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19bonestock88’s 2004 ION-2 sedan “Green Line” BUILD
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So, guys I’ve realized that I don’t have a build thread for my sedan... I wanna fix that to catalog what I’ve done, to show progress as I can, and for the regulars and newcomers alike to enjoy... I’ll begin this to state the goal of the build, which is to have a fuel efficient, fun to drive, semi good looking, daily driver... I don’t want to sorely miss the Redline every time I get into my daily, as I stopped hoping to resurrect it, but nor don’t wanna get 20mpg either... It all began about a year ago when I bought my car, it being completely stock and having just over 106k on it... it wasn’t too bad for a cheap car, and it had almost no options, which made the car lighter (2670# curb weight) and left less stuff to break as the car ages... stay tuned for more more catching up! |
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I drove the car in stock form for a while, with my first tank being almost 37mpg, and having few tanks in the low 40s mpg, but the modding bug hit me, pretty hard... I made some smooth wheel covers, by screwing annular discs of coroplast onto my stock wheel covers...when I had this mod on the Malibu I had, I measured a 3% gain in instant MPG at 55mph, so I didn’t bother testing them on my Saturn i also started with blocking the grille for faster warm up and to slightly lower the drag coefficient of the car, and landed at around 75% block... later on, I got some more modding done, with funding courtesy of Horace-Mann insurance company. I hit a deer, and used some of the funding to order some suspension upgrades, and switched to black housing headlights since they needed replaced anyway. I chose to order the FE5 shock/strut combo for my car because they’re the stiffest ones available, and because I had them on the Redline and I liked how it handled. I also ordered lowering springs to drop the center of gravity and lessen frontal area... Shortly after, my car developed a bad misfire which I spent lots of time diagnosing and I ended up cleaning a set of injectors and doing a ported intake manifold, ported throttle body, and high flow(non corrugated) intake tube...(more on that in the next post) |
So, on to discussing the powertrain mods I have done... Beginning at the airbox, I reshaped the outlet of the lid to accommodate a 3” round pipe instead of the oval outlet it had... while I was at it, I smoother the radii of the transition from airbox to air tube, for ever so slightly better flow... in the future I wanna cut out the oval tube all together and join the airbox with a 3.5” round outlet, for more airflow capacity... I also deleted the air silencer that goes under the airbox, mostly because it weighed like 5# but also for more intake noise... working toward the engine, I bought two silicone couplers, one 3” 45 degree elbow and one 3” to 2.75” 90 degree elbow, and got a free piece of 3” stainless steel exhaust tubing drilled for the IAT sensor... this allowed better airflow than the corrugated rubber hose that the OEM supplied, deletes the PCV nipple which means no more oily residue, and it looks a little better. The transition to 2.75” at the throttle body builds intake velocity for better torque while the larger diameter tube allows a larger airflow capacity than stock. Once I eventually do a 3.5” outlet on the airbox, I’ll need to change my 45 degree elbow to match the new size, and it should help high end power a little... next, I ported my throttle body, starting with 80 grit sanding rolls and working to 160 grit and then a scotch brite wheel on a rotary tool... I made a bell mouth on the inlet of the TB and smoother out the angular size transitions inside it, but didn’t change the size of the throttle plate or do any porting downstream of it... I mostly did this due to the original TB being dirty and the IAC valve being sticky, causing a weird idle on occasion, but it helps a little over 3500RPM, and throttle response is a little better... lastly, I ported the stock intake manifold for better airflow. I measured the intake ports in the L61 parts car I have and measured the ports on the intake and there was a huge, .080” difference in size, so I ground out the ports on the manifold with a rotary tool to within .010 of the head, to combat reversion while maximizing port size. For anybody wanting to copy my work, the measurements I went with are 1.240x1.890”... I also ground down the walls of the #2 and 3 I take runner which were encroaching on the air entering from the TB, so that they aren’t seen while looking down into the manifold... the net net result of all this, is a negligible impact on steady cruise fuel mileage, but a marked improvement in high RPM power, especially above 5000RPM, and just a little more torque from about 2000RPM... if I had to guess, I’d say I gained about 15bhp, with most of the gains coming from the manifold, and not from the intake tube or the TB... stay tuned for more! |
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Once springtime was upon me, I began working on aero mods to cut wind resistance... I also adopted a new driving style that minimizes the negative impact of the two parts of the car that I can’t readily change, engine displacement(2.2 liter) and final drive ratio(3.84:1), more on that in the near post... i began by attempting a partial Kamm-back in the form of the rear window visor, the theory is that it allows air to stay attached to the roof instead of turbulently separating above the back glass (due to angle between roof and back glass) and allows a clean separation at the end of the visor... upon testing, my version actually caused more drag so I took it off...(hey we can’t win them all) i then prototyped a “Bonneville style” trunklid extension, for the purpose of giving the air tumbling off the back glass something to attach to before leaving the car entirely, and testing showed a slight gain in coasting distances(related to new driving style). However the prototype version was lacking in that it didn’t seem long enough and it wasn’t supported well enough, so a version2 of this mod was made, which is what I’m currently using... it extends about 6” past the end of the trunklid (vs about 4.5” on ver1) and has more supports and more robust mounting(more places to tape it down)... it being longer helps the drag factor a little more than version1, so it seems much improved... i also made a lower air dam by screwing lawn edging to the lower edge of the front bumper, which mostly helps by allowing less air under the car... |
Now to explain the madness that is my driving style... i quickly realized that I could get better mileage by altering how I drive (most gains on any car are made here), and worked on adopting a better technique... The issue is that gasoline engines aren’t so terribly fuel efficient at part throttle, what with the engine struggling to pull air past a mostly closed throttle body, and other factors. So what can we do about this? Solutions used by different people and automakers include taller gearing (forces you to use more throttle to hold speed), higher EGR rates (cylinders partially filled with exhaust gas have less room for intake charge and EGR helps a lot at part throttle), or sometimes lean burn(on some older Hondas the AFR can go as lean as 25:1 to save fuel and force greater throttle angle at cruise), but the L61 Ecotec doesn’t really use any of that... as an alternative, I chose to adopt a technique known as pulse and glide. The theory is that most engines have a sweet spot in their BSFC map(shows how much fuel used per how much power made) between 1500 and 2500 RPM, at nearly full throttle... so I only use the engine in that target zone and I’m coasting, engine off, the rest of the time... on a two lane road with 55mph speed limit, I’ll accelerate to 55(2k RPM) and coast down to about 40(~1500RPM) with engine off, then restart and accelerate... it results in accelerating for .2 to .25mile and coasting for .5 to .7mile(depending on road grade) and much reduced fuel consumption at an average of 47.5mph... ideally I also adapt to the terrain and road to avoid braking as much as possible and to avoid coasting uphill except when trying to cut speed... |
I wanna talk a little about suspension modding here, and say at the beginning that the mods did arise out of necessity, not just for sake of modding... i bought the car with weak dampers and shot rear axle bushings, and drove it that way for a while... when it came time to repair the issues, i used RockAuto to secure the best possible price on OE quality parts, except for the drop springs which were aftermarket and the rear axle bushings which I thought were dealer only(found a polyurethane upgrade part the day after I ordered the GM original part) i ordered: ACDelco struts and shocks for 2009 Cobalt SS/TC (FE5) MOOG lower control arms for 2007 Cobalt SS/SC (FE5)... the 09 Cobalt control arm has bigger diameter ball joint MOOG upper strut mounts and bearings, 2004 Saturn IRL(FE3) GM rear axle bushings for 2004 Saturn Ion(FE1) DNA motoring drop springs for Saturn Ion 03-07 (from Walmart of all places) part total cost was about $700 in all(labor was about another $300), but I only lacked sway bar parts of it being a full and complete suspension rebuild. I do plan to swap to a Redline front sway bar and build my own rear sway bar in the future... i had the axle bushings and strut/shock/spring combos installed at once, and did the control arms later (fairly recently in fact)... the car now rides much better than before(much firmer though), with predictable suspension movements and predictable cornering behavior, despite having just as much body roll as before... i also noticed two distinct MPG improvements, once after lowering due to reduced frontal area(~5%), and once after doing the LCAs and fixing the alignment, due to the front wheels pointing where they should and not having variable toe and camber depending on suspension load (~3%)... |
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Since we’re about up to date on any mods that matter, I’ll just dive into current goings on... I revised my grille block this evening, widening the inlet on the upper half of the lower grille block by about 2.5”, as the car gets a little warm on the freeway and I’m hoping to alleviate some of that. I also cleaned up all the tape, covering over everything that looked loose or frayed, and instead of blending the tape onto the lower grille insert (which is hard to do smoothly), I decided to blend the opening directly onto the bumper cover... now it looks smoother and likely cuts drag by some infinitesimally small amount, but mostly was a little easier to apply and better looking... |
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Wanted to post a better pic of the grille blocking to show what I did... |
That's better. Looked like it was half on the driveway and pissing coolant
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It seems to run just a little cooler out on the road with the grille block opened up(about 2-4degrees)... I’m hoping that translates to less than 220F on the freeway... when the snow flies, IF my car is still in service, I’ll probably use a piece of pipe insulation to block the grille for faster warmup... the stain you seen on the driveway was oil from my last change... I missed the drain pan for about half a quart |
I just changed the oil in my Kia this morning, Bones. I now have a nice oil stain on my driveway too. Oil filter was hot and I dropped it when I spun it off.
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I change my oil inside a 10' radius modified kiddie pool to prevent such events.
By the way, how do I get residuals from engine degreasing out of concrete? I did not rinse it thoroughly and my garage smells of it. Yes, I pulled the car out, no it is not the car. I figured brake cleaner would dissolve any petroleum based grime on the cement and evaporate quickly so I applied that liberally. I have a center floor drain which I cleaned all the solid pieces of junk that had absorbed the smelly stuff out of. There seems to be a layer of oil based stuff floating on the top of the water in the pipe. I've dumped 3 gallon buckets of water down it quickly trying to push that layer down past the trap with head pressure but to no avail. Do I put a power washer down in the drain and literally blast away the oily layer, or do I fill the pipe with an overlayer of dawn dish soap to break up the oil and make it easier to be carried away with rinsing. I'd much prefer getting rid of the stench than just covering it up, only to appear at a later date. No more oil leak in the garage. Nailed the cam cover gasket first time. No, not all that difficult at all a task, but one I had never undertaken so new for me. No leaks at the T joints. Yet |
I’m not sure how to get out the stains, now I have to clean up trans fluid from my garage from changing the trans cooler line on wifeys car |
That stuff once used reeks.and lingers.
Please let us know what kills the smell. |
Have you tried baking soda, derf? IDK, but it MIGHT work and is environmentally friendly.
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Got a question for you guys to ponder... I’m experimenting with a power steering delete... now since the car has electric power steering I’m not expecting a big gain in mileage, but instead I’m hoping for a consistency of steering feel... (almost) every time I kill the engine the power steering turns off, which is expected, except it takes a random amount of time (1-5 sec) for it to turn off, and if it happens during a curve the sudden change in steering effort makes the car twitch in the middle of the curve... disabling the steering assist is as easy as unplugging the power connector for the steering motor, but not surprisingly, the car now continually shows a “PWR STR” message in the info center... my question is: how can I fool the car into thinking the steering motor is connected and get rid of the chime every few min, and not have to clear the error message each time I cycle the key? |
Why don’t you kill the engine differently? If you turn off the engine an immediately turn the key back on does the power steering work? I have seen kill switches installed that interupt the injector power on ecomodder. |
When I turn the key off I have to keep it off for a few seconds for the engine to actually stop, otherwise it will recover from stall... Maybe if I wired up an injector kill and could avoid cycling the key id get more predictable PS behavior... of course, using electric PS during EOC could end up in a dead battery, so I’m still leaning toward a full delete once I figure out how to fool the car into thinking the PS motor is still there... the only time time I even close to miss the PS is under 10mph, and I think that swapping to the larger diameter 05-07 steering wheel would help with that |
Measure the resistance of the motor windings. Calculate the Power dissipated P from P=IV same as P=I*I R.
THen get a huge honking Wirewound resistor encased in a massive nonceramic heatsink, and swap them out. One of the pins in the connector has to be ground. another has to be 12V Another is probably to ensure 12V is there and monitors the high side for voltage. Hey, joking aside, backprobe the connector. The watchdog pin may just need to see 12V to think the PS motor is alive and well. Get a wiring diagram and check |
In the connector I disconnected there are two wires, one red (I’m guessing 12V) and one black (I’m guessing ground)... my guess is that the PSCM is looking for continuity because if it were looking for amp draw it wouldn’t pop the error message until I turned the wheel under my own power... I considered installing a jumper in the connector to test my theory... |
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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So, guys, my car is gonna be garaged for a while... wife’s car was recently pulled into service and currently I can only afford to insure one at a time... the build will continue, as there are lots of mods that can be developed without the car being legal to drive... what I wanna try and get done: 1. Recaro seat swap from RL(and clean up interior) 2. Wheel skirts, first will make them for rear wheels then will develop front wheel skirts(will have to articulate with wheel turning) 3. Possibly swap on front clip from RL(it looks nice and *may* be more aerodynamic 4. Header and exhaust? 5. Get rid of power steering error message 6. Build rear diffuser/belly pan all of this in no particular order, depending on how long the car will be down... |
I now have mounting tabs for the rear wheel skirts, just need to cut out the coroplast to actually make them, and make a stiffener for the bottom edge of the skirt, otherwise it’ll flap and as a result rub the tire... pics to come soon I hope |
For some reason I can’t focus on just one project at a time, so I also have the rear seats loose in preparation for a good detailing and the Recaro swap... |
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So my cars been cleaned out and vacuumed good and the Recaro seats swapped in... a detwrmined person could complete the swap in like 20 min with an air ratchet to loosen the seat bolts... two bolts on each front seat (15mm head) and the back seats clip in... now, both my carpet and the seats are fairly stained so it’ll come apart again for stain removal or fabric dye-ing but for now it’s teallg comfortable... i will warn that while while swapping the coupe/RL rear seats does work it reduces rear passenger capacity to just two... you could probably grab a black leather bench from another sedan if you want them to match but need the seating capacity... |
Been working on my car again, revised my planned wheel skirt mounting, so I have to make some more brackets, but it should reduce the push rivets used to two per side, making it easier to remove the skirts for wheel removal... I also have the coroplast cut out and the stiffeners screwed to them... they still need bent to precisely the right shape to clear the tire but I’m getting closer... |
Wheel skirt panels are done and brackets are attached to the car... need some push rivets to finish the install, then I can move on to the next project... i really need to test the car with a good battery to see if it’ll start, all the mods in the world won’t make it run if something is wrong, further than just a bad battery |
I revised my trunklid extension again, making it just a little longer and adding side panels to hold the ends up and to form a box cavity on the end of the trunk... this version is also the first that isn’t attached primarily with strapping tape, I used hot glue at the seams and screws to hold it to the car... |
I finished my new airbox lid today, trimming the outlet to an appropriate length and cleaning up all the seams... I also removed all the plastic fins on the inside to incrementally increase the plenum volume (likely only 20-30cc) and marginally increase throttle response... with it all cleaned up it *almost* appears as a stock part, though you can see the seam where I changed the outlet...
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Ive been slacking, guys... I’ve had my car back on the road for a couple weeks, but haven’t posted any pics of it since it has been running... since the forum software won’t let me upload pics, but Photobucket started working again, I just uploaded my newest pic there... http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...sklewgxzw.jpeg it shows off my recent aero work decently... opinions? |
Your front fender matches as good as my rear bumper! Those skirts are cool. |
I can make you a set if you want lol |
Just say no.
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While I’m not particular about appearances and used coroplast due to it being cheap and easy to work, I’d love to make a set from Celtek, which is a PVC foam board available in thicknesses similar to coroplast, and at a similar weight. It produces a more finished look and is also easier to paint than is polypropylene... |
It’s been a while since I updated my thread, but the car still exists (I swear)... i got new tires installed (Hankook Kinergy ST 205/65-15) and changed my oil, and I’ve noted a noise coming from the front end that’s distinctly sounding like wheel bearings, so I’m saving money up for that... I have noticed greater rolling resistance so no doubt mileage is down, not that I’ve been tracking it too closely lately... i also got back into ridesharing due to missing the side income, so I’ve also been working the car much harder lately... |
Interesting. Haven't seen this done to an ion yet. Look into splitters as well for the front. Can get some cheap universal ones on eBay or wish.
Also, I've had luck with the ebay wheel bearings. 40 or 50 for both with abs |
Awww man, I once again forgot to update my build thread... I ended up losing a wheel skirt from driving too fast so I took the other one off until I can remake the mounts...
I also did new Moog wheel bearing/hub assemblies with new Stoptech brake pads and a set of drag reduction clips... car will consistently pull 42-45mpg highway measured at the pump as it sits but I need to redo some things and... check my tire pressure? It’s been a while so I don’t doubt they’ve leaked some but they *should* be at 55psi... |
I got a new steering wheel from a salvage yard. It’s a leather wrapped wheel from an 06 Lv3 car, but will need some cleaning... it has the cruise buttons but I’m not hooking them up bc my car doesn’t have cruise...
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Got the steering wheel swapped over (details in Detailing sub-forum), but the other night I hit a raccoon going 70mph, with no damage on the outside of the car, but it did wreck my fender liner and radiator duct... I bet I used almost a dozen zip ties stitching the panels back together and reattaching them...
people made fun of me when I did the lawn edging air dam but it scrapes dozens of times a day in ridesharing use and it took a hit from a raccoon at 70mph and it’s still there... |
You should mount a camera so you can share vids of all the stuff that dives in front of and into the side of your ride.
I didn't realize I forgot to make fun of you for the lawn edging. I'll get right on that. |
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