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Newbie says hi- 07 IRL deep blue-addressing issues

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2007 blue deep
3K views 21 replies 5 participants last post by  goaliemo 
#1 ·
Hey guys just picked up an 07 IRL, been following the forums for about two months while looking for a car, and deciding what to look for. Picked up a pretty clean 07. High miles, but one owner car, all highway. Pretty decent shape considering some I've seen. It's the "rare" deep blue. (what IRL ISN'T rare by most standards?) Anyhow. Thought I'd post a little update on it

picked it up with a failing clutch pedal, clutch was on the floor, but no slippage or TOB noises etc, no fluid leaks. I used a copper 1/2" pipe cap for .77c and a neoprene washer (to eliminate any noise from the ball scraping around) from home depot, it clicked into the pedal positively, and solved my problem completely. I won't touch it until the master cylinder breaks, or pedal fails more. Saved myself 100 bucks. Ordering a coolant res. to fix my coolant light this week, as well as an intercooler pump.

sometime this next week, tranny fluid, and intercooler fluid, as well as a TB/MAF cleaning and inspect for vacuum leaks is coming. Oil change was done recently, as well as plugs, and brakes. leaving them be for now. Also there's an infuriating noise I suspect is an exhaust leak. Load only, fluttery sputtery goodness. Once that's fixed I can diagnose the whirring marbles noise in the engine bay. I'm guessing it's the blower- planning on rebuilding the snout and installing new bearings at the same time as a pulley while it's all apart, and then installing a new belt as well. Tensioner too if I have the money at the time- but that's all later.

Then moving on to the suspension. Hesitant to spend money on the car but.... I think I'm going to go ahead and get the FE5 KyB setup with new strut mounts. Cheapo, but can't be a downgrade, and about as cheap as the LNF setup. It needs probably everything in the front end. lots of fun clunkies. axles for sure, I might as well go ahead and do it all, LCAs (aluminum ones from the LE5 as I've learned here-) end links, and tie rod ends. Don't sense any hub or wheel bearing issues as of right now. This should tighten everything up.

Do these cars always bump steer, rather, extremely sensitive to the road surface? I imagine eliminating play in the front end will help.

Then it's on to the rather pricey motor mounts/trans mounts. If nothing else has taken a dump on me by then I'll go ahead and go ZZP stage 3 and run that until the clutch quits.

Like all car guys, I have a million and one small things I could dump money into as well, but trying to only address major issues right now, and from what I've read, this car seems to have a lack of those. well, actually, found about 2" of water in the trunk this morning... assigning blame to the sunroof drains, then checking trunk seals. Not cool. all over the new battery/spare. Sigh. needs a new trunk board/carpet too.

All in all I feel I got a really good deal on the car. Sold my FR-S to get rid of having a car payment, and I'm enjoying this car a ton. It's a freaking fun little rocket ship. maybe rocket shit or space turd is more appropriate. Love it though, really. Everything on the car feels strong, pulls hard, shifts clean. Amazingly, the clutch is original at 175k miles and doesn't slip or make any sorts of noises. The guy I bought it from clearly road tripped it all over. (And he did, had a crazy commute for a while according to him.)

That concludes my hello I guess, look forward to conversations here, hopefully they'll be performance, not lack of performance related! :D Love my german/american whatever the heck it is car. (noticed metric bolts last night, and I know most electrical components are Bosch, and motor is made in germany, saab shared parts etc etc.)

Oh. Thought I'd go ahead and say WHYYYYY didn't the 07 get recaros :(
 
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#4 ·
+1
Photobucket will enable you to post them. speaking of bumpsteer... I have recently become a victim to it's clutches! Time to inspect the front end for loose/worn components.

Welcome to the RLF. :bigthumb:
 
#6 ·
I wonder how hard it would be to get a cobalt cai to work with a Redline. I have one I would sell dirt cheap. If you can figure out how to make it work, let me know. I decided im sticking with the stock intake.
 
#9 ·
Water - my friend

In regards to water in the car - get used to it --

I find new places all the time getting wet - inside trunk,

inside car on the floor and ceiling all differnet places-- got in my electronics

and my alarm system malfunctioned for a few days.

Had the vent in the trunk replaced but I still get a little water

in there sometimes not sure where its coming from.

Yesterday the passengers side (front) was wet - had to get the paper towels.

I guess the car has a hole someplace and gravity and how I park it determine

where it flows.

- I am getting used to the IRL 'motor cycle'


it all drives in the sun :sunny:

good luck with the IRl
 
#10 ·
In regards to water in the car - get used to it --

I find new places all the time getting wet - inside trunk,

inside car on the floor and ceiling all differnet places-- got in my electronics

and my alarm system malfunctioned for a few days.

Had the vent in the trunk replaced but I still get a little water

in there sometimes not sure where its coming from.

Yesterday the passengers side (front) was wet - had to get the paper towels.

I guess the car has a hole someplace and gravity and how I park it determine

where it flows.

- I am getting used to the IRL 'motor cycle'


it all drives in the sun :sunny:

good luck with the IRl
LMAO yeah I guess I did buy a GM. sigh... Sunroof drains are getting checked/cleand, then replacing the rear cardboard trunk thingee this week. Building one from fiber board and some carpet. Meh. Probably nicer than factory. Then pressure washing when it's dry to determine what I can do to improve it. Really hope to nearly eliminate the issues if I stay on top of the sunroof drains. Really annoying. makes me nervous with the battery in the trunk.:crbaby:
 
#11 ·
Really annoying. makes me nervous with the battery in the trunk.:crbaby:[/QUOTE]

same here, so I made the appoinment two months ago with a GMdealer to

have them water checkit, fix, and then recheck -

after that the corner where the vent was replaced - this was the main problem

I had a 3 inch puddle there one time .... I have not had anymore water again

near the vent.

From what I heard/read :phone: on this site the later models have a better

designed vent or something different I forget exactly...
 
#12 ·
Someone have the part # handy? I'll browse for it otherwise. Definitely is big part of the trunk issue, but my carpet inside was damp as well, and the car has 175k miles where it was basically just driven, and major stuff maintained, but little stuff neglected. Needs a lot of work to get to where I'm stoked. At this point, If I hadn't already ordered $500 in parts I'd turn around and sell it and hope I can find a good Mini... But I have suicide doors! And a super rare care. And boat loads of torque. And can make 300+hp just because. ... That bein said. I think I was spoiled having a factory extended warranty on an FR-S (sold back to Toyota under lemon law ironically) at least with that one if it did something goofy I laughed and left it with my advisor. (Got to know a few of them very well, on a more than first name basis with one in particular)
 
#15 ·
Ok guys, so here's where I'm at. Used to most of the little quirks now, if nothing else, I know what I need to do to fix them.

Buuutttt. I think I have an airflow problem. I'm missing the scoop under the rad/H/E, which I didn't even know existed. All started when I mounted the cobra H/E. I guess it stole enough air, that at highway speeds, or fan off, the coolant gets hot. If I stay below 3k rpm sustained, it won't go over 210, but harder driving quickly escalates this. Moment I get down to <70 ish or slower, water temp comes down.

But now my iat's are also high. I don't feel like the H/E is doing its job. New IC pump, the system does work, just not as well as I'd like. The header also seemed to help with overall temps too. Anyhow.

The question is- Should I fab something up for the radiator? Or just by the factory scoop. Also, how would I go about the scoop? Attach to bottom of radiator?

question 2: do I need to do any ducting with the cobra h/e? How close to the front of the bumper should it be? What does the air need to do around it? As in should I close off everything around the edges so air HAS to go through it?

At this point, I'm about to take off my cobra H/E for now. Net IAT is no better than without it, which means I've managed to fail on the airflow portion. I see about 130 deg temps at the lowest once warmed up. I feel like they should drop more. I've added a sprayer system for the factory H/E condenser radiator cluster, but I think I'm failing in spray pattern, not quite the results I want? But does make a small difference. going to trying something more like a mist "loop" of hose to spray it next and spread out the fluid. (using washer fluid for the evaporative properties)

I have made a little scoop with tin and wire ties, works better than nothing, noticeably cooler on the HWY, but still not to my standard and comfort. I don't want to have to run the A/C on cool nights to keep the fan on. was 215 deg just cruising (quickly cruising) home last night, and it was very reasonable outside, maybe only 70, no sun. \

Side note, I have an opt B tank installed, but not DP endplate, so only really helps with bleeding. DPE is probably a must at this point.
 
#19 ·
Did you add in the cobra HE or replace the stock HE with it? Adding a secondary HE doesn't drop core temp much. What it will do is add more fluid and air flow space wich will drop your temp faster after pulls. You NEED the air dam. Here are pics on how the HE and dam should be. I have the ZZP HE but it should be in same spot as yoiurs.



 
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