payne wrote:
What is the story with wheel bearings/uprights? I will be running the car on 205/275 A6s in the next future, so I'd like to fix any issues before I break something at the track
You'll definitely want upgraded rear uprights. Both Tom at Unique Fabricating and dp from Palatov Motorsport make replacements which are a lot more heavy-duty.
Motor: Looking at all the ugly dyno graphs and horrible tunes I've seen searching, I'd like to get a tune done.
Smaller pulley. What's a recommended size for a 91 octane setup?
Possibly go to larger injectors and also get a (swapable) E85 tune for safetly/cooling effects at the track
Many tuners can't deal with the oddball GM Racing calibration that is in the Brammo PCM. You may be better off with a stock Cobalt SS PCM (2005/2006) and going from there.
You'll probably want to go with a
bigger pulley, at least until you replace the whole intercooler system.
You can change injector sizes as long as you tune appropriately. There are a large number of available options for the LSJ. I believe one member here has a switchable gas / E85 tune.
Is the stock intake okay?
The car has the stainless system with a flex coupler, then a pipe up the passenger side into the muffler with an exit on the driver side. What's the story of the exhaust failures? Are they related to the terrible ultra-rich tune? Should I expect to have issues after 6 track days and 3k miles? Will that pass noise rules at Laguna Seca? Are there aftermarket options that get the car quiet enough to pass?
If you have the molded intake (and not the "vacuum cleaner hose" one), it should be good to 300HP or so. Beyond that, you may need a larger diameter with a bigger filter, and possibly a larger throttle body, depending on what you're shooting for.
The flex is not the only problem with the Brammo exhaust. The headers can crack around the 4-in-1 collector as well. I had continual problems with the flange gaskets blowing out as well. I'm now running the Sector111/HyTech exhaust on mine. If I were doing it over again, I'd have a custom one done by HyTech to correct some issues with the kit one.
A lot of us (with a wide variety of exhaust configurations) had noise problems at Laguna Seca. Attempts to deal with this ranged from a collection of Victorian steam fittings (Tom / Randy) to putting the exhaust in the next town over (Gage).
It seems that the quietest one was a car with a turbo conversion (DarthChicken).
Is there an updated Brammo tune I should get before I get the car tuned locally?
There are no new PCMs available. You could probably buy a used one from someone here, but it isn't worth it if you're planning on changing the tune anyway. Plus, if you have the old "vacuum cleaner hose" intake, you'd need the new molded one and those aren't available new, either.
What do I need to do to get the intercooler system working most efficiently? Reverse the flow? Convert to a dual pass?
There are
lots of varying opinions here, and people have made a number of different changes to get around it. Best to read up on it.
If I replace the fuel filler neck gasket, is it easy to upgrade the fuel pump at the same time? I may go turbo/350rwhp in the future, and I've got a Walbro 255 laying around, so I might as well do it while I'm in the tank, no?
Take a look at your filler neck before you tear into things. You say you have one of Brammo's first 10 cars, so you
should have a RAM2xx VIN and an oval (not round) filler neck and not have the gasket problem. If your filler neck is round and your VIN isn't RAM2xx, you don't have one of the first 10 cars.
To get the fuel pump out, you'll need to drill out the rivets holding the firewall to the frame and remove the firewall. You may need to remove the driver's seat as well.
What about the braking system? Should I go to Motul, or do most people run standard Synth DOT III stuff?
I'm running ATE Super Blue (alternating w/ their yellow stuff, which is the same thing except for the color). This is purely for convenience so I can tell when the old stuff is out when doing a change. I'm running Pennzoil Platinum 5W30 in the engine on the recommendation of my oil analyst.
Anything else I should look into before spirited driving so that I don't dead myself?
Make sure that all of the Brammo "oops" pseudo-recalls have been done. Off the top of my head:
o rubber padding on coolant lines at rear of tub
o protective sleeving on fuel lines
o anchor right rear brake line so engine belt doesn't cut through it
o verify intercooler fan runs in the proper direction
o verify correct shock absorbers (fronts on rears)
If the car hasn't been pushed hard since it left Brammo, there may be undiscovered defects / assembly errors. The first time I ran at Hallett, one of my coolant lines blew off because Brammo had clamped it on the outside of the bead, rather than the inside.
