Preloader's New Direction

[Preloader]

Man I've had a lot of fun pushing my Sonic during the early mod race. I even enjoyed breaking/replacing the trans...... At least the first two times. And experimenting with LSD, clutches, flexfuel, turbo upgrades, etc.

Spoiler alert: I AM NOT GETTING RID OF MY SONIC

But I am scaling waaaaaay back, almost back to stock. Save for the suspension, wheels, CF and tune.

In light of my recent head gasket failure and having to be without my Sonic for yet another couple weeks, I'm face palming pretty hard about what I've turned my daily commuter into.

Also, after much trying and complications the wife and I are halfway through a healthy pregnancy. So I have to re-align my financial priorities. My car needs to be dependable, and I can't continue to have unexpected repair expenses.

I'm actually kind of excited to methodically restore my Sonic to responsible levels once I get the fresh engine in.

I'll be doing away with the downpipe, aluminum flywheel/stg 4 clutch, trans temp gauge, and tach/tach adaptor.

I'll probably keep the MZO, flex fuel, ported intake, and VT turbo.

My advice to anyone that wants to get a thrill out of their Sonic, but doesn't necessarily want to set any records or chase Dodge SRTs, is this list:

Tune
SRI
Forge BOV
Coilovers
Wheels
Exhaust
MZ0
Appearance upgrades
STAHP

I still frikken love my Sonic, but now I'm looking at the long haul. opcorn:

 

[RMinNJ]

Sounds good Preloader..

Remember the folks with the V8s and BMWs pass everything exept a gas station.. this makes our Sonics, technically, faster.

 

[Wooksquatch]

Thought the post said one direction, came in for the story of my life got yours instead. Good luck and congrats on the baby they are fun but definitely change priorities around real quick.

 

[Stew]

I suppose one way to look at this is that the head gasket is a potential failure point for prolonged high boost levels. Good to know, but kinda sucks to be the one to find it out.

At least you're capable of doing the engine swap yourself, if I was in the same predicament I would be clearing out a space in my garage as well.

 

[Preloader]

I may do one last hooray dyno, just to have something that says: "look what I did."

I'm not satisfied with the 171/213 graph. I was struggling with a faulty chinese injector at the time, and it was also before the compressor upgrade and a series of aggressive tune updates.

 

[Fry]

I started this Sonic stuff with my daughter on the way, so I can relate to the change you're going through. I appreciate all the boundaries you pushed with your modding, and am thankful for you trying things out. Your build page was one of the main ones I looked to when I thought about things to do to my car, which lead me to my simple build of a tune, SRI, and short shifter. Next, I'm working on reducing road noise and doing something about the lock poking my arm.

I think that your new direction is more in line with a majority of Sonic drivers will pursue: a fun, reliable daily driver. I look forward to seeing your build's new direction.

 

[Preloader]

Thanks.

I've avoided doing stereo stuff because of the added weight. But now that I'm over shaving weight, once I get my reliability back, I can see myself whipping up the sound system.

I'm no stranger to big systems and as a matter of fact, I have enough stuff lying around to piece together a tooth rattling system.

So I'm not retiring completely from building...... Just taking a break from chasing power.

 

[jgrote]

You would not believe how many of these threads I've read over on the Subaru forums over the years. You are a pioneer with this platform, and you should feel some pride in that. You have found where the limit is between fun daily and track car. You've straddled that line for a while now. Now it's time to turn the boost down a little, and just enjoy the car, your stuff, and your new family structure. The cars are great toys, but the babies are what make it all worth doing. You're about to enter into a whole new type of fun, so enjoy every minute of it.

PS, I named my kid after a car, so that way I can play with my kid and a car at the same time.

 

[Beastlick]

Vince, there absolutely nothing wrong with keeping priorities in check especially with a little one on the way. I've enjoyed the Preloaders strive to get every hp gain possible along the way. To be honest, I got a little worried you were going to abandon it once these major issues started compiling. You've set trends in this community others can only dream of.

Your build and passion has influenced my desire to step up to the plate and break new grounds. I was thinking to myself while lurking on here, I haven't seen a pic of the Preloader in a while. I think it might be time to shave that "Tom Selleck" off. I might know a guy.....

 

[SoundWave]

This is about where I'm at with my car, I've got a 2 and 4 year old, so I can't have a harsh riding, stupid loud vibrating daily driver. I'll be sticking with RS+Sport suspension when I Can do it next year, because I know it will ride much better than aftermarket suspension, and any mods I do make have to be carefully weighed against overall dirveability and reliability.

I'm curious about your the thinking on ditching the LSD?

 

[Maddog2020]

With all you have done and the issues you have had, you still have such a great attitude. Your wife must be awesome too for supporting your expensive hobby. Congrats on soon becoming a Dad, now let the big life mods begin!

 

[Eric Smit]

congrats on the healthy pregnancy!

 

[Blue Moon Sonic]

Congrats on the baby I do envy the work you've put in for this little car as the pioneer.

 

[Preloader]

My wife has been very supportive. She doesn't like to ride in it, cuz she's afraid it'll break down again. But she has always understood that me playing/wrenching on my car to my hearts content keeps me out of much worse trouble.

And it absolutely has.

I did have brief moments where I considered selling her, but I've come to the realization that I love it too much, and if I tone it down I should get plenty of years out of her.

Same goes for my Sonic too.

 

[MPFab]

Sorry about he HG man. Is there a post about what happened?
Congrats on the baby!

 

[Dubbs_RS]

Congrats on the baby! Glad to see that you're still gonna be sticking around. Would have hated to see the 'Loader go. Keep us updated on your new direction. You've been a pioneer with car and reading your build was one of the reasons I bought mine.

 

[SoundWave]

My wife has been very supportive. She doesn't like to ride in it, cuz she's afraid it'll break down again. But she has always understood that me playing/wrenching on my car to my hearts content keeps me out of much worse trouble.

And it absolutely has.

I did have brief moments where I considered selling her, but I've come to the realization that I love it too much, and if I tone it down I should get plenty of years out of her.

Same goes for my Sonic too.

That's a very good decision. Sold my project car shortly after my first kid was born, one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made

 

[Hulty]

Congrats! I've yet had the strength to give over the Sonic keys to my 16 year old, hopefully you'll still have yours by then!!

 

[CheapFuneral]

Congrats on the kid! That's one of the reasons I got the sonic. I sold my lt1 camaro that broke down every 500 miles. Loved driving in it and for a while I loves working on it but the faster it got the more I had to do. It got to be where there was more down time then up and my wife went prego so I sold it for an awesome loss of about 10g I still don't miss it to the point I wish I had it back .

 

[Preloader]

My advice to anyone that wants to get a thrill out of their Sonic, but doesn't necessarily want to set any records or chase Dodge SRTs, is this list:

Tune
SRI
Forge BOV
Coilovers
Wheels
Exhaust
MZ0
Appearance upgrades
STAHP

To elaborate on this a little.... And this list is obviously for the 1.4T.

Tune: The single most effective thing you should do for added performance

SRI: (Short Ram Intake) Looks and sounds sporty, adds a tiny bit of hp

Forge BOV: Fun sound, shows off that you have a turbo

Coilovers: Increases suspension performance a ton, adjustable ride height

Wheels: Makes your Sonic stand out and more recognizable

Exhaust: Tad bit of hp, sporty sound. Just removing the stock muffler+res is enough

MZ0: Will drop MPG to about 34highway, but gives a boost in sportiness in lieu of actual horsepower

Appearance: Subjective. Tinted windows, Carbon Fiber, Ground Effects

STAHP: Stop! That's enough. Your car is still reliable.

Once you start getting into the power range that exceeds the rating of the stock clutch, you will pass the point of a responsible daily commuter, and will be asking for headaches.

I left out porting the Intake Manifold and the bypass bypass. Both can/should be done if desired without hurting reliability.