Recently, I posted about a new online magazine called Mitsubishi Gearbox. Well, I was lucky enough to get myself and my Eagle Talon an interview. During our recent trip to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, we stopped in St. George to take some photos (blog post coming soon and thanks Jet Snow for taking the pictures!) for the article. Read my complete interview at Mitsubishi Gearbox Magazine.

We loaded up the truck and trailer last weekend and headed for the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After an uneventful drive and stopping in St. George to pick up Jet Snow we arrived in Las Vegas. “The Strip” puts on Friday night Midnight Mayhem events similar to Rocky Mountain Raceways midnight drags.  I’ve never raced anywhere but Rocky Mountain Raceways and Wendover Raceway so I was excited.

For some reason, the first pass right off the trailer is always my best. I joked with the hubby we need to start loading the Talon back up on the trailer after every run.  Anyway, I threw Jet in the passenger seat and we got ready to race. First pass was an 11.2 @ 130. Wait, what?? I fumbled around with the slip to make sure I was reading that right. Wow, that was like the sixth or seventh pass for the car down ANY track. Needless to say I was pretty stoked! When I checked the logs I was getting some knock. Before we headed down to race I’d up’d the boost to around 30psi. I’m fairly sure I’m running out of fuel pump at higher rpm’s so I had to richen the car up and subtract timing. She wasn’t very happy with that so I only managed to run an 11.4 and 11.5.

Bring on the videos!

If you love Mitsubishi’s as much as I do, you’re going to love the newly launched Mitsubishi Gearbox Magazine. Why?  Because the site features normal, everyday car owners. Some examples include:  Mike’s 92 Galant VR4, Bryan Roehrs – 1991 Stealth R/T TT and Greg Wallace – 2003 Lancer Evolution VIII.

My favorite part so far? It’s looking like November is ladies month – Amanda Minks 2003 Lancer and Catalina Kemp – 1991 Talon. Who knows, you might see yours truly on there before the year is over (fingers crossed).

Follow GearboxMag on Twitter.

Thanks to Sticky Vinyl Graphics for my rush order of stickers!

We loaded up my 1995 Eagle Talon and headed out to the racetrack in Wendover, Utah last weekend. The track isn’t official nor do we take any of the times for “real”. It’s just a place to get some seat time and I need all the seat time I can get!

Here’s a solo run I had. I knew I wasn’t keeping the RPM’s up while launching, but can really tell how bad I was doing when I listen to the video. I’m still getting used to this clutch – unspung six puck and Hoosier QTP’s

Here’s the first pass off the trailer. I think the grand national was a bit surprised I beat him. They stopped by after the race and commented how quick the car is.

All in all it was a good day. More seat time and I’ll keep dropping those 1/4 mile times.

Here’s a picture of P Jon’s (my old 1997 Eagle Talon) and my car in the parking lot of the casino after the track.

Finally got enough bugs worked out to make a trip to Rocky Mountain Raceway with the Talon.

First pass off the trailer (yes, I trailer her. I have no desire to drive 65 miles round trip to grab the trailer if she breaks) she went 12.3 @120. That was with a 1.9 60ft (yes, crappy I know) and around  20 psi. I was pretty happy with that mph on that low of boost. That lets me know this PTE 6262 has a ton more in it.

When I got back to the pits I noticed an oil leak. We jacked the car up, but couldn’t figure out where the oil was coming from. I made one other pass and put her on the trailer for the night. My driving skills were pretty rusty since I haven’t raced since 2004 so I was “somewhat” happy with the 120 mph.

We brought home our new 2006 Corvette on Monday night. I thought we loved our 1999 FRC Corvette, but I think we’re loving the C6 even more. We already have our lists of “wants” started for the car – window tint, nav/dvd system, 20″ rims/tires, intake, headers, cam, etc, etc. Should be fun!

Well, my heart was unbroken for a few days and then my RS65 turbo went. Seriously, is this my punishment for building another one of these? Previously, I couldn’t get the car to go above 6k under load. Well, after a few weeks of troubleshooting one part at a time we said screw it and started throwing parts at her. What fixed it? It was either a TPS (third one), speed sensor or the baffle in the fuel tank. Do I care what fixed it? Not really, but I am kinda curious

She ran great for a few days then started blowing smoke in between shifts. We narrowed it down to the turbo (most likely the seals have gone bad) so I started hunting for a new one. I could just rebuild, but Im not thrilled about the surge on this RS65 when running the intake pipe. Turbos in the running were: FP HTA series, Borg Warner, Holset HX40 and the PTE 6262 / 6265. I love FP turbo’s; I’ve ran both the Green and Red. After all that I ended up going with a journal bearing PTE 6262 from AWD Motorsports (give Mike there a call, he’s great to work with), but I’m still waiting for it. I’ll have more updates when she shows up!

A years worth of long hours in the shop and money I should have been putting into retirement brings me to my heart break of today. How does my new 1995 Eagle Talon run? She runs like a champ  . . . until 5500-6000 rpm. Then that smile brought on by my hard work turns to a frown. Why? Because at 6k if feels like I just ran into a freakin brick wall!

‘95 Talon
6 bolt swap w/1g head (2g pistons, 1g rods)
DSMLink V2
RS65 – 30psi (now turned down to 20-25psi)
Dual in tank 255 Walbros (swapped out to one single Walbro)
Evo Maf – settings from DSMLink Wiki (swapped out to a 2g maf)
FP2 Cams
1000cc FIC injectors
Mallory FPR
New BP7ES’s gapped to .024 (now gapped to .018)
3in exhaust, etc, etc

Car feels great to up to 6k, then hits a brick wall (throws you forward in the seat as if everything just stopped, which in the logs, it does). I can move the “wall” down to about 5500 when I lean the car out. I can get the rpms up to 7k+ with little or no boost. The “wall” comes when it’s under load/boost. Above are the mods and what is currently on the car (swapped out for testing purposes)

Here’s what we’ve tried:
Turned off NLTS, also turned it on and upped the rpm to 9k
Boost tested to 30psi, also watched fp gauge raise too (don’t have a fp gauge in the car)
‘91 CAS / 2 different black top CAS’s
Coils
Tried another Evo maf and 2g maf
Tried with and without the MBC hooked up
Another ECU that had DSMLink
Dropped boost from 30psi down to around 20-25psi
Double checked timing
New alternator
Pulled off valve cover to make sure rockers were still on
Tried another set of spark plug wires
Gapped 2nd set of br7es plugs down to .018
Compression is 125 across all cylinders
FP set at 43
Went through and made sure everything is grounded
Checked cas wiring (1gina2g)
Checked if the injector wires were swapped at the ecu (for the 1gina2g without DSMLink)
Tried using fake maf at 2200hz with the evo maf (2400hz is where the wall hits)
Tried another FPR
Complete new fp assembling with one walbro (had duals in there before)
Tried other Injectors (FIC 1150’s)
Injector driver box (firewall)
Igniter
Double checked timing marks
Logged the clutch switch to make sure it’s working
Logged voltage, looks good
Some logs are only showing throttle position at 40% (but airflow is the same as if it’s at 99%) I have logs that show a 100% throttle position and logged it to double check and I’m hitting 99%)

Some DSMLink logs
nlts disabled, cltchsw logged, A/T D logged, thortpos logged – http://girlintheblackcar.com/images/Other/nltsoff.dat
nlts enabled none of the above logged – http://girlintheblackcar.com/images/…ugsmisfire.dat
cltchsw logged – http://girlintheblackcar.com/images/Other/cltchsw.dat
2g maf and leaned out a bit – http://girlintheblackcar.com/images/…uly9leaner.dat
Evo wiki settings – http://girlintheblackcar.com/images/…ly8highair.dat (wall at around 6k, 2nd gear)
Zero’d – http://girlintheblackcar.com/images/Other/mafzerod.dat (wall moved down to about 5300, 2nd gear)

I’m throwing SEO out the “windaaa” today! The title of this post sums up the last year of building my 1995 Eagle Talon and now actually driving it. Paint was sprayed last Friday and we’ve been tinkering ever since. I’m waiting for a small blue Tial spring to show up so I can double up the wastegate springs. It’s coming from Iowa so we said, “screw it” and threw the 38mm Tial back together with just the big blue spring. I hopped in and took her for a spin.

I only hit about 10psi on my trip, but she felt good. Above is a shot the husband took as I pulled back into our driveway. After seeing the excitment on my face he decided he wanted to take it around the block. Well, he really got on it and before I could get the words out my boost gauge hit 28-30psi. I guess we’ll go with breaking the motor in like we’re going to drive it

Another shot with the new Rota Slipsteams and Hoosiers.Yes, I know I need tint. I’m hoping to get that put on within the next week or two.