Original 1997 Eagle Talon

This is what I have to work with. An all original DSM Eagle Talon 1997. This car originally came from collaboration between Chrysler Dodge sports car division and Mitubishi. The Term DSM referrs to the Financial Alliance between the two corperations " Diamond Star Motors". The company is ficticious in itself to cover up the mutt of Engineers that designed the car. The word "Star" reffered to Chrysler Dodge participation in contracting engineers from Mopar and Lotus Engineering. The Transmission in manuel versions is very stout and Lotus engineering played a roll in designing the Head and Intake System. The power was limited by the intake that Chrysler coupled the Head package with. There was a TSI version developed that had a version of the Mitsubishi Evolution as the Motor and Powertrain. The " Diamond" in the name represents Mitsubishis roll in providing a body and high perfomance block and transmission for the "tsi" perfomance package on the car. The "tsi" stands for turbo sport inline, and there is a all wheel drive trim available as wheel. The Eagle Talon DSM is not a single car but a body platform for many manufactures to experiment with high performance manufacturing with a budget. Each trim available on the car represented a completely different combination of engineering for the same body style vehicle. I preferrably went with the front wheel drive originally non- turbo 420a powered car. This cars head was designed by Lotus. The bottum end was provided by Mopar a dodge product. Interesting combination indeed. There are maybe 20 variations of the Eagle Talon and I will not bore you with each of them. Here are the Specs as follows.

Engine Model ---------------420A Lotus---------------- 4g63 Mitsubishi

Displacement (size) ----------1.996 Liters--------------- 1.997 Liters

Inches in displacement -----121.8 cubic inches --------121.9 cubic inches

Cylinder Bore "oem" ---------3.44 in. (87.5 mm ) -------3.35 in. (85 mm )

Stroke ------------------------- 3.27 in. (83 mm )--------- 3.46 in. ( 88 mm)

Compression Ratio---------- 9.6 to 1 ---------------------8.5 to 1

Thermostat Temp. Bypass ----195' F--------------------- 180'F

Operating spark plug Gap .033 - .053-------------------- .028 - .031

Firing Order of Pistons both--------------- 1 - 3 - 4- 2


Vehicle Wieght

Gross Dry 3660 lbs

Oil Capacity comparison Chart 420a 4g63

Oil with Filter 4 quarts --------------

Without Filter 4.3 quarts 4.2 quarts



These are the basics on the engines I had to compare. Though the 4g63 comes turbo it has 170 hp at the wheels and the non turbo 420a 117 hp at the wheels. Thats a 53 horsepower difference. Not that big of a goal to achieve. You can get between 10-15 hp gain per pound of pressure you add to the intake charge of air. The stock engine lotus designed with the 10 % silicon pistons are good for 9 psi of boost reliably for thousands of miles, no determination as to when parts will fail at this pressure ( it has not happened yet in a cotrolled situation) Therefore at 9 psi of boost at minumum power expectancy makes 217 hp at the wheels and 240 at the crank shaft ( at motor before it goes through the tansmission loosing which results in power loss). Take in mind the Original 4g63 runs 12 psi boost. So with less effort and less fuel spent pound for pound the 420a makes more horsepower with all the original parts. As a matter of fact Hahn Racecraft Has the record for fastest front wheel drive eclipse and it has a 420a on the inside. Many bloggers argue that 420a motors are better because of a symptom call "crankwalk" though there are hundreds of cars affected that are powered by 4963 turbo motor only one run of crankshafts are effected. So please those 420a fans quite trying to say you are better, it really is a minor flaw. I did however choose to use the 420a to make power instead of 4g63 even though I have one readily avialable. Check the Dreamcasteclipse.blogspot.com