My latest purchase 92 Plymouth Laser rs AWD

[Millerman340]

It said Pymouth Thought I'd give it a chance! Dave.

[cordes]

They did not make a ton of those, and you never see them anymore. Nice find.

[Whorse]

My friend had one with the button to turn the turbo on or off. Speedy little car with a 1st Gen BOV ;)

[show-off]

I had a 91 Talon AWD that I loved...fun little cars.

[Millerman340]

Nice car ,Has a reman'd engine by portland engine rebuilders with 20,000 miles on it .It's just not as fast as my spirit R/T (Yet) but should be a fun car when the spirit throws the timing belt:eek:

[Millerman340]

Does anyone make a cal computer for these or do you have to manipulate the signal?

[Millerman340]

had to resize to post.paid $800 for it.Dave

[cordes]

Does anyone make a cal computer for these or do you have to manipulate the signal?

I am sure that someone makes a custom cal for them, but the piggey back computers seem to be the most popular.

Killer avatar by the way.

[Millerman340]

I did some looking around,Some are e prom some are not. But the eprom chips only change the fuel cut ,boost a shift rpm cut like a 2 step does. That would be cool on a Tm car, where you could stage and when you push in the clutch it activates the computer to limit the rpm.

[Millerman340]

Here is the link to the avatar and quotes from fear and loathing.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120669/quotes Dave

[8valves]

Great find, awd RS's aren't all that common. If you're looking for all out budget performance get DSMlink. It's a great standalone setup based off of stock stuff.

Easy performance mods are simple, hack up the stock airbox, take out the restrictor in the wastegate line (near the solenoid on the passenger frame rail) make a 3" exhaust ( one 45* bend from the exhaust tunnel under the rear diff and out the back, VERY easy) and boost away!

That car is a great platform to work off of, and is very easily capable of getting into the 12's without changing a whole lot. Good luck, go easy on the 1-2 shifts.

Aaron Miller

[Diabloed]

I really liked mine! 145mph no problem.. Nice and comfortable I thought. Wish I was deeper into the turbo cars when I had my white one:(

[Millerman340]

I found a few problems with the car. It has a bad vibration at about 3000 rpm,so I started searching.On the mistu engines you can get the rear balancing shaft out of faze when you change the timing belt.The next problem is when you are into the boost it kind of shudders? thought it was the clutch but it's not slipping.Runs fine out of boost and at light throttle boost(need to check plugs)Dave

[BigAl]

if you think the awd rs's arent that common check this. I knew a girl a few years ago that had a DSM Chrysler Laser Turbo AWD.

[Millerman340]

if you think the awd rs's arent that common check this. I knew a girl a few years ago that had a DSM Chrysler Laser Turbo AWD. ???????:eyebrows:

[Dave]

My friend had one with the button to turn the turbo on or off. Speedy little car with a 1st Gen BOV ;)

TURBO BOOST!!!!!!!!

[cordes]

TURBO BOOST!!!!!!!!

:lol:

[Millerman340]

I put in a G-valve but it's still a pig,I think the catalitic converter is pluged as the gauge pegs at 14 fast but no foward thrust!

[wecycle]

I wish you good luck with it!
My 1992 Plymouth Laser RS AWD was very nice when it was running right. Unfortunately that was for about 2 weeks at a time followed by a month or so finding and fixing the issue.
Overall the worst car I have ever owned.
The list of design defects is enormous.
The most important is the recall on the transfer case (center fluid coupling)
If yours has not been checked it should be a no charge job for the dealer. If it is leaking and you lose the lube it will lock up causing a four wheels locked skid. Not fun at highway speed.
The second most irritating item is the electrolytic capacitors in the ECU.
After about 6 years they begin to leak acid onto the circuit board eating the traces off the printed circuit board. When mine first went out the only choice was a new ECU at $1200 list, $700 with the club DSM discount from Tallahassee Mitsubishi. At least now you can get a reconditioned ECU for $250-300.
By the way, You should join the DSM club. The owner does calibrations for the DSM ECUs. http://www.dsm.org/
The stock clutch should be good for about 6 launches after you remove the resrictor in the boost control solenoid. (that gets you about 2 psi) I went with a centerforce dual friction but you may need a more aggressive one if you plan on substantial power upgrades.
You may want to install a true boost gage. The one in the dash is a simulation of what the ecu thinks the boost is, not a real gauge. Because of this you can be showing "boost" on the stock gauge but actually have none due to intercooler pipe leakes or turbo issues.
you may want to disable the clutch interlock so you can start it without pushing the clutch down. I think this is a factor in the "crankwalk" problem, along with dirty oil/piston squirter issues.
The phasing of the balance shafts can be an issue as well. Make sure you use a new balance shaft belt when you change the timing belt. A new tensioner is a good idea as well.
Your 1992 should have the 4 bolt rear axle flange bolts rather than the earlier 3 bolt type. That should be OK.
This covers about 1/3 of the issues. You can search on the DSM home page for more.

Dennis L. Cote

[Millerman340]

I've been snooping around on all the boards and using the search button.(They are not fond of questions over on dsm tuners) I fixed the vibration issue and put the rear ballance in sinc.

[87 charger]

Ok you wanna go fast I can tell you how for real cheap. Grainger valve won't really help you on a dsm. You need to hack the air box cover over your air filter. You need to pull off the whole mass air flow sensor and take out the big round air restrictor in the base.You also can take out the small air foil under the air filter.There are 2 of them there you want the smaller of the 2 removed. You can also take out the screws off the base and remove the plate there is a plug under there with silicone covering it remove that plug.If you do those thing just to the mass air you will see a big difference.I also put in a simple bleed such as a brass T valve and drilled it out till I reached about 19 psi. I could whoop late model SS camaros ALL DAY !
I also installed a 255 walbro and a 3 inch down pipe.I also rewired the fuel pump with a simple fog light switch.Along with some 10 gauge wire.The reason was everytime I would turn on the turn lights I would hear the fuel pump sound pitch change. It is pretty easy to do.Things you need to watch for is in the ECU if the capacitors are leaking it will jack up your car real fast ! If you smell a funky smell almost like seafood they need to be replaced right then ! You can buy them off EBAY all day long.If you want you can PM me or my brother his name is CHANLEY on here and we can answer alot of dsm questions if you have any. He made a homemade boost leak tester out of a bicycle air pump and a pop can...pretty cool how it works. He has my old talon now and he loves to talk dsm. Send him a pm he will help all he can.
VFAQ.COM is a awesome site for information.
Hope this helps

[87 charger]

Also The Stock Boost Gauge Is Way Way Way Off.Buy One Right From The Start !
The balance shaft vibration can cause alot off other issues. Another thing to watch for is the oil sending unit. Make DANG sure the stud that your oil filter screws on too is tight.What I mean is if you take the oill filter off and look at it you will notice it has a hex head at the end of the stud the oil filter screws too. Get a whatever you can and tighten it to the right. It may have came loose while that belt was wrong.The problem is the oil can leak out behind the warning light and you never know until it locks up ! This happend to me and this is a very common problem with the 4g63.And that vibration may have caused it to start to come out. Also you want to go to the chrysler web site and go to the recall section.Type in your VIN and find out if you transfer case has been fixed.They can lock up going down the road at 70 mph and all 4 wheels WILL STOP:eek: :eek: :eek: .This will send you into a spin and you can do nothing but hold on.Your local dealer can run your VIN and tell you if it has had the yoke replaced.YOU NEED TO DO THAT FIRST.

[Millerman340]

I was under there listening to my tob squealing and the xfer case looked fairly new ,The recall was done in 98 (I checked) so I'll be yanking the trans for the throwout & clutch while I'm there. I think its leaking boost as when I turned it up the shudder got worse. It's not as noticeable with a sd car ,but mass air before the turbo what a set up:yuck:

[GLHS592]

My friend had one with the button to turn the turbo on or off. Speedy little car with a 1st Gen BOV ;)

You better watch those. Boost fluid will leak out of that button and onto your carpet.

[87 charger]

I had a tech do my timing belts cause I didn't have the time.That was a mistake because I had to find the time to fix the balance shaft belt.I did it myself with the screwdriver in the block trick.It was pretty easy to do. Before I did it right myself it sure shook the crap out of the car when it hit about 3000 rpm when the boost started. As for the mass you can go with the gm mass and go with the mass air translator.A buddy of mine runs that along with a super afc and boy what a difference.I will say if you are going to boost it you better put a strong aftermarket clutch in it.The stock clutches even new are no match for the power you will make.The main reason is with all wheel drive that clutch is locked hard.The problem is you will flat smoke that clutch at about 250 hp.

[Millerman340]

I used the twist the pulley trick till the mark rotates to the right spot. Take the mark to 12:00 and release if it rotates to where the timing mark is right then it's right ,if it goes away toward the back turn one more revolution and retry. I'll prob use a ACT 2600 PP

[Millerman340]

Ordered parts for the pig today!! We'll make a runner out of this thing yet!! Dave.