Saturn Ion?

My friend with a new Saturn Ion wants to race me. Its a 5 speed, 3" full exhaust, and if you didn't know, supercharged 4 cylinder @ 210 HP he says.

It is RWD and does not have LSD. My car is all stock and I JUST got all of the bugs worked out.

The boost is currently at 9, I think the turbo is going because I replaced all vac hoses in the turbo area today and I got a good condition IC to turbo hose installed, still boosts to 9. Also the BCS is bypassed, and the diffrential needs a rebuild.

The engine is otherwise in good shape and the only thing in the interior is the driver's seat and dash for now.

Opinions?

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Ryan Harris

1988 TC, 5 speed, all options including sunroof

1987 3.8L V6, C4, 160K miles, no options (winter car, when it works)

RIP 1987 TC, "Built" A4LD, 119K miles, all options except sunroof

My Audio Mixes

RWD? Saturn? Nope.

You'll lose. Sorry [Image: frown.gif] Barring any problems, 205hp in a lightweight car will beat 150hp (you'd be lucky to make that much at 9psi) in a 3300+lb car.

Turbo's don't "go" in a manner such that max boost is limited to a consistent number. Throw a gillis valve (or a cheaper equivalent) on there and see what happens.

If you do race, PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE do it at the track. The only thing worse than having your ego smashed as you lose a race is having your face smash through your windsheild when somebody pulls out in front of you at 90mph. Be safe.

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Estoril blue 1987 TC 5spd, 146k miles, a237, Bailey BOV, spec stg3 clutch, spearco FMIC, t3/t4 50 trim / stage III .63, 3" exhaust, eec-tuner, lm1 wb, 55pph injectors
Best 1/4 mile: 12.89 @ 106mph on 25psi, 1.78 60'

Yeah, I didn't think I'd win. My tranny also grinds like crazy in 3rd-5th, and I have to baby it to make it go fast while letting the RPMs drop before changing gears to keep the grind down.

As far as the BCS being bypassed, maybe one of the nipples are plugged?

I ran it last night without the vac lines for the BCS connected at all and it boosted the same PSI.

I predict that you would get spanked about as bad as a modified firebird formula spanked me. Bad.

I learned a few very important lessons from this race. Please tell me how stupid I was.

1. The dealership he worked at didnt know the size of the motor, just that it was big.
2. Never mistake a lopy cam for a miss.
3. Never try to launch at 5 grand, 40 mph roll.
4. Make sure your intercooler is on tight.
5. Make sure that there are no whitnesses. (Our mustang tailcar out ran me.)

After this race the street lost its thrill.

[This message has been edited by Huey866 (edited 01-23-2005).]

when you bypass the BCS, you are relying on whatever the spring is set in the WG actuator. my guess is its set to 9psi. the only way to get more boost is to get a boost regulator. AKA gillis boost valve.

Originally posted by Qwertys:
when you bypass the BCS, you are relying on whatever the spring is set in the WG actuator. my guess is its set to 9psi. the only way to get more boost is to get a boost regulator. AKA gillis boost valve.

Not quite..... if you disconnect the BCS and plug the hose from the T on the compressor outlet, you will only get the stock WG setting boost. If the BCS hoses are removed from the BCS and connected together, you will get around 17 psi, as the pressure divider T fitting reduces the pressure the WGA sees compared to the actual boost pressure.

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Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 21 psi, forced air intercooler, water injection, bypass valve, Ranger roller cam, subframes, etc., etc.. // 86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP nitrous, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.... // 91 Escort: Bone stock winter car // 04 Taurus Duratec (wifes car)

The factory wastegate is set at 9 psi.
Get a gillis and your worries should ease..

The saturn Ion is FWD and depending on the mag 205-210 hp at the crank so the hp should be close at the wherels to what ours atock is.However he is a few hundred pounds lighter.They are very similar to the Cobalt. 0-60 6.0 1/4 14s

I d highly recoomend you fix th eother stuff before you even think of beating anyone.. All the power in the world wont help if your rear is sitting on the starting line...

Oh and TAKE IT TO THE TRACK!!! On street racing is a FELONY in most states!

Jeff K,

I pulled both hoses and disconnected the BCS. It was popped in half, I'm guessing by boost.

I then took a new vac line, and connected it to the fitting on the compressor neck to straight to the other fitting on the compressor, and left the BCS out of the car.

Is this the correct way to bypass it to get 17 PSI?

Without a pic, it's difficult to know the exact locations that you are speaking of, but an easy way to think of it is...

If you were to unhook the vacuum lines from the BCS and just hook them together, that is the connection you are looking for to get the 17psi. Instead of just hooking the two lines together, it seems that you are taking a new hose and connecting it to the ports where the old BCS lines connect to the system, and this is a good idea. Try it and let us know how it boosts. Oh yeah, I'm with the other guys about fixing the car before you rag on it, unless you are just looking to completely break it down in order to get a new one. [Image: biggrin.gif] But I'm not a street racing nay-sayer. All street racing is not 80mph whipping in and out of traffic, that's stupid. Everyone knows when conditions are safe and when they aren't, and sometimes the punk next to you at the light needs to be taught, but be safe out there, and use your head. Let the flaming begin.



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Kev
88 TC 5spd Black body, gray/black interior, K&N in front of the radiator, Gillis boost valve at 17 psi, internally polished throttle body, 2 1/2" dynomax ultraflow mandrel bent duals. Walbro 255 lph fuel pump, ported exhaust manifold, totally rebuilt head with Melling cam kit and a little port work
Pics are Here! http://members.cardomain.com/kevvsworld

I did what you explained, I took the BCS out alltogether and put a single line in from the compressor neck to the housing where the two hose fittings are.

I tried both hose positions but it still only boosts to 9 PSI.

The boost is very quick and its at 9 before 3300 RPMs, but it just stops right there. Otherwise, the engine runs great now.