Project SoundWave, my 2013 Chevy Sonic LT Turbo

[SoundWave]

This is a copy of my Project Log from a Local Site I've been on for 7 or 8 years. Tried to edit it to make better sense here, but some of it may seem odd.

Bought the only Turbo Manual Sonic my dealer had on the lot, a 2013 LT.

Wife said we couldn't fit car seats in it, she was wrong, my boys love it:

First priority, let's rice this thing up:

Getting the Rear BowTie off was a real Pain in the ass, the typical Fishing Line trick, didn't work. Wound up having to carefully pry it off with a screwdriver, when I got it off, here's why it sucked:

Then I spent the next two hours getting all the damn glue off, to add the new badge:

It looks great head on, but the actual hatch is curved, and the badge is flat, so I'm thinking of getting another and trying to get some bend to it with a heatgun. Also, yes, that's a Dragon sticker; took an unplanned road trip and fit in six passes of the dragon.

Side shots of the Vinyl:

And the front badge, I really like the way it lined up with the grille:

Then I ordered up a Stage 1 kit from Bad News racing:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd....4_10202162834015694_1587684847419492847_n.jpg

Also ordered up an UltraGuage to add some extra monitoring capabilities:

Working on a video of my dragon runs, hope to have it done shortly. Will post it up when it's ready.

-Sean

 

[SoundWave]

My UltraGauge install:

Shortly afterwards, the Little box from BNR showed up:

Then the Big box came

Rushed through the install, just as another rainstorm was starting:

Started right up, no CEL:

Part of any install, add a sticker to the tool box:

I let it ilde for about ten minutes, then got going with the Trifecta tune:

Then went out in the rain to do some pulls and get a good data log for my full tune. One of the upsides to living in the middle of no where is, it isn't hard to find an open stretch of road that you can easily make a 0-60-0 pull without running into traffic or cops

After the tune (I didn't bother driving the car after the CAI install alone) this is a completely different car. it hits 20PSI easily, and all the lag of the stock tune is gone. The Eco mode works as advertised, and immediately pulls back on boost and timing to make the car almost stock. I can't comment on MPG differences with the tune in Eco mode just yet as I Was having too much fun this morning with the baseline tune on the car.

My tire fund has reached it's goal, so I'll be ordering up a set of Falken Azenis RT615K in 205/50R15

I can't find any wheels that look decent, and don't weigh an extra 8 LBs over the stockers, so I'll probably stay on the stock wheels, considering using wheel money to get these powder-coated purple or something stupid, and adding some Rally Armor Mud Flaps for all the dirt roads I get stuck driving on.

I do not plan to lower this car, It's pretty low already, and I can't be stuck at home because my car is too low to get through the snow like I was in my Scion.

 

[SoundWave]

So I lied about wheels and tires, had to replace the fronts after roasting them on the Dragon earlier this year. It became an immediate need when I ran over a nail on Saturday, and the tire was too worn to plug.

I priced out some 15" tires, and anything decent was close to $400 at Discount. Took a look at TireRack, and 16x7 Sparco Assetto Gara in blue was on sale for $79/wheel. And they had 205/55ZR-16 Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 XL for $59.00/tire!

So I ordered them Monday at lunch, they were delivered by 3:30 on Wednesday!

They are flat blue, not glossy like the pictures make them look; which I actually like:

Wheel Specs:
Size: 16x7
Offset: 35mm
Backspacing: 5.35"
Bolt Pattern: 5-105
Rec. Tire Size: 205/55-16
Weight: 17.4lbs.

OEM 15s for comparison:

OEM Offset:

35mm Offset:

Perspective shot:

Side Shot:

Once my house sells and my commute is shorter I'll be doing Turbo-back exhasut, hard-charge piping, injectors and an e85 tune! Next year's plans are WaveTrack LSD, Suspension and Brakes.

 

[Natesriv]

awesome idea on the logo over the chevy location...

I'd vote for springs too...

 

[SoundWave]

awesome idea on the logo over the chevy location...

I'd vote for springs too...

One of the reasons I'm waiting until next year for suspension is I'm not super excited about options for the Sonic right now.

I'd prefer to go with Coil-overs, and hope that a few more players come to market by next spring.

Also planning on Front and rear sway bars, front control arms, and the rear brace available from ZZP. It all depends on budget tho.

 

[SoundWave]

Finally, here are some pictures taken by one of the local photographers when I ran the dragon earlier this year. Car is completely stock here.

^This is a good illustration of why I need needed new tires . Didn't really get my corner timing dialed in until my last two runs.

 

[sonic007]

Looks good!

 

[rsSteve]

Looking forward to the video of your dragon run opcorn:

 

[Natesriv]

One of the reasons I'm waiting until next year for suspension is I'm not super excited about options for the Sonic right now.

I'd prefer to go with Coil-overs, and hope that a few more players come to market by next spring.

Also planning on Front and rear sway bars, front control arms, and the rear brace available from ZZP. It all depends on budget tho.

there's a couple out there now I reckon... the rears aren't really coil overs though...still a spring and a shock separate...but I think the spring has the capability to be adjusted

I'm super happy with my B&G springs

keep up the good work!

 

[cndctrdj]

keep it up. looks great

 

[SoundWave]

Looking forward to the video of your dragon run opcorn:

Me too, it's been on hold as I've been spending all my free time getting my house ready to sell. Can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel though, and should have something in a few weeks.

 

[SoundWave]

there's a couple out there now I reckon... the rears aren't really coil overs though...still a spring and a shock separate...but I think the spring has the capability to be adjusted

I'm super happy with my B&G springs

keep up the good work!

Yeah, similar to a lot of other small cars with a beam axle on the rear. Most of the coil overs include perches for the rear-springs to allow you to adjust the ride-height.

I've been down this road before, and went with springs only because it was cheaper, after blown struts, upgrade struts and different springs etc. I'd spent more than I finally did on a nice set of BC Racing coil overs that I Replaced it all with. I'm just gonna spend that money once this time

 

[SoundWave]

So I got antsy last week and bought the DDM rear Brace. The body roll is pretty noticeable now that I have actual grip, and expect this will improve that. I have it in-hand, not sure when I'll get a free day to install it, maybe tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime, I've been sitting on a Dynamat Plate kit for months; basically forgot I bought it. So I tossed that on last night.

And a video of the hatch being closed after.
hatch video - YouTube

I don't have any fancy audio in the car, but the plate rattle was really bad when I'd close the hatch, I feel much better about it now.

Also climbed under the hood and tightened up a bunch of the fasteners on my CAI heat shield. I was getting a lot of vibrations at 3K RPM, and was hoping that was the source. Based on today's commute, it was.

Working on some long-term mileage analysis; in preparation for porting my intake manifold, and then bypassing the BPV solenoid. I'm collecting a few weeks worth of fill-ups before I do anything further. I've already got a dozen or so tanks from when the car was stock, this will give me real world numbers of mileage after every mod.

 

[Hulty]

So I got antsy last week and bought the DDM rear Brace. The body roll is pretty noticeable now that I have actual grip, and expect this will improve that. I have it in-hand, not sure when I'll get a free day to install it, maybe tomorrow afternoon.



In the meantime, I've been sitting on a Dynamat Plate kit for months; basically forgot I bought it. So I tossed that on last night.

And a video of the hatch being closed after.

hatch video - YouTube



I don't have any fancy audio in the car, but the plate rattle was really bad when I'd close the hatch, I feel much better about it now.



Also climbed under the hood and tightened up a bunch of the fasteners on my CAI heat shield. I was getting a lot of vibrations at 3K RPM, and was hoping that was the source. Based on today's commute, it was.



Working on some long-term mileage analysis; in preparation for porting my intake manifold, and then bypassing the BPV solenoid. I'm collecting a few weeks worth of fill-ups before I do anything further. I've already got a dozen or so tanks from when the car was stock, this will give me real world numbers of mileage after every mod.

You wanna make your car feel like less of an ECO driver, check out the Dynamat on my build. Makes the car feel solid!


Sent by carrier pigeon.

 

[SoundWave]

I just added this to the Ported Intake thread as well. Since there hasn't been a definitive data-driven MPG analysis done, I'm doing one.

My preliminary results with just the BNR Stage 1 kit:

Hope to have time this weekend to port the manifold, should burn through at least 1 more tank of gas by then, maybe two depending on what shenanigans I get up to by Saturday morning. Note the Stock MPGs were over a dispersed period of time, mostly trying to get good MPGs, but not always. It's a decent sample of mixed driving, but not consistent Highway with cruise on driving like I'm doing right now.

 

[SoundWave]

I've also pulled the trigger on two pairs of component speakers to replace all the factory cruft.
Got a great deal on Infinity Kappa 60.11cs

I'll be doing a full Dynamat job on the interior while installing these, which I still need to order, should have the speakers in a week or so.

Parts are starting to pile up still need to install the DDMWorks rear-brace too.

 

[SoundWave]

I've been doing some data collection on my fuel mileage, so I can clearly understand the impact of modifications on fuel mileage. There has been lots of anecdotal evidence posted but not clear data on the implications of tuning and modding the car; and I'm a nerd with little free time to work on my car, but lots of time driving it. Not sure how long I'll keep it up, but it's been a fun little project so far.

I've been posting my findings over in the http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/268632-post32.html thread.

I wanted to have a few more tanks of gas through the car before I did this, but I wound up taking a week off of work unexpectedly, which limited my driving more than expected. Oh well, time to take the plunge and tear into the intake.

Before picture, in case I forget where something goes.

The tiniest fuel injectors I've ever seen (we'll be fixing that soon I hope )

The hardest part of the job, getting this thing out of the engine bay.

My "Work Bench" (ex)wife told me to toss this lamp when the switch died, glad I kept it around, makes a good Dremel Stand.

First runner rough cut.

Finished, and cleaned up.

Sun was down by the time I Was done, so I had to go buy some head-gear to be able to finish the job up.

Back together! (I lied above, the hardest part was getting the manifold back IN the engine bay)

It even runs! No CEL! (I did get two pending codes for airflow change, cleared them with the UG and went on with my life)

Why I worked in the dark to get done:

I finally didn't have the slowest ride at our regular Saturday morning coffee run (thanks to the Rucki showing up) BTW if anyone in Metro Detroit wants to crash the "Subie" meet we have every week let me know, I only make it about once a month; probably will be going again in early September.

 

[SoundWave]

Just leaving this here so I can remember the link. Think I'm going to go with RAAMaudio for my sound-deadening needs.

RAAMaudio - Automotive sound deadening products

 

[Hulty]

Keep it up brother, can't wait to see more!!

 

[SoundWave]

Finally got some time to finish up the DDMWorks rear brace install.

Had a pretty difficult time getting the Sonic high enough off the ground to clear a drill under the beam axle, while lying on the ground in my driveway. Wound up buying a pair of Rhino Ramps (which I needed anyways) and a new Electric Hammer drill as my cordless drills weren't able to drill all the way through.

I also chewed through two bits, and had to buy a third, as I never could get the drill square to the surface I was cutting into causing the bits to bend and loosen the collet up, dulling the tips.

Finally on the third try got both holes drilled, and was able to install the brace! I coated the holes, and the inside of the axle with Caliper/Bearing grease to keep the moisture down and ease the installation of the bar. Went in easily with no issues.

I've also been getting some rattles from the K&N intake against the heat shield; so I used a scrap piece of the rubber surround to isolate the intake tube from the heat shield.

Last but not least, I did some exhaust(tip) work!

Was tired of seeing the rusty OEM tip, so I picked this up at AutoZone. Thought it might be a little big, but it's growing on me.

I've got all the supplies for the BPV Solenoid Bypass on-hand, so I'm going to try to get that done tomorrow morning, and will also be removing the purple vinyl and blacking out the chrome trim and replacing the front Deception badge I lost a month ago.

Also planning to get a set of blue Sparco Rally Flaps to match my wheels, since the car is so 4x4 anyways, might as well go with the rally car look I've got happening. Later in September I'll also finally be installing my new Infinity speakers and sound deadening.