GM Performance Division :: Performance Tips

While it’s best to powder-coat or professionally paint parts for maximum appearance and durability, covering parts with semi-gloss black spray can paint is a good way to make everything look great while keeping a down-to-the-wire project moving forward.

When starting the build of their ‘dream car’, many enthusiasts have a tough time springing for the initial dollars to commission an artists ‘sketch’ of their dream. Big mistake. These sketches are great for keeping you on your original mission, inspiring you to keep working through the tough times and helping others to get behind your efforts.

When building a rollcage, it’s best to mate the rollcage tubes as tight as possible before welding them to maximize the strength of the weld and the overall strength and appearance of the rollcage. A tip to help you make these tight fits is to create a cardboard template (inset) that mates tightly, then replicate that on the end of the tube. (Refer to Cobalt Roll Cage Article in “Performance Pulse” Section)

Trailblazer SS Cool Brakes If you own one of the impressive 2006 Trailblazer SS hot rods, then you’ll want to maximize your brake system capability by installing the GM Performance engineered front brake cooling system (pn 19154753). This kit installs easily and makes a dramatic improvement in brake rotor and pad temperatures during extreme brake situations—which improves stopping distances, brake pedal feel and component life.

The weight of the suspension ‘corners’ on your performance car make a dramatic impact on how the vehicle handles bumps, cornering, acceleration and braking. In general, the lighter the components hanging out in the breeze, the quicker the spring, swaybar, bushings and shock absorber can control the motion of the wheel/tire combination. This land speed racing setup is the extreme in lightweight, but it shows how important keeping these components light and strong, is to vehicle performance.

One of the great lessons of racing is that some relatively inexpensive testing goes a long way once you are at the racetrack and want to go fast. With that in mind, it is a good idea to take your performance vehicle to a chassis dyno facility to do power and simulation runs. While this can be costly, it is almost always much cheaper than the actual tow/race/return cost—and just helps you have a better time once you do go racing!

If you own a Saturn Red Line Ion or Chevrolet Cobalt SS-supercharged vehicle, now is the time to consider upgrading your 2.0 L Supercharged Ecotec (RPO LSJ) engine with a GM Performance Stage 1 or Stage 2 performance package. The Stage 1 (pn 17801947) or Stage 2 (pn 17803229) kits install easily and produce a substantial increase in power. And if you want to ‘step up’ from Stage 1 to Stage 2 later on, there is a Stage 1 Upgrade to Stage 2 kit (pn 17803230).

A rollcage that is being installed in an existing subframe vehicle needs to be welded to the floor in many places, as there isn’t a separate frame to weld to in these vehicles and the sheetmetal floor is usually too thin to apply the proper level of heat for a strong weld. A way to maximize the strength of this weld point is to build a plate out of 1/8 inch mild steel that closely matches the shape of the floor. Stitch weld this plate to the floor and then weld the rollcage tube to this mounting plate. (Refer to Cobalt Roll Cage Article in “Performance Pulse” Section)

An anonymous race quote says, “Worry about the ounces and the pounds will come.” So all performance enthusiasts should be working to shave weight where you can. Your lighter vehicle will show real results in performance that are often better than tons more horsepower!

Always carry a fire extinguisher in a performance vehicle and if you’re racing, it’s best to install an on-board fire suppression system that can be activated from the driver’s compartment.

If you add aftermarket gauges to your vehicle, consider installing them ‘clocked’ to have the gauge needles pointing straight up when everything is operating to plan. That way, you can tell at a glance if everything is working properly.

The fast drivers will always tell you, ‘Smooth is Fast’. Smoking tires and sideways cornering might look cool, but it’s not fast. This is best attained by imagining you have a raw egg between your right foot and the throttle—apply it carefully, but aggressively, to minimize tire spin and loss of traction but maximize acceleration.

While it seems some drivers are ‘gifted’ with speed, usually they’ve just got more experience than their competitors. If you want to go fast, take your time, carefully discover the limits of your driving capability and car, get good coaching and keep good notes about your experiences. While it will seem to take a long time to get fast, pretty soon you’ll be considered one of the ‘gifted’ speed demons.

When shifting through the gears of a manual transmission under hard acceleration, the fast guys never completely take their foot off the accelerator-they back off, but not fully, to keep the engine turning enough rpm to mesh the gears and keep the car accelerating with as little lost time as possible.