My Car
I drive a 1993 Saturn SL2. I purchased the car in June of 2007. The car had 176,000 miles on it. This was no ordinary Saturn SL2 though. Over the course of a year it would undergo a transformation that some would consider a pure waste of time. I was happy to take on this challenge. The idea of doing something different just fascinates me.
Prior to purchasing the car, I signed up at SixthSphere, a Saturn enthusiast forum. It was there that I found information about turbocharging Saturns S-Series cars. I had tossed around the idea for a while and then finally decided to commit to it.
What's So Special?
A turbocharger allows an internal combustion engine to make more power by forcing more air into the combustion chamber, as opposed to just drawing the air into the combustion chamber. Since there is now extra air in the combustion chamber you can burn more fuel to make more horsepower.
Another item that makes my Saturn SL2 special is the fact that I still have the factory Air Condtioning system installed on the car. Designing and fabricating around the A/C compressor was difficult. There are only a total of 3 Saturn S-Series cars that still have the factory Air Conditioning system installed on the car that are turbocharged.
There are only a handful of non-factory turbocharged Saturns. In fact, I am only 1 of 25 people to own a non-factory turbocharged Saturn on SixthSphere. I would estimate that there are probably less than 50 turbocharged Saturn S-Series cars in the United States.
Goals
My goals for this project were quite optimistic. I had hoped to have completed this project by May of 2008. However, due to delays and other complications, I had to settle for late August of 2008. The car was to be driven on a daily basis on the street. I wanted to use all "stock" Saturn parts for this project. By "stock" I mean a stock Saturn intake manifold, a stock throttle body, stock camshafts, etc...
I would like to run a 12.5 elapsed time at the drag strip. That is, of course, 12.5 seconds in a quarter-mile. The ultimate goal for this project would be to have the fastest full-interior turbocharged Saturn using mostly (if not all) stock Saturn parts and still have a functioning factory air conditioning system.
The Journey
The journey started back in the summer 2007. Within the first few days of purchasing the car I was already tinkering with various pieces of it. The journey has really taken a toll on my father and I. I alone, have invested over 250 hours of work into this car. Just about every part on my car is a custom piece of work.
The first order of business was to figure out a way to control fuel and spark, two of the key components of an internal combustion engine. After doing a bit of research, I decided to purchase the MegaSquirt, a Do-It-Yourself programmable electronic fuel injection controller. I then proceeded to build the MegaSquirt. Once it was built, I modified the circuit board to control spark as well. I have since added a few other modifications including an electronic fan control circuit, as well as a launch control feature for drag racing.
After sorting out the fuel and spark issue, it was time to dig into the internals of the engine. The factory internals were not made to handle the stresses that a turbocharger brings. I had to get custom forged pistons made for my application. I also bought a set of custom forged rods by SCAT. I bought a better crankshaft as well. After a few months the engine was ready to be assembled.
During the same time that I was disassembling the engine, I was also dissassembling the transmission to upgrade some of its components. The differential pin seems to be the weak link in Saturn S-Series transmissions. I had my father weld the ends of the pin so that it would not break. I also installed a Phantom Grip limited slip differential to try and equalize power to both of the drive tires.
Once the engine was complete, it was on to fabricating the exhaust pieces. The tubuluar manifold is half factory and half custom. I took a factory exhaust manifold and modified it, with the help of my father, to house my turbocharger. After the manifold, the complete exhaust system is custom. My dad and I fabricated the whole exhaust out of mandrel bent 2.5" exhaust tubing. The exhaust system is full, meaning that it is routed over the rear suspension equipment. Fabricating the exhaust was one of the most challenging portions of this project.
Where is it Going?
So far so good...the car is really fast. On October 4th, 2008, I went to New England Dragway for the first time with the car. I managed to run a 14.815 E/T at 107.99 MPH on only 14lbs of boost (the car is capable of 25+lbs of boost). With this kind of mile per hour, the car is definitely good for mid-12s. I drive the car every day back and fourth to various affairs. I can drive the car without worrying about it breaking down, which is a huge plus. I also went to New England Dragway on October 18th, 2008. I managed to gain 3 MPH in the quarter mile. I should go even faster next year when I upgrade the suspension components and buy slicks for better traction.
