Spikes-Atom wrote:
I would like to upgrade the brakes for better stopping power. Change the wheels to a 5 star, dont like the looks of the factory ones, and tires to something more streetable like a Goodyear F1?
What brakes are on there now? You might want to try a more aggressive brake pad before going the expensive route of upgrading the brakes.
At least with the Alcon 4-pot calipers, the wheel choice was limited by clearance issues. A number of folks have had custom wheels made, but that was usually to run much wider tires. Speaking of tires, one of the issues limiting choices is what sizes are available to fit both the front and rear wheels.
Change the flowmaster muffler to a stainless one like a Magnaflow or Bassani, looking to get a more porfermance sound out of the car and like the looks of a stainless muffler.
I know of a few choices for exhaust systems. Not all of these are "stock" items and may require lead time for fabrication, or may even be no longer available. In addition to the muffler, some cars that have been run hard have had problems with the flex joint(s) blowing out, and the 4-to-one collector cracking. In no particular order:
Upgraded exhaust from TMI - this is based on what they did for the Ariel Atom Experience cars.
Custom system from Tom at Unique Fabricating - he's done several as part of turbo conversions.
Sector111 Hytech exhaust
Fortress Performance exhaust
Details on all of these should be available here on the forums. If you need a catalytic converter for street operation in your state, you're probably looking at a custom solution.
Maybe pulley up the supercharger, add a better tensioner and re-tune the car? We are not racing the car, just looking for a really nice street toy to play around with. Any options out there?
The options depend somewhat on what horsepower your car was built at. You'll likely run into problems with heat soak when using a smaller pulley. Some owners have relocated the air intake and moved the intercooler into the hoop where the intake used to be.
The Brammo ECU "calibration number" (base tune) isn't understood by most / any aftermarket tuning packages, so you'll likely need to start with a generic Cobalt SS ECU, disable the stuff that isn't on an Atom (like the BCM) and tune from there. Again, a number of owners have done this and documented it on the forums.
If I were going to do any of these things, I'd either buy the parts from Tom at Unique Fabricating or send my car to him.