I finally got myself in a situation where I could get the Talon down to LA and brought it back after Thanksgiving. So now it sits in my garage, still very broken and in need of some minor body work. I took the head off this weekend to finally figure out what broke almost 5 years ago. First though, here is a quick photo timeline of the car.

Pics:

Glory days, late summer 2001:


Launching at the DSM Shootout in 2002:


After thanksgiving on the way back to LA:


Sitting in the garage here in LA:


Christmas day pic:



And from this weekend:









So yeah, the head is toast. It makes me a little sad because I was hoping to be able to keep the factory head and block mated together, but with the new hole where a valve used to be that's not happening. Oh well. Now the hunt is on for a new head. The block seems fine, it just needs some machine work and new pistons. There is a turbo laser in a local JY with the head already unbolted, but I assume since it is still there that it might be bad too. I'll find out tomorrow.

I don't know how the valves dropped. I drove it onto the flatbed in Maryland and when it arrived in CA it had the exact same mileage (104,500 on the dot.) I would have felt better about it if I had at least been the one to blow the engine, but it happened when it was out of my hands. It will always be a mystery.

I'm planning on a mild rebuild, nothing crazy. 2g pistons, stock 91 rods, and probably some upgraded valvetrain parts. I'm going to be taking the Green off and replacing it with either the 14b I got from the JY or a new Evo3 16g. Probably the 14b since I got it super cheap and it's in perfect condition until I get the money together for the 16g.

There are three reasons for this:

#1 91 octane gas in CA sucks. I am building this for reliability and I don't want tuning for high boost on a big turbo to be a huge headache.

#2 The current wastegate setup is an o2 housing mounted 40mm TiAL external wastegate with a dump tube. It is LOUD. I don't want to never be able to go WOT around LA in fear of being pulled over by a cop because he could hear me coming from 3 miles away with his windows up.

#3 In its previous incarnation, it was a street/drag car. Having 450~ horsepower is ok when you are just trying to go fast in a straight line. This version will be geared more towards autocross and road course racing, so a smaller and faster spooling turbo will be much better suited for those purposes.

It will probably be slower than my 09 STi, but you don't see many 1st gen DSMs in good condition on the road these days and I'll just love driving a reliable(ish) DSM again.

That car looks beautiful sry to hear and see a fellow dsmer with bad luck..hope everything goes together and it runs as good as it did b4 the mishap ..And I have a new 6bolt head man!It does ahve all new valves and valves springs evrything is new i did use it for 600 miles till it spun a main bearing from in proper torqueing by engine builder ..If interested pm me

Originally posted by Jeff_99gs
I don't know how the valves dropped. I drove it onto the flatbed in Maryland and when it arrived in CA it had the exact same mileage (104,500 on the dot.) .

One holeshot. Kids like to play.

I had a 94 AWD that got hit in a oil company parking lot by a company truck. Not a bad dent but I figured since they did it, they could take care of it. WRONG! I got it back with rod rap and a dumb look from the bodywork company. "It must have been like that when you brought it here". Cocksuckers. We are pretty sure we know the kid, but couldn't prove it. Your car will measure no miles on a missed shift hole shot (you see these little punks aren't used to the extra boost that comes on when they get in the top range. So when it hits they can't react fast enough).

Sorry to hear but at least you've got the ability to fix it.

Glad to see you're finally working on it, Jeff.

Originally posted by DarkOne
Glad to see you're finally working on it, Jeff.

Yeah, I was psyched to see you had started playing around with it a few weeks ago.

Throw back. Good luck with it. I think i might pick up another dsm.

----------------------------------------
2gnt Member # 333

06 Acura TL- Family Car
93 Civic - Commuter shit box good gas milage daily beater
04 Evo Vlll- Weekend Warrior
95 TSI AWD-500+hp- sold (huge mistake))
95 Eclipse (First NYC turbo'd 420a) sold


CornBread Racing
R.I.P Shane aka Cornbread.
Racing will never be the same with out you brother.

FP Green turbo, still in fantastic shape.






















Need to order a new Flywheel - look at all those cracks!







Parts that I know I need to order, excluding engine internals:

- ACT 2600 clutch
- RRE OEM Flywheel
- Ball joints all around
- My front sway bar is extremely rusty. I should be able to sand and repaint, but I'd also love to get some new thicker bars.
- All new rubber from motor mounts to suspension bushings.
- New struts and springs. Going to ditch the 8 year old Ground Control "coilovers" and replace with Eibach Pro Kit with new KYB AGX shocks. I just saw on RRE's site that KYB shocks have a lifetime warranty. Maybe I can get them replaced...
- Brake rotors and pads, hopefully with 92+ two pot front calipers.
- DSMlink w/ eprom ecu
- Wideband o2
- Mitsubishi MLS headgasket
- Timing belt kit and pulley components, water pump, oil pump, oil pickup tube, etc
- Balance shaft eliminator kit
- High flow cat
- Tires
- Tons of fluids

This list will continue to grow...

I'm actually thinking of just shipping my block and the new head I got to DSM Graveyard and have them do the machining for me. The local machine shops are all more expensive and none of them know what an Eagle Talon is. I'd rather have the machining done by people who do 4G63s for a living.

And my list of stuff to get done this month:

Engine build:
Evo IX pistons
Stock 6 bolt big rods
ACL Bearings
ARP hardware
Mitsu MLS headgasket
Manley valves, springs, retainers

Management/Tuning:
ECM Link V3 speed density setup
AEM Wideband o2
2G Knock sensor

Bolt ons:
Evo3 16G (most likely).
New SS or Evo3 o2 housing without the WG mount
RRE High flow cat
RRE no name flywheel
New ACT 2600 to replace my dead one

Brakes:
92+ 2 pot calipers
New power slots or better
SS lines everywhere

Suspension:
Eibach Pro Kit.

Also cleaning and de-oiling the engine bay after 10 years of negligence on my part. And hopefully some light body work to fix more negligence on my part.

delete

I rejoined the Mitsu world:



It's a 2012 Evo MR Touring. Really love this car. With my last Evos I always felt like I was sitting in a $15k car with $15k in performance parts installed. This one however feels much higher class and quality. The touring package has some nice upgrades, such as leather interior, increased sound deadening, thicker windshield, rain sensing wipers, auto HIDs, auto climate control, seat warmers, auto tinting rear view mirror, rear lip spoiler instead of the typical humungous wing, and other stuff that I can't remember. Basically it's a grown up Evo for the enthusiast with a more "luxurious" taste. It really feels like a proper luxury car, except it goes and turns like an Evo, even with the extra 400lbs over the IX model.

This is the last year for the Evo as we know it. Mitsu is taking the Evolution away from the Lancer line and will turn it into a hybrid something or other in a couple years. I really wanted to get a new one before that happened, and this year is the best of the "X" models.

I didn't lose my edge though... I'm still gathering pieces for the Talon which will have the Green reinstalled along with some new goodies. It'll be as riproaring and crazy as ever once I get everything together. I even found a gas station in LA that has 100 octane. That'll make things interesting for the street.

Wow, that sure is PURRRTY! Congrats Jeffro!

Thanks Tony. How've you been?

You get her back together yet?

For future reference it seems a lot easier to drop the tranny out the bottom and pull the motor out the top in those. Reverse that to get them back in with minimal hassle.

Originally posted by PinkPixi
You get her back together yet? For future reference it seems a lot easier to drop the tranny out the bottom and pull the motor out the top in those. Reverse that to get them back in with minimal hassle.

Not together yet. I've been too busy with work. And it was definitely way faster to pull the tranny and engine out together from the top. It was super fast and I didn't have to dick around with separating the two. After doing about 13 tranny/clutch swaps on AWD 1st gens the hard way, I've learned my lesson.

Wow it's been almost a year to the day since I updated this. Here are some pictures.




































































It's not running yet. I need to pick up a stock catback still and get my temp plates so I can break the engine in properly. But after 8 years of being down it's almost ready to move under its own power again.

:7 This makes me very happy!! :thumbsup

Thanks Tony! Maybe I can even convince myself to drive it to the Shootout this year...

Also I sold my Evo.

Out with the old.


In with the new.


Stock downpipe and cat installed.


I just need to figure out this damn exhaust problem and I'll be set.


And the car is sitting on all 4 wheels with the engine and transmission installed for the first time in 3 years. Please ignore the incredibly messy garage. It's long overdue for a proper cleaning.


Things left to do:
Install rear SS brake lines, pads, and rotors.
Bleed brakes.
Figure out catback issue.

Start the car and check for leaks.
Drive it.