Function and Form Build

[Aristocrat]

Well I had big plans for this car before I even picked it up. My last vehicle was written off so while I was slowly waiting for insurance money to trickle in I planned my build bit by bit.

To start:
Black 2012 Sonic 5-Door LTZ Turbo 6 Spd.

Things didnt stay stock for long. The second day I owned the car I opted to swap out the factory fog light bulbs for a set of PIAA Plasma Ion Yellow bulbs. I have always been a sucker for yellow fogs so I could'nt help it.

Quite Impressed with the results.

First power mod had to be an Intake as I missed driving a turbo car soo bad! But I really didn't want to wait for my insurance cheque to come in and wasn't about to pay shipping on two separate orders from DDM Works. Cue my on a whim purchase of a K&N Typhoon Intake for the Cruze turbo. I anticipated to have to modify it a bit to work but was quite pleased with how well everything fit together. I couldn't use the heat shield as it blocked the flow of air from the fender intake tube, but I will be changing the stock rubber elbow out shortly and adding the heat shield then.

Yesterday I placed my order at DDM Works and ordered the following:
-Cat-back exhaust with resonator without muffler
-Shifter Bushings
-Stainless Coil Cover.

I will be picking up a Netbook next week and ordering my trifecta tune with cable to keep handy to make updating and data logging a breeze.

Once the main portion of the performance is done I will be moving my focus on to the aesthetics.

First with a set of lowering springs just for a nicer stance. then once a set of coils other than Pedders is released I will scoop them up. $2000 shipped to Canada is far too much for coils.

Then 18's and some grippy rubber come spring. I am hoping to find a set of rims with a +32 ish offset. but we will see what comes into production in the next 5 months!

Looking forward to any positive comments, keep the negatives to yourself everyone has their own taste!

Cheers,

Brandon

 

[Eric Smit]

Welcome Brandon. That intake looks massive! Hopefully it all works out for you. Looks like you have some good plans, so good luck and, again, welcome aboard.


-Eric Smit

 

[Aristocrat]

Well a Few updates as parts have started to trickle in!

I got my ultragauge in and all set up now. Pretty happy with the quality and its actually really helpful to have. Only thing I noticed was that the Ultragauge thinks my fuel tank is much larger than it really is.

Here is a shot of the install location:

Then yesterday afternoon before heading off to work, Purolator brought me a nice little suprise!

That is my Resonator only Cat Back exhaust from DDMWorks. First impressions are that it is a high quality product. Comes with everything you need and I cant wait to get it on!

The nice thing was the exhaust shipped directly from Solo. An as i live in Alberta, Canada it made it here way before the rest of my package! I am still waiting on the coil cover and the shifter bushings.

 

[cndctrdj]

nice good luck and keep us posted

 

[Swordsmith]

You have to tell UG how large your fuel tank is, it should have asked you during setup.

 

[Preloader]

Get that exhaust on!!
All you need is a 13mm, a 14mm and an hour.

 

[sonic hotness]

Looks nice...
Love it so far

 

[dvn]

Looking good. I have the exact same car.

 

[dblackston]

Nice build so far, what are you plans for aesthetics? I've seen another member with the 3-d carbon body kit on his black hatch and it looked great!

 

[Aristocrat]

Just got a a few more small things done over the last few days. The exhaust is installed and sounds great! but I'm not a fan of the exhaust clamp supplied with the kit. its a pain and I seem to have a small exhaust leak from the joint.

The other day I came home to find the rest of my DDMworks order waiting for me at the door. i purchased the shifter bushing kit as well as the stainless coil pack cover. Over all I am quite impressed with the quality of both items. The bushings made the shifter feel so much more precise and notchy. The coil cover looks great although I was missing the spacers to prevent the coil pack from moving around. Had to improvise.

Coil cover installed:

Next up I tracked down a can of black plasti-dip, which turns out to be much harder than you would think in canada. I dipped the front and rear Bowties as well as the chrome strip on the back hatch. looks good IMO

Blacked our front:

And a few more shots of how it sits now:

 

[Aristocrat]

Nice build so far, what are you plans for aesthetics? I've seen another member with the 3-d carbon body kit on his black hatch and it looked great!

As far as aesthetics are concerned first thing is to drop it and get a nice set of 18x8's on the car. Then I am leaning towards the seibon vented CF hood as well. I dont mind the 3-D carbon kit but it doesn't really jump out at me. Winter has hit here in Edmonton s it doesnt make much sense to slam it now. Il be doing as many things as I can until spring and that will give me time to gather up come parts as well.