My $50 dollar Planetary Adventure

My girlfriends clutch gave upon her Saturn. I swooped in and took ownership of the car in exchange for replacing the end-links on her moms Acccord.

I bought a car for $50.

Its a 1999 Saturn SL2 with 208,541 miles and a toast clutch. After a detail job by me, ill start to tackle the clutch and this will be my A---B daily driver till it dies.

In the pics it has a steel wheel and a donut on it but the car has matching aluminum wheels.

Im happy with how clean it is for a ten year old car.

Im wondering how to best tackle this clutch job...whats the easiest way? Saturn gurus?

Well, thats that.

Project takes off in 3...2...1... GO!

From what I have heard, the easiest way to get the transmission out is either remove the engine and transmission together, or remove the brake booster and master cylinder and take it out the top.

I watched an excellent mechanic take the transmission out the wheel well. I think it was the driver's side, but I suspect that it was whatever side the transmission is on.

Saturn S-series Manual Clutch Replacement

http://www.cristhomas.com/cars/Clutch/ClutchHowTo.html

that is a hell of a deal...

What is the yellow thing hanging from the left of the rear bumper? Is that a rubber duckie? WTF?

That looks like a great deal for $50. If you have another car, fix it and sell it. Use the money on your other car.

porksboy wrote: What is the yellow thing hanging from the left of the rear bumper? Is that a rubber duckie? WTF?

Supposedly is it JDM yo to hang toy animals from the tow hooks on your car. Other than that I have no idea.

moxnix wrote: Saturn S-series Manual Clutch Replacement http://www.cristhomas.com/cars/Clutch/ClutchHowTo.html

That. This guy knows his stuff. Good to see he's kept the info on his site even though he sold his Saturns a while back.

So that means you have $195x left for a Challenge car!!! Sure beats what we had left after a $1700 94 SL2 in 2004. You know depreciation, man... :) Check out www.sixthsphere.com - awesome Saturn tuners site. Keep the P71 as a daily driver and make a turbo monster out of the plastic car. Then enter it in the Challenge and totally roast our midpack placement in '04.

porksboy wrote: What is the yellow thing hanging from the left of the rear bumper? Is that a rubber duckie? WTF?

Better than truck nutz....

Hahaha the duck. yeah. Ummm found one lying around the house and thought it would be funny to just stick it on the car.

it has been interesting to say the least. Lots of looks, funny comments, you name it. the Miata has one too..\

The P71 is getting sold. PM me if you want it. The Miata is getting sold. This will be a no frills DD for the next few years, and then ill start with toys again. I need to pay to finish college without loans or debt (which was my goal), and then to pay for and complete the Police Academy.

Anyway, the car is actually much better to drive then the 1.9 SOHC version. Its not that bad.

hardly a better DD than an old depreciated saturn.

That color is called Silver Plum iirc.

How's the T/A mount up on top by the timing cover? if you can slip a finger in between the rubber and the metal at the top then it's collapsed. Your NVH will drop in half or more by replacing this $40 part.

I saw the duck and thought it was a transponder. I've been at the track too much recently...

Dude, why would he replace a $40 part on a $50 car? That's 80% of the value of the car! Are you mad?

Carkid, I like the way you think. I finished school without having to borrow money, and it's a wonderful thing.

Keith wrote: Carkid, I like the way you think. I finished school without having to borrow money, and it's a wonderful thing.

Im just trying to set myself up so i can start out of school and into my career without 50K college debt like my friends...community college for me--which ironically has many of the same teachers as our local "good" schools. (John Carrol, CSU, Kent) Weird.

GRM price. But great quality education.

The quality of the education is your job anyhow. Keep it up!

anyone have any free cheap mods that will help with economy?

Make sure you have the correct plugs with a proper gap and heat range. New fuel filter and a little fuel system cleaner as well. Run max pressure in the tires with a proper alignment.

If you really want to screw with people tape the nose up Salt-Flats style. Just covering the hood gaps, headlights, and grill-to-bumper gap is worth 2-3 MPG on my P71. We did that on our Medford trip.

How about a low buck water or alcohol injection? does this help with MPG? i read on the Geo Metro forum about this...

Also i keep hearing a mention to a way to clean out oil burning Saturns...some kind of soak? am i dreaming

Many people talk about the MMO (Marvel Mystery Oil) soak making a difference on the oil burning. I don't know if it does but here are the instructions.

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80118

Awesome score!! These things last forever. I have a '97 SC2 5-spd and get 32mpg in town and nearly 40 highway. Just drive smooth.

+5 on the upper motor mount. Mine was shot and replacing it was a 5 minute job and got rid of 80% of my NVH headaches.

whats the big deal with that mount?

Bad design mostly.

the rubber collapses over a period of 40-75k miles. so your motor is just sitting there vibrating against the unibody (within the motor mount of course). even on a $50 car, it's worth it.

I have soaked many saturns by now. I use sea foam. never tried mmo. never been disappointed with the results. One I did two weeks ago, the owner claims his fuel economy has gone from 29 average to 32 (he drives 1000 miles a week).

I have a good replacement upper motor mount. I haven't owned a Saturn in a while. It's yours if you want it for the cost of shipping.

Today, i finally got some MPG figures.

Bone stock 208,XXX mile Saturn got 41.2MPG with me driving smart. No speeding or quick starts, just doing my thing.

My goal is 50MPG.

Warm air intake is next.