The old switcheroo
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Recently I whipped up a little video entitled "FWD still sucks" featuring my 1989 Mirage. You can see it here, if you haven't already.
The day after filming this video, I was driving into work and noticed the set of two long rubber patches that I had laid down the day before. That's when it started getting to me. Sure, I may have posted a fun video on the Interweb that got thousands of views, but am I really having fun burning 14 inch drag radials off at 115mph in 4th gear? The answer was a resounding "no". (Don't be surprised by the self-derived dialogue, I have conversations like this with myself pretty much all day long. Ask my co-workers, they'll tell ya!)
Each time I drove the Mirage I grew more frustrated with the lack of traction and poor handling dynamics that come from front wheels spinning at the apex of a turn. Even while running a modest 20g turbo, the car had become too powerful for most uses. The thing had no traction to speak of at full throttle until around 100mph, and at part throttle, it would spin its tires in gears 1, 2 and 3.
I spent the next few days reminiscing about a simpler time, before HKS Cams, Super AFCs, front mount intercoolers and dual stage boost controllers. It was 2001, and the mirage had a mod list that was incredibly short compared to today's standards. We're talking a 16g turbo, stock DSM intercooler, water injection, K&N filter, boost controller, Walbro 255, and 2.5" downpipe/3" cat-back. That was it, nothing else. Those mods were good for mid 12s on pump gas all day long. Back then the car would actually go around turns, instead of trying to send you into a ditch, as it does today.
After a week or so, (and after talking with my buddy Joe) I realized what I should do. Since the Mirage was now hideously overpowered, and the Talon was leaking and burning oil from it's 220k mile engine I would do a switcheroo. I'll let the drawing below explain.
Click on the image to see a full size version
If that illustration didn't explain it, The plan was to pull the awesome built engine out of the Mirage and swap it into the Talon. The stock 220k mile Talon Motor would get rebuilt and slid into the Mirage with a 16g turbo.
Within a couple days I had both engines removed, swapping essential parts like flywheels, engine mount brackets and thermostat housings from one engine to the other. Then the stock Talon engine (which will be bolted into the Mirage after a rebuild) was placed on an engine stand and slid into a corner for a few months.
My current focus was to get the fresh, fully-built motor into my Talon which took a fair amount of customization mainly due to the Magnus intake, that required a relocation of the transistor, coil and battery.
With the new all wheel drive platform, I thought that this would be a great time to step up to a larger turbo. I decided to try a Forced Performance "Red" which is easy to install and has pushed countless cars into the 10s and low 11s in the quarter mile.
Since this car will be driven a couple days a week, with an occasional trip to the drag strip, I decided to keep all of the creature comforts such as air conditioning and my beloved coffee maker.
Stay tuned as I get the Talon buttoned up...
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posted by Tom T. @ 4:27 PM,
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