I bought the 93 AWD TSI in December of 06 for $2000
It had about 112k miles on the body and ~60k on the 6 bolt engine. Interior is about as flawless tan leather as you can get for a 14 year old car.
Mods included:
Ported small 16g
Dejon hard pipes
2g MAS
Supra sidemount
Aeromotive FPR
550cc injectors
SAFC
Apexi 3" DP (no cat)
Apexi 3" catback
ACT 2600 clutch
lightweight flywheel
I added:
Boost gauge ~$40
EGT ~$90
AEM UEGO wideband ~ $260
All it needed when I got it was the drivers side body cladding put back on and a quick spray on the drivers side.
Car was a decent daily driver for a little while. I even drove it 400 miles to New Jersey for a get together at Vinnies. Sometime after that I was getting on the bypass, got an opportunity for my first real race in it, against a Cobalt SS nontheless. (Note this was before the EGT and WB. Also note this was on wastegate pressure but the cooler day caused a bit of boost creep.) Well I let the Cobalt go around me, and dropped the hammer. Car pulled like a mother fucker all the way till 125 when it just stopped accelerating.
It was still running but not under full power. Long story short, I melted all four plugs and #1 plug wire burnt off at the coilpack. Replaced all that but power was still down. Reason for the meltdown is I didn't know any better and whoever input the settings into the SAFC put low throttle settings as high throttle and vice versa. It was pulling 26% fuel at WOT at 6000 rpm.
Checked compression and it was bad Around 60-80 psi max when it should have been 140ish (I cant remember for sure now) I was hoping it was only burnt valves and located a head on ebay. I still drove the car as it was my only means of transportation.
I spent right around $200 on the head including shipping. I went ahead and got ARP head studs since I was going to have it apart. Long story short, complete the swap in the bitter cold, fire it up, then it happens.
Car shuts off. FUCK!!. Basically, having two people work on a car isnt good. My cousin had seperated the washer the goes on with the crank pulley from the crank pulley. That washers important job is to hold the crank timing gear in place. The timing gear rode off the key way, and it jumped time.
A weekend of working in the bitter cold, and all that money spent, for nothing. I spent the next 4 hours straight putting the "bad" head back on just to make it driveable.
I decided to start searching out another engine. Found one on ebay in New Jersey. Had ~90k on it and was from a 90. $600 if I came and got it. So I spend $150 for a weekened to rent a truck, and drove to Jersey. Stayed at Vinnies that night so no lodging. All in all that weekend cost me $250-$300 to pick that engine up.
Once the other engine went in nothing went right. Car was a hard starter, idle was jumpy, seemed very thirsty (had to turn SAFC almost down to no correction to keep it from being too lean).
In just trying to make it run somewhat better I was adjusting the CAS, and going over other things one night when it just came to an end.
I dont know what I did, what I didnt do, but basically I jump in the car to see the SAFC showing 18% throttle at idle. Remember the SAFC should show 0% at idle. I tried to rev it and it just back fired, popped, and threw black smoke everywhere.
Great, I am thinking TPS took a shit. I threw another one in and same thing. I ran codes and got codes for TPS, o2 sensor, CAS, coolant sensor, etc etc etc.
At that point I was so disgusted, angry, pissed off etc that I shut it off, slammed the hood, called to get a ride to work the next day and parked it.
This was March 07. I fixed the Stealth the next day and didnt touch the Talon for a long time. I tlaked to a few people about it at another Vinnie party at the end of March. Everyone agreed the ECU was fried.
I had just been waiting on having the extra money to send the ECU out.
Well, kid came and saw the car, saw the mods and condition and wanted it. He gave me the $150 to send out the ECU so I could prep it for him to buy. Well, ECU came back, car is still doing the same thing, except now I cant even get it to start.
So here comes the hard part. Should I just let it sit a little longer till I get a break in the weather to mess with it more? Or should I just part it? The mods alone could make me some cash.
I just hate the thought of another part out, and I also hate to part out such a nice car. Anyone who saw it in Jersey can attest for how nice it is.
Ok, I hope thats all. If I do keep it I will probably build another engine for it and do a larger turbo and FMIC. Boost is definitely fun.
