Hey all. So good fortune has smiled on me and has provided me with a FREE 95 Saturn SL2. It has been well maintained by the PO (my father-in-law), so I am not too worried about mechanical gremlins. Now, the fun part. I am looking to use this as a starter car for my motorsports "career." I am thinking that STS autocross would be a good place to start. So, what kinds of GRM-y upgrades can I do? I do not know yet if it has the rear disc brakes, but I will find out tomorrow when I pick it up. Are there any junkyard upgrades available? What do you guys think?
earlier sl2's had a factory header. don't know if it'll fit but it seems like it would. remove stuff, that always works
Read the STS rules, look for some 15x7 wheels, start saving money for $2k or so worth of dampers if you want to make it into a competitive car. lol
Heh, no. This is just going to be a starter car. I am thinking about getting some GR-2s, some H&R springs, some Hawk HPS brake pads, and a wheel and tire upgrade. I will maybe do an intake and cat-back, but that's it. I was just wondering if anyone had some good advice on junkyard upgrades as well...
Actually, what kind of wheels can I use? Do the 4x100s that you find on Hondas and Acuras fit?
Save the money you would use on intake, springs and wheels, and buy an extra set of wheels and kumho 710s and run in stock class. If you want to have fun for cheap, that would be just as easy.
H Stock would be a good starting point. 4x100 wheels from Honda/Acuras/Corollas will fit. As for struts, GR-2s are one of your only options. As for a cat-back, custom is the way to go. Some sort of Thrush glasspack, Magnaflow/Dynomax muffler, 2.25" piping, have a muffler shop weld it up. Save your money to buy a really nice set of R comps, V710s or A6s, 205/50-15. They'll give you the most bang for the buck.
But, if you do want to go into STS, I do have a set of H&R race springs I may be willing to part with 
Ok, so I just picked up the car today, and it seems to be in pretty good shape, except that I hear a bit of ticking when under load at low RPM. I am not sure if it is an issue with the valves or if it is dieseling. Any ideas?
carbon buildup from the almost certain oil consumption problem may be causing detonation. LL0's have 10:1 compression iirc.
Take spark plugs out, evenly divide a can of seafoam between the cylinders. Let that sit awhile, i do 12 hours. crank it over with the spark plugs still out. replace spark plugs. That tends to free up Saturn rings pretty well, reduces oil consumption, and should bring your compression back down to earth.
Thanks for the advice... Now, not to sound too dense, but what the hell is seafoam? 
seafoam...it comes in a can....it cleans out the inside of engines...you can usually get it at pep/auto/parts stores.
be sure that the timing chain has been replaced...they go bad pretty frequently.
heres what it looks like so you can find it on the shelf, IIRC wally world even carries it
Thanks guys. I had no idea that stuff even existed. I will give it a try. I do know that this engine burns about a quart of oil every 2000 miles, so that could indeed be the culprit.
A quart every 2000 miles? That's the least amount of oil consumption on a Saturn ever hahaha. Seriously, a Saturn dealer serviceperson will tell you (with a straight face) that a quart every 1000 miles is normal operation. And they'd be right. My old '97 coupe burned a quart every 500.
The Seaform/Marvel Mystery Oil treatment will still help a bit. Also, if you use the MMO, you can dump a bit into the engine oil fill, it'll help the valve seals a bit.
