1997 Eagle Talon TSi AWD

[aarixx3]

This is the Build Thread for 1997 Eagle Talon TSi AWD. Reply below.

 

[aarixx3]

So, I finally gained enough courage to submit a proper update on the car! Here's a brief background of its history and mine. Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated because im a noob when it comes to AWD and rusty nonfl cars.

Me:
Owned a 97 Eclipse GS-T Auto back in 2014, where I saved my pennies to buy a project car (blown headgasket, leaky waterpump, etc). I ended up having some extra savings so I sent it off to a shop in Tampa to take care of the engine for me. Well, the car ended up jumping timing about 10k after the build, the waterpump was leaking onto the belt... hmmm. I did the rebuild in my parents garage with my dad, and I continued to daily drive it. Sold it in 2019 because I got a more reliable car. I knew I would have another one in due time...

The car:
The car was originally an Indiana car driven by a 70 year old man. He ended up passing and his son in FL transported the vehicle here in 2021 where he drove here it and there until the brakes seized up and it had too many boost leaks. I bought the car in the summer of 2023 for $4000. It's all original, fully stock, AWD, Automatic, and 95k mile 2gb Talon, so I thought I did well. Basically, I am worried about the rust factor now, and how bad it is. I have yet to put more than a thousand into it, anytime I drove the car it felt great other than the boost leaks/brakes. I haven't been able to work on it much because we bought a fixer upper home recently. Getting ready to finish up the brakes, and pull apart the intake manifold where I found a massive boost leak. My idea is to keep the car stock for now, do all maintenance, restore any rusty parts, and potentially get the rockers repaired. Let me know what you guys think!

The Good:

The bad: