Stumpy

Exactly what the title says. I tuned my LNF for the the first time today at a local shop that another cobalt owner referred me to. Since there aren't many other ecotec specialists in my area, I figured the guy must be pretty good. He's supposedly done many turbo cobalts before, so mine should be cake. I'm nearly full bolt on with ZZP catless downpipe, ZZP smaller intercooler, Injen hotside pipe, and K&N drop in with stock airbox.

When i mentioned my goal of 330-340whp he pretty much scoffed at me and said there was no way. but that we should see around 290. I was a bit taken aback by this because many guys here are in the 320+club with similar or less mods, but I took his word for it, and let him continue.
Like i said, I was hoping to see around 330-340 whp, but saw significantly less. The baseline run put my car at 224/242 and after only 4 pulls he was happy leaving me with 285/326 @~21/22psi after about 30 minutes on the dyno (dynojet).
Also, the temperature was in the high 30s at the time.
My concerns are that 4 pulls seem awfully low, even for someone who knows these cars well. Friends of mine in the Honda community have seen similarly modded cobalts putting down mid 340s and told me 4 pulls are no where near enough.

I paid $450, and while I understand that 100 goes to HP tuners, I was wondering if i should demand at least a partial refund or if this it is common practice to only pull that few times and to see that little power.

For obvious reasons I will not name the company until I find out if i was in fact played.

Thanks for any input guys!

cobaltss#01

iTrader: (4)

Matt from zzp did 3 pulls for mine and I'm at 289 and 315 tq

Snail_SS

iTrader: (3)

Sounds about right on the numbers to me (the ones he gave you you should be able to hit 300 but 340 seems high on e it should be possible tho

Sl0wbaltSS

315/360 should be normal numbers for I and DP bolt ons. Now if you see for 91 or 93 anything above 340/400 that car is going to blow up or it has a really good tune.

ECaulk

iTrader: (6)

It's really hard to know, sounds like his dyno isn't properly calibrated at the very least.

no_ss

iTrader: (2)

Are you using 93 or 91?

Canadia

I'd be livid if I only made 285 on a dyno jet after paying $450 Jesus

umrdyldo

iTrader: (1)

I agree, this is barely above GM Stage 1 and an intake.

ECaulk

iTrader: (6)

But prior to he only dynod 224 on the same one, so still a 60hp bump.

Snail_SS

iTrader: (3)

Price is high but that probably includes tune and dyno time, and I agree with ecaulk on the hp

Solaris99

Are people here confusing wheel HP with brake HP? 285 at the wheels should be in the neighborhood of 320BHP if you use a 12% drivetrain loss.

umrdyldo

iTrader: (1)

No we aren't, but as stated above, I think we are seeing a heartbreak dyno.

He was 15whp less than most in stock form. So that would put him at 300whp on a typical dyno if the +60HP holds true.

Stumpy

I only use 93 (Shell to be specific)

tomj77

iTrader: (2)

330-340? Where did u get those numbers on stock turbo? Not gonna get that without running e

Canadia

not worth $450 he could have got gms1 and made the same if not slightly less

Canadia

who the hell talks about bhp in that case I'm 400bhp woohoo

Canadia

guess my car is a magical unicorn

ECaulk

iTrader: (6)

When did GMS1 ever add 60hp? Starting at 224 and going to 284 is a good bump no matter how much of a heart break dyno it is. You can just look at the overall dyno number and say he got screwed, without looking at 60-100 times or the tune it's impossible to know.

Canadia

what does gms1 dyno then

Snail_SS

iTrader: (3)

That's the problem you guys are just basing out of the numbers and forget about the actual gains

Canadia

aren't most lnfs dynoing 225-240whp stock? His starting #'s aren't far from the norm to me

tomj77

iTrader: (2)

it is

bland1

You numbers are about the same I made but it was on a mustang dyno, and I'm on 91 octane.

Can't really ask for a refund since they did offer you a service, and did the work. Since they only did 4 pulls they probably just loaded the generic tune they had and did pulls just to make sure the car doesn't knock.

Scythe_Snake

Those numbers are very good for a stock turbo.

People get way too caught up on numbers from the dyno without looking at the variables (altitude, calibration, etc) . The dyno is a tuning tool and it needs to kept in perspective. If the people who get 330-340whp on their dyno STARTED with a base line of 250/260 hp, they did just like you and gained 60ish whp.

Also there are alot of different dynos out there as said earlier. Mustang dynos tend to read lower than dyno jets. But some dynojets read low like mustangs. You did not get screwed over.

Also, 4 pulls is enough. You don't need 10+ pulls with someone who knows the cars well.

I personally made 295/310 on my stock turbo a long time ago.

ECaulk

iTrader: (6)

No you just got a happy dyno.

Normally around 270-280whp and stock is normally around 250whp