RobVG asked:

"What happened to the head- overheat/warp? "

We were burned by that. At about 150,000 miles, the aluminum head warped and allowed engine oil to leak into the cooling jacket. I bought a rebuilt head from Pep Boys for about $400 and replaced it. I bungled applying the RTV on the timing chain cover so the engine leaks a bit of oil. However the leak isn't bad enough to justify pulling off the timing chain cover and doing it again. The head warp problem was a design fault for the 1996 SL-1 and Saturn actually had a recall for that model. Unfortunately the head on our car did not warp until after the recall expired. Saturn actually offered to give us a new head for free on the condition that their mechanic install it. However their mechanic would have charged us $1000 for the labor so I declined their offer and installed the $400 rebuilt head myself.

The head and shortblock for the Saturn SL were made using a "lost foam" aluminum casting method. The block has steel cylinder sleeves in it that are incredibly wear resistant (case hardened?). The technology is quite sophisticated. Again, our car was very reliable until it had too many miles on it.

Gary

p.s. I still set the points on my Rambler and Karman Ghia.