After a deal fell through for a cherry 2015 RS with 7k miles I picked up my 2013 Sonic LT in April 2017 with 63k.
Car came with 1.4 liter turbo engine and 6-speed manual, black, fogs, touchscreen...blah blah.
Love the car. Powers a little less than I was used to after a turbo saturn wagon and ion redline. We'll fix that later.
First mod was ditching the front plate bracket and removing the dealer sticker on the hatch. I'm a sucker for a really clean car.
Dropped the car off the be tinted while in FL. I made sure my tinter did NOT cut the tint around the third brake light. That drives me nuts. 20% all around.
In my mind, an enjoyable car is one that appeals to as many senses as possible so i had to hear it and feel it. First mod was a hard pipe to replace the turbo inlet and deleting the snorkel.
Read about the BOV bypass solenoid, so that was an easy mod to complete to help hold on to any power potential the engine had.
Now that i could hear it a little better, i needed the engine to feel less like it was held in place with rubber bands. I made all my engine mounts for the Ion with solid ion control arm bushings. So why not here too. I pulled the tranny torque mount out and cut the rubber bushing out. Throw the empty aluminum carcass in the mill and bored it out till it was flat. Made an aluminum reduced to house the bushing and voila, no engine floppy!
I love a car that handles. ZZP springs and rear sway bar were installed next. Rear took 40 minutes total. Though im a little concerned about the largest diameter coil resting on the heads of the bolt heads. I may take them out and machine them down halfway, or fill in the void around them somehow.
Ditched the rear wiper cause they look anemic.
Friend of mine works at a sign shop and gave me a piece of black vinyl for the exterior logos. Stick on, cut between the gold and chrome with an xacto knife. Perfect edge.
More to come. Possibly ZZP stage 1.0 tune. Some type of exhaust modifications. Solid control arm bushings from the ion, sway bar links, poly sway bar bushings, who knows.
Probably attend an autocross or two this summer.
-RuD
Current mod list:
-black vinyl emblems
-blacked out taillight corners
-removed matte door stickers
-20% tint
-rear wiper delete
-ZZP springs
-ZZP rear sway bar
-spherical control arm bushings
-custom lower trans mount
-milled top mounts to raise engine
-hard piped SAB
-bypass BOV bypass
-removed intake manifold air dams
-custom 4th engine mount
To be continued...
Car came with 1.4 liter turbo engine and 6-speed manual, black, fogs, touchscreen...blah blah.
Love the car. Powers a little less than I was used to after a turbo saturn wagon and ion redline. We'll fix that later.
First mod was ditching the front plate bracket and removing the dealer sticker on the hatch. I'm a sucker for a really clean car.
Dropped the car off the be tinted while in FL. I made sure my tinter did NOT cut the tint around the third brake light. That drives me nuts. 20% all around.
In my mind, an enjoyable car is one that appeals to as many senses as possible so i had to hear it and feel it. First mod was a hard pipe to replace the turbo inlet and deleting the snorkel.
Read about the BOV bypass solenoid, so that was an easy mod to complete to help hold on to any power potential the engine had.
Now that i could hear it a little better, i needed the engine to feel less like it was held in place with rubber bands. I made all my engine mounts for the Ion with solid ion control arm bushings. So why not here too. I pulled the tranny torque mount out and cut the rubber bushing out. Throw the empty aluminum carcass in the mill and bored it out till it was flat. Made an aluminum reduced to house the bushing and voila, no engine floppy!
I love a car that handles. ZZP springs and rear sway bar were installed next. Rear took 40 minutes total. Though im a little concerned about the largest diameter coil resting on the heads of the bolt heads. I may take them out and machine them down halfway, or fill in the void around them somehow.
Ditched the rear wiper cause they look anemic.
Friend of mine works at a sign shop and gave me a piece of black vinyl for the exterior logos. Stick on, cut between the gold and chrome with an xacto knife. Perfect edge.
More to come. Possibly ZZP stage 1.0 tune. Some type of exhaust modifications. Solid control arm bushings from the ion, sway bar links, poly sway bar bushings, who knows.
Probably attend an autocross or two this summer.
-RuD
Current mod list:
-black vinyl emblems
-blacked out taillight corners
-removed matte door stickers
-20% tint
-rear wiper delete
-ZZP springs
-ZZP rear sway bar
-spherical control arm bushings
-custom lower trans mount
-milled top mounts to raise engine
-hard piped SAB
-bypass BOV bypass
-removed intake manifold air dams
-custom 4th engine mount
To be continued...
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