Anyone rallyx a Saturn?

Now, that I own the answer, its time for a winter beater/parts hauler/rallycrosser to complement it. Seems a lot of Saturns come up for sale, and a hatch or a wagon would be the ticket for the first two jobs, but I'm not sure about rallycrossing. Used to own an SL2, and seem to remember low ride height, weak motor mounts, and what looked like an under-engineered front suspension.
Anyone here used one as a rallycross car? If so, how'd it hold up? I'd rather have a cheap older impreza, but they seem pretty rare right now.

They're low, the motor mounting system is awful.

They also aren't fun to fix. Better make a nice cover for that alternator. You aren't going to want to replace it or clean it if you fill it with dirt.

Good point, I'd forgotten about the low mount alternator. Scratch that off my list, unless I'm willing to forgo rallycrossing.

nah, just install a shield. They run forever, parts are cheap, and for the most part durable. Celica hates on the repairs, but I don't mind them, Saturns are easy and fun to work on.

They do ride a little low, but one of the guys I used to RX against used an RX-8, so as long as you don't have too deep of ruts, you should be okay.

Turbo Volvo wagon? In red perhaps?

I was watching an old Top Gear episode today and saw one in the 4 hour endurance rallycross thing.

In reply to PubBurgers:

Didn't know you still had yours. Is it running?

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/ft-92-volvo-740-turbo/33510/page1/

All the pertinent info is there. At this point in its life I wouldn't feel bad about rallycrossing it.

Here I am:

Saturns are usually pretty easy to work on or fix. Make yourself a skidplate, both to protect the engine, oilpan, and all that, and so that if you do encounter some deep ruts you can sort of glide over them. Front subframes do tend to rust if you live in the rust belt, which weakens them. Motor mounts can be strengthened, either with urethane inserts or liberal amounts of window weld glopped into them.

Another thing to be aware of is the tendency of diff pins to launch themselves into the transmission and grenade everything. This is what killed the $2004 Challenge SL2. However, what usually causes this is the shock of a spinning wheel suddenly regaining lots of traction on pavement. This type of situation should be less common on gravel or snow/ice events. And it's possible to weld the diff pin into place to prevent this.

Oh, one other thing - magnetic numbers don't stick to the dent resistant polymer body panels.

Maroon92 wrote: nah, just install a shield. They run forever, parts are cheap, and for the most part durable. Celica hates on the repairs, but I don't mind them, Saturns are easy and fun to work on. They do ride a little low, but one of the guys I used to RX against used an RX-8, so as long as you don't have too deep of ruts, you should be okay.

I exaggerate a little... at least on the plus side, they don't need the repairs often.

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/197/cat/561

saturns suck for rally.

the front suspension is similar to an Audi 4000. No one ever rallied one of those.. That suspension design has seen use in many other cars to.

Polyurethane bushings for the motor mounts would almost be essential (look at Summit Racing...they still make them, although you need a certain style of motor mount to use them, I can elaborate if you want). Get ready to replace some strut mounts as well...and I would want to reinforce the shock towers. That kind of thing makes me nervous.

Who would do something crazy like that?

I bought it as a cheap rallyx beater. I ran one event in it and had no problems but then happened on a deal for a RX-7 that I now rallyx.