Saturn sc1 - the work car
 

Picked up a 1.9l sc1 last February to make the bleeding stop. I was driving my 2014 dodge ram 115km back and forth to work . 11.65 l / 100k driving mostly like a maniac...ouch.

I have averaged since I've owned the car 6.4 l/100k. And that's by doing absolutely nothing to help myself. Commited to not doing stupid things and I've brought that down to 5.7 over the last two fill ups. Cause I need another hobby lol the mods start tomorrow :) hoping to get under 5l / 100k. Wish me luck..

Bleeding?

Welcome and good luck! :)

Bleeding money lol.. 5 -600 month in fuel costs. Need a truck for my hobbies but driving it daily was killing me..

Looked up the Saturn SC1 as I am not familiar with it here in the UK. Describes it as a compact car. Here it would be classed as a large family saloon!

Productive day yesterday, trans fluid swapped to synthetic, front air dam added, weatherstripping on the hood to headlight gap. Torque app downloaded and Canada post should be dropping off my obd2 dongle this afternoon.

Once I have torque up and running I can do a wai and grill block. Need to see if I can find a serpentine belt for a/c delete. Was an option so I should be able to :). Looking forward to seeing a small change in the mileage numbers!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1506676814

Air dam.

Also picked up some relays and switches and a momentary start switch to wire in a kill switch and start panel.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1506677081

Before air dam. The stock one was long gone before I got this car lol.. vehicle had been in a front end / rear end accident hence the pick and pull bumpers..

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1506677246

Replacing a bunch of loose body clips to get rid of some rattles. Did the air dam with the bumper cover removed to save my back lol.

I don't know how different the 01 is from my 99, but before blocking the grill I would say you'll want to duct your grill opening to the radiator or atleast install a factory air dam to keep the air from going around the bottom of the radiator.

Issue I had with wai was if I could get good heat on the highway it was too hot in town and would get preignition, never figured out a system to switch from hot to cold

I didn't bypass the ac compressor, when the ac is off, I don't think it creates any more drag than an idler pulley.

Thanks for the input on detonation, I'll watch my timing to see what it does.. Did a temporary grill block to see how the car reacts.. To note I'm running a new rad, water pump and t-stat, all in the past 6 months. Only on the hottest days this summer did my fan come on.. a/c delete will be to get weight out only - I have no intentions of fixing it..

The older Saturn's were available without ac and power steering they use a shorter belt and a ribbed idler pulley and only have to spin the alternator and water pump I'm currently running that setup on my 99 sc2

Thinking of accessories and weight, manual steering gear was a direct replacement for me. The manual rack is really just a "luxury" with its greater gear reduction. I don't think the hydraulic gear unpowered caused additional effort aside from the different ratio. Iirc the weight difference between the gears was like 1lb, while the rest of the system was 8lbs plus fluid

The single cam engine should be good for close to 40mpg without trying. Head over to Saturnfans.com for info on basic maintenance and keeping the powertrain in top shape if you haven't already. On my 1995 SL2 I found an OEM air dam in a JY and installed it since the car didn't come with one and then completely blocked off the whole front end. GM used air dam cooling on Corvette and Camaros for years and it works well as long as the dam is in place. Air dam plus front wheel spats would serve double purpose and supposedly the turbulence through the engine compartment is less severe with dam cooling vs. "ram air" grill cooling. Just food for thought...

If you do a lot of highway driving check the transmission ratio charts and see what ratio 5th you have vs. the other years. 5th is easy to swap on those trans and if you can get a big change might be worth trying to find a gear set off the forums.