Kyle's AWD Spyder Project - Big Money

[bigboostingst]

Hey all-

I've been a long time lurker and occasional poster on this site and I figured it was about time I started up a project thread of my own. I've been playing with DSMs for about 7 years now and I'm finally moving on to my dream project (an awd spyder). Unfortunately I recently graduated from college and got my first “big boy” job as a software engineer, I also purchased my first house, so I don’t have as much car time as I once did.

That’s enough of the boring stuff, here is the Evo I sold to fund this project:

http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG0383.jpg

This is the 98 Eclipse Spyder Gst that I will be using as a money pit for the next few years (sorry about the crappy cell phone pictures):

http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1054.jpg

http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1055.jpg

http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1057.jpg

The car made the trip back from Mille Lacs without any major issues despite the wealth of problems I knew of when I purchased the car. This spyder was totally stock and in pretty good shape. Rust was my main concern when I was searching for the perfect spyder. It goes without saying, but this one has NONE.

http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1062.jpg

By the time I got the car home, I was already sick of fwd so I decided to start looking for a good 5-spd awd donor car with the lsd rear or course. After a couple days of looking I ended up buying a really clean 95 Eagle Talon TSI AWD (almost a shame to rip this beauty apart):

http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/2012-08-05_125637.jpg

http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/2012-08-28_175035.jpg

[4seasons69]

That talon looks really clean too! Should be a fun project!

[TjXiong]

Nice. Did you do the awd conversion? Anyway if still and ever want to get rid of the stock rims ill take them off your hands.

[scheides]

Looks good man! Shame to rip that red one apart but I'm sure it has its own issues :)

Nice. Did you do the awd conversion? Anyway if still and ever want to get rid of the stock rims ill take them off your hands.

Pretty sure that's the point of this thread :P

[bigboostingst]

Thanks guys, it’s been a fun project so far. Yep, you are correct scheides the talon had plenty of issues and this thread will be used to track the awd conversion and the addition of many go-fast parts. I will be making a for sale thread and yes I would be willing to sell the chrome Spyder rims and tires feel free to send me a pm.
Here is my progress so far:


This first pic is where the Talon/Eclipse will be staying for the next few weeks:


http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1091.jpg


Here I popped the awd rear subframe out of the talon:


http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1094.jpg


Next was the rear subfame and gas tank on the Eclipse:


http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1111.jpg


Here are the two gas tanks side by side:


http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1112.jpg


After all these parts were out and moved aside it was time to drill out what felt like a hundred spot welds and prepare to weld the awd driveshaft brackets into the spyder:


http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1117.jpg


Then I stripped the spyder frame down to the metal so I could do some welding:


http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/gieri002/IMAG1118.jpg

[blageo23]

Make sure when you are welding those pieces back in you have the driveshaft in place. When I did mine the rear one was not on the correct spot.

[TjXiong]

Lol, I meant to say if you are doing the AWD conversion yourself. It appears that you are :) pm sent.

[TkrPerformance]

will be a fun project. I had fun making mine awd back in 2000

[95talonracer]

Wow you did yours in 2000?

[Alpha D]

Like a Boss !