The Saturn S-series suspension design is relatively simple. It has struts at each corner. At the rear it uses a trailing arm and two long lateral arms that attach right near the middle of the car. The front design uses a single lateral arm with the sway bar providing most of the positioning. Saturn refers to this front sway bar as a tension strut. On the DOHC models it is 1 1/8" tubular while the SOHC Saturns (SC1/SL/SL1/SW1) use a slightly small diameter.
The Stock Solo category allows adding or replacing the front sway bar and hardware. I found a newer SL1 sedan at LKQ self service junk yard that I took a front sway bar from. My dad and I managed to pop the bar out of the control arm bushings, but the bushings were ripped in half.
I ordered Energy Suspensions polyeurethane sway bar bushings. This included only the tension strut to subframe bushings, not the tension strut to control arm bushings. As I discovered at the junk yard the latter tend to be in very poor shape, so I considered ordering Energy Suspension front control arm bushing set to replace those.
About this time I bought a 1995 Saturn SW2 wagon. I have been looking for a larger family car. I had spent some time trying to track down a midsize 4 cylinder with a manual transmission in my price range. The best option looked to be a 1996-2000 Dodge Stratus ES with the 2.0L Neon engine and transmission. A 1994-1997 Honda Accord EX Wagon also sounded good, but I drove a 1994 Accord EX Sedan and wasn't terribly impressed with the Honda's performance. I had looked at Escort Wagons before, and those were always junk. The Saturn wagons are a nice compromise as far as size, sportiness, and economy.
As already mentioned, I had looked at a 1998 SW2 on that fateful snowy Sunday in March when the SC2 got stuck in a snow drift. That car looked good from the outside, but it reaked heavily of smoke and animals and every warning light on the dash was lit up when driving it. I offered $1200 for it which was refused.
The 1995 SW2 was advertized at a dealership for $2,500. It had the most rust I had ever seen on a Saturn. It had at least twice as much rust as our SL1. Of course the only external rust visible with the doors closed was a small spot on one of the rear window frames. These frames almost always rust through on first generation Saturns. I had filled the holes there in the SL1 with silicone in hopes of keeping out some of the water. Luckily, the only steel body panel on the first generation Saturn wagons is the hood.
Despite the rust it drove okay. Sure there was a grinding noise that came from somewhere under the hood when it was first started. Sure the shocks were shot and the brakes were weak, but it was driveable. So, I offer $2,000, which ended up being $2,100 in a car dealers way of figuring things. So, I got a driveable 5-speed wagon and another Saturn to work on.