BangShifter Scott Sousa has one of the most awesome little humiliation machines we have ever seen and he was cool enough to send us the inside dirt on the car along with the some video of the thing dealing out hurt feelings on the drag strip. The car is a 1993 Saturn SL2 coupe which under normal circumstances would only be cool when parked under the wheels of a monster truck but when it runs into the 11s at nearly 120mph and wipes the floor with a 5th gen Camaro, everything changes.
Below you’ll see all the specs on the car and the video as well as some photos that show the clean engine bay and some details on the car. This is no hacked together junk, some real thought and work went into making the coupe work and work really well. The best part is that this is a car that isn’t exactly highly supported by the aftermarket so Scott was forced to use his own hot rodding skills to make it all work. He worked on the thing from top to bottom and sorted the combo out. Hell, the air conditioning still works and the little car probably gets great mileage, too. This thing is a mean little machine!
READ ON TO SEE WHAT MAKES THIS CAR TICK AND WATCH IT KILL A CAMARO AT THE DRAGS ON ITS FIRST 11-SECOND PASS
I know that from time to time you guys post some sleeper stuff so I wanted to share my 1993 turbocharged Saturn SL2 with you. I know that you’re not really focused on 4 cylinder cars/imports, but I figured you guys may be interested.
It took me a couple of years to put it all together, and I actually have been racing the car now for about 6 years. I’ve done all of the work on the car with help from my dad which has been a really cool experience. There are a ton of custom parts on the car since there really is no aftermarket for these cars.
I finally broke into the 11s this past weekend at New England Dragway and couldn’t be happier. I have to admit that I’m not the best driver so it took a little longer than expected to dial the car in lol. It’s in a much better spot than it was 6 years ago though, that’s for sure.
Here’s a list of mods that I have done to the car:
- Stock 1993 Block
- Custom Wiseco Forged Pistons (Stock Bore) – 8.8:1 Compression Ratio
- Custom SCAT Forged Rods
- 1999+ Crankshaft
- Clevite Main/Rod Bearings
- Personally (Mildly) Ported and Polished Head
- ARP Head Studs
- Stock Cams – Dual Intake Cam Mod
- Stock Intake Manifold
- Stock 1995 SL2 Taper Bored Throttle Body
- T04E 60 Trim Turbo w/Internal Wastegate (EBC controlled by the MegaSquirt ECU)
- Custom Tubular Turbo Exhaust Manifold
- CX Racing Intercooler (29″ x 11″ x 3″)
- 2.5″ Intercooler Piping
- 2.5″ Full Exhaust w/Exhaust Dump
- 2000+ Tie-Plate (Girdle) and Oil Pan
- Stock Flywheel
- Fully Balanced Rotating Assembly
- 55lb/hr. Injectors
- MSD 8.5mm Spark Plug Wires
- 24.5″ x 8″ x 15″ Slicks
- MegaSquirt 2 Extra DIY EFI Controller: Controlling Fuel/Spark, Launch Control, Boost Control, Idle Control & Fan Control
- Walbro 255 LPH High Pressure Fuel Pump
- Ice Cold Air Conditioning (haha)
- Stock MP3 Transmission – Custom Quaife LSD
- ACT 6-Puck Sprung Clutch
- H&R Sport Springs Mounted on KYB Struts – 1.3″ Drop
DAMN!!!!!!!
Back when gas was still cents a gallon, big sister handed me down an ’92 SL1. Great little car, light and aero, surprisingly peppy even in stock form. Did the ton on I80 after navigating through SLC in a blizzard during morning rush hour. I was on my way to CA from MN…
That\’s at my track. I\’m a Stockholder there, 2nd Gen. I even worked Top of Staging one year. Seen a number of cars show up that were \”Sleepers\”. One guy from CT had a Caravan that ran high 12\’s about 20yrs ago and his wife brought the kids to school w/it. He drove it up and just changed the front rims & tires before he ran. The GLHS Shelby Chargers could run 11\’s in the 1/4 w/the Stage II chip, Factory, no mods. 2.2L 4cyl FWD, and that was 30yrs ago. Saturn\’s were good cars, GM screwed up getting rid of them IMO.