1993 Eagle Talon DL from North America - Comments

Hello all again!

To the Oct. 1 comment:

The noisy lifters are part of owning a 1.8 Talon. I've replaced mine twice. Sometimes they will tap, sometimes they won't. It depends on how they rest when you shut off the car. I haven't had any smoke issues with my Talon - EVER. I have replaced the oil valve gasket, so check yours for leaks. It is an easy fix and is cheap. As I mentioned time and time again - check through the updates I've posted so many times - use genuine Mitsubishi oil filters for this car. They have a check valve and let the oil flow through easier, cooler, and more efficient. I have over 220,000 miles on my car and have only used Valvoline 10/40 regular oil every 3,000 miles and a genuine Mitsubishi filter every 6,000 miles. No leaks, smoke, knocks, or other odd sounds with that maintenance.

Good luck with your Talon.

-Mike.

Hello everyone. My name is Adam from Racine Wisconsin.

I just bought a 1993 Eagle Talon DL with the 1.8 liter engine. It runs great. Purrs like a kitten. Shifts smoothly, and never misses a gear or has any problems with shifting.

I bought it from a mechanic, and he has recently changed the head gasket, valve cover gasket, radiator, new tires, new brakes, new plugs and wires, new cap and rotor, and has included some free gauges in the sale as well.

I wanna sup-up the engine a little bit, but I don't know if the 1.8 liter engine can be turbocharged. I am purchasing a new exhaust manifold for the 1.8 liter engine and it shows a blow off section to connect the turbo and a blow off valve, if the one with the turbo doesn't fit my expectations. I am wondering if this is possible or if the pic might be a fake.

If it isn't possible, I will purchase the 2.0L engine for cheap where I found one. Please someone answer this comment. It would greatly save me a lot of time and possibly a lot of money.

Thanks -AuToMaTiK-

I am planning to add the turbo to the 1.8 liter and also a 10lb bottle. I will replace all the gaskets as well to support the bottle and turbo, but does anyone know roughly how much this will increase horsepower and torque?

Hi all again,

Well it’s a new year and my Talon is still going strong.<br><br>

227,000 miles

New front brakes

Original exhaust pipe FINALLY has a hole in it – right at the bend before the tailpipe

The paint is still OK, my repair job on the rear fender still looks great, the black molding along the bottom edge of the windows on both doors is finally flaking off in chunks leaving behind nice chrome. Oh well!

To the last poster (s) …

Turbo charge a 1.8? Not too sure if it will be worth the effort, but I could be wrong. I wouldn’t do an engine swap on it due to the fact that you would have to do an entire ECM and exhaust swap, wheels, suspension, brakes, etc – which would probably cost more than its worth. A 2.0 for cheap? Find a cheap one then give it a total overhaul – then realize that it is more effort and cost than its worth.

If you needed speed – the 1.8 is not your choice. I stated early in my description about how I test drove AWD Tsi models and decided I wanted speed, but needed reliable, efficient transportation that looked good. That’s why my 1.8 Talon that has been treating me great for years.

If you look closely at a 1.8 model and compare it to a 2.0 (AWD and/or turbo) you will notice that there are a lot of differences. The seats, hood, fenders, and lights are about the only parts that will swap easily. When I upgraded my interior from a junked GSX, I wanted to upgrade the interior door panels – so a year or so later I found the right door panels with a crank window and the panels did not line up at all.

Before you start ripping apart your good Talon (that just had a couple hundred dollars worth of work done to it) explore all of your options. Find out how much it will cost to swap out parts for the sake of having a turbo versus dumping the one you have for a faster model. The 1.8 was never created for speed. It was a bottom dollar car built to look good and get good mileage.

Have fun with it and good luck – keep me posted or I’ll check your post. I’m not sure where you live, but here in PA in four years it will be a classic – rolling along in all of its slow 1.8 glory!

Thank you. I appreciate the input. I found a manifold that will bolt right up to the 1.8, and it has the custom intake spot for a turbo. I'm thinking of just spray though; cheaper and will do the trick.

I also found a computer chip that will increase horsepower, and requires nothing but resetting the computer, which is easily done by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery.

I am installing racing seats, a short throw shifter, and the computer chip. In a couple of weeks, I will be installing the NOS bottle and changing the gaskets to support the NOS.

I am having the body repaired and the car repainted in a few days to jet black with silver flake, and putting black rims on it.

It will be my nice little 1.8 with great gas mileage and decent power for those people who think 1.8 liters got nothing. It is the best engine ever made for this car, and this entire forum page can prove it by all the satisfied owners! Let's keep going strong 1.8ers.

Hello all again!

Well – Happy Birthday Talon.

Yes. Today is my Talon’s 16th birthday.

Currently it is sitting outside in freezing temperatures with a layer of salty crud caked all over.

The mileage is at 227,500 and she is running just great. PA winters, especially here right along the NJ border above SEPA and below NEPA are cold, sloppy, icy, snowy, and very salty. My Talon has been taking the abuse with stride. Potholes, bridge flexing, ice chunks, and nasty weather have taken its toll on Tal this winter. I lost a hubcap (original) somewhere along my travels. A frozen (broken) lock on my glove box made me use force to open and destroy the box it self. (darn) The rubber exterior trim on the driver and passenger doors is breaking off leaving chrome behind. The exhaust pipe before the muffler is finally rotting. The bolt that holds the dead pedal in place broke off due to rust, but the pedal hasn’t moved. I had some issues with coolant leaking from the bottom radiator hoses, but fixed them by tightening all of the adjusting screws.

At 16 years of age this car is in wonderful shape. It is a daily driver. It still looks sharp. I’m still getting about 32 miles per gallon in combination city/highway driving. Fill-ups are about $23 and they last for about 450 miles. In all the miles I have driven this car, 150,500 (roughly a little under 19,000 a year since 2001) miles to be exact, I have had the check engine light come on one time (fuel filter issue). It left me stranded approximately 2 miles from home – only after it carried me over 100 miles on a dead alternator. (Any other car would have lasted about 15 minutes!) If I had to jump in the car right now and drive 1,000 miles to anywhere, I’d feel perfectly safe doing so.

The bottom of the car, although dented from three years of driving over the same horrible parking lot at college, is not plagued with horrible rust. There is more rust under the hood on my air filter housing than the bottom of the car. Nothing has changed on the car since I bought it. The steering is still tight, suspension is still solid; the engine is still wheezing along, 2nd gear still likes to grind into place (sometimes), and the paint still looks fairly good.

I see a lot of these 1G DSM makes around where I live, but so few of them are like mine. I guess these are a top choice for kids to buy after they are tired with moms Taurus or granddads Buick. I’ve seen so many with glowing lights under the body, chrome crap stuck all over, huge chrome exhaust pipes sticking out the back with sooty stains running up the back of the bumper, (Fix the damn thing before you “hook it up”.), and other various hack jobs of “riceing” or “hooking up” these tired cars. I don’t think these cars where made to have zero suspension with 20 inch rims made in China. The end result is usually fatal. I’ll see some of these cars tooling around in the summer and by winter they are at the junkyard. Nothing like coming across one of these at Harry’s and taking a look inside. Hmmm - white painted dash, red vents, Kmart accessories throughout, and only 102,000 miles. Should have replaced the timing belt I guess.

Where I live there is a mix of suburban and urban areas, but sprawl has planted malls and large gas stations and outdoor fast food places that become a gathering place for teens and early 20s adults to display their “hooked-up” cars. I’ll pull into the gas station for a fill-up and have a bunch of guys asking me questions about my car. “Yes its all stock.”, “Yes it has 2XX, XXX miles on it.” “No I’m not going to modify it.” Yes it is just a 1.8” “No, I’m not going to sell it to you”. “Have you changed your timing and cam belt?” The last question is usually answered with a “HUH”?

I have no thoughts of ever hooking up my Talon. It looks good with stock wheel covers, its single tailpipe, its black dashboard, and orange gauge lights. I sometimes think about having a sunroof installed, and then I remember what I see in the junkyard and what sunroofs do. About the only thing (besides the missing cap) that makes the car look goofy at the moment is the front studded snow tires. I have them on for safety, but this car is so touchy when it comes to any differences in tires. They are loud and definitely do not handle as nice as the Michelins that I run from April through November. Would I ever NOT run studded tires in the winter? Heck no. Night and day between the two, and I recommend if to anybody who drives in below freezing winters to have studded tires.

Despite the KBB. com site telling me my car has $0 value, I have been offered more than I paid for it numerous times, especially this summer when gas was $4 a gallon, but I have always declined. It has been the only car built around a 6’ 3” (Curly of the Three Stooges) type of guy!

I’ll bring you all who care to know, more updates in the future – I just wanted to point out that FEB93 (on the door) is the month and year this little beast was created.

Happy Birthday Tal! It’s been a great eight years and I’m looking forward to many more!