Looking to do some mods to the Atom 2.

[Spikes-Atom]

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? 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. 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? Would all of these things be custom jobs? or bolt ons? We just got the car so we are new to everything! Am I missing any recommended mods? We are open to anything at this point. Thanks!

[Terry Kennedy]

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.

[Spikes-Atom]

[quote="Guardian of the module"]
I won't be much help to you as I pretty much track only my Atom(s). Others will be along shortly to bomard you with ways to part with your money.    Welcome to the Atomic side of life. Some get infected..and some move on. Good luck with your quest.  First step will be figuring out your no-start issue. You may want to contact the last owner and see if he (or she..) possibly has an idea to your dilemma,like a hidden starter switch etc.
[/quote]

Thanks, The orginal ower claimed to never have any issues!

[Spikes-Atom]

I would also like to get more seating room, Im a somewhat of big guy so its kinda tight. I would also like to replace the goofy looking turning signal lights.

[Spikes-Atom]

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.

Right now it has little Baer brakes, they just don't seem to be enough.

Who makes wheels and tires? It has 15" on the front and 16" on the rear. The tires are Toyo's but they are a super soft compound, I don't think they would be very safe if the road happened to be wet.

For exaust I was actually just looking to replace the muffler which I can fabricate myself if I have to. The flowmaster has a truckish sound to it, I want more of a performance sound.

I was afraid on issues putting more boost to it, maybe I can upgrade the tensioner and belt and get a pound or so of boost back from it slipping?

Thanks for the help!

[Terry Kennedy]

[quote="Spikes-Atom"]
I would also like to get more seating room, Im a somewhat of big guy so its kinda tight. I would also like to replace the goofy looking turning signal lights.
[/quote]

I'm pretty big as well, and I'm comfy in the individual seats. I did put some extra padding in the seat bottom to lift me up somewhat - the seat is sort of a flat-bottomed "V" shape and I am slightly wider than the un-padded seat.

There were 3 seat versions used in the Brammo Atoms:

One-piece fiberglass 2-person seat
Individual Recaro seats (Pole Position 2)
Individual Sparco seats (I don't know the model)

All of the Brammo Atoms should have the frame supports for Individual seats, even if the car has the 2-person seat. I believe Shinoo at Sector111 sells additional seat models.

Regarding the turn signals / marker lights, they are from a Rover. A company called Mobile Centre in the UK sells replacement LED lights, but they're the same basic shape as the existing lights, only with flat lenses. A number of owners have installed other styles of lighting.

[Spikes-Atom]

Our car has the Recaro seats. Do you have links to any of these things like the lights?

[Terry Kennedy]

[quote="Spikes-Atom"]
Our car has the Recaro seats. Do you have links to any of these things like the lights?
[/quote]

Most of these things should be searchable on the forum (if you know the right words to look for - and also remember that if you search while in one forum area, the search defaults to only looking at that one area).

Mobile Center LED Lights - http://www.mobilecentre.co.uk/river-run ... p-449.html
Unique Fabricating - http://www.unique-fabricating.com
Sector111 - http://www.sector111.com/ariel_atom
Fortress Performance - http://www.fortressperformance.com

[Spikes-Atom]

How about the rear wings?

[silver]

I made this thread especially for new people such as yourself...it addresses most of your questions with simple to follow links

http://forum.atomclub.com/https://atomc ... ic.php?t=9

also I've posted on this forum my change of turn signals to led units (not just the bulbs) but the whole thing just do a search then do adavnced search and enter user names to get much better results to your queries.

[McFred]

Unless you're going on long road trips or planning on driving in the rain, I thing the soft DOT legal street tires are what you'd want on the street.  Anything else is not going to compliment the performance on tap.  My car came with bfgoodrich tires because the others were not available at the time, and getting good tires made a very noticeable improvement in its street "fun factor."