Want to mod my 95 Saturn SL2

[spacemanspif]

Time for an update. This weekend I thought I'd give a grill block a try. Now Saturns don't really have a grill like most other cars I thought there was a lot of dead space on the front end that served no purpose and figured I'd block it off in an attempt to make my SL2 bumper a little more SL1. Unfortunately the closest color duct tape at wally world was blue so the color match leaves a lot to be desired. I basically blocked off everything that doesn't cool the engine and cut down engine cooling just a little. Pics below. Let me know what you think. Unfortunately I have no instrumentation so I will have to leave this on for a while before I can determine if it helped at all...and this tank started with 75miles of stop and go that I did not attempt to hyper mile so this tank might not be a good one for testing.

[2000mc]

my saturn has never ran hot with the grill completely covered, but i have the factory air dam. that being said, i still wouldn't like it without the scangauge, the factory temp gauge is a joke.

on oil consumption, i went from 1qt per 1500miles to 1qt per 2000+miles with an orifice type pcv. some people on santurnfans say they have cut thier consumption in half with the pcv. AC/Delco CV4000C, Fram FV410, or BWD PCV484

[spacemanspif]

Originally Posted by 2000mc

my saturn has never ran hot with the grill completely covered, but i have the factory air dam. that being said, i still wouldn't like it without the scangauge, the factory temp gauge is a joke.

I would have done a full block if I had the factory dam but since I don't I'm "stuck" with blow through cooling, which is fine considering I'd like to do a giant air dam in the future and will need to cool in that manner.

on oil consumption, i went from 1qt per 1500miles to 1qt per 2000+miles with an orifice type pcv. some people on santurnfans say they have cut thier consumption in half with the pcv. AC/Delco CV4000C, Fram FV410, or BWD PCV484

I've already got the fixed orifice PCV, it did help but I am still doing a full changeover every 3000 miles. I've also installed a harbor freight air oil separator/catch can and it only catches minimal oil. My guess is its the rings and valve seals that are contributing the most. Lower cruising RPM hasn't seemed to help too much either...

[pkforbes87]

I currently drive a 2000 SL2 5spd, but also own a 2000 SL1 5spd that is a parts car or future rebuild project. (engine needs lots of TLC)

Is there a writeup online about swapping the MP2 into the SL2 to get higher ratios for gears 3-5? Or is it a simple bolt-in swap?

I appreciate any info you can share.

[spacemanspif]

Originally Posted by pkforbes87

Is there a writeup online about swapping the MP2 into the SL2 to get higher ratios for gears 3-5? Or is it a simple bolt-in swap?

I appreciate any info you can share.

You can do it 1 of 2 different ways. If you swap whole transmissions it is a simple bolt-in job as the cases are exactly the same...except you need the know-how, tools and equipment to swap the whole trans.

The other option is to swap out just the 5th gear gears. I believe there is a post in the DIY section on how to do it; if not, there is one on SaturnFans.com | The Saturn Authority for Saturn Enthusiasts.. basically you pop off trans cover accessed through the wheel well, take off the 2 nuts that hold the gearset on and replace them with the gearset from the SL1 trans. Buy a new gasket from GM ahead of time and the 2 nuts (optional, they are torque to yield but locktite works well apparently). Apparently I went a little too crazy with the impact gun, overtightened my nuts and the gears started eating the trans.

Saturns all have the same first 3 gears. 4 and 5 are "taller" in the Sx1 transmissions. When swapping in just 5th gear the shift from 4 to 5 is about 1500rpm drop so you need to wind out 4 a little longer so the engine doesn't lug a little.

With your car you WILL lose cruise control function with either method of gear change. It has to do with the lack of a clutch switch and the ECM reading the "wrong" RPM for a given speed. Some folks on Saturnfans are trying to figure a way around the system but don't have anything yet.


Update: I took the grill block off as it seemed to hurt my mpg. Still want to do an air dam and haven't gotten around to making skirts or pizza pan covers (even though my trunk is full of coroplast and I have 2 pans floating around in my backseat )

[ProDarwin]

FWIW, several people have figured out how to hack the PCM on a 1st gen. Its likely that could overcome the cruise issue somehow. It can also allow you to correct the ODO for different size tires, change the fan-on temp, etc.

[arcosine]

Swapping transmissions is a pain in saturns, just swapping the fifth gear is easier. Both the mp2 and mp3 have the same final drive ratio.

[spacemanspif]

I made some random progress today. Its been about 2 months since I've bought pizza pans but couldn't figure out how I wanted to mount them. I wanted to try and use the plastic lug nut covers that GM loved so much in the 90s and my plan was to drill the center and use riv-nuts. Well I had to order riv-nuts and didn't know if they'd work so I sought out a different solution and found it in metal drywall anchors. They have 4 slits in them and when you tighten the bolt the housing collapses and there are 4 "arms" that anchor it. The original plan was to use the supplied bolts and run them through the pan but I had trouble lining hem up so I flipped them around to be used as studs, found some nuts, and popped on my prototype. Picture attached below. Sorry for the mediocre pic, it was taken with my phone.

Issues I've considered at this point are
1) I marked the spots for the bolts on the pan not quite centered so the pan is not centered on the wheel.
2.1) No need for the anchors if I'm going to use a bolt through the back.
2.2) How to keep the bolt from spinning when it comes time to back off the nuts? Glue?
3) Used a jam nut to make sure the first one did not back off, probably use lock nuts on next version.

Anything else I should consider with making these? I have only done 1 to test the system and because I only have 1 wheel that doesn't have weights on the outside. Once I'm happy with the design I'll have the wheels rebalanced and make more.

Its hard to drill the plastic caps dead center and I think I need to do a better job of marking the pan to drill the holes. I'll probably drill the pan holes larger than needed and use large fender washers to compensate.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to do things better??

[alexofnazareth]

Make sure to state that its the later years(98-02) Sx1's with the tallest 5th gears.