Saturn Ion Redline

[atrueresistance]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has attempted a DF build with a redline? I have owned a redline for 4 years now and it is in pretty decent shape with only 75k miles. I've been looking at getting a more reasonable daily driver, and most dealerships I've talked to only want to give 3-3.5k on trade. A friend of mine showed me this site, which is why I'm inquiring.

I know the redline has a LSJ engine same as the Cobalt. Mine is particularly the stage 2 gm supercharged. Are the frames the same? I'm guessing some custom work for the dash cluster would have to happen, as those are not the same.

Just curious to see if anyone has and what sort of trouble they ran into.

 

[ctuinstra]

Being that the Ion has the same LSJ engine, it should not be a major issue to use in a Goblin. The differences may be in the trans mount and driveline components. The engine subframe may be different, but you should be able to find a Cobalt subframe from a salvage yard and mount your engine to it if in fact it is different. The axles, brakes, and suspension might be different but again, sourcing those from a Cobalt should not be a problem. You are correct that the dash would be different and a custom mount would need to be made. There also may be differences in the pedal box/clutch and brake booster/MC.

Bottom line, it could be done, but expect differences. The easiest solution to the differences is sourcing a Cobalt, but that won't help much on the ECM, BCM, and dash. You might be able to pick up a wrecked Cobalt for next to nothing and use pieces from it.

 

[dperkins]

Looking at pictures on the web, the subframe looks to be the same as the cobalt and you have the F35 tranny so there shouldn't be any engine mounting problems. The brake booster/master cylinder look very similar to the cobalts. The only difficulty I could see would be from the wiring but chilton should have diagrams and things to make it easier. Buying a spare SS SC for a few hundred bucks could help a lot, but it might be possible without one.