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Street Class Unlimited Class
DOHC SOHC Ion Updated 1/05 For the most recent list of the fastest five cars click here. |
Bolt-On Basicsby: qksl2Well, I get a lot of questions about how to go about modifying a saturn. It seems that people see my car, and assume that I know what i am talking about. This may not be such a great assumption. Well, to be fair to myself, I have formed opinions about a lot of aftermarket parts over the last few years. Here is where I will share them, in the form of a guide. I have put this up to help you get on your way. Don't take what I say too seriously, but I have put here what I, to the best of my knowledge, think is a logical way of going about modifying your car, if I were to do it all over again. Please, though, start with the end in mind. Everybody has different goals, and those goals are likely to change, but, thats still no exuse for not putting together a plan of attack. Do you want a moderately quick, fun to drive, responsive street car that will give most for cylinders a run for their money, sound good, and be reliable at the same time? Or do you want a Rustang sinker, something that will shame many a v-8, and a few turbocharged and high revving applications from Japan? Also, before you begin, I highly suggest you do a couple things: Do the software dyno thing. It will give you a baseline, and a way to measure how your mods have helped. Every car is different, so do it for your specific ride and record everything. I wish i would have. Secondly, go to the track. Run it, bones stock. Learn your car, and then that provides a second way to measure your car's peformance over time. 1. Fix the car. Change the oil, often. If you can afford it, go with Mobil 1 synthetic, an easy choice. Definetely run an engine flush through before doing the switch to synthetic. Get new filters all around, including fuel filter. Some spark plugs are a good idea, along with new ignition wires. Check your coil pack contacts for corrosion, and clean them with a wire brush. Check for oil on your spark plugs threads; a sure sign that your cam cover gasket is leaking. Also, change the tranny fluid (Redline or Mobil 1 here, too, is best), radiator, etc... Now would also be a good time for a new alignment if needed, which will reduce tire scrubbing, and can make handling sharper and the car quicker due to less resistance from teaked tire angles. 2. Intake. While I have yet to see with my own eyes a cold air intake sold for the saturn, there are still several options. THe hotshot and iceman are the most readily available. But any intake that is anything like these will work, so just find the cheapest one. Don't pay extra for speacial coatings. A good thing to combine an intake with is a 91/92 header, which can be found at a junk yard for a very reasonable price: under $150. Know, though, that the header may require a welder (muffler shop) to do some fumbling/cutting/fabrication to make it fit properly. 3. Suspension: Sprint springs, or, higher quality Eibachs are both good choices. The sprints will drop the car more, and the spring rates are actually quite good. If your struts are worn, new ones will prevent a choppy, bouncy ride common to so many lowered cars. A front strut tower bar would be a good improvement here, too. Also, new brake pads, wheel spacers for the rear, and performance tires would make a noticable improvement in drivability and feel. Remember, tires are the most important part of a car. 4. Free Mods! Now, shorten the shifter, which is a simple task of pulling the shift knob off, and taking a hacksaw to it. MIght as well put a nice, grippy shift knob on there for some extra hp. Make a baffle for your intake: anything that seperates the cone filter area from the hot engine compartment side. Scroung around in hardware stores for some sheet aluminum or other. You can use foam to seal it to your hood. Stiffen your motor mounts with Windo-weld, or some other kind of polyuerathane. Remove the front lower grille baffle: its ugly and useless. You will get a cleaner look and more airflow without it. You can also perform my throttle body mod, which can be found in the free mods section, and is well worth the time. Anyone who doesn't feel comfortable doing this can email me (signiglum@go.com) and I will send you a throttle body, thats already bored and tuned. Port match your throttle body to the intake manifold, which you should use some Mopar upper engine cleaner on. Bore and polish the exaust ports, install a cooling fan switch, catchcan, and a potentiometer or thermistor in the intake air temp sensor aswell. 5. Next would be some more serious mods. Boers pulleys, a high performance clutch, SPS or CWC stiff torque reaction mounts will all be great additions for the weekend racer. The difference will be very noticable with these mods. It will get off the line much more quickly, and will feel more direct and mechanical in operation. If you desire, a lightweight flywheel makes for a racy feel, although may not be good for 60' times at the dragstrip. 6. Exhaust. The best out there for the saturn is Thermal, but its expensive. If you want to go a cheaper route, you can utilize 2.25 inch mandrel bent piping with a 40" resonator (thrush style, from summit racing) with a dynomax or other universal muffler. Again, I highly recommend the Thermal system. An option with an exaust system would be a hi-flow catalytic converter, which would add significantly to the sound factor, and offer a little more top end. 7. Driver. Now, you need to learn to keep up with your car. The bolt on route above is going to give you a 15 second car. Mid-fifteens if you are lucky. Your car will sound/feel great, racy, even. It will have a much more glorious top end, and the more peaky power delivery will be either fun/annoying depending on who you talk to. However, the saturn motor is still flexible enough with these mods in place. |
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