My tuner and I are in discussion at the moment for possibly entering the Cobalt market for custom tunes and are interested in seeing how many of you would be interested in it. I cannot say what the pricing would be at the moment only because we would have to check to see what the core costs for the PCM are on the Cobalt/RL/Pursuits. My tuner currently does PCM tuning for GM trucks for around $200 and has free updates to the tune from then on (you would have to pay for shipping of course). We would like to be able to do the same for the Cobalt community. Of course if we did this we would discuss it with Jonel for possible forum sponsorship. Please reply if you have any questions or would possibly be interested in this. If there is interest we will start getting some Houston volunteers to see what we can net as far as performance gains and get the ball rolling.

 

i am but wont be the first...........sorry. But seriously i am

 

No need to say sorry, we'll be getting some R&D done first before offering services on the site. We just don't want to waste time if no one is interested.

 

I would be interested, but you have to crack the 05-06 2.2 PCM first...

 

Ah sorry I forgot to mention that it would be solely LSJ and LE5 for that reason.

 

how would you create these custom tunes, do we have to give a list of mods, and get the car data logged.

 

well i would be willing to drive down there for a tune once yall are all set up, you guys up for that?

 

Caleb, you know i am up for it! get a hold of me and tell me whats up!

 

i would be interested in something like that somewhere down the road when the warranty dies off so i can take advantage of it while i still have it. but definitely sounds like a good idea.

 

Well, to be 100% honest all mail order tunes are basically educated guesses. I cannot give you a more down-to-earth answer than that. If a company who does mail order tunes says otherwise, they are lying plain and simple. Now with that being said, can a mail order tune be dead on? It sure can. I’ve seen plenty of vehicles with mail order tunes dyno and perform just as well as another that has been dyno-tuned or street-tuned while having a perfectly balanced A/F ratio on the first tune. It all depends on the skill of the tuner. What most well-known tuners who dyno/street tune as well as do mail orders do is compile a database of information based on the vehicles that have actually come into the shop and had dyno/street tunes done as well as customer feedback on their tuned vehicles. Every car is different, BUT, 99% of them are similar in many tuning aspects. Say someone wants a mail order tune for their Cobalt SS/SC that has a 2.8” pulley, injectors and exhaust. What the tuner would most likely do is find out what the average A/F ratio was, the timing, etc. etc. for other CSS/SC’s with similar mods and factor that into a base tune. Add whatever else the customer requests like particular rev-limit, taking governor off, etc. and then based on that entire information make a CONSERVATIVE tune based on how the other vehicles performed. This is all written to a new PCM and shipped off the customer. What the customer then can do is either datalog it or have the A/F ratio measured on a dyno. This information can help the tuner pin-point what exactly needs to be done to perfect the tune for that individual. The problem with that is many places charge $50+ for re-tunes….ours would be free.

So basically to answer your question, you would definitely need to give a list of modifications. Previous dyno-charts particularly with wide-band A/F ratios done helps out as well...but is really necessary AFTER the tune so it can be adjusted properly.

 

Yeah I'm discussing it with Charlie to see if he would be interested in doing this. If so, we might use you as a guinea pig.

 

can't wait to try that out, let me save up some money first

 

Oh I'm sure the tune would be free since you're volunteering. I think it would just be the dyno to see what gains we can get that would cost anything. I'll let you know for sure though, I'm waiting to hear back from him tonight.

 

alright, well i am gonna hurry and try to put my pulley back on

 

i'm still stock for the most part (have plans for mods just no $ right now, lol), so i'm not sure what type of 2.4 you would need. but i would be willing and want (part of my plans after i got some mods was a tune any way) to get a tune on my car. if this works out and you need a 2.4 and want to use my car just send me a PM with info and i can get you my number.

P.S. i'm the blue 2.4 at the 59 and 1960 meet. we have talked a few times.

 

sounds good I know you said your not sure on prices but let me know and since I'm in San Antonio I could drive to Houston and get tuned I wouldn't mind the drive.

 

I would be interested if depnding on the price and performance gains from the mods i have

 

Good deal, I'll try and talk to my tuner tonight and see what he says. Kage, we'll be glad to take a 2.4 N/A SS. I'll let you know.

 

Deff. interested, can't wait, hope we get some more people to say they are interested

 

Why not email the tunes instead of sending a new PCM?? If you email them and they have HPT or know someone who does they dont have to get a crank relearn done.

 

...make sure there is a disclaimer when you send these out that they are intended for off-road use only and that you are not responsible for any problems that the car may have if they put it on. This will save your butt when some idiot blows his motor cuz he incorrectly installed one of his own mods and trys to say it was your PCM that did it........

 

Of course, the necessary precautions will definitely be put in place if this happens. We're still discussing whether or not the idea would be lucrative.

 

hey KB do you have any info?

 

Im with you. I want some tuning for our cars

 

Just an update- I’m going down to see my tuner tonight after work to see if we can adjust the timing a bit more and net a little more power out my 5.3l. We’ll be discussing the Cobalt community tonight to see what the costs would be to set up a few volunteers and have their cars dynoed for gains after tuning