19bonestock88's 2004 Saturn "Ion Green Line" build...

[19bonestock88]

So while in waiting on the metal to finish my wheel skirts I got another mod completed, one which should provide zero change in the efficiency of the car itself...

I swapped the stock flat, non supportive seats for a set of the Recaro seats that come in the Ion Redline. They’re much more supportive during high-G maneuvering, and feel better due to better lumbar contouring... it’ll take me a while to get used to the half leather seat again but they’re nice, only downside is that they’re stained pretty bad since my Redline sat so long without being a functioning car... since I swapped the rear seats too, my rear passenger capacity drops to 2 but the sculpted seats from the coupe/Redline are better than the flat bench in the back of the sedans anyway, and now there are cup holders in the back...

[19bonestock88]

I’m still waiting for some free metal to come about, so I started another powertrain mod...

I’m working on re-doing my intake, with purpose of allowing greater airflow while at the same time hopefully increasing velocity and torque...

I have a spare airbox for the car, and I remember noting before that the air outlet on its lid was a flat oval, about 2”x3.5”. What I did was use a rotary tool and cut off the outlet, and then cut slices out of the hole in the lid until a piece of 3.5” round pipe fit in the airbox at the same angle as before. Literally, 3.5” is absolutely as big as the stock airbox will support, as the pipe is almost against the ribs at the ceiling of the box and just above the sealing surface for the filter...

After my glue hardens completely I need to trim the pipe to a more appropriate length and buy a 3” to 3.5” intake elbow (like $10 on Amazon)...

The idea is that the 3.5” airbox outlet will provide as much airflow as the engine will ever need, but with it being immediately necked down to 3” for the rest of the tubing and 2.75” at the TB, I won’t lose any velocity by having upped the size at the airbox...

[19bonestock88]

Got metal for the wheel skirts, and made the mounting brackets... just need to buy half a dozen push rivets and they’ll be mounted on the car...

I also got a pic of my new airbox lid, which still needs the pipe trimmed shorter... I wish I had taken a pic of the original outlet, it was tiny...

[19bonestock88]

I’m contemplating pulling off the factory side skirts to make some coroplast extensions and some rear tire spats... you guys think a 2” extension would be worth the effort of fabricating it? Don’t wanna go too low and have it drag at every sharp breakover

[19bonestock88]

I got bored last night and revised my trunklid extension AGAIN! I got tired of looking at it sagging and the tape not holding it up properly, so I ripped it off and cut a fresh piece of coroplast, 1” longer than the last one, and about 1/2” wider than the last(it never came to the edge of the trunklid)... I also measured and cut some bigger reinforcements and added side plates for a “sort of” box cavity...

More over, I used hot glue for most of the seams where the coroplast goes together, and drilled directly into the plastic end plate of the trunklid (it’s a Saturn thing lol), which means it isn’t held on with strapping tape! I feel so grown up lol...

[19bonestock88]

So I finally got my car back in service today! Drove it to work tonight, with new mods attached... hopefully I’ll have outside pics of the new trunklid extension and the wheel skirts...

[Daox]

Looks good, and impressive mileage too.

[19bonestock88]

I got some pics of the car dirty from driving in the muddy parking lot at work lol... it looks decent I think?

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

...

Car porn... "dirty" pictures... lol

BTW, I wonder if those trim pieces above the rear passenger windows are drag producing. Seems like they must be little parachutes and vortex generators. The front ones maybe not a problem... thoughts?

[19bonestock88]

You bring up a great point about the rain guards, they do almost absolutely add drag; the glue is failing at the rear of the passenger rear piece and as I drive at speeds above 40 the guard is pulled away from the door by like 4”...

I literally just talked to my wife about modding them, my plan is to cut the rear ones just behind where they pass over the fixed window to prevent the pocket at the very back from forming, and I also wanna fill the gap between them (between the two doors) with coroplast...

Will all this help? Likely not by a huge amount, but I’m running out of low hanging fruit so I’ll take what I can get lol