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

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Or maybe carbon fiber, where the style of the carbon would cover the lines

I was thinking exactly that; CF vinyl would mask the coroplast texture perfectly and look nice, as well as stick to coroplast better than paint... I do have some CF vinyl but not enough to wrap the grille block

[19bonestock88]

Been having all sorts of trouble with my car lately... first off I’ve been having issues with the off brand stereo receiver I had installed, issues with Bluetooth pairing and disconnecting, and finally it crashes and I replaced it with a Kenwood receiver without a touchscreen...

Secondly, I’ve been having issues with the car starting lately. I had initially thought it to be a bad clutch switch (been having to push the clutch harder to start the car) but it acted up lately where it clicked like it did before with a dead battery but then it started and the gauge cluster went all weird, the gauges going from dead to working a few times and the info center showing error messages of all kinds... I shut it off and checked the battery terminals and hadn’t had any issues since...

[19bonestock88]

Recently got an almost 53mpg tank in my car, she’s still got it lol... I wanna get cooking on some mirror deletes and maybe also a passenger wiper delete

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

Recently got an almost 53mpg tank in my car, she’s still got it lol... I wanna get cooking on some mirror deletes and maybe also a passenger wiper delete

Remember to check local laws about external mirror requirements. I got pinched by cops twice when I had my driverside and pass side mirrors both off. No tickets, but warned. With just the pass side deleted, never been bothered by 'em, even though Cali law requires both when you have tinted windows. I think they interpret the car as OEM one mirror, since it's so old. They maybe cannot tell it is late 1990s, not early 1990s, lol. Some cops are only about as old, or slightky younger, than my car. Haha.

[19bonestock88]

Say it with me guys, NO MORE TAPE!

I finally got rid of all the tape on my front bumper, replacing it with a measured and cut piece of coroplast that was then wrapped in carbon fiber vinyl to hide the coroplast texture... it looks great, would be perfect but I’ve never done any vinyl wrapping before and made some errors naturally... still yet, with 54 screws holding it to the bumper cover and factory lower grille insert it adds lots of strength to the bumper cover and looks great...

EDIT:

...aaaand I kinda went nuts with the car, redoing my upper grille block and adding some vortex generators in front of the tires on the lower bodywork... I seen something like it on the outer edges of the air dam on the Toyota Tacoma, so I feel I’m headed in the right direction lol

[2000mc]

Looks great
Kinda surprised I didn’t see any tire spats in that last pic

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by 2000mc

Looks great
Kinda surprised I didn’t see any tire spats in that last pic

Oddly enough I’m also surprised I’ve not gotten around to doing tire spats...

[19bonestock88]

I had to replace a failed wheel bearing the other day; have no idea how a MOOG bearing can fail in 20k unless sharp potholes (I’m surprised I’ve not bent a wheel yet the potholes are so bad in my city) killed it... I also lost the vortex generators in front of the rear tires, I guess double sided tape wasn’t enough to hold them on through a car wash? The fronts are still hanging in there okay though and they look cool attached to the lawn edging, I’ll prob keep them just for the aesthetic...

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

I had to replace a failed wheel bearing the other day; have no idea how a MOOG bearing can fail in 20k unless sharp potholes (I’m surprised I’ve not bent a wheel yet the potholes are so bad in my city) killed it...

Yes. Those potholes could totally wreck a hub bearing unit... and speedbumps taken fast to save fuel!

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

...I also lost the vortex generators in front of the rear tires ...

Was that an effective mod for you? Where were they placed, exactly?

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Yes. Those potholes could totally wreck a hub bearing unit... and speedbumps taken fast to save fuel!


Was that an effective mod for you? Where were they placed, exactly?

The speed bumps in Morgantown are too harsh to take at much over a crawl, when you also consider my 50+psi tire pressure, cheap lowering springs, and track package shocks and struts... I did NOT build my car for ridesharing use lol

I sadly hadn’t really gathered any useful data on whether the VGs worked or not, my gut was saying that they were doing something; I recorded coasting speed in a certain stretch of nearly flat road at 45-46mph (May have still been accelerating a little) where I only remember hitting 43-ish before. Now it’s hard to say for certain, as my tires are far more worn (and maybe low-ish from how the car has been feeling) than last time I remember noting my speed through that area... but that’s a really really vague datapoint and I’d like to do more testing... I still have the VGs on my lawn edging air dam, placed just ahead of the trailing edge the air dam, right before the tire. I had the ones for the rear tires placed similarly, but on the rocker panel cover near the back and bottom, where the tire protruded most from the bodywork