last year i picked up a totaled 1990 eagle talon TSi for $400 with hopes of fixing it up and driving it. a year later the project is finally nearing completion. over the past year i had to cut off the front clip including the frame rails. straighten the the remaining pieces of frame on a frame machine which took about 2 months to get it perfect.
i then had to find parts. this was the hardest part, which took a majority of the summer to find. it took me 2 months to find a hood and fenders that were in decent enough shape for me to use.
about 2 months later i discovered hybrid connection thru WNYdsm and they ended up having an old spare parts car for sale which i picked up for only 180 dollars which had a good solid front end for me to reweld back on to my talon. once i got that to the shop i stripped the front end down and tossed out any unusable parts. i put what i needed to keep aside and i started to do measurements. measuring took me a solid 2 weeks to make sure i had all my measurements right before i started to cut and then realize i fucked up. 19 sawzall blades and 2 sore arms later i managed to cut off the front clip of the donor car and got it up on jacks on the frame machine and set it up to the talon.
after i remeasured everything to make sure it wasnt too long or short i pulled out the good ole miller mig and started to tack everything in place. this was not as easy as i thought because after i had it tacked up to the car and took the jacks out the front clip had dropped just slightly to where the fenders and hood wouldnt line up.
i then had to re jack it up and i decided to do the cut in between the passenger side motor mount for added support. i welded down that seam and grinded it down so that the motor mount would hold the frame together and give it added strength. once that side was done i measured once more and made sure all was still right. i then moved on to the driver side and welded it completely in tact. after all that we took out the jacks and made sure once again that the measurements were ok. we realized that the driver side shock tower was pulled in towards the motor more than it should have been and we used the frame machine and pulled it out which luckily only took about an hour to get right.
once all that was said and done we ended up being able to put the hood and fenders on and had it all line up alright. the only thing was we didnt do any jamb measurements so the doors clipped the fenders when we opened them. it too suprisingly long to line those up to the correct specs.
months later after everything was perfect, welded, strengthened and grinded down flush we got to pull the car off the frame machine and get it setup in its current location for the motor component re-installation
this is where i am currently in the build,
to finish off this week im undercoating the frame rails because welding started a fire and burned it all off and seam sealing all welded up gaps to give it a stock appearing look. and prevent rust on the bare metal.
next week we will start to put the components of the motor together such as:
radiator
turbo
exhaust manifold and gasket
airbox and new air filter
wiring harness
and while most of this stuff is off im going to do some of the free mods.
while this is being done the hood, fenders and bumper will be prepped and painted the stock white.
not too bad for a 17 year old eh.
and for now some current pics until i have time to upload the tons of other ones i have in my portfolio: