Unique Motorsports

Pretty much any car designed for the masses is going to be somewhat neutral in many aspects. Suspension is a great example of this as the average person doesn’t want a firm ride or the worry of breaking the front bumper cover off when getting just a little to snug to a curb. Automotive enthusiasts however, are a slightly different breed. We notice that split second gab between turning the wheel and the car following along. We are ok with a little more noise, we want the car to be firm and responsive.

Springs vs Coilovers – The debate will continue. Personally I say springs. You can get a nice firm responsive whip without being overly jaring. Coilovers really limit the amount of suspension travel you have. For example, you might need to jack up your car 4 inches before the tire leaves the ground. With coilovers, it’s only going to be about an inch. The nice thing about coilovers such as installed here, are the advantages of setting ride height, spring rate and shock firmness.

This install is about coilovers. The install is pretty much the same as a regular spring install with a few key differences.

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Another spring install on a WRX along with a Downpipe install. This time its a 2009 Impreza WRX Hatchback. Not only do these Epic Lowering Springs give the car a much nicer stance, it’s also a great suspension modification to improve the handling of the WRX without sacrificing ride quality.

Scroll through and click on the images for descriptions of the install.

What is a race friendly core support anyway? Well, I’m not really sure. What I do know is if you want to run a V Mount intercooler and radiator setup then you are going to need some room. The stock bumper beam, upper core support, and lower brace just don’t allow the freedom one needs to run enough radiator or intercooler. As for the bumper, well it was only attached by the sides so we decided to make some more room, make it stronger, and add lightness.

This project actually started a few nights ago. We laid out some general plans based on what it was we were trying to achieve. Intercooler and radiator fitment allow for easy to service and maximum cooling. We also didn’t want to lose any chassis rigidity. When considering chassis mods take into account the actual forces being applied otherwise you might be adding strength and wieght with no real benefit. Despite my wifes beliefs about my memory abilities, I was able to reach in and pull some helpful ques from my past.

Corolla lovers, the RWD type from the 80′s, not the newer corollas of today, are big on hanging on to that front bumper or even replacing it with something better to aid in chassis strength. Perhaps it’s an attempt to bring out the inner Takumi or delivery driver, but I just don’t think anyone would have one of these tossable cars and not drive it. They know about chassis tortional flex and do a lot to avoid it. That’s a lot of words to say, we need to keep the strength in the lower bar. To improve on it even more, I pulled a que from Lou, former host of Muscle Car. Well he too was a stickler for chassis rigidity which resulted in chassis tricks for all sorts of unibody and frame based cars. He would basically trim out enough of a factoy connection and place strong tubing or box in key flex areas. I also thought back to a Trucks episode where they shortened a frame and rather than cut it straight, they cut down then over then down again to maximize te welding area. Whoever said you can’t learn something by watching tv?

Finally, I used one more as seen on tv method from Trucks.  When Stacy David was building that bronco there was a ton of fabrication work to do. To maintain the Broncos angles and alignments he would temporarily weld stock to whatever he was working on then replace the rusted pieces following up by removing the temporary welded in piece. That being said we did the bumper first.

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No one is going to mistake the Aveo for a Race car. Race cars are fast and very responsive. This article is about making the Aveo more responsive while keeping cash in my pocket.

First off, a personal definition of responsive. To me a car needs to feel responsive in a few areas. Throttle response, braking, and handling. This article will focus mostly on the handling aspect. Keep in mind this is an Aveo, so keeping the budget to a minimum while not harming fuel economy will limit some of the results, but can also make for more interesting reading into the world of Aveo tuning.

The most basic approach to improving a cars handling is lowering springs and large wheels with low profile tires. That’s “out of budget” for this project, Not only that, but there are so many other aspects involved in a cars ability to handle well. For example chassis rigidity and flex. Follow along for the other tricks to making a car handle without breaking any banks.

Lowering Springs: Lowering the center of gravity is a great way to reduce body roll and keep the car on track. This is by far the most popular method and looks good too. The key is to match the lowering springs with a good set of struts to avoid a bouncy ride. Springs run about $200. I decided to go with H&R as they were the only springs available at the time for the Aveo. Eibachs are now available, they don’t lower it as much, but I suspect the ride quality is better.

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Couldn’t find any brake lines for the Skittle, so here are some reference points to try and make some or possibly find universal.

upper takes a 10mm wrench
Caliper Banjo Bolt takes a 12mm Wrench
Brake line is 13 inches long