Hey everyone, my name is Jeff. I've been living in LA since 2005 but I'm just now joining here because I finally got around to getting my DSM out of storage. I've been owning, racing, and working on DSMs since 1999 and I've pretty much done everything you can to these cars. I've owned 7 DSMs, 2 Evos, and a slew of other cars over the years. I was a moderator at 2gnt.com for around 8 years, and have been a DSMer since the Talon Digest was the only place online for people like us.

I saw a red 90-91 Eclipse GS Turbo with a LADSM sticker on the rear quarter window tonight on the 101 and decided it was high time that I finally joined a SoCal DSM forum.

A quick background on me..

I got a '99 Eclipse GS in 1999 new off the dealer lot. I wanted the GS-T, but having just graduated high school and being only 18 that was basically impossible. I ended up installing a HRC turbo kit in that car in 2000 which knocked two seconds off the ET and made it a pretty fun car. But soon I got tired of FWD and torque steer after a year, so I found a buyer for that car after owning it for almost 3 years, 1 of which was turbo running 9psi.

After selling that, I bought my current DSM, which is a 91 TSi AWD. I bought it for $4,300 in December 2001 with 82k miles in upstate New York. It surprisingly has no rust for spending 13 years in the rust belt. We've been through a whole lot together since, including 4 transmissions, 4 ACT 2600s, 1 small accident, a headgasket fiasco, 5 DSM Shootouts (I've been to 7 total), and so many little stupid problems that I could write a book. I moved to LA in '05 and had to leave the Talon behind at my mother's house. She ended up getting a job in San Francisco a year later and the Talon ended up getting shipped to her new place (paid for by her employer, which was nice). The problem though is I drove the Talon onto the car carrier myself in Baltmore, and when it was delivered in San Fran the engine was seized and the car was run into something because the front bumper was all scratched up and cracked, and the FMIC was dented and pushed back into the radiator. So it sat broken and sad from 2006 until two days ago.

I finally got myself in a situation where I could get the Talon down to LA and brought it back after Thanksgiving this week. So now it sits in my garage, still very broken and in need of some minor body work. Plans are to pull the engine and figure out what's wrong with it, then prep for a full rebuild. Then after that I want to get the bodywork fixed and get the car back on the road. The biggest problem I see is getting it to pass SMOG since emissions in Maryland are a joke and I ripped out all the emissions equipment, vacuum lines, cat, etc, and the wastegate dumps to the atmosphere. So I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm just glad my Talon is back with me again after 6 years.

Anyway, that was a really long intro, but at least now you know a little about me. Looking forward to meeting people in the SoCal DSM community.

Pics:

Right after I bought it, next to my other silver GSX which my friend now owns:


Late summer, 2001:


Launching at the DSM Shootout in 2002:


Loaded up for the drive to SoCal a few days ago:


Sitting in the garage here in LA:

Welcome to the site, hopefully you will have it up and running soon.

Nice intro! good luck with the rebuild. and dont worrie about the smog thing we have ways of dealing with that

Awesome intro. I was in kinda the same situation when i bought my 98 GS. Then some how heard about ladsm. Then was getting all my info on 2gnt.com. Tried making a home made turbo kit. Had all the parts then just gave up lol. Just recently I bought this laser.

Hopefully you can make it out to one of our meets in the future. Welcome

Welcome...digging the sexiness of the 1g talon...

Thanks for the welcome! The SMOG issue was the main reason why I didn't start tearing the car apart earlier. The amount of work it will take to source the factory emissions stuff would be a nightmare. I am ok with putting a high flow cat on the car, but the amount of vacuum lines I'd have to run along with finding a useable charcoal canister and EGR, and getting rid of the external dump on the wastegate was making me feel like it would be impossible to pass a visual inspection in the event I got pulled over. Do you all get hassled much?

My plan is probably to pull the Green off and replace it with an Evo III 16G. That will make it more stock appearing and will eliminate the external wastegate and dump tube. I guess I could be happy with a 16G, but I know I'm going to miss 26psi and the sound of the wastegate opening.. There's also the fact that I had 93 octane in Maryland when it ran last. I'm sure the tuning on 91 octane with a Green can be tricky.

Does it seem to be a problem having a larger turbo in CA? Does seeing a huge shiny FMIC cause problems? I just don't know what to expect with heavily modded cars. I have a downpipe and ECU flash on my STi but it is otherwise stock appearing and would never fail a visual inspection, but the Talon is a different story.

unless your running a 16g or stock or very little mods, if the cops pop your hood your are likely SOL the trick is not getting your hood popped and not giving them a reason to. its not legal for them to pull you over for a broken tail light and then search your car thay have to have probable cause.

personally i would refuse to pop my hood no matter what and the worse they can do legaly is impound your car for 3 days.

in cali you have to know your rights because their are some shady cops out here

Welcome to the site and that's a nice 1G you have there! Always refuse if a cop asks to look in your car or under the hood, even if you don't have anything illegal. If they ask you why just politely tell them it's your property and there is no reason for them to tear through it.

Welcome to the boards Jeff. Nice intro as everyone stated. Nice to have a new person with some forum etiquette and history. I have a thing for Red 1G talons, just love em.

As far as CA goes, just don't give them a reason to pull you over. Keep the car quiet, don't drive like a teenager in a boosted car on the streets. For the most part, if you get reffed, you were asking for it. Smog wise, if you check out as a cool person and not and undercover cop aka Brian Spilner, I do have a hook up on a Smog.

BTW hows the gas tank looking after sitting for so long?

Showing up in a Subaru is no problem, that's a lot cooler than the PT Cruiser I have shown up in the last couple of times. We all know how it is to have a down DSM.

Clean 1g welcome

Thats a clean 1g you got there.
Welcome.....

Thanks for all the info Clint. I was looking through the pictures of your Holset install and I really like how everything is flat black in your engine bay. I'm probably going to need to do that as well since my intercooler pipes are red with red couplers. Do you use the BBQ paint on everything? I have seen some people painting their FMIC black to help hide it. I really like the look of the car with the intercooler its natural color though, so I might try to keep it the way it is. The current intercooler was damaged when the car was shipped to CA though and I already bought a new one from machV on sale to replace it. The new one is really shiny though, so I'll have to make the decision whether to paint or not to paint when the time comes.

One thing I am thinking of doing as a quick solution is just buying a JDM engine instead of going through with the rebuild right away. That would help take care of a couple of issues. For one, it will come with the appropriate turbo and o2 housing to look legit for a visual inspection, which I could then sell to help make a small bit of money back as well as the stock injectors, 1g intake manifold, etc. It would also give me a bunch of extra sensors and other bits that are getting harder to come by these days.

It also lets me very quickly get the car running again rather than having to order a ton of parts, disassemble the engine, wait for a machine shop, etc. This will let me take my time with a proper rebuild on the current engine and give me the time to focus on other areas of the car that need attention, such as getting the headlight motors to work again. I have found some places around LA that have JDM 4G63s in stock, so I need to make some decisions pretty soon. First and foremost I just need to figure out what is wrong with this engine.

I just realized as I was typing this that this car is coming into CA from out of state. I wonder if that requires some sort of visual or "safety" inspection...that might be tricky. I guess I am going to start browsing the junkyards for the emissions stuff this weekend.

And for the fuel pump install, it just made the most sense being in the trunk. Working on DSMs this long has given me a pretty bad back, so anything I can do to reduce the amount of time I am leaning over a car is a huge plus. .... also it makes for better pictures.