar!

I put 4 old oil squirter washers behind the top center bolt hole and siliconed them on so they couldn't fall off so it would hold the front cover out about 1/2" further.
Marty

 

[Vegas Smith]

Great idea. My stupid cover rubs on something no matter what I do. Very frustrating.

 

[We're on Boost]

I put 4 old oil squirter washers behind the top center bolt hole and siliconed them on so they couldn't fall off so it would hold the front cover out about 1/2" further.
Marty
View attachment 621451 View attachment 621452

That's about 1000 times simpler than how I did it.
If you want to see my "most involved way possible" way of doing it, I have 2 pics of it in my "Photos" tab in my Profile.
Actually though I did first try shimming my first Zaklee cover outward a little and that ended up cracking one of the plastic feet.
So I started all over with a new Zaklee cover, and I beefed up the feet as well as widening the whole thing.

In about 1970 or 1971, the "glass clear" type of polycarbonate was a brand new material. That is exactly when I was taking the mechanical engineering "Materials Lab" course in college. We got a bunch of tensile test specimens to pull apart in our lab. Some were reinforced with glass fibers. Those were unbelievably strong. Even the unreinforced ones were pretty amazing. I thought it was the most impressive material we ever had in our lab.
But in all the years since then I had never done a project with it, until I did that modified Zaklee top cover.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Just so everyone knows, and thanks for the likes, I rolled the motor over 6 times yesterday with the covers bolted on and the spacers do their job! No rubbing of the small bolt heads!
YAY!!! So the 4 spacer washers worked.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I think I have a "habit". These cars just keep "coming" to me. I need to get a new 3rd gear syncro into this cars trans and get it back together, last year I was tied up all year with the stupid fuel issue on the Blue 92. Until I drove my stock 5 speed 90 GSX the other day, I had forgot how much I liked rowing gears, so maybe that is some incentive to get my ass to work!

 

[JeffGS-T97]

I think I have a "habit". These cars just keep "coming" to me. I need to get a new 3rd gear syncro into this cars trans and get it back together, last year I was tied up all year with the stupid fuel issue on the Blue 92. Until I drove my stock 5 speed 90 GSX the other day, I had forgot how much I liked rowing gears, so maybe that is some incentive to get my ass to work!

Manual transmissions are very outdated for sure but the manual makes for a way better driving experience IMO. Interacting with your machine like that is super satisfying i think.

 

[pauleyman]

I think I have a "habit". These cars just keep "coming" to me. I need to get a new 3rd gear syncro into this cars trans and get it back together, last year I was tied up all year with the stupid fuel issue on the Blue 92. Until I drove my stock 5 speed 90 GSX the other day, I had forgot how much I liked rowing gears, so maybe that is some incentive to get my ass to work!

Call me when you're ready for that synchro

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Well I have the 5 speed tore apart and I'm trying to get its parts and put it back together. It only had a 3rd gear "crunch", the rest was really nice.
Some may notice the SBC crank. I have another engine build going on in that platform for a man that is swapping a 5.7L SBC into a Ex-Police Crown Vic project. So sacreligous but fun too.
The motor for the Red 90 is ready, I just need to get the trans together and couple it with a good clutch so I can have it running again
SIX YEARS AGO TODAY, I WAS IN THE RED TALON, IN MEXICO, HAVING A LITTLE FUN.
You can see that HERE. It was a blast and proved to ME what a DSM was capable of. Now I'm hooked.
Thanks for following along in my many journey's for SO LONG!
I appreciate you all!
Marty

 

[Spleen8urLSX]

You’re more motivated than me! But I keep promising myself that once I’m back up to full capacity I’ll change the intake manifold on my Crown Vic and put the DSM back in the garage and finally get to work. I’m not defacing my Crown Vic with a 5.7 GM, just getting a move on as I need to put my truck away for the winter before they salt . Either way that’s good stuff, keep us posted, it’ll be going through all gears in no time.

 

[T bags]

Well I have the 5 speed tore apart and I'm trying to get its parts and put it back together. It only had a 3rd gear "crunch", the rest was really nice.
Some may notice the SBC crank. I have another engine build going on in that platform for a man that is swapping a 5.7L SBC into a Ex-Police Crown Vic project. So sacreligous but fun too.
The motor for the Red 90 is ready, I just need to get the trans together and couple it with a good clutch so I can have it running again
SIX YEARS AGO TODAY, I WAS IN THE RED TALON, IN MEXICO, HAVING A LITTLE FUN.
You can see that HERE. It was a blast and proved to ME what a DSM was capable of. Now I'm hooked.
Thanks for following along in my many journey's for SO LONG!
I appreciate you all!
Marty

Amazing work and details

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Polished that 350 SBC crank last night, I will mic it tonight and see what bearings it needs. Initial readings were pointing to a set of stock mains and a set of stock or .001" oversize for the rods so I will write down some more numbers tonight and see what it needs. Journals cleaned up very nice, now it's time for a bath (for the crank......and me).

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

In case anyone wanted to know, I polish all of my cranks with 320 grit emery cloth and WD40. It usually takes most of the roll but depends on how smooth the journals were to begin with. This crank was in pretty good shape to start. I could feel a few grooves, just barely, with my finger nail on each journal and now they are gone and they are smooth!
I have a helper (my son) hold the crank straight up and down while I polish and have him twist the crank a few times on each journal. Its worked for me for over 40 years.
Clearances came out very very good considering the way this motor came to me. Look at the photos, someone was PISSED OFF at this poor motor. They even hit the timing cover so hard that it broke the cam gear into 3 pieces. I was wondering why it was being difficult to turn over after I got down to the short block and then I remembered that the poor timing cover was bashed in so I told the man who's motor it is (he was helping, wanting to see what the INSIDES looked like) that I bet the cover was rubbing on the timing gear. Using another HAMMER, we were able to get to all of the timing cover bolts and pull the balancer and that is when the cam gear fell out in 3 pieces, WOW.....