rogue male

I gotta work till at least 2pm tomorrow I need to catch up on some work. What car you putting this in?

I would agree. 110-120mph is pretty crazy and would win most races especially for a 4cyl. Most everyday driven full interior cars are not going to be capable of more than that without race gas or something crazy. If you have a ton of cash than a c6 will do that reliable as well as some other select cars. But how many people are even in that range on this site? I assume not many...

Ok. So I get the feeling that everyone thinks it's not worth modding a Saturn. Basically every one thinks they are too slow even modded. So the question is what do you consider fast for a street car? I would personally feel that a WS6 that runs 101 in the quarter is pretty slow, especially with a V8. I'm interested in trap speed because most street races are from a roll or where trap speed matters. So what's considered fast for a car in the quarter? and what's respectable? 90? 100? 110? 115? 120? Or does it matter how far you can take a car? lets say stock traps 90 and you can do 110 is that considered fast or respectable? Need a baseline here. GRN96WS6 I assume you feel the same about Hondas too. Cute commuter car but that's about all.

He is how it works... By having a turbo on a 4 cyl car you are esentially creating a bigger engine. You are able to fill the cylinders up to a capacity greater than any N/A application. This in turn rasies the compression ratio. The more boost you run the more compression you will be running. This is why people run colder spark plugs and race gas; to reduce detenoation from the higher compression. People that build engines to be boosted tend to lower the compression ratio to the universially accepted 8.5:1 which seems ideal for running boost. Hondas tend to run a higher compression due to an efficent head design, using a stock engine, and if you start out with a higher compression ratio (stock honda) you don't need as much boost but this limits max boost in the end (special cases exempt). A lot of people like large turbos due to the fact that the air is cooler at low boost leves. The fins aren't heating the air by beating to death. This also alows for more boost on pump gas. As for an scm61 falling on its face. You are completely wrong about that. Add race gas and crank up the boost to 30-35 and that turbo shines just look at the compresser map or the 1000s of people that crank it up to those levels. It's not a small turbo it needs high boost. Good posts so far! Your pal, Ricer male

You forget that you need a lot less horsepower to make your car fast. Yeah the engine is the same but you weight about 1000lbs lighter. Therefore you can go faster on pump gas than a normal DSM as I had stated before. Racegas reduces detonation so you can go faster with a smaller displacement engine, your car can do that with less power; your swap is the exception. Ask any DSM out there using the scm61 and most will tell you that the turbo gets going after 25psi right where racegas is needed. I understand this is a street racing forum. My point was that I don't feel safe racing much above 100mph. I wasn't bitching about it I believe that I was making a statement.

I don't think my original post was a joke. I was mearly interested in others who like to modify Saturns. I enjoy my Saturn, it gets good gas milage and still has some power when I need it. I guess everyone's perception of fast is different. If you drive on the street 99% of the time people are on pump gas and almost every car makes less power on pump so when a DSM says that they can do 11s in the quarter it's most likely on race gas which is a lot slower on the street. If you are talking speed in the quarter that's a different story but again most people are on pump gas. How fast can you legally drive on the street? about 75mph. I don't like racing much above 100mph simply because it's too dangerous. So if your car has 500whp with race gas and you drive it on the street to race people that seems like a waste to me. The more whp you make on the street the less you can use on the street. In my mind if the car is capable of 100-110mph in the quarter on pump gas you have a pretty fast car. Now if you take it to the track and run it a lot then more is better. I guess my point is that if you can't use that much power on the street why do you need it? Drop $1500 in a cheap Saturn and you have a fun car to drive. Yeah it's not the fastest but then again most people that mod Saturns aren't rich... Good discussion none-the-less

Woah so what your saying is someone who can make a DSM faster than a Saturn is more knowledgeable about performance? I'm not sure if that is true. Seems to me that a turbo car from the factory will be faster than a Saturn from the factory. Than add the HUGE aftermarket support for DSMs and nothing for Saturns logically you would have to say that it takes more to make a Saturn fast than a DSM.

Ohhh SNAP! You're right I have never raced a v8 car before but I think that my Saturn may have enough to suprise a few v8 cars and not just passing them in parking lots. heh. onebadkustom Good info thanks!

The ecotec engine was reduced to a 2.0l due to the shorter stroke. That engine is by far the strongest 4 cylinder ever made. The ecotec powered drag car was putting over 1200whp down with that engine. I haven't seen a 4g63 or sr20det do that before. When they put that engine in the rwd sky the car will become the new platform of performance. Yeah it will be more expensive and people will cry that it's a Saturn but the potential is huge. On the other hand the 1.9 llo engine that Saturn gave the S series is lacking in a lot of areas but even for a foam-cast aluminium block it has shown to hold a good amount of power. The car doesn't handle like a corvette but has won a TON of SCCA events which proves that it's no slouch in that department. Looks? what can you say, you either love it or hate it. Power? In stock form it is lacking but with a power adder such as nitrous you can see low 13s high 12s in the quarter which is pretty good for any car. I think that the point is anyone can make a v8 fast. It takes every little know how to make those cars fast just call up Jegs and order the "hi-po kit". On the other hand being different and trying something new is always appealing to me. I enjoy the challenge of making my "FWD econobox" faster and, although you can't polish a turd, it sure makes me feel good when I pass v8s.

FWD has the advantage from a roll over an AWD anyday. That's a fact. It takes a lot more whp for an AWD car to keep up. Plus there's the weight advantage. RWD is awesome no doubt especially since they tend to come with V8s and it's not very hard to make them fast at all. I've seen a Saturn beat a bolt-on 4th gen SS camaro before and i've personally beat a honda civic with some mods and a srt-4 (which had 4 people in the car). I think that a well built Saturn can be very competive from a roll. Time, money and knowledge are all one needs to make a fast car. I can't wait to put on my next bolt-on; lowering springs! That should help with my aerodynamics from like 70mph on, every little bit helps.

Race gas in a Saturn? Sounds like a waste of money to me 93 octane is all I have ever and it makes enough power for me. Saturns are fun especially from highway rolls that's where they tend to have the advantage. I'm thinking of adding the injen intake for some extra power up top to cut down on those building length leads pepole tend to get on me I'm trying to get into DSMs for something different. I have a 91 DSM but it's a lot different from the Saturn so I'm having trouble getting it going. It's in storage over the winter until I can get the rest of the parts over the winter.

Well looks like noone really mods Saturns. That's too bad. I think they have a lot of potential for a four cylinder and don't look bad either. They really don't have any good aftermarket support but they are pretty easy to work on and parst and cars are cheap. Figured I'd pitch my thoughts on the car. Maybe bring some people over to the dark side

Hmm I don't think that's possible. The two metals are so dissimilar. If you could manage to stick them together the bond would be very weak and probally fall apart before you could use it.

I haven't seen SPS update thier products in awhile and I thought that they were going out of business. 500whp car? WOW that's a lot out of a 1.9 liter bet that's hard to drive!

Recently moved to the area and I'm wondering if anyone modifys Saturns on the board. I heard they can be pretty quick.