1992 Eagle Talon TSI AWD Turbo

 

This was my first car! Woo hoo! It was totally awesome the family trucks and SUV's that I was used to. The problem? It was an automatic. That was a bad bad move on my part. I tried to sell it after the first year and couldn't for another two after that. No one wants an automatic sports car. Anyway, It was still quite fast. The automatic 1'st gen DSM's came with a smaller turbo and less horsepower, but I also didn't have to replace the transaxle which a lot of the manual equipped, drag racer DSM owners did. I didn't do anything to this car except put a K+N filter on it. No point in fixing up an auto. I really had a love hate relationship with this one.

Pros: 4G63 is simply one of the strongest, easy to modify engines ever produced. very clean interior with a layout that is still one of my favorites, it was a head turner at the time.

Cons: Automatic transaxle, lack of the 2nd gen aftermarket (when i had it), severe understeer from the strut front suspension, narrow heavy wheels, too heavy, under braked, mouse belts, no airbag.

New Flyer 35 or 40 foot transit bus:

I used to drive a transit bus as a part time job. It was great, I heard all kinds of crazy conversations and got to watch college kids running amok. After you get used to a bus its just like another car. They are mostly hand made so each bus is different. The turbos on these things are loud. The brakes work REALLY well on most of them. I could totally launch the passengers out the front window and into the bars in the isles. They also handle much better than you would first think, making it easy to toss passengers around like the rag dolls they are. I would love to have a mobile home made by these guys.

Pros: Street presence is totally unmatched by anything short of a semi, lots of cool buttons, great brakes (depending on the bus), super adjustable seats, awesome visibility, cb radio, push button and door activated announcements. Push button transmission, LED taillights/destination signs.

Cons: slow as hell, parking is interesting, previous drivers leave the controls all sweaty and greasy, some passengers can be unpleasant. like barfing all over themselves and others, no cupholder, 250,000$, no cruise control

1992 Mazda Miata base model: The Green bean

I bought this car immediately after selling the Talon. I sold it 3/2005, four 1/2 years later, because it was that awesome. So much more of a drivers car than the DSM's, or anything else I've ever driven for that matter. I could really FEEL what the car was doing at all times. The steering was amazing. The cornering was totally neutral after I put the anti-roll bars on it. I could slide the car around corners without any fear of loosing control. It came with a CAI, glass rear window, component speakers, and no power steering. I added anti-roll bars, synthetic fluids, some real tires, EBC pads, and some lightness as per MR. Colin Chapman. If they had made a 13B powered hardtop version of this car, oh goodness. Again, I didn't have the funds to really make the car shine. I liked it so much that I bought another one.

Pros: Perfect balance, super light weight, wonderful steering, turbo block, double wishbone suspension front an rear, huge huge aftermarket, great exhaust/intake noise, smooth 1.6l, super duper reliable, good gas mileage, easy on tires, an aluminum hood stock, rear mounted battery stock, 12lb wheels stock, i could go on for days.

Cons: poor chassis rigidity, expensive engine upgrades, chintzy interior plastic, spring door MAF sensor, lack of a hardtop version, too little rear shock travel, those can all be somewhat addressed though...

1995 Eagle Talon TSI AWD Turbo:

The Mrs. had this car during the time that I had the Green Bean. A 14 year old girl in a truck ran a light and totaled it. I wasn't happy about that, it was a really delightful car. It was immaculate and a joy to drive. Boost came in right off idle and was sweet until about 5500 rpms. It has multi-link suspension front and rear, and ridiculous cornering limits with the addition of good tires. The aftermarket has all the fixes you need to get rid of the severe body sway and soft bushings.

The interior wasn't as nice as the 1'st gen, but it was decent. A full throttle first or second gear pull was just nuts, especially after I put the ES engine mount bushings in. I also put good brake pads on it and stainless brake lines. The brake lines were awesome. The car still weighed too much for the admittedly better than average factory two piston front calipers and vented rear disk brakes. They would fade quite quickly, considering the ease that triple digit speeds could be achieved. It would have been a really amazing car if I could have taken off about 3-500 lbs or so. I had grand plans for this car but after the crash it was time to move on to better gas mileage and less complexity.

Pros: FAST, looked sweet, interior was super clean, huge aftermarket, room for wide tires, reliable, lots of cargo space, turbo, double wishbones all around, great lights, indestructible 4G63 (it didn't crankwalk thank goodness!)

Cons: Chrysler plastics and poor build quality, over assisted steering, under braked, waaay too heavy, door handle design sucked, fragile/finicky transaxle, leather seats too big, heavy, and slippery, heavy flywheel, narrow heavy wheels, stock T25 turbo pooped out at 5500rpm .

1992 Honda Accord DX Coupe:

This is the car that this website was originally about. I intended to keep it forever and thus dumped tons of cash on it in an attempt to make the perfect sleeper/family car. Well, when it got to the point where I had to actually finish the car another 2.5k$ in suspension and about 5k$ in bodywork just seems beyond ridiculous. That right there is the price of the next car. So cutting my losses I sold it to another mechanic. He knew the gold mine that he was getting and intended to finish it in the proper fashion.

When I handed the keys over the car was just short of amazing. INSTANT throttle response. Braking that would loosen your eyeballs. The shifter was as smooth and crisp as cable actuated shifters can be. The initial turn in was very light and crisp thanks to the bushings. Last but not least, full throttle in any gear was scary fast and never once failed to bring a smile. The car was easy to work on as well. My advice overall is to get a 97+ prelude is you want to go this route. That chassis is just far superior to the Accords and it comes with the H22 already in it.

Pros: Fast, nearly finished tuner car, brakes, great wheels/tires, cheap insurance, good gas mileage, so fast and light! Great fun to build.

Cons: Aesthetics. Or a total lack of them. The Cb7 body grew on me (black ex coupes look good even!) but overall theres quite a list of cars that I like the looks of better. A majority of the interior trim was chintzy, steering was way over assisted, rear fender rusts out, chassis was floppy, fwd blows for the kind of driving I like to do, cable shifter (a good cable shifter though), control arms too flexible, hub over rotor brake system.

1992 Mazda Miata (boo-berry!)

This car I only had for about six months. It was quite tired when I bought it but I got it to a good starting point before I sold it. What I really noticed about this car was how much weight really does make a sports car. Even with a worn out suspension and crappy tires I could do amazing things with this car. The shifter of course stands out after I did the engine mounts, as the finest shifter ever created. The chassis seemed a lot more floppy than I remember the green bean, chassis bracing is mandatory on this car. It also had a limited slip differential which the green bean did not have and it did indeed make a difference. If you want a sports car, chances are this will cover every base after it has been tuned/restored.