Lane's SCA - Turbo Project 7

	The SPAL electric fans were located on the rear of the radiator and temporarily zip-tied into place. This will be necessary to determine where some of the intercooler piping could be run.
	I already had visualized how many pieces of piping I would be using, and approximately how they'd be run. With this information, I ordered a handful of silicone couplers to connect the piping.
	A 2.5" to 2" reducer was used to connect the compressor outlet of the turbo to the pipe that angles downward toward the passenger side of the car. Note the tight clearance between the fans and the turbo downpipe (visible behind the clamps on the silicone coupler). Not much space to work with.
	A 180-degree elbow was needed to make the turn around the edge of the radiator. I couldn't find any pre-made in aluminum, and piecing together two 90-degree silicone couplers would end up costing around $60 just for this one piece. I decided to take part of the piping kit I had purchased and make my own.
	After some welding, and a heck of a lot of grinding, sanding, and buffing, I now had a piece that looked great and fit perfectly. In the photo you can also see the tabs that were fabricated to mount the bottom of the intercooler to the Fluidyne radiator.
	The 180 connects to the intercooler inlet on the passenger side of the car. In the photo, you can also see the brackets which connect the intercooler to the car's bumper support. In the interest of recycling and saving money, the brackets were made out of the tubes that make up the car's inner door reinforcement bars that I had pulled out of my parts car (see it HERE).
	This photo shows the final position and mounting of the intercooler. Since fabrication is still taking place, I have not yet put it on the buffer to give it a mirror finish.
	The outlet of the intercooler on the driver's side connects to the elbow entering the engine compartment. A small amount of the spaceframe's metal support needed to be trimmed next to the radiator to allow the pipe to pass. Note the use of a hump hose connector. Since the engine moves slightly on its mounts but the intercooler will not be able to move, the hump connectors provide a little bit of give.
	Here's a shot of the end result. Nice and simple.
	Since I still have no idea where I'll end up placing the air filter, a piece of straight 3" pipe was used to temporarily visualize where the filter could be positioned. It may end up being located where the battery used to be with a 45-degree 3" angled elbow.

With the intercooler and piping now complete, it was time to return to working on the other areas that need attention - the downpipe and exhaust, intake manifold bungs, extra injector plumbing, turbo coolant line routing, turbo oil lines, oil cooler & plumbing, gauges, electronics, and so on. The majority of the replacement motor still needs to be assembled too, and then swapped out.

It's a freezing day in December as I lay on the cold garage floor under the car measuring, cutting, fitting, re-welding, cutting, fitting, etc. The remainder of the downpipe is taking forever, as it has to turn a 90 degree bend right as it passes between the block, swaybar, and cradle crossmember. No matter how much I do, it still doesn't seem like I'm making much progress compared to how much there still is to do. With a lot of reservation, I've come to a decision. I will not be finishing this project.

As much as I have enjoyed most of the build so far, and have looked forward to a rip-roaring monster when it is complete, there are a number of factors I can't ignore that have influenced this decision.

One of my goals prior to starting this was to do as much as I could while still keeping the car driveable for track events (or very close to driveable, with minimal effort required to get it back to that state). Even though I have been able to do this for the most part, there have still been several occasions where I've missed events because the car was apart and I didn't have the drive or energy to put it back together.
Another goal was to allow it to take as long as it takes to finish the job. Everything I have done up to this point has taken an enormous amount of time. Part of this is because I'm very detail-oriented, and can easily get carried away on the little details and temporarily forget about the big picture. And because of the amount of time that has gone by so far, I'm finding it very difficult to stay motivated. A perfect day in the garage is any day that I look forward to getting out there. I have found myself recently sleeping late on weekends, procrastinating, and not being all that eager to work on the car. I've said it before on this website that I don't know which I enjoy more - working on the car, or driving it. Working on the car is no longer as enjoyable as I want it to be. That's a deal-breaker right there. Why would a person continue a hobby if they didn't enjoy doing it?
All the time that I'm spending on the car is interfering with other activities. I have a house and a sizeable lawn that require attention, friends that want to go out after work or do things on weekends, other vehicles that need TLC, and so on. This project has negatively impacted those activities as well as others. I'm either missing out on something because I'm working on this project, or I'm neglecting the project while feeling guilty that I should be working on it.
The absolute best source of information on turbocharging a Saturn is no longer available. The forums at TurboSaturns.net have disappeared, along with the unbelievable amount of technical information they contained. I had relied upon the opinions, feedback, results, and general information found there to help with my project. Without it as a resource, research would take considerably more time and effort.

That was about it, and it was enough to bring me to this point. The car will remain naturally-aspirated, and the turbo-related parts will likely be sold on eBay. I bought most of the parts used or at very good deals so I doubt I'll lose much money as I sell them. I am disappointed that I won't be able to enjoy my '92 with way way too much power like I was looking forward to. But I will also be able to get back to other things that I enjoy - including spending more time behind the wheel without wondering when I'll finally get this project done. Every time I'm on the track, I'm both happy with the car's performance and impressed that it is able to perform at that level. Even though an extra hundred-plus horses would have been nice, I have no problem enjoying the car exactly as it is.

There are quite a number of Saturn owners who are running forced induction, and have had the patience, drive, and enthusiasm to see it to the end. I have a lot of respect for all of them, because I now know what is involved. You'll find many of their websites on my Owner Links page.

So you've read this far (I'm impressed)...click the link below for For Sale page for everything relating to this project.