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So, I've been neglecting this journal for a while. Both of my Saturns survived 100+ inches of snow in Grand Rapids this year. The Goodyear X-Ices and Dunlop Gaspic DS-2s worked well, though I didn't get to run any ice events with them this year.I mounted my four-year-old Kumho Ecsta HP4s to the SC2 for temporary use. These dirt-cheap all-season ...

My 205/50R15 Falkens weren't up to the challenge of running against R-Compounds at Grissom this weekend. Competition at divisional solo events is never predictable. Seeing that the other drivers had R-compounds I wasn’t expect to even match their times. I was surprised when I received my Sportscar that the winner in my class, Jack Burns and his ...

Car preparation for this event was limited to removing the trailer hitch and cutting the muffler off the car. The latter caused the engine to run quite poorly under 2,000 rpm--a situation that has yet to be corrected. This combined with an obviously failing clutch gave me some apprehension before the event.The apprehension was mostly for naught as ...

The car has been performing excellently. What a strange feeling to hold FTD for a while! No big changes to the coupe's setup. I did an engine flush/Marvel Mystery Oil piston soak/filter and oil change last week. I switched from the Shell Rotella 5W40 to some Mobile 1 10W40. The middle plugs were covered with oil when I pulled them, which is ...

HBNR86:I think I might have to go race in Indiana this weekend and then Milwaukee next weekend, see how I do against that competititon and then maybe sign up for nationals.I have been doing well this year in my 1995 Saturn SC2. I managed to place second on PAX at a local event yesterday using full-tread Azenis. I am still learning the limits ...

Even with the new battery the wagon still occasionally wanted to stall in neutral and/or run rough at lower RPMs. Internet research at SaturnFans points to a faulty EGR valve. I still haven’t figured out how to read Service Engine Soon light flashes from the OBD computer, but I guessed it is probably throwing an EGR code.So, I take the electric ...

I finally got out to one of these. I had signed up for last year’s Cone Clinic in Peru but wasn’t able to attend. I had some unexpected vacation time, so I took work off Friday and a half-day on Thursday and booked a hotel room for my wife and I.All of my Saturns use oil rapidly, and I had planned to bring a quart of Shell Rotella 5W40 Synthetic ...

When Christina went to drive the wagon yesterday it wouldn't start. When I came home and jumpered it to the SC2 it started right up. I left them both running for a few minutes and then disconnected the jumper cables and shut the coupe off. The wagon seemed to keep running fine, so it didn't at least seem to be another common case of Saturn ...

The 1995 Saturn SW2 is having some intermittent issues. After driving for fifteen minutes or so the engine will sometimes start stumbling and sometimes die. After it dies sometimes it will crank and not start for a few seconds, but then it will crank and start and run normally.So Saturday morning I remove and thoroughly clean out the throttle body ...

I really haven’t done any work on the SC2 for a while. Since there is a lull in the local autocross schedule I looked on the myautoevents website for slightly farther away events. In the past I have run events with the South Bend and Indiana Northwest regions of the SCCA. These are normally smaller events much like our local West Michigan ...

On Sunday, I wake up early, pack myself a small lunch and head down US-131 towards Martin, Michigan. The sky had been clear when I had left but now it keeps getting darker and rain begins falling as I drive through Grand Rapids. A blue 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix passes me driven by Furrin’ Group Speed Chair, Curt Rosentengel. Curt pretty much single ...

My wife and I leave the girls with my parents and head across I-96 towards Detroit. The DTE Energy Music Theater is located in a northern suburb so we actually headed towards Flint from Lansing on I-69 and then get on I-75 south to Clarkston. We get off the highway and stop at a gas station where I use some 2”-wide white duct tape to put on my ...

After spending the Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend attempting to pound and twist out the left front suspension bolt, I decide to just cut off its head with the Dremel. First I need another bolt to replace it with. I drive over to a nearby Chevy dealer to see if they might have something. They don’t carry Saturn parts, and they don’t have ...

The 205/50R15 Falken Azenis RT-615s have been sitting in the basement for several months waiting to be mounted to some rims. There are quite a few options for lightweight rims in the stock 15x6” size. I am not currently ready to spend $300 a piece on the 8 lbs SSRs, but I did look at getting some used Miata rims. Those seem to be at least $300 ...

I woke up much too early the next day. I had done a few 12-hour drives out to my Sister’s house out in Delaware last year. I had even made the trip to Boston once before when I was looking at undergraduate schools. So, a 14-hour drive to Boston didn’t sound too bad.For its part the Saturn SW2 drove fine this day. We did have a few other traveling ...

Before heading off on a big road trip it is a good idea to make sure your automobile is in good working order. I would like to point out that the Saturn front control arm is a rather simple piece. It is held on by just three nuts at the ball joint to spindle bolt, at the control arm to front subframe bolt, and at the tension strut (sway bar) end. ...

Since the installation of the new struts on the Saturn SC2 coupe went well, I decided to tackle the wagon's suspension. I talked myself into lowering the wagon and decided on Eibach’s relatively soft Pro Kit lowering springs. As already mentioned the old struts from the SC2 seemed to be in decent shape, so I could have just transferred those to ...

The SC2 felt much improved with just the minimal maintenance I had l already performed on it. I was actually surprised about how quiet the car was. Maybe it is just too much time driving around the noisy GSi. The SC2 really seemed to remind me most of my 1989 Lincoln Continental—more luxury car than anything else.I went ahead and ordered a set of ...

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. ...

So, I picked up this red SC2 advertised on Craigslist. Surprisingly the car had almost no rust anywhere on it. Evidently it had spent most of its life some place other than West Michigan. It had just come back from Germany of all places.First thing I did after getting it home was set the front toe. That instantly improved driving feel. I also ...

Things have been pretty busy for me this year. My new baby son Augustine is a month old this week. My family has moved a couple of times in the past six months. We are currently living more out in the country, so I am getting used to chickens walking under the car while I am installing new suspension arms.Earlier this year I took the GSi out to a ...