Took off the rear bumper this week and found something that made me happy.


Look closer....


Yay, a nice dent. Looks like the car was in some sort of fender bender, not a bit deal as it was relatively minor. I'll knock it out with a hammer.

I got the carpets out of the car and all the sound deadening up expect for the stuff on the rear strut towers.


Found a small hole on the driver's side that I'll have to patch.


I decided to hit the rust with a wire wheel and paint it for now. Come spring I'll chemically strip it down to bare metal and POR15 the floors.



I planned to actually do some welding but that didn't happen. I'm going out to the car after Halloween and I'll get the trunk welded up then.

I also wired up most of my S2000 cluster.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYMzd71UV7w

I still need to order the Speedohealer and Tach adapter then it will be ready to go.

Nice,
I was going to do a S2000 cluster for my project car as well

S2000 cluster is FTW Anthony. Good job buddy!

Damn, nice! I love the s2000 cluster.

Thanks guys.
I should have the wiring diagram/pin out done later today. I'll post a separate topic with the info.

That cluster reminds me of back when 1985 was the future..

Nice job, too bad I never got to do something like that in my car.

By the way, you could do voice overs for Red Green! j/k

Do you mean for the back of the s2k cluster?
I have the diagram somewhere on my computer if you want to save your self the trouble
Unless I lost it in a hard drive crash a few months ago.........

LOL, thanks.



Nope I mean for both 2G DSM and S2000 clusters and what wires go where.
I actually think I might not need the Tach Adapter so I'm going to hold off on posting the diagram (Excel file) until I test that in a week or so.

not a fan of digital clusters .. but good job nonetheless getting it to work

thats real nice, keep up the good work and keep us posted. me and my dad just did Rust repair on my car also over the past 2 months, Wheel wells/rockers, engine bay, and we also put in a new rad support.

Did you use a spot weld drill on the rad support?
If so what size?

I need to buy one.

no we just used a regular mig,it turned out great and looks original. i wish i took pictures, but next time the front bumper comes off ill be sure to take some photos!

I mean when you were taking off the old rad support, what did you use?

Got most of the wiring out of the way finally. I need to test the tachometer and see if it will work without an adapter.
Gonna be doing that this week when I head out to the car, not sure what day though.



I also had to grind down one of the female plugs on the cluster, the PO had made his own harness and messed things up a bit.


After some dremel action.


I also plant to look into the trunk open light, I'm pretty sure it needs to see a ground.

My passenger air bag is gone so I figured why not make use of the space, both of my secondary fuse boxes are mounted there, my 12V to 5V converter (mounted to the metal plate to be used as a heat sink) and my Modifry ECT module. I still need to get my Speedohealer and mount it here and I'd like to mount my engine bay fuse box in there too.

my front rad support was was so rotted that we simply just kicked right through it! then after we used a grinder to finish the job

After much thought I have come to the conclusion that I'm going to sell the shell and abandon DSMs.























































































I kid, I kid.
I have been thinking a lot lately though and I've decided to keep the car off the road for much longer then I intended. I'm heading back to school in a few months and I need to focus my attention on that plus I won't have a ton of spare cash to throw at the car.
I have much bigger plans for the car and I would rather work on those and keep it off the road longer then rush to get it on road for this spring.

With that in mind I'm sure some people want to know what I have planned.
- Body work to fix any and all rust.
- Engine bay shave
- Repaint the car, black of course. Either Boulevard Black from Eastwood or Subaru Java Black.
- Custom built by me Mil spec wiring harness
- Built 6 bolt (make use of that 9k red line on the S2000 cluster) and an 6 blade HX40 (billet wheel if I can find it).

There's lots more but I'm not going to bore everyone with details.
Anyhow the updates will be slow to come but I will be working on it.

After drilling out you can use a air chisel to separate.

I just finished going through this, what a huge amount of work, that S2000 cluster is wild.

Your 02 housing makes me want to buy one from Punishment Racing.

Thanks.
The O2 housing is a nice piece, I'll be putting that turbo set up for sale in a bit.

Anthony how is your boost creep now with that Tial external waste gate setup? I have a serious creep problem with my evo 16g so I was thinking about doing what you did. The only problem it cost more than the turbo

I haven't actually put the set up on Alex.
I parked my car early in the summer due to various issues with it that I didn't have the time nor money to sort out.

Now it looks like I'll never use the Tial set up. I'll be posting it for sale within a week or so. I'm not sure if I'll be selling the waste gate itself as it will still work for my next turbo set up.

Christ I hate changing my mind but the gf is more responsible for this one LOL. She said, 'Why the hell don't you get the Talon back on the road for the summer?!!?' I decided I should, I miss racing and boost.

Goal is to have the bitch on the road beginning of June.
April 22-29 I'm off school for Easter so I'll be doing the following
To Be Done April 22-29
- Rust reapir (trunk, wheel wells, floor, lower rad support)
- Re-install Front cross member
- Install front mounter mount inserts
- Remove 14B and O2 Dump
- Install 16G
- Install new oil pressure sensor
- Wire secondary fuse boxes
- New t-stat and rad cap
- New Intake Manifold Gasket
- ABS Delete
- Clutch cut wire to ECU
- WBO2 to ECU
- Rebuild Shifter plate (new bushings)
- Fuel pump rewire
- Reinstall Door Panels
- Reinstall all dyed interior panels
- Reinstall dash

I did a bunch of stuff to work towards these goals this week. Starting by cleaning up my Evo 3 16G for a rebuild. I got it all taken apart and soda blasted the gunk off. The soda blaster works friggin awesome for cleaning delicate parts. Best of all I built it for only $10!
CHRA before:


After:


All the parts nice and clean and some close ups.




I'm gonna order a rebuild kit from FP on Tuesday and get it finished up once that arrives.

Next I plugged away at the S2000 cluster, still need to order the Speedohealer and Tach Converter. I've got the cluster mounted though.


I'm starting on the surround for it. Picked up some thin plexi today and started by gluing it to the factory surround.




I've got to wait for the glue to dry. I've gonna pick up some Evercoat filler and likely some fiberglass to finish bonding the too pieces together. Then I'll cut a hole to view the cluster though and lastly paint the whole thing black.

I cleaned up all my interior pieces since the soda blaster got them nice and dirty. After reading about trimming a few pounds off of the 2G AWDs fat ass, I learned there was a big metal plate in the glove box, no wonder that fracker was so heavy. I popped the cover off, drilled the plastic rivets out, gave the plate the heav ho and glued it back together. The plate weight 3.5lbs approx.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Black%20Interior/IMGP1959.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Black%20Interior/IMGP1960.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Black%20Interior/IMGP1961.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Black%20Interior/IMGP1962.jpg[/img]

Next I moved on to some gauge related stuff. I've got a center vent pod and I hate that the heater ducts behind it are open so I cut a block off out of plexi and glued it in place.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Gauge/IMGP1963.jpg[/img]

I also got my secondary fuse boxes installed and wires hooked up for my various gauges. The chip at the top is a 12V to 5V convert to run the Modifry ECT converter (small black chip by the fuse boxes).
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Gauge/IMGP1964.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Gauge/IMGP1965.jpg[/img]

Installed my AEM Volts gauge where the cigarette lighter use to be. The rotary knob beside it controls the wattage to my Bosch HID ballasts, they are adjustable from 35W to 75W.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Gauge/IMGP1967.jpg[/img]

That's it for now. I'll be doing some more work tomorrow, rebuilding some broken tabs, redoing my door panel inserts possibly and putting the doors back together.

Good call on deciding to get this on the road this summer!

Looks like you have a decent list of things to do, but you'll get it all done in your week off I'd say. AutoX events start early May, but there's bound to be something on the go once you have your car on the road!

I fired mine up on Saturday afternoon which was pretty exciting, first time I've ever had the car done and ready for the season before all the snow was gone

Good to hear Mike.
Now that I've decided to do it I can't wait.

I'm hoping to have injectors, fmic and meth by the time it's on the road but it's not a for sure thing yet so we'll have to wait and see.

Yeah I have been super eager to get my car back on the road too... Driving a '95 Chevy Blazer with almost 240,000 kms all winter is starting to get to me, I need my boost!

Let me know how you are making out, and if you need a hand with anything to get gold digger going.

Mike

LOL, I know how you feel Mike. I'm driving a newer Tracker, thing is super small and gutless, can't even cruise at 100kph on the TCH. I miss boost so much!

I'd love a hand but the car isn't at my place, it's at my parents in Winterton, hour and a half away so I just don't feel right asking for someone to help because it's such a far drive. Maybe when I get it back in town and I'm working on the tuning.

Order a couple of things today. Should be here next week.

Repaired some cracks and broken tabs on my dash. I used Plastex, stuff works awesome.


Before:





After:


Now everything will mount up nice and snug.

I also used a plastic plug to plug the hole for the A/C switch since the car no longer has A/C.


Did more work on the cluster bezel, trimmed the plexi more and epoxied it in place. Once it dries I'm ready to start on the fiberglass and body filler part.




Center vent block off is finished.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Gauge/IMGP1980.jpg[/img]

I also removed the guts from my Autometer shift light. The actual shift light is an LED in my A pillar pod and I wanted some more compact then the complete shift light unit. I'm going to go to the local electronics place tomorrow to see if I can get a project box to put it in.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Gauge/IMGP1982.jpg[/img]

Did some more bondo work on the cluster bezel today.
Dash harness is pretty much done, need to hook up the inputs and outputs for the Speedohealer, ECT and Tach Converter but that will happen when the harness goes back in. The big red wire runs to my secondary fuse boxes.



Then I started laying down some filler, using the good stuff.


First coat.


Sanding the first coat down.



Second coat, more sanding tomorrow morning. Should hopefully be done then and I can paint it.

Sanded the second coat of Evercoat on the bezel today. I must say that the Evercoat is a joy to work with when compared to other cheaper fillers (like Bondo).


I put on another coat which I still have to sand, here's hoping it's the last coat.


After I sand it, I'll clean it up good, use some high build primer and then the SEM Landau Black so it will match the rest of the interior perfectly.

I also received a golf bag in the mail.


Nah, it's my new lower rad support, much better condition then the one on my car.

Thanks for posting detailed pics of your project Anthony. Pictures are always better then text . How complicated it will be to wire that S2000 cluster? will you be able to get all functions working ?

As for me, nothing beats clean factory look so I always preserve original.

Thanks Alex, I'm a bit of a picture nut at times.

The cluster wasn't too hard as I managed to track down a pin out for the DSM cluster. There were some incorrect ones that I've found/fixed. For instance on our cars black/white is usually a power line but the pin out had it listed as a ground. I've actually got an Excel file done up that documents how to do everything. The cluster also needs a hand full of converters to get everything working correctly.
You need a Modifry ECT converter for the coolant temp, Speedohealer for the speedo and an Autometer Tach Adapter for the tach. Most of these are fairly easy to set up except for the Modifry ECT as you need to write a program for it but it's not too hard. Plus is has some cool features like an alarm for when you are too hot.

It's not my first time doing this, I put an S2000 cluster in my old 93 Integra GS-R (yea, I'm a former Honda boy but I couldn't afford a DSM when I first fell in love with them) and that was a lot harder because I had to figure out all of the wiring on my own.

I like the original cluster/look too but there's something about digital that just makes me say oooooh! Plus I'm a bit of a technology/gizmo junky!

Dash wiring is done and it's all back in one piece, cluster is mounted and ready to go!


Secondary fuse boxes, all the electronics for my S2000 cluster and the big box on the far right is my shift light.


Heading out to the car tomorrow afternoon to start working on it. I don't think I'll get a lot done on the first day but after that I'll start plugging away.

can't wait to see it in action Anthony!

Loaded up the Tracker and left the house around 10ish today. As you can see in the picture, snow, oh joy!


Once I got out to the car around 11:30ish the snow/rain had stopped and by 2pm it had cleared up so I started working.
Car still covered by the car cover and a fish net. I need a better car cover for next year.



I decided to attack the hatch first. As you can see it's rust but trust me when I say the one on my car is worse.



A flap disc to clean up some surface rust and a cut off wheel to cut out the real bad parts.




Next, I turned my attention to the back of the car. First I wanted to pull the spare tire holder. I had a set of cheap spot weld cutters that broke instantly when I tried to use them. I ended up just using a regular drill and my grinder to cut most of it out.



I then trimmed the rust out of the wheel wells and below the tail lights.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Body%20Work/IMGP2111.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Body%20Work/IMGP2112.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Body%20Work/IMGP2110.jpg[/img]

By then it was starting to get dark so I decided to start chipping the filler out of the Eagle emblem recess on the 97 bumper. This was an absolute bitch! I need to get a hand sander to finish it up.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Body%20Work/IMGP2114.jpg[/img]

That's it for today, not a whole lot of work but it's a start. More work tomorrow, should start welding on the car I hope.

Saturday I started off on the rust repair.
I started by pulling off the driver side skirt, I was very nervous about doing this however it wasn't as bad as I feared.
Skirt off.


The rust.


Cut out and prep'd for welding. I need to hit the inside with some rust killing primer and paint. The patch will be in today.


I also got a couple patch panels down in the trunk.



This takes a long time to do because I can only tack so much before the metal gets too hot and I have to wait for it to cool. I don't want to burn through it so I've really got to watch the heat as the metal is 22ga. I hope to have most of the rust repaired today except for the front rad support. I'll tackle that tomorrow.

Sunday we got hit with rain plus it was Easter so I didn't do any of the rust work but turned to other things that could be done. First is I had to make some new connectors for my Prosport Oil Pressure and Temp gauges as the connectors came apart when I removed them. Hopefully this will work, I'll find out when I drop the dash in late today.


I also painted some of the dash brackets because they had a bit of surface rust.


Next up for paint was my stock rims. I redid them satin black but used clear coat this time. I'll wet sand them to see if I can get them a bit more glossy looking.

Passenger side rear tire as it sat.


Driver side rear repainted.


I also hated the chrome lug nuts on the car so I painted them too. Will this stand up to being put on/off with a socket, who know but for now it looks much better.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Apperance/IMGP2136.jpg[/img]

I'm heading out after I eat breakfast to start working on the car again.

Looking good Anthony....so are you out there all week working on the car? Is the goal to drive it back here, or is it staying in Winteron for awhile?

All I can say is WOW!

Anthony, you have such determination to tackle such a HUGE project. That car has so much rust, anyone else would have just scrapped it but not you and for that I commend you sir

Great work so far !!!!!!!!!

I'm staying here all we but the car likely won't be out until June Mike. It's supposed to rain Thursday-Sunday so I might get screwed over. I'm hoping to have all the welding done then it's just some minor mechanical stuff (replace some gaskets and the knock sensor plus new t-stat), wire some things to my ECU (clutch switch, WBO2) and a few other minor things and she'll be ready for the road.
I need to paint the front bumper too.



The rust isn't too bad. I thought it would be worse (I think the passenger side will be worse). There's no rust into the unibody/frame though so there's no reason to not fix it imo. However this isn't my first picnic with rust repair. I had an 82 Toyota Pick Up/Hilux and that thing was a rust bucket.

After a whole day I've got the trunk 99% done (I need to weld in a small little patch) and the driver side rocker panel.

Copper weld through primer on everything.




Tacking in the driver side trunk patch.




Seam sealer and paint on the trunk patches.




Driver side rockers patched and seam sealed. I remade most of the lip for the wheel well, the small gap will be hidden by the skirt. I need to hit the wheel well with some rocker guard.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Body%20Work/IMGP2146.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Body%20Work/IMGP2147.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/G2Rac/96%20Talon%20TSI%20AWD/Body%20Work/IMGP2149.jpg[/img]

That's it for today.
Tomorrow I'm tackling the passenger side rockers. I'm nervous about welding over there so I might just pop rivet and seam seal it for now and have a pro do it later.
I also have to weld in the new front rad support.