Firstorbit's Black Turbo Sedan

[rdss]

Yeah, I'm sure they are perfectly fine and at 5 bucks a piece it's not that big of a loss if you find any failure and have to toss them.

 

[firstorbit84]

Wheelskins finally came in:

The gray looks much lighter in the pic, but in person it matches the upper dash color pretty well

 

[Swordsmith]

I was reading comments elsewhere on spacers, and the complaint wasn't that the spacers themselves might break, but rather that they put a LOT more stress on the lugs, even very small distances like 1/8th inch. They said that they might be fine for a gently driven car where the owner wants the look, but really bad for race performance with lots of turns... precisely the sort of driving you're talking about. Note that I know nothing about the topic myself, just repeating what I read.

If you want more than 12psi, you're going to have to go off the stock tune, which deliberately limits the turbo to that level for reasons nobody has been able to guess thus far. Trifecta moves that limit up to around 22psi, and I've seen people talking about other tunes and setups that go even higher. The increase in available power is immense.

 

[firstorbit84]

Yeah, I've never run spacers before, so I'm not sure.

I'm saving for a budget tune, but I'm actually pretty happy with the stock power levels. I prefer having traction when I press the throttle as opposed to just spinning the wheels

 

[firstorbit84]

Still haven't put the spacers on. Haven't had the time and honestly not too sure about them.

I did paint my engine cover:

Next cheap little mod will probably be blue LED footwell lighting.

I may pull the snorkel too.

I'm waiting for rdss to get back in town in a couple weeks so I can borrow his cable and get a tune.

I missed the second race of the auto-x season too, but I'm determined to get to the 3rd event at the end of March. If I get an oil change before the event, I'll ask the dealer about the spss mod.

 

[firstorbit84]

got her tinted:

and just ordered my budget tune!

 

[sx sonic]

Looks good

 

[rdss]

Tint looks nice! Is that 20%?

 

[firstorbit84]

35% front, 15% rear plus there's a sunshade up and it was cloudy so it looks a bit darker

 

[rdss]

Gotcha, looks nice. I did 15% all around and a 5% strip on the front.

 

[firstorbit84]

yeah i was going to go 15% all around but i didn't want to worry about getting a ticket, especially since my wife drives the car sometimes and i know she'd be really pissed at me if she got pulled over for illegal tint.

 

[rdss]

I've never had issues with tint in our area. But it's sometimes better to be safe than sorry.

 

[firstorbit84]

yeah neither have I, but I was thinking of Murphy's law

 

[firstorbit84]

Got the budget tune last Saturday. Good improvement in power.

I think my next power mods will be the down pipe and full tune. But those will probably be a ways down the road.

I'll be auto-xing on Sunday for the first time in the sonic. My next mods will probably be suspension and drive train related. In no particular order:
Shifter bushings
Short shift kit
Rear beam brace
Camber bolts and alignment
RS power steering program

Then a couple of larger purchases:
Tires for 17" wheels
Suspension of some sort (springs or coilovers)

 

[firstorbit84]

 

[firstorbit84]

just wanted to keep my log going:
- swapped out the primewell tires (shown above) for firestone firehawk wide oval indy 500 due to lots of noise on the primewells.
- added some red pin stripes on the fender
- blacked out the front signals
- earlier i removed the snorkel and cut some vents into the fender. i'll probably clean up the vents a bit at some point and cut out the fog light panels to add wire mesh (and maybe custom fogs and/or drls too)

i'm thinking about replacing the rear chevy badge with a black C6 corvette emblem, and debadging the sonic and turbo emblems.

I'd also like to get a shorty antenna soon.

I will probably buy springs sometime in the next two months. Although, I'm thinking about getting the DDM rear sway bar first. (or maybe a custom catback). i'll also probably be porting the intake manifold soon (maybe this weekend)

 

[rdss]

Nice, let me know how the porting goes. I have been considering that as well. I have my boy this weekend or I would swing by and give you a hand.

 

[firstorbit84]

Didn't get to it today. Maybe I'll hit you up next Sunday

 

[rdss]

I think I'm doing modding mine for a while. I'd have no problem giving you a hand on a weekend I don't have my boy though.

 

[Stew]

The Cruze wheels look really good!