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Considering a sky redline

EightySix Four

EightySix Four

Diamond Member
With the 0% financing available for 6 years I've found myself highly interested in the Sky Redline. Does anyone here own one or have much experience with one?

Have you had any issues you wouldn't expect from it? Is it sufficiently "zippy" for you? What's the aftermarket look like for the?

Would you recommend it to a potential buyer?
 
I test drove it and asked, they are allowing the deal.

I'm having a hard time giving up my current ride but this one makes more financial sense.
 
Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I couldn't be without a 2-seater convertible at this point. Go for it!
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Do you know anything about the ecotec aftermarket? Is there alot of vendors involved? I'm used the LSx market so I know nothing about 4 bangers. I'm actually considering a drivetrain swap :evil:
 
Originally posted by: crazySOB297
Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I couldn't be without a 2-seater convertible at this point. Go for it!
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Do you know anything about the ecotec aftermarket? Is there alot of vendors involved? I'm used the LSx market so I know nothing about 4 bangers. I'm actually considering a drivetrain swap :evil:
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I think Shaggy(or is it shabby?) has the Solstice GXP and said that the ECU is completely locked down on them.
 
The ecotec aftermarket is much newer than the LSx market so there is less offered. Personally though, after what I've read about the Saturn sky and the Pontiac Solstice I would just get the faster turbo charged version and drive it like I stole it. The turbo engine actually gets slightly better gas mileage so I guess you can justify it logically if you want to.
 
I drove a regular Sky. Can't say I liked how it drove or the seating position, and I don't think more power would have changed my perspective too much. I certainly wouldn't lock myself into 6 years of payments for a two seat vert unless it's a weekend car. And if it was, then I'd do a low mileage lease and save some money.
 
Originally posted by: Bignate603
The ecotec aftermarket is much newer than the LSx market so there is less offered. Personally though, after what I've read about the Saturn sky and the Pontiac Solstice I would just get the faster turbo charged version and drive it like I stole it. The turbo engine actually gets slightly better gas mileage so I guess you can justify it logically if you want to.
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That's the redline version I'm considering.


Originally posted by: dirtboy
I drove a regular Sky. Can't say I liked how it drove or the seating position, and I don't think more power would have changed my perspective too much. I certainly wouldn't lock myself into 6 years of payments for a two seat vert unless it's a weekend car. And if it was, then I'd do a low mileage lease and save some money.
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With the way I go through cars and my current trade in, it makes sense financially for me, especially considering my current car.
 
A couple of points against the Saturn/Pontiac roadster and why I bought the MX-5 Miata instead....

1. You can't raise and lower the top without getting out of the car. (3rd gen Miata is a 1-hand @5 sec operation from the drivers seat to raise or lower)

2. Forget about using the "trunk", There really isn't one. (3rd Gen Miata has a generous and usable trunk for it's size.)

Other than that in my opinion they (the Saturn/Pontiac) are great cars, with impressive performance and eye catching styling.

 
It's a fun car. The aftermarket isn't huge, but it's there. I personally like the normally aspirated one more if you're going to start modding.
 
The trunk would be annoying but 260hp would make me forget about it and the extra 30 seconds it takes to raise and lower the top.
<----miata owner
 
Originally posted by: Apex
Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
The trunk would be annoying but 260hp would make me forget about it and the extra 30 seconds it takes to raise and lower the top.
<----miata owner
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The trunk size can be improved on.

Supersized trunk
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I can't seem to find the kit on their website, am I blind, or is it only in their forums?
 
Originally posted by: crazySOB297
I found an aftermarket ECM if shabby/shaggy happens to see this thread:Here
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You'll be lucky to get 10hp out of that ecm, it was reworked using hptuners software which has very little control of the ecm.
However within the coming weeks hptuners promised us they'll be going back to work on our ecm and will be releasing a beta soon. It only took a year of nagging to get them to respond 🙂
There is another tune out there that manages 290rwhp/310lbs ft of torque, but when you look at the datalog it looks a bit iffy and not sure i'd want to use it.

Anyhoo the aftermarket isnt that big, but exhaust/intakes/intercoolers/suspensions are available from numerous vendors. Check out www.solsticeforum.com and www.skyroadster.com to get an idea of the vendors.

The 2008 turbo kappas have this funny brake problem, cost cutting at fault here, not sure if you noticed it on your test drive but right after you start it you basically have no brake assist for the first 30-60 seconds but gm apperantly released an ecm update for this recently. There were some rumors that for 2009 MY they will use the same parts that they used in the 2007 cars to permanently fix this problem

No trunk space, no one hand top operation... who needs it? You get 260hp, 50/50 weight distribution and one of the best handling roadsters out there.
The trunk mod has to be done at rpi, they dont sell it on their website.

Any other questions just ask, i've haf my gxp for over a year and a half.
 
Once you start adding an intake/exhaust/cat/intercooler to that bsr tune it starts throwing check engine lights and going into limp, in fact even the tune i mentioned above might do the same, but it is $400 cheaper than the bsr tune.
Until hptuners releases an update there isnt any software out there that you and me can use to increase horsepower in the gxp/redline, in fact throwing simple bolt-on's doesnt increase hp at all, the ecm just lowers the boost to compensate. Its nerve racking for someone who likes to tinker with their cars.
 
Originally posted by: shabby
Once you start adding an intake/exhaust/cat/intercooler to that bsr tune it starts throwing check engine lights and going into limp, in fact even the tune i mentioned above might do the same, but it is $400 cheaper than the bsr tune.
Until hptuners releases an update there isnt any software out there that you and me can use to increase horsepower in the gxp/redline, in fact throwing simple bolt-on's doesnt increase hp at all, the ecm just lowers the boost to compensate. Its nerve racking for someone who likes to tinker with their cars.
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That's annoying. HP Tuners was a God-send in the vette. I hope they crack the ECM, I don't want much, maybe somewhere between 300-350 to the wheels in something that light with a good coil-over set-up. I'd be pretty damn happy.

I managed to find my way to skyroadster.com and have read up on the brake issues. Going to make sure that's fixed before picking up mine on Saturday.

What is the widest rear wheel that can be fit on there without sticking out? I'm thinking one of my first things will be to get some nice looking 19 inch wheels on there, not a big fan of the stockers.

Thanks for all the help.
 
Originally posted by: shabby
Once you start adding an intake/exhaust/cat/intercooler to that bsr tune it starts throwing check engine lights and going into limp, in fact even the tune i mentioned above might do the same, but it is $400 cheaper than the bsr tune.
Until hptuners releases an update there isnt any software out there that you and me can use to increase horsepower in the gxp/redline, in fact throwing simple bolt-on's doesnt increase hp at all, the ecm just lowers the boost to compensate. Its nerve racking for someone who likes to tinker with their cars.
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Agreed, the BSR tune doesn't seem to do things right. It bumps up the boost, but the ECU compensates with the timing, lowering the power to not much more than stock levels.

The RacePrecision tune will do about 25hp to the wheels on a stock vehicle, but not the 30+ the BSR claims.

Simple bolt on's do work though, especially the intercooler.

I've seen a lot of Kappas dyno tested (open house style, so the owners can actually watch the dyno operators). Though there are lots underperforming products out there, there's also stuff that work well.
 
Originally posted by: crazySOB297

What is the widest rear wheel that can be fit on there without sticking out? I'm thinking one of my first things will be to get some nice looking 19 inch wheels on there, not a big fan of the stockers.

Thanks for all the help.
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That depends on the offsets. If you go with a 3-piece design, you can get the ideal offset to maximize wheel width. Be careful with wheel weight though, because it's easy to go up in weight and downgrade your performance.

Also, be aware that as you decrease sidewall height, you also degrade some of the breakaway characteristics at the limit of adhesion.

These are 275/35R18 tires on the back of a Sky (my brother in law's):

Sky with DPE wheels

Here's the dyno chart (power shown to the wheels) of this vehicle before the turbo was upgraded. The turbo on the car was a Mitsubishi 20g when this dyno was taken. The turbo was since upgraded to a Garrett dual ball bearing turbo:

Sky (not redline) dyno chart
 
19" wheels just sound way too big imo for a little car. Those 18" above are pushing it but still look pretty good at least at that angle. It would look like you just have rubber bands wrapped around the rims at 19".
 
Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
19" wheels just sound way too big imo for a little car. Those 18" above are pushing it but still look pretty good at least at that angle. It would look like you just have rubber bands wrapped around the rims at 19".
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Agreed, those 18's look great.

Originally posted by: Apex

That depends on the offsets. If you go with a 3-piece design, you can get the ideal offset to maximize wheel width. Be careful with wheel weight though, because it's easy to go up in weight and downgrade your performance.

Also, be aware that as you decrease sidewall height, you also degrade some of the breakaway characteristics at the limit of adhesion.

These are 275/35R18 tires on the back of a Sky (my brother in law's):

Sky with DPE wheels

Here's the dyno chart (power shown to the wheels) of this vehicle before the turbo was upgraded. The turbo on the car was a Mitsubishi 20g when this dyno was taken. The turbo was since upgraded to a Garrett dual ball bearing turbo:

Sky (not redline) dyno chart
Click to expand...


I plan on going iForged, weight shouldn't be a problem.
 
You should be able to fit 295's max with the right offset, theres a guy running 315's for autocross but they stick out a bit. But 275/40/18's fit nicely on 9" wide rims.

Apex: i dynoed by my car before and after a turboback exhaust, it gained 28rwhp, later it lost it. I had the wastegate adjusted for more boost, i gained 3psi and later i lost it, i confirmed the airflow numbers with my msd dashhawk. This is the ecm playing god, nothing you can do about it.
Rpi loves saying that their products make horsepower and the hp sticks, but thats a bunch of bs when the ecm controls your torque output. You'll gain the hp after you put it on but lose it in a couple of days. I've been dealing with this "problem" for a long time, its annoying as !@#$ coming from the dsm world. With my talon i just kept adding parts and it made hp, here you dont gain anything unless you can control the ecm.
 
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