Hey, just registered up here. Not new to DSM's at all. Currently have some sleep insomnia going on so I figure for an introduction I'll throw up a my 'build' thread.
For starters I know most of you are in the MN area. I'm from southeast, IA and am only here right now for summer break. I usually am in Cedar Falls, IA which is only an hour or so from MN so I'm usually a lot closer to most of you guys. Just talked to a couple DSM guys I ran into at KOTS who told me I should sign up on here so I did.
Anyways I got my first DSM back in 07 from my mom who told me I could have it if I fixed it. Knew nothing of DSMs or cars at the time. Paid a shop $300ish to fix what was a seized caliper and shifter linkage issues. It was just a 92 laser 1.8l non turbo. One day in my computer class I was bored and looked up plymouth laser and it's all down hill from there. I've owned 25 or 26 cars now since then, 7 of them being DSM's. Only 2 besides this one that I've actually had for "projects" others were just beaters.
I got out of the car game for a few years due to being tired of spending the money. I had sold my last 11 second 1g laser awd and picked up a stock LS1 t/a and did a cam swap, had it for a few months and then sold it. Just went to driving beaters and motorcycles. Last summer I was up to my dd mazda, and 3 motorcycles and started getting cravings for a car again.
In december I made the choice to sell my wonderful mazda 626. Bought it for $1200, sold for $2250 but honestly it was probably the best car I ever owned. Was basically still like new, but I just really wanted to get a 1g.
Picked this up from a guy in the MN area on new years day this year, met him in Mason City, IA.
It's a 1994 Eagle Talon TSi AWD.
Funny thing after I bought a friend of mine down here asked me to send him the VIN after I posted pictures of it. Turned out it's his old car. He sold it in 08 with 144k miles on the chassis. I picked it up January 1st this year with 147k. She definitely didn't move to much. Went through 2 or 3 more owners after him from what I know before I got it.
Anyway when I bought the car I trailered it home due to having a decent amount of issues. It's a good thing I didn't try driving it home since it was blizzard conditions most of the trip and it wasn't til after I bought it I realized there were no wipers or anything haha. So that was the first thing when I picked it up.
Also had pretty much no tune and a massive idle surge. After unloading it off the trailer I dialed in the fuel settings and it ran a lot better driving around. I then went to gas it up and found when full it shot fuel out everywhere. All but two sending unit studs are broken and the seal is out. I've put it off until now, I'll finally be fixing that here in the next week or so.
Also found a huge crack in the intercooler a few days after buying it which was giving me a hell of a boost leak, had it welded up and its been fine since.
Took me about a month to find the idle surge was the fact the FIAV had been bypassed but not blocked off in anyway. Also when I bought it, it had a bad battery and no hold down or anything (battery located in rear) so I did a temp fix for that which it still has and I'm finally finishing now also while the fuel tank is out. Also while trying to source the idle surge the TB was rebuilt, new sensors, other boost leaks found and fixed.
Then the main issue I found with the car was the headgasket needed replaced. Luckily it could still be daily driven as it was my only car through this last semester and I had no time/space/tools up at my University to do a headgasket. So I just limped it around all semester. Mainly spent a lot of time fixing bad wiring. Lots of wiring issues just from age and also hack-jobbed stuff from the past. I've always HATED wiring but honestly I feel a lot more confident now just because of how much re-wiring I've done with this car since i bought it lol.
Still, one of the next big purchases is going to be a re-done 'tucked' harness. Right now the bay is still really sloppy.
Had a lot of other random issues like alternator, CAS, carrier bracket issue and others that popped up over the semester but I always managed to get stuff fixed without having it down for long. Had to use my AAA only once when the CAS wiring pulled apart. The car did get me through the school semester, then with a bad headgasket on finals week I took a big risk and ran it at the track babying the crap out of it. Ran 12.6@114mph.
This was after I did a lot of maintenance, swapped to an external gate and modded 2g manifold, and switched the car to e85. Still, it impressed me a lot - I didn't think it was that quick.
After the school semester ended I brought the car home and tore it apart right away once I finally had access to all my tools, a decent size garage, and most importantly - temps that were above 0! I still have no idea how this thing on e85 managed to start on all the -20 days and such. Barely took longer to start than it did when it was on 91.
Anyways, I found the headgasket issue was just it had an MLS that hadn't sealed properly. Assuming the block and head both weren't prepped perfectly so the MLS didn't seal, I had the same thing happen to my old 1g laser when I put a MLS on it without decking the block.
Then while doing that I did some more re-wiring and replacing plugs, all new timing belt & hardware, phenolic barrier intake mani gasket, replaced any other seals/gaskets I could along the way, and just threw on a OEM Mitsu headgasket since my old laser was on a OEM for 3+ years on a FPGreen at 25-28psi before it gave, and it seals very well. Also the radiator that was in the car was VERY rough and a buddy sold me an aluminum Mishimoto with dual mishimoto slim fans for $50 I threw on it. Dropped the injectors off to be flowtested/cleaned - good thing I did, they were BAD. Now they're like new.
So far no issues.
On May 23rd a couple days after getting the car done I took the car to the track. Drove it 2 hours there, popped off a 11.9@116mph running 20psi on the 16g. Drove it home.
Also took it to Conesville Raceway - drove it there and back also, for a street event that's 1/8th mile. No timing systems, no lights or anything. Just a strip of pavement with arm drops, was a blast. Won all my runs there.
Been daily driving it all summer so far. Picked up a civic for a DD but it's for winter mostly. I still DD the talon every day right now.
I turned up the boost to 25psi and took it to the track this last friday, also scored a set of 2gb GSX wheels with BFG Drag Radials from a buddy for $300. So was hoping for a much better time.
Ended up being a crap night, track was crap, they cancelled the event I was waiting for so I only ran twice. I did run a new best of 11.6@112mph with my intercooler piping blowing apart in 4th before the 1/4. Then ran 11.7@117mph though they claimed to be having issues with their timers, not sure if my slip was accurate or not. The car did spin a fair amount and I think I got some clutch slip in 2nd so I wouldn't be surprised if it was accurate.
That was just this friday, but the car overall did well and I drove it today and am going to drive it a bunch tomorrow on my day off to burn off the e85 left in the tank, then park it to pull the fuel tank. Other things I plan to do while its down: properly secure the rear battery setup and get it "track tech legal"... re-do the rear portion of my exhaust ... look into a bigger fuel pump ... potentially upgrade my dsmlink from v2 to v3 full ... pull my trans to inspect clutch condition ... re-do my gauges ... wire my wideband into the ecu ... wire in NLTS ... replace e-brake cables that snapped in april on me.
Also a buddy gave me for free a megan tubular manifold, I've read some of them crack on the wastegate flange. So I'll run it and if it does I'll go back to my 2g. I also bought a used but still nice tubular o2 housing. Then my buddy sold me a set of FIC 1150s I'm going to throw in. I don't really need them if I stay at this power but I'm seeing 90% IDCs so it'll be nice to have some more cushion. Also think she is ready for some new rear brakes.
Once nice thing - before the guy I know who used to own this car from like 04-08 sold it, he had just replaced all the suspension, bushings, mounts - with energy suspension bushings, tein springs, kyb gr2s, rebuilt driveshaft, all tie rods, ball joints, etc. So the suspension is still all basically new and tight.
Also picked up a Quartermaster 7.25" V-Drive Twin Disc with less than 1k on it, I'm debating on throwing it in or saving it for a bigger setup down the road since it's definitely a bit overkill for a 11 second 16g car.
So if you read through my big book, you have a bigger attention span than I!
So here are some pictures.
Right after buying it, getting ready to start the trip home with it
After finding out it used to be my buddy's car, it was interesting to go and look at this old pictures of it. Here's one of it back in 07 or 08.
After having it home for a few days and getting to to be more drivable and cleaning it up.
Loaded up for its first decent voyage - 3 hour drive to Cedar falls to start the spring semester.
random decent pic from february
My fuel tank/stud issue that I'm finally getting around to fixing so I can quit leaking gas when full and have a functional fuel gauge.
When I brought the car back home for Spring break and did the first batch of maintenance and converted the wastegate setup.
After I got home from the spring semester, couple nights later and after an hour in the garage she was apart.
those injectors were ucky
Putting it back together. You can see why I want a proper tucked harness from this picture, right now its just a big jumbled mess where the battery tray used to be. Tons of the harness could be deleted and cleaned up. Will probably get done next summer.
Maiden voyage, getting some corngas
With the bikes and winter beater civnasty
right after detailing for a cruise night, suddenly started raining
the twin disc just sitting, waiting to decide if it's going in or not.
day after getting her first 11 second pass, sitting there looking proud
Conesville, me and my friends all meeting up to go. Of course I'm the only one not trailering my car hah.
Then a shot of me running my buddy's 79 built volare that is built for spray but runs 11.5 on motor. We raced twice, first time I beat him, then he wanted revenge and we grudge raced for a pizza and I won again. He still owes me.
After throwing on the 2gb wheels with drag radials last thursday, ready for the track
last minute maintenance about 15 minutes before heading to the track
Loaded up, first time I've ever trailered my car to the track which is impressive being its 4 hours total driving and I've always driven my cars there and back, somehow I always get lucky. Buddy wanted to go and his turbo 2v popped the headgasket so its under for a 6.0 LQ motor swap, so he offered to trailer me up. Found it was only about an extra $20 total so said sure. Would of been fine without it but's nice for the peace of mind.
The 11.6 pass slip, with blowing my intercooler piping apart in 4th before the finish. Would like to think it's 11.4/11.5 capable with a good pass.
Some videos:
old idle clip from back in March
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL0jJk6bF0c
May 23rd - when she got her first 11 second pass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv-EX5_oybc
June 21st - Racing at Conesville
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmSIFHL2nsA
July 4th last Friday - Racing at Cordova drag strip, running my new bests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxudXAWoZOQ
Anyways overall, so far it has actually been surprisingly reliable (knock on wood) ever since I did the headgasket and other maintenance. I'm anxious to get the rest of the things tackled in the next couple weeks to finally be completely problem free ... for how long who knows.
I've been considering moving up to a FPGreen to go for a 10.9 pass but I've convinced myself that a mid 11 second reliable 16g setup is pretty sufficient for a broke college student. Right now I just want to keep it nice and reliable. I would like to find a full set of dark cloth interior to swap in. Mine is okay but the front seats are worn and I rather just have the cloth than my leather.
I'm sure there will plenty more to come! Plans can always change, when I get good deals I sometimes make impulse decisions. Overall I'm content right now.
Also for shits and giggles, here are pictures of my last two DSM's that were actually projects that I ever took to the track.
Silver 1gb talon was a fully stock 6bolt / 20g / 91 pumpgas car I learned everything on for the most part, and tuned myself on link v3lite and ran 12.7@107mph. Bent a 2nd gear shift fork and had to skip 2nd next time I was at the track but ran 14.0@112mph so it was probably a low 12 second car with a good trans when I sold it.
White 1gb laser was a built motor, e85, fpgreen setup with a shep trans that ran 11.7@123mph on junk street tires.
random fun fact, back in 2011 I had these wheels on my $700 beater 1.8l eclipse with snow tires on them. These wheels i'm pretty sure were the actual factory wheels off my current car. Wish I wouldn't of sold that eclipse with them, would be cool to still have the original factory wheels that came on my car. The 1ga in the background was also mine, just a minor bolt on AWD beater I picked up for a good deal for no good reason and sold after 5 or so months of never driving it.
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