92 Talon TSi FWD - Project "Project STI Eater"

This is my journal for my 92 Talon TSi FWD.

Let me just start off with a brief history of the car from when I bought it to the present.

I bought the car on October 29, 2011 from a kid near Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania for $1600. Cant remember exactly where at the moment. The car had 181K miles. The kid told me he was selling it because he had gotten alot of points on his license for speeding in it and cops would follow him. Heres what he told me about the car, I dont know whats true and not becuase there was no proof so Ill just take his word for it for now untill I find out otherwise. He said it was red and grey when he got it so he spray painted it flat black, which came out pretty good except for a few spots that he missed like around the mirrors but oh well. He said it had a brand new clipped and ported 14b turbo with 200 miles. He said the trans was rebuilt and had only 13K on it. He told me there was a boost leak from one of the stock intercooler hoses. He had a front mount intercooler mounted on it. Piping was all in the back seat. He also said there was a leak on the top of the fuel tank. It had 18 inch rims but Im unsure of the brand. He told me he rolled out the rear quarter pannels a little for clearance but the passenger side tire still rubs a little when you hit a bump. He told me he had cut the springs. And he said the exhaust was off at the cat but could be easily hooked back up. He said he did an A/C delete and a P/S delete. I brought it home and started work. I bought a new gas tank and installed it. Turns out the old tank was leaking from the fuel line that comes out of the back of the tank. I replaced about 3 feet of the fuel line due to severe rusting and it just broke all over the place when replacing the tank. I replaced all of the intercooler hoses to the side mount, which was pointless because it did not fix the boost leak at all. I painted the valve cover black and sealed up the valve cover gasket with RTV to stop a bad oil leak. I took apart the throttle body and cleaned it real good with carb cleaner and I replaced the o-ring on the BISS. I sealed the throttle body gaskets with RTV as a temporary fix. It evened out the idle a little bit and fixed some of the boost leak. The car was idling at 3000RPMs, I still need to make adjustments to the BISS though becuase the idle is a little low now but I want to fix the boost leak first because it still surges a tiny bit. I fixed the shifter linkage because he had it rigged with a zip tie and a safety pin? I dont know what he was thinking on that one. The rear drivers side rim was bent so I put some bead sealer in there and hammered it back. It had no radio so I installed an old pioneer unit my buddy gave me. I mounted 6x9 pioneer speakers in the back, which came out pretty nice I think. I hooked the power steering back up becuase I think its a pain in the ass to drive a car without it. I gave it a much needed oil change. While under the car doing the fuel tank I noticed that the exhaust is in fact disconnected at the cat but is not fixable the bolt head rusted right off. Also it is broken at the actual muffler flange by the rear wheel.

Now for my plans, these will be pretty vague for now due to the fact that Im still fixing up the car a little and trying to work out the kinks.
New motor
Upgraded forced induction system
Upgraded fuel system
Upgraded internals and stroker kit
AWD Conversion (I have everything except the rear sub frame)
Racing trans and clutch kit.
Turbo back exhaust system
Targa top converstion

This is what I will be doing in the near future to make it suitable for everyday drivng since it is currently my daily driver.

Removing the cut springs and installing lowering springs
Installing a cat back exhaust
Constructing a boost leak tester and fixing the boost leak.
Giving it a full tune up
New power steering pump
New alternator
New battery
New brakes and rotors
New wipers

My goal is for my DSM to make those rich kids that all drive around in STIs and GTIs in my town wish that their mommy and daddy bought them a DSM instead!
I want it to be a sleeper. Exterior and Interior completely stock except for rims, a few gauges, front mount and exhaust. Drop it a few inches, paint it a nice black, black rims, smoked tails, tinted windows, and some nice black headlight covers. =) A nice "Sleeper" look.

I will post pictures of the car as it sits and also before and after pics everytime I do work on it.
I will update this as I make progress and keep everyone up to date!

Thanks and stay tuned!
Kurt

January 23, 2012

I took her to Jersey and back last week to pick up my cousin and we made it there and back without really any problems. My gas gauge took a crap for half the ride but other than that and my back seats getting extremely hot, it went pretty well. Before we left I had my exhaust welded back together because it was off at the cat and by the rear wheel. Im guessing there is no heat shield in the back though because my back seats get really hot since the exhaust is connected back there now. Is that dangerous or just an inconvenience? Anyways, my brother has been driving my car for the past couple of weeks due to me wrecking his 2g. We finally got his put back together and sent it to the body shop last week for some final touches and paint. So he calls me the other day and says my car is sitting outside his work. Im like ok....???? He goes ya it wont start. Im thinking, crap there goes my alternator. So I told him to get it tested. Then he calls me back and says its not getting spark. So Im assuming its now my coil pack that seems to be the root of alot of my problem. That would explain the studdering I was experiencing. It was like it was only it was only running on 3 cylinders. But before I go and buy the new coil I wanna test it with a digital meter to make sure its really the problem. Anyone know how to test one with a meter and what would be the normal reading I should get if it was good? If I had the money I would just get the coil on plug setup but I cant afford that right now so I will probably getting a junkyard coil pack for now since I cant find anyone that has one to sell me. It would be awesome if I really didnt have a boost leak and it just turned out that this was the root of all my problems. Wouldnt that be great? Haahaa what am I thinking? Its a DSM... Shits never that easy! LMFAO

January 25, 2012

*Tsk Tsk Tsk* Now she started right up WTF???? Bipolar