Reprepping the Rally Tal[hoon]

fixed

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heymagic
Since it is Adam now I'd guess they will be rainbow colored.

Small tires are small! 185/65R15, they fit perfectly with only the 25mm offset. I think the small diameter will help a a little while only running 230ftpnds of torque (have to get the Talon's fat ass moving somehow!), and if there is snow I'm hoping the narrower tire cuts through it better (A034's have always seemed super floaty to me).

I'm trying to decide if I want to put softer springs on for Cochrane, but the conditions are probably gravel mixed with ice and snow rather than straight snow/polished ice so I really don't know. I do know that the Talon seems awefully stiff as it currently sits...

I also want to lower the car a bit more (Cochrane is s00per smooth compared to lots of events) but I already have the perches lowered as much as they can while still keeping the springs under a little preload.

Edit-
Apparently some of my pictures have disappeared Unfortunately I can't edit those posts...



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2012 12:25PM by HiTempguy.

I don't see pink wheels, this is a problem.

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PotatoFlakeSTi
I don't see pink wheels, this is a problem.

WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY HEAD?!

Brilliant, guess Talon owners are a special breed.

If that car had been anywhere this side of the MISS. river it would be in my garage. Very nice car and glad to see it went to someone who os going to race it again. Our Talon is waiting in the garage for my knee to heal enough for me to wrench on it again. Hadn't thought of MPV wheels..will have to check the local parts yards for some.

Brent Dacres

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Brent Dacres
Cincinnati,Oh

Thanks Brent! You should post a thread about your talon so I can follow along with your adventures

So, lots of work has been going on with the car. Bought a set of zerodegreec.ca peltor helmet to terriblephone adapters, fired up the intercom for the first time today. I have the "professional" model, and it actually sounded quite nice, I was surprised! Don't know if that was due to Bryan's work, or that the terraphone isn't quite as bad as people think it is. I used one a long time ago in a galaxy far away when I first started rallying, and I didn't think it was that bad then either...

All of the seat mounting/installing shenanigans are done, along with the belts being installed. My god, what I'd give to have a Subaru right now. Making everything "to the rules" especially when FIA is a pain in the ass!

Beyond that, I ended up having to trade my sparco Circuit pro for a Corsa, as the Circuit Pro's head restraints and side bolsters won't allow a person to physically enter a Talon unless you fold yourself in two. Since it was Jeff's seat, there was no way he was going to fit, and since I currently have the stock steering wheel in place, there was no way my legs were going to fit below it. The Corsa is like new, a bit tight even on me, but that's a good thing.

I also came to the conclusion that due to how far back/low even the driver's seat has to be, I'm going to have to modify the shifter. Basically, I'm thinking a piece of 1/4" thick steel plate with holes on each end drilled through, cutting the shifter about an inch/inch and a half down from the knob, and sticking each piece of the shaft into aforementioned holes and then proceeding to weld them to the plate. It should be strong, and it'll give my short arms the necessary reach to get into 3rd and fifth:



Apparently Jeff and I are going in the WRONG direction with the Talon, as the closer we get to the test day (March 4th) and Cochrane (March 11th) the more it seems to be in pieces...



The hood is actually getting a decal applied to it tomorrow, should be good (I won't spoil the surprise) Also getting some Tal[hoon] TSi decals made up.

Burnt out H2 bulb in the one light pod (holy Hella's batman, those must of been a pretty penny and in good shape!), we wanted to make sure it was all ok and mounted properly. Going to buy a new 100watt bulb tomorrow.

And finally, did I mention my free truck?



Family friends with the guy who has owned it the past decade. 277k kms on it. Transmission died, so, $1500 later, I'll have a stout, OD towable tranny in it. It's the older TBI motor, but it's getting a cam stabbed in it and headers plus some other odds and ends. From the factory, it's supposed to be 300ftlb's at 2800rpm. I'm shooting for 380 @ 2k rpm for amazing towing at 65mph. Going to do a baseline dyno run of this truck, a '04 5.3 crew with no torque management, and a 08 crew with a 6.0L and tq management on. All of them will be programmed to have the torque converter locked in 3rd off idle for the dyno run so no slippage and able to do pulls from idle

That is how mine looks right now...tools all over it, hood off. Parts missing, you just have more room in your garage than me. Can barely open the doors enough to get in. Long doors and single car garage don't mix well. Nice truck.

Can you send your snow this way please? We have only had 2.1 inches this year. Have to rework the sump plate mount, tow hook mounting( was just welded...and not very good..to the bumper shocks). Also have to add the A-pillar bars and some gusset's. Will have to get some pictures up of the car.

Tore the ligaments in my right knee last November and am just now getting them fixed thanks to my non-understanding/believing boss and workers comp rules(Workers C. has been wonderfull with lots of help...paperwork, but very helpfull). So progress on the car has been nill.

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Brent Dacres
Cincinnati,Oh

Jeff and I got bored Sunday evening, and hatched a brilliant plan on how to make the car look less bland...





Everybody always tells me rally is all about the fun, so I might as well start acting like it is! I think the Death Proof logo goes nicely with the pink rims.

Got a bit more work done on the Tal[hoon] tonight:

What the pieces look like before being welded together:


What they'll look like after being welded together:


It's very hack-jobish, but the first priority was making a shifter that wouldn't break. Considering I doubt there are many ways to move the shifter 2" back towards me, this seemed like an ideal solution. The 1/4" thick plate will never break, and if welded properly, there should never be issues with the shifter rods.

Also got the underbody for the back half of the car/suspension remounted. I love having unlimited access to the nut and bolt bin at work (I do the stocking) so I just throw whatever my little heart pleases into bags.

List of things left to do before ready to rally:

1. Drill holes and bolt co-driver side front puckboard to the car
2. Mount the tool bag/first aid kit/jack tightly, while being able to utilize all of that equipment in a timely fashion.
3. Find another 1989-1991 Mazda MPV rim for our spare.
4. Make a foot rest for Jeff so he can brace himself as I crash into things (diamond plate sheet acquired, we'll have 'er done tomorrow)
5. Reinspect/buy new fire extinguishers
6. Check and make sure the car meets all legalities of the rule book
7. Order high performance brake pads that'll take 2 weeks to get here... (done today, going with Raybestos ST43's to be different)

I can't think of much besides this. The light is at the end of the tunnel, it'll be great to have the car fully assembled and out at the test day!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2012 10:48AM by HiTempguy.

Well, the big day finally arrived!

After more running around for bits and pieces/odds and ends, and getting everything bolted together, the Tal[hoon] emerged from the garage ready to do battle on stage.



Things are looking really good, and I am quite happy with the way everything has turned out on the car. The whole car was worked over quite meticoulously to ensure NOTHING WHATSOEVER VIBRATED/RATTLED. I mean, it's expected for a rallycar to make noise on stage, but having random crap (jack, spare, fire extinguisher, triangles, etc) rattle for no reason drives me nuts, so a lot of attention was paid to rattles today.

All that is really left is getting a first-aid kit from St. John's Ambulance which meets CARS rules, welding the shifter, finding one last MPV rim, and giving the car a thorough once over to make sure it is ready for the test day and Cochrane. Entry fee for both will be going in this week!

Some gratuitous pictures from an undisclosed location in Edmonton, donuts are fun!



Artsy fartsy light/rim shot in the garage. That is a 17x9 BMW rim on Jeff's 63 Chevy which rides about 1" off the ground

Well that was fun! 130'd a stage (no idea if anyone else did) placed 5th overall while being forced to run 22nd on the road. Due to lightly tapping the wooden chicanes three times with Jeff's sideview mirror, 45 seconds in penalties. Without those penalties, would have came 2nd overall behind Hardy. This was with a car that would top out in 5th at 4500rpm (~160km/h) on stages that had 1km of top speed road. And the electronic boost controler randomly decided I was "overboosting" and cut jam to 10psi every once in a while

I'll have a full writeup later once I get pictures and videos together. Needless to say, being at the back of the pack, I lost a lot of time slowing down for all of the triangles out for people going off (close to 10 triangles at 2-3 seconds a pop from our timing). CARS requires you to slow right down, and is fining people $500 a go for triangle rule infractions. There could be up to 10 handed out after this weekend, we will see...

The Talon is awesome. Whoever says Talon's can't be competitive these days apparently don't understand physics. If you have the same basic specifications as a Subaru, it'll almost replicate the performance of a Subaru. In fact, as it sits, the Talon handles MUCH better than a front/rear LSD diff/20kg centre diff WRX. I could place the car anywhere, and it's slightly shorter wheelbase makes for amazing placement. Just BRILLIANT!

So what's next? The car is going to get a good once over, then it's off for a tune so it no longer runs at a 9:1 A/F ratio. Hoping for an extra 30whp/30wtq (minimum) for Rocky. I have an Evo to chase down

Excellent, glad it went well. Look forward to the full story.

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HiTempguy
The Talon is awesome. Whoever says Talon's can't be competitive these days apparently don't understand physics. If you have the same basic specifications as a Subaru, it'll almost replicate the performance of a Subaru. In fact, as it sits, the Talon handles MUCH better than a front/rear LSD diff/20kg centre diff WRX. I could place the car anywhere, and it's slightly shorter wheelbase makes for amazing placement. Just BRILLIANT!

Against a well built Subaru with a similarly skilled driver. Never.
Against a pocketbook? Definitely never.
At a regional rally? Sure. Check LSPR 2010, Rally Colorado 2004, and probably a ton of others that had Talons doing well that I just didn't notice and don't care about.

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Grant Hughes

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NoCoast
Against a well built Subaru with a similarly skilled driver. Never.
Against a pocketbook? Definitely never.
At a regional rally? Sure. Check LSPR 2010, Rally Colorado 2004, and probably a ton of others that had Talons doing well that I just didn't notice and don't care about.

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NoCoast
Against a well built Subaru with a similarly skilled driver.

5 speed box vs 5 speed box, I see no reason why not. I've been in plenty of fast Subaru's on stage and have driven them, have felt and dealt with the way they handle. You know, it's wierd Grant, when I try to find where you built up all of this practical, hands on experience racing at the pointy end of the field, I come up with a blank on the interwebs. I'm sure those results are out there somewhere though. Huh...

Nobody ever said anything about competing for a podium at a national event. That would be silly. But hey, there does happen to be a good national competitor to compare to who also competes in the regionals. But what the hell do I know, I don't have a shop in the middle of rally wasteland, so I clearly have no experience in this matter. Clearly I need to sell this car and build a Merkur I'll never race...

What would be so special about an open class wrx with a 5 speed box vs a Talon? Once you go 6 speed, you aren't even comparing apples to apples, so the point becomes moot. Yes, I would hazard a guess at the pointest of ends (say you stuck Pat in the Subaru in this comparo and Antoine in the Talon) it would probably be in favour of the Subaru up until the 5 speed broke.