ryank771

Ladies, Gentleman and children of all ages……
I have officially decided to start a “track build” thread for my current project. I have decided to retire the RX8 as my track car due to the car just not having enough power to keep up on the straights. It’s a beautiful car, with some of the best handling and THE best brakes of any car I have ever driven….but unless I want to invest 10k into a turbo build, then it’s not worth it. The cost of parts and lack of performance mods have caused me to start looking at turning my Cobalt SS/SC into my track only car. I’m tired at waving bye-bye to the Porsche cars on the straights. So the journey has begun……

About the car:
2006 Cobalt SS/SC with the beloved G85 package – current mileage: 78000 and some change
Mods:
(Engine)

• E85 with custom tune from Dustin (still working out tweaks)
• Dual pass endplate with option B tank
• CX racing heat exchanger (factory H/E delete)
• Step 2 colder plugs (will prob be going back a step due to running e85)
• ZZP shorty header/downpipe combo 3” collector to 2.5 back
• Airbox mod with cone PAPER filter
• Rotated engine mounts
• Upgraded transmission mount bushings
• Hurst “short” shifter – (IMO, worst money I’ve spent on the car yet – “short” shift my ass)

(Suspension/brakes)

• Custom fabricated springs (planned upgrade to KW v2 coilovers in 2011)
• SS/TC shocks
• Stock wheels wrapped with 225/45 Yoko Advans
• Powell racing (OTTP) hardcore rear sway bar
• Centric rotors with HP+ front pads and HPS rear pads
• Dot4 racing brake fluid flush

My WANT /NEED list:

• SS/TC steering knuckles
• SS/TC front Brembo brakes
• Griffin heat exchanger
• Enkei wheels with r-compound stickies
• 6 point harness (I have a 5 point if anyone wants to swap?)
• HP tuners (so I don’t have to bring Dustin to the track with me every time!)
• Shims for the rear hub so I can get more camber out of the stupid things

Concerns:

• Rear bearings -- these are already bad. Hoping they hold up for "test/tune weekend"
• Brakes – this car is heavier than the rx8. Going to take a while to adjust to the brake threshold.
• Heat – specifically IAT2’s. Running e85 should help with internal temps.
• Handling – it IS a FWD car after all….but look at the WC class winner….a freaking Scion.
• Durability – I am pushing 80k miles on it. Once things start failing internally, the build is going to get ugly with internals being swapped!
  

The car has a ton of work to go yet. I need more gauges, and I’m hoping this winter I can shed a ton of weight which means I’ll be having a lot of interior parts for sale in the future! I’m hoping to mirror ZZP’s guage cluster where the stock radio is currently located Basically this build is to complete within NASA TT events. I’m currently at HPDE level 3 and that was in one weekend, so I’m hoping after a few more events next year I can get into 4 and eventually run in TT’s.

Lots of help by Chris (s1lver) and Dustin (383_Stroker), as well as ZZP and OTTP for their products and suggestions.

Will keep thread updated. I have a track event next month that Dustin will be riding shotgun in to help finalize the track tune. I’ll be sure to have lots of video as I’m expecting to go “off roading” quite a bit as I learn the limits of this car and the new setup. Should be quite interesting. BTW, for anyone in Indiana that would like to come out and either watch, or participate (Putnam is a very safe and very fun track to play on), here’s the link. Putnam Park

I believe they are charging $20 for people that want to ride along. If anyone is interested, once we get the car tuned safely I’ll be more than happy to give some people a few laps at full speed.

s1lver

i'm hoping i can make it out there w/ you on whichever day you choose.

ryank771

Sweet! You going to run your car too, or just come check it out?

s1lver

come check it out. no tires for event plus no money and trans leak still.

Wangspeed

iTrader: (2)

You're going to spend more on the SC than you will building out an RX8.

ryank771

Yes and no. It depends on how far I want to take this. With my current setup, I'll be posting much faster lap times, IF I can adjust to the FWD type of driving. I currently don't have any plans to upgrade to a TVS or go turbo anytime soon. From here on out it will be suspension/wheel/tire setups and whatever I can do to save the engine as much as possible.

s1lver

for more power on the RX8 it's an additional 10K+ for boost.

Wangspeed

iTrader: (2)

Quite frankly, if you believe that the SC is faster at the same prep level as the RX8, then you need more track time. On track, the RX8 is no slouch. The lap record for TTC at VIR Full is set by an RX8. I don't see an SC doing any better than that at the same class level (SC starts at TTE).

Post up a lap time on a well known track.

ryank771

Wait, who said that the RX8 is not a great track car? Who said I'm a great driver? I'm only in HPDE 3 which is far from someone with enough experience to be posting top lap times in any car. In my original post I already stated how much I love the RX8 as a track car. It handles and brakes better than any car I have ever driven. With a great driver, custom suspension and some r-compound tires I don't doubt the rx8 could post great lap times at any track. If I recall, I believe it dominates it's class in SCCA events, but I could be mistaken on that. My fastest lap times at Putnam on my current Rx8 setup (springs/adj shocks) with street tires was 1:26 and some change. Not fast by any means.

My points for the switch are simple:

TCO - Rx8 is much more expensive to mod and fix. Plus anyone that knows about the 13b engine in the rx8 knows how shitty the durability is on it, as well as the transmission syncros. Sure I could tear it apart and put ceramic seals on it..blah blah. But why when I have an engine in the Cobalt that can take a beating and keep on going. Plus, it's much more fun to modify.

Rx8 is a much better daily driver -- gas mileage aside obviously. Mine when placed back to stock has all the bells and whistles (heated seats and the like).

My rx8 has less than 30k miles on it while my Cobalt has 79k.

I KNOW the rx8 is a great track car in the hands of a great driver. Actually, any car is. I've seen a friend of mine be very competitive in a Honda Fit. I've even seen a Dodge Neon (non srt-4) run similar times to Eric Meyer who races the rx8 in the SCCA WC events.

Who knows -- I could go out to Putnam in a couple weeks and run the Cobalt just to find out it's not the track car for me and I'll go back to the rx8. It's all in good fun.....nobody said I am trying to become a professional driver. Track days are pretty much my escape from the daily grind.

ryank771

Anyways - just an update on the build. We are still working out some bugs in the tune. We are getting very random fuel issues where the car will be at <20% throttle and cruise speeds and go rich for some reason. This morning it caused p0101 DTC. We may end up going back to 60's to see if the 80's I got are the problem. I doubt it's nothing major at this point.

383_Stroker

iTrader: (3)

Looking forward to trying to watch the laptop in the passenger seat on the track..

ryank771

So...long time, no update. I had my first track outing a few weeks ago with tuner man 383_Stroker. The outing was better than I had anticipated. The car handled beautifully, and the power was much better than I was hoping for. Dustin had the car perfectly tuned, and somehow made it even better out on the track. In comparison, my best lap times in the RX8 were ~1.27 and top speed on the straight was 115mph. In the cobalt, I was running around ~1.24-1.25 with top speeds on the straight reaching 125mph. On the second day I ended up getting a stuck open thermostat which caused me to have to pull the fan relays to get it warmed up and run a few laps, come in and put them in before heading back out. I also found out that on the second day, my CV boot on the drivers side busted. I thought my brakes went to ****...turns out they just had grease all over the ******. Scary when you are hitting your brakes hard at 125mph and they hit the floor!

Temps on the second day were around 70 degrees. My IAT2's would get to around 185 tops. Because of this, I have recently sold the CXRacing H/E and purchased the Griffin. I will be running 100% distilled water with water wetter in the H/E system, with 75/25 mix (water/antifreeze) in the engine itself. This should bring my temps down pretty far.

I will also note that I had spring failure in the drivers side front of my car. I would bottom out in turn 7 and I basically rubbed through the fender lining and almost into my damn intake. I have a new fender liner on the way via RockAuto parts. Cheap too.....gotta love track cars.

I'm hoping to get out to the NASA event in a couple weeks at Putnam to test out the new equipment. I'll post updates on how well the IAT2's look when/if I do.

To sum it up -- this car is more fun and more predictable on the track than the RX8. I LOVE the RX8 and it handles and brakes like none other....but there is just something about the Cobalt that makes it more fun. I felt like I was more in control of the slides than in the RX8.

Now, on to the pics!

Aftermath of the torn CV boot:



Aftermath of the fender liner fight with my tire:



New Griffin partially installed:



Now onto the track pics:

383_Stroker

iTrader: (3)

Crazy people let me out on the track during the lunch break.. don't know what they were thinking

Glad the car's running well!

noorj

iTrader: (17)

Thought about going wingless? I know top speed goes up when wingless, so maybe you could grab a couple tenths. Just a thought

ryank771

I forgot about this thread....I should prob update it since my mod list has been completed for the most part.

As for the wing....it's needed. Front wheel drive cars need as much down force on the back end as possible and the wing provides that. I'd much rather have that than a few extra seconds shaved off my lap times. Totally different opinion on a drag strip.....I'd leave it off if it was a drag queen car.

Wangspeed

iTrader: (2)

The wing isn't necessary, unless you have a ton more HP, and a front splitter to match. Some of the race Cobalts tested this out. No wing = faster. The stock big wing isn't even stable enough to provide significant downforce.

If the problem you're trying to solve is unstability under hard braking, that can mostly be solved by smoothing out driver inputs, and additionally, you'll have to correct as it occurs. There's no getting out of that. If you put on pads that are too unbalanced in the front or rear, you'll exaggerate this problem, especially if you get the rears close to locking up.

ryank771

Raced with it and without it. I can say for sure that it does make a difference in high speed turns. Maybe not a ton, but its worth more than a few mph on the straights.

noorj

iTrader: (17)

thats werid i wouldnt think it could put more than 25 lbs of downforce considering its plastic and not mounted in any strong way

Mark Aubele

And you would be right in thinking that.