Topic: 1995 Eagle Talon TSi AWD

[Delta]

Legal, except for the inspection stickers

[Kalgorn]

Bro, I have 10 days.

Already scheduled for Saturday.

[Kalgorn]

I got the car inspected two weekends ago (I didn't want to tear into it until that was done) and then me, my wife, and youngest son got sick (hand, foot, mouth disease - what a pain) so I lost all motivation to do anything other than work, watch TV, and sleep. Now that we're past that, I've got my motivation back.

I really need to have more patience when working on this car. I broke another couple bolts today. Thankfully, much less important - two of the top bumper bolts and the two that hold the bumper to the driver's fender. I removed the broken bolts from the top section but I have to pull the fenders to see what I can do about those broken bolts.

I'm pulling out all of the extra emissions stuff (evap + EGR) and getting rid of the excess vacuum lines. It's ridiculous how much "extra" stuff there is.

Innovate MTX-L Plus wideband is going in. I've already run the cable into the car. I still need to install the gauge and wire it in. I love that the MTX-L doesn't have the big box that you have to hide somewhere in the car like the LC-2.

I've going to be baking a pair of head lights to take them apart and paint the housings black. I'll be refinishing the lens covers as well.

New Pioneer stereo is installed. Double DIN looks so much nicer than a single with adapter plate.

I ordered a GlowShift 30psi boost/vacuum gauge to replace the old AutoMeter one that's currently installed. The old one doesn't have a dim wire and it uses some weird threaded fitting for the vacuum line instead of a simple barbed fitting. I know GlowShift isn't top notch but I can't justify $100+ to monitor 30psi.

I purchased an Aeromotive AFPR + install kit + filter to rail kit from a guy and that will be here tomorrow. The PO said someone installed a Wally 255 (I haven't confirmed) so I want to get rid of the stock regulator.

Someone removed the washer fluid reservoir. Why?? I picked up a spare from a local guy that always has tons of parts. It's missing one of the pumps so I ordered a new pair from RockAuto.

I think that's it for now. Lots of stuff to do.

[Slow4g63]

I got the car inspected two weekends ago (I didn't want to tear into it until that was done) and then me, my wife, and youngest son got sick (hand, foot, mouth disease - what a pain) so I lost all motivation to do anything other than work, watch TV, and sleep. Now that we're past that, I've got my motivation back.

I really need to have more patience when working on this car. I broke another couple bolts today. Thankfully, much less important - two of the top bumper bolts and the two that hold the bumper to the driver's fender. I removed the broken bolts from the top section but I have to pull the fenders to see what I can do about those broken bolts.

I'm pulling out all of the extra emissions stuff (evap + EGR) and getting rid of the excess vacuum lines. It's ridiculous how much "extra" stuff there is.

Innovate MTX-L Plus wideband is going in. I've already run the cable into the car. I still need to install the gauge and wire it in. I love that the MTX-L doesn't have the big box that you have to hide somewhere in the car like the LC-2.

I've going to be baking a pair of head lights to take them apart and paint the housings black. I'll be refinishing the lens covers as well.

New Pioneer stereo is installed. Double DIN looks so much nicer than a single with adapter plate.

I ordered a GlowShift 30psi boost/vacuum gauge to replace the old AutoMeter one that's currently installed. The old one doesn't have a dim wire and it uses some weird threaded fitting for the vacuum line instead of a simple barbed fitting. I know GlowShift isn't top notch but I can't justify $100+ to monitor 30psi.

I purchased an Aeromotive AFPR + install kit + filter to rail kit from a guy and that will be here tomorrow. The PO said someone installed a Wally 255 (I haven't confirmed) so I want to get rid of the stock regulator.

Someone removed the washer fluid reservoir. Why?? I picked up a spare from a local guy that always has tons of parts. It's missing one of the pumps so I ordered a new pair from RockAuto.

I think that's it for now. Lots of stuff to do.

+1 for the Innoviate MTX-L. Put one in my Trans Am. Only thing that sucked was still running the big ass connector through the firewall. Such a better wideband than AEM and in my opinion easier to work with/more modern than the LC2. You definitely can't beat their price either, I see them 129.99 new through a lot of promotions here and there.

Honestly I don't see much wrong with glowshift for the simple stuff. It's hard to mess up a boost gauge especially. I put one in my talon (my current one) back in 2010 to replace an off-reading 10-20 year old VDO gauge. Never had anything wrong with it and it was spot on. I liked its color choices. I'd turn it to a bright color to stand out when I was monitoring it closely in tuning. Otherwise I liked being able to have it red which matched the stock gauges pretty closely. Think it only ran me $40 or something? Worked great.

I have a washer fluid tank with pump from my old NA talon, bottom of tank is broke but pump worked good. Coulda sent you that for free if it would of worked lol.

[Kalgorn]

Yeah, I don't know a great way to get the wideband connector in, especially when using it in the front O2 position. Both previous cars used the steering column boot so I stuck with what I know works.

I did find someone online that mentioned pulling the driver's fender and taking the same path as the main wiring harness but saw where the harness connects at the body and I don't know how I would add it.

Thanks for the offer on the pump but they were pretty cheap. It was < $20 (before shipping) for both and I added new radiator hoses to the order so I didn't feel quite so bad about paying for shipping. Even with shipping the pumps were cheaper than a local parts store.

[Slow4g63]

Yeah, on that connector. I definitely just used a step drill bit and made a big ass new hole in the firewall on my clean 60k mile TA, no big deal haha. Just stuck a grommet in there and siliconed it full after I ran all wiring through it I wanted.

Not sure about the fender thing at least with DSM's.

[Delta]

I really need to have more patience when working on this car. I broke another couple bolts today. Thankfully, much less important - two of the top bumper bolts and the two that hold the bumper to the driver's fender. I removed the broken bolts from the top section but I have to pull the fenders to see what I can do about those broken bolts.

Gotta love the rust belt, always a 3-step process.

[Kalgorn]

Updates:

* Wideband installed (still need to calibrate and confirm ECMlink is seeing it)
* Boost gauge installed
* FPR installed
* -6 AN from fuel filter is installed but leaking at the filter - need to check on that
* EGR block-off is installed
* FIAV bypass is installed
* Evap stuff is removed

It was a pain to pull all of my wires + wideband pigtail + vacuum hose up to the a-pillar (I regret using 14 AWG wire) but it's done and looks pretty good.

I plan to add an oil pressure gauge eventually so I'll need a few more wires for that. However, it will be real easy to get it wired up since I actually took the time to do it right. I bought a pack of terminal strips and a relay. I ran a dedicated fused power wire from the battery to the relay in the car and used the 12v switched source from the radio to trigger the relay. The relay powers a terminal strip that I use for the gauges. I also added a terminal strip just for grounds (ECU pin).

I suppose I could have piggy-backed the wires at the a-pillar so I would have only needed one power, one ground, and one dimmer. Maybe I'm not as smart as I thought.

Something I forgot to mention in this post after buying the car: it has a push button start. My hunch was that something with the ignition system failed so they ran a push button instead of fixing the issue. It seems that's correct. The button takes a 12v fused source from the battery and triggers the 12v signal wire on the starter. I played around with it a bit tonight and the starter relay is not triggering. I checked voltage at the relay connector with the key on and I don't have voltage on any of the pins. I suspect it's an ignition switch issue but I don't have it in me to dig into it any further at this point. I just want to get the car running at this point.

[Kalgorn]

The car starts and runs so that's good. I still need to set base timing (not even sure how to do it on these 2gs), set base fuel pressure on the FPR, and give it a base tune.

I'm working on swapping out the accessory belts right now. Since I bought the car, the power steering belt has squealed like a dying animal after a cold start. However, I couldn't get the belt off because there was no adjustment left to loosen the tension. I ended up cutting it off and, when comparing it to the replacement, it's significantly shorter. But the replacement? Too long...

This car has a swapped motor from JDM Engine Depot. Thankfully, the internet is filled with info and other people that have this same issue. I guess these JDM motors are typically from an older Evo which uses a different power steering bracket that sits the pump closer to the motor. Two options: 1) get a stock 7-bolt bracket or 2) order the correct belt which you can't get locally. Thankfully it's Amazon to the rescue for the replacement belt.

[Kalgorn]

Still waiting on the P/S belt (it will be here tomorrow).

However, I got the washer fluid tank and new fluid pumps installed. The tank I picked up came from a spyder - no rear wiper. It didn't occur to me when I bought it from the guy. Since it didn't have the hole for the rear fluid pump, I took a 3/4" spade bit and made my own. Thankfully the pumps come with new grommets/screens for each pump.

I haven't put in any fluid just yet but both pumps activate properly so I don't have any concerns.

One issue: the rear wiper doesn't function. I did a quick test and I don't think the plug at the pump is getting any power. I need to figure out where the rear wiper relay is.

[Kalgorn]

Hey, guess what. The new belt fits beautifully.

I'm not even going to make an effort at the A/C belt. I don't see anything visually wrong with it and the A/C doesn't work anyway (probably low on refrigerant) but it looks like a nightmare to replace so no thanks.

I buttoned up a few things (replaced/fixed some vacuum lines, put some panels back in, etc) and it should be ready to go. I'm going to get it running tomorrow night, set base fuel pressure, bleed the coolant (such a pain), and hopefully take it at least around the block.

[Delta]

Looks like it's coming along! Amazing the time all the nit-picky shit can consume.

[Kalgorn]

Well, crap. The exhaust valve stem seals for cylinder #3 are toast.






I guess I'm pulling the head. Justin Whitesell (basically a turbo guru) recommended a guy named Brian Savini in western PA that runs a machine shop and is very experienced with DSMs so I'll send it to him for a full clean and repair.

Now's the time to do a full timing belt job too so I'll get that on order.

I'm also thinking I should just get the lifters swapped out for the 3g revised version and install a set of cams.

[Kalgorn]

On the other side of things, have you heard of Corroseal? Man, this stuff is cool.

I think someone left the sun roof open during the rain because the shifter assembly was really rusty. I pulled it, took it apart, wire brush to remove the loose stuff, two coats of Corroseal, and some spray paint (oil rubbed bronze - might as well use it since it's just sitting in my cabinet). It will be reinstalled with new solid bushings.

You can see how rusty it is originally:



First fresh coat of Corroseal:



First coat is dry:



Second coat is dry:



Painted and reassembled:

[Kalgorn]

I hadn't considered it before but it's actually not a huge deal (and it's a lot cheaper) to change out the valve stem seals with the head still installed.

Since the cams are coming out, now's the time to upgrade. I ordered a pair of Brian Crower 272s, revised lifters, Brian Crower valve springs, valve stem seals, and parts to do a full timing job.

[87Warrior]

I've never heard of Corroseal. What made you choose it over any of the other rust convertors on the market? Looks like it worked well.

[Kalgorn]

Strictly Amazon reviews.

However, someone on New England DSM gave some info:

Rust converter at best slows the process down but doesn't stop it. Sure you can convert the surface rust but eventually it will come back. Solutions with tannic acid seem to work the best so far.

He's a pretty smart guy (electrical engineer) so I believe him.

[Kalgorn]

Lots of progress even if it's slow.

Belts are off, cams are out, rockers + lifters are out. I got one cam gear off but the other one is being very stubborn.

Still remaining: replace valve seals, replace valve springs, new lifters, new timing belt/balance belt + associated pulleys and tensioner, new water pump, new injector seals, reinstall the rest.

[Kalgorn]

Man, that intake cam gear was something else. I rigged up the old timing belt wrapped around the gear and clamped to my work bench to try to keep it in place so that I could crank on the bolt with a breaker bar. It took some messing around but I finally got it.

My new lifters showed up tonight. I spent some time playing around with them getting them filled with oil, bled, and installed.

Hopefully tomorrow night I'll get the valve seals and springs swapped out.

[Delta]

That looks way less complicated than the Krautburners I play around with. Friend bought a non-running GTI (1st gen 2.0 TFSI, ugh) and I've been helping them here and there. Pulled the valve cover and he just said "Nope, I'm out!"

[Kalgorn]

Yeah it's really not too bad. The hardest part was getting into the tight areas next to the strut tower/firewall.

[Kalgorn]

Not much progress last night. It's sad how much time can be spent on the little stuff.

I spent some time cleaning up my valve cover. I replaced the gasket earlier this year but it was still leaking a little bit of oil around the edges and spark plug wells. I found a fairly thin layer of gray RTV in the gasket groove all around the valve cover so I took a lot of time to scrape that out.

I also drained the coolant, replaced the lower radiator hose, and cleaned up the front case with brake cleaner in preparation of pulling the water pump and swapping out pulleys.

[Kalgorn]

Slow but comfortable progress. My goal is to have this thing put back together and driving by New Years Eve. I think that's pretty reasonable.

I finished changing out the cylinder 4 valve seals + springs. Getting the keepers back in is quite a pain but I should get better at it as I go. I decided to go with the rope trick. I started using my air compressor but I didn't realize it would be constantly running while doing the work. That would be brutally annoying. The rope trick is easy enough - I just need to make sure I get the crank back to TDC when I go to put it all back together.

This valve spring compressor tool is very cool.

[Kalgorn]

It's done!

I didn't have any issues getting the timing belt on with all timing marks lined up but getting the tension set was a pain. I have the special tool for the tensioner and I followed the service manual by setting the tension to 3.5Nm but the pushrod on the auto tensioner ended up way out of spec. I did it three times and always the same result.

I did some searching and found a post on DSMTuners with some timing belt tensioning tips. I followed the "easiest" method and it worked after two attempts.

Got it all back together, did a boost leak test (found a couple issues that I was able to fix), and fired it up. It took a lot of cranking and a deadtime adjustment to get it running but it seems to run well. I think I hear some bottom end noise but it's tough for me to tell where it's coming from and I don't want to be correct about it.

I took it for a quick trip up and down the main road here. I'm hoping to take it out longer tomorrow, maybe take some logs and tune it a bit.

[Delta]

Get it running before winter hits eh?

Hope the rod bearings are ok. You think it might just be from sitting or piston slap?