JoshParsons84

I know it seems crazy to fix up a station wagon, especially a Saturn station wagon. But ya know what my wife and I really love this car for seem strange reason. It's not what I had picked out. I picked out a 2002 Nissan Sentra GXE 5-speed. I would like to own either a Nissan, Honda, or Mazda and fix up but for now I have this and I wanna make it run fairly good. So I dont mind to dump a couple grand nothing major like an Import Tuner but a little something. Now I'm wondering if anybody can tell me where a good place to start looking for some modifications or aftermarket parts for this wagon. So far I've found a Cold Air Intake by AEM and some Plug Wires and Blaster Coil Packs from MSD Ignition. I would also like to find a nice exhaust and then maybe do some suspension work. The suspension work is what mostly thrills me more than the motor itself. Now granted the motor work is important but to me not as important as how your car will handle down these Kentucky backroads LOL And lemme tell you some of these roads are pretty curvy and windy. I feel that after the CAI and Ignition upgrade and possibly a nice deep sounding exhaust I'll be done with the motor for the time being. What I need now is some good springs and struts, brake upgrades and maybe some sway bars and tie bars and all that good junk. But I would appreciate it if anybody could please help me out. The car has 161,000 miles on it but it don't feel like it has that much on it when you're driving it.

sickcallawayc12

www.spswebpage.com
www.saturnmotorsports.com
for info from more fellow saturn owners
www.saturnfans.com
www.turbosaturns.net

Many will say you bought the wrong car, just to let ya know.

Saturns handling is the stronger point compared to engine performance so you're lookin' at the right direction. last i checked, SPS didn't make sway bars for the Saturn car anymore which really sucks cuz that was a nice upgrade. Springs, strut brace, struts are availabe. KYG struts is good but I hear there's better on ebay or somewhere. I believe they are made by Sprint. Tires and lightweight rims help a lot too, don't forget that.

As for engine, there are options, but the gain is still kinda minimal. Depends on how far you want to go. Ones WORTH getting: AEM CAI, bored out throttle body, 91-92 Saturn OEM headers(doesn't have cracking problem OBX has and does 70% of what brand name does) or OBX headers (the bracket or something for the OBX is prone to cracking so some minor mod is suggested) and exhaust. Other serious options is polished and machined cylinderhead (couple stages), polished intake manifold, clutch/flywheel, custom pistons, cams, blocks, others. Much are available at both sites, more at the saturn motorsports but again, the gain isn't too significant. Don't bother changing anything on ignition unless you're running turbo or Nitrous. Check out junkyards also, never know what you'll find.

__________________
1998 Chevrolet Blazer LT (95% stock)
Pioneer AVH-P7500 DVD receiver
12" Alpine Type-R in a sealed box
PIAA Super Plasmas GT-X bulbs
PIAA Xtreme White bulbs
K & N drop-in filter

"Melo" and "AI". Enough said.

JoshParsons84

Hey man thanks a lot that Saturn Motorsports website has got all kinds of stuff for my Wagon. I wasn't really expecting to find this much or even do this much but you know what...who really knows now!

Cat Fuzz

The CAI won't do anything noticeable for performance and the coils won't do anything at all. Unless you're just going for looks here.

sickcallawayc12

It's interesting how much stuff is still available considering the fact that these cars aren't very responsive to upgrades at all. I just noticed that you have a SOHC so any engine upgrade, let alone a CAI may be pointless like Cat Fuzz said (unless you swapped in a DOHC engine, then maybe). I'd probably just do a custom exhaust then. Again, handling is the better thing to improve. Many owners use their cars for local autocrossing, most for getting to point a to b, and i've seen some on saturnfans that use them for both purposes. great cars to maintain yourself and is much cheaper that way too.

__________________
1998 Chevrolet Blazer LT (95% stock)
Pioneer AVH-P7500 DVD receiver
12" Alpine Type-R in a sealed box
PIAA Super Plasmas GT-X bulbs
PIAA Xtreme White bulbs
K & N drop-in filter

"Melo" and "AI". Enough said.

drew300

I have a SW1. It gets me from A to B. Mine's a manual shift, so by using the gears, it's fast enough. A nice thing is the torque peak happens at pretty low rpms, so I usually don't downshift to pass. It also helps fuel economy. Handling? I thought I might try something, but I've come to the conclusion that front wheel drive is only for getting from a to b.

JoshParsons84

Ya know what? I really dont know if it's a SW1 with SOCH or SW2 DOHC and I dont know how to tell. How would I?

sickcallawayc12

it should say on the valve cover. I believe the SOHC had black colored bumbers too while DOHC was full color bumper.

__________________
1998 Chevrolet Blazer LT (95% stock)
Pioneer AVH-P7500 DVD receiver
12" Alpine Type-R in a sealed box
PIAA Super Plasmas GT-X bulbs
PIAA Xtreme White bulbs
K & N drop-in filter

"Melo" and "AI". Enough said.

PlayStation3

the sohc have a silver valve cover. but if the spark pulgs are all across on the top then it is a dohc

JoshParsons84

Hey finally took a look at it. It's a SOHC. Well it really dont matter to me one way or another cause I'm not looking to do anything drastic to this anyways. Maybe a little here, little there make it run a little smoother and put the system in. This is just an A/B car anyways. Something little but can still haul the wife and kids if need be. What I really want is a Honda Civic and really work on the motor. Edelbrock or Skunk2 everything. I just dont know yet what series Honda motor or what year is really the best to get as far as fixing up the engine. But when I find out which one's the best I'll set my sights out for that and probably forget all about the Saturn LOL

yaz4real

After reading the excellent comments to the original post, the OP should move forward to the Honda selection. Nothing like the last comment from the original poster stomping for dash and flash and not realizing that a car needs someone with nuts and bolts.

JoshParsons84

What is that supposed to mean?