Thinking It’s Time To Go Crazy With My 1G Talon

"Powershiftmedia-ResidentDSMGuru" (matt-powershiftmedia) 02/14/2018 at 22:26 • Filed to: DSM

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When I got my Talon, I had a vision of what I wanted to do with it. Daily drive it and hurt feelings without getting too insane with it. Well as the ways of DSM ownership goes, that never really happens. The car has been my sole daily driver until I purchased my shiny new Mirage, and it’s hurt feelings along the way. It’s not a brutal rocket, but it’s been a very fast little car with the mods it has. Just a few weeks ago I did battle with a bigger turbo Evolution 8 and came out victorious.

This gave the itch to go crazy right back to me, especially because I don’t need to daily drive it anymore. As of right now the car is pretty awesome, but it’s simply not enough anymore. Here’s what is currently done to it:

Fuel system - FIC 950CC injectors, Walbro 255 pump, STM hardwire kit, Extreme PSI -6AN fuel feed kit, -6AN return kit with eBay regulator. Fuel is monitored with an Innovate LC-2 wideband wired to the DSMlink tuning module.

Turbo - Evolution III 16g at 22psi spiking to 25psi

Exhaust - Old school Punishment tubular 02 housing with external wastegate dump, Punishment 3” open downpipe

Intake - FP style cast 4” intake pipe running to my OEM 1G MAF, VRSF intercooler system with Tial Q blow off valve

Ignition - NGK BPR7ES plugs gapped to .22 and Spark Tech COP

Suspension - Megan coilovers, poly control arm bushings with 17” MB motoring wheels wrapped in 225/45/17 tires

Body & Aero - gutted the back half of the car. Rear seats and carpet absent along with rear plastics. Rear wiper delete. Spare tire and jack removed. Front crash support gone and JMF race bumper support added. Power steering deleted. Front Boostin Performance aero shutters added.

As of now, the car roughly outputs 300-350 horsepower and weighs under 2800 pounds. It’s a manual transmission front wheel drive, so power loss is minimal. On the highway the car goes like mad, but traction on the performance all season tires is nothing great under 55 miles per hour. I have an equal length halfshaft conversion that’ll negate the torque steer issue, and it’ll be done shortly.

The thing is, I need more. Atleast double the output I’m on now.

The Goal

Simple, a 9 second or faster time slip on some sort of pump fuel. This is something I’m passionate about, and something that has to be done. The car will remain a “max effort” street car as we call it in the DSM world. This term is coined seriously, it means that the car must not be one dimensional. It must be able to make a drive on the street and sit in traffic without overheating. It must be able to be drivable from your house to the track AND BACK.

The Plan

Again, simple. Add lightness and increase power by a biblical amount. Here’s what’s going to need to be added.

Block - Right now it’s stock. I intend to remain 2.0 displacement. No stroker. I want to be able to rev to 9,000 safely. Wiseco 1400HD pistons, Manley turbo tuff rods, Manley turbo tuff crankshaft, ACL race bearings, and ARP main studs will keep everything together.

Head - GSC 280 intake and exhaust cams. Super Tech 1mm oversized Inconel exhaust valves, 1mm oversized nitrite intake valves. Kiggly Racing high pressure springs with titanium retainers. Aggressive port port and milling for a smooth surface. O ring, and MLS gasket. ARP L19 head studs to keep it sealed.

Turbo - Precision 6466 V band entry, V band exhaust. Shearer Fabrication V band entry large runner exhaust manifold flanged for Tial MVR wastegate.

Intake - EVO MAF, GM flex fuel sensor, custom 4” intake. ETS 5” thick intercooler core to handle the cooling of the charge.

Fuel - -8AN feed into a Fuelab filter. Fuelab regulator and -8AN return. Wally 255 double pumpers feeding ID2200 injectors housed in a FIC billet fuel rail

Misc - lexan rear window, carbon hatch, carbon hood, crank window conversion, and potentially a STM small drag front brake conversion to allow me to run 16” wheels and slicks. Deletion of the rear crash support and addition of JMF rear diffusers. May delete the front wipers and mount the JMF -10AN catch can on that location.

My biggest dilemma is this. The manual transmission launches are very harsh and building a manual to take this abuse isn’t easy. I’m considering swapping to a 2G automatic and running a re-stalled converter and Forced4 shift box. This would allow smoother launches, less driveline shock and the 2g autos have been in the 7s. Shit Darren Thomas racing went 8s on a stock 2G automatic transmission.

Either way, the goal is simple. Turn the key, it goes. It drives me 40 miles to the track, turns a 9.99 or better on E85 and gets me home. Trap speeds should be in the 140s. It does this reliably and safely with a cage.

The timeline? It starts now.

Stay tuned.