BadBowtie03

Hey guys, Im trying to learn here, so please be as nice as possible... I am considering purchasing a used 08 or 09 turbo SS cobalt and I am curious about mods for them. What is the basic stuff everyone does to make more power and reliable power? Ive read of the GM stage 1 stuff but what does it all entail? Is it juts a computer tune and allows more boost? What other stuff out there helps a good bit for the dollar? Turbo piping? downpipes? full exhausts? air intakes? custom tunes? What can you do to the car for about 1,500 bucks power wise? Do these things get to the 12's pretty cheap or just deep into the 13's? Stock trap times are about 103mph right? what about modded stuff? can you get up to 110 fairly easily/cheaply or no?

If there is a basic mods thread that talks about results, prices, and power numbers that would be awesome. Basically I'm trying to see what you can do to the SS pretty cheaply to make it run pretty good without sacrificing mpg's, and reliability.

Thanks for the help!

slapbetcommissioner

iTrader: (3)

If you don't cars about warranty get hpt tuned or trifecta tuned with a hiflow catted or catless down pipe and hot side (upper) charge pipe. Do an air box mod to sAve $ or get cold air intake (only if your getting s custom tune and not just gms1) catback is pretty well a waste of money unless swapping turbos. Our stock exhaust is more than capable it's just all bottle necked At the down pipe as there are two cats on our cars.


Not to say you'd for sure lose your warranty with a custom tune just if they found it the would deffinatly not cover any powertrain issues you might have. I haven't heard of Anyone getting called on it and trifecta has an "undetectable tune" or with hpt you could just write it back to stock before. Visit.

With the mods listed above you could expect between 305-330whp and 350-380wtq depending on how agressive a tune you chose to get. This could put you in the low 13s and trap 110ish

Launching is where these cars have the most difficulty so if it's in the budget get tires suited for what you want to do performance wise. Get slicks if you plan to drag and bring down 60ft times allot.

Gms1 will get you a more conservative 270ishwhp and 300ishwtq.
I have gms1 with a k&n drop in and it feels great I love it and I'm happy with how it performs. It's all I need since I don't hit the track (yet) and I can't afford to screw up my warranty by chancing custom tunes the a could potentially screw me out of a major warranty claim of some sort.

I still plant to do upper charge piping and a Cated down pipe as these seem to benefit the overall feel of the car regardless of hp gains (which will still be there just not as much as a custom tune)


In stock form the car won't gain much of anything from any of the mentioned bolt ones as the engine will "learn down" any airload gain you might get as it's programmed to aim for 260hp and torque. More easily Attained air= less boost to make the Same hp.

So to summarize get a Tune of some sort whatever fits you best and the. Bolt ons (avoiding intake if your not going custom) this is due to it skewing Maf readings and fing up fuel trims custom tunes can correct for this. I've heard that the k&n mAy have solved this issue to some extent and varram and aem are also working on new intakes that could potentially do the same.

Custom will ways yield better results with aftermarket parts as you or your tuner can adjust for the new parts for maximum gain. Go to the vendors on this site as allot of them have excellent prices and many sell a good selection of all the parts you could want Just depends what brand you want what features you want them to have and how much you wanna spend.


Enjoy your car if you chose to join the ranks! And the search function will help you allot If you know what your looking for. This Also helps keep you from getting flamed for asking a question thats been answered several hundred times. Allot of what you asked could be answers by searching I just happen to be board tonight!

SSlobalt

Most people are satisfied with the Trifecta tune for your ECU and a ZZP catless or catted downpipe. That's all you need to keep you in smiles for a few months, at a cost of about 600 bucks. Install is 1 out of 10 on the hardness scale.

RYRO14

iTrader: (1)

Downpipe and Tune is best bang for your buck and can yield traps of 110 or even more depending on the tune and/or driver, I would go with either a custom HP Tuners tune or Trifecta. Your going to need sticky tires as well cause the contis suck and it will be tough to get 12's with them.

wantedSS/TC

iTrader: (1)

I hit 12's on stock conti's

BadBowtie03

thanks for the help guys! so it looks like a tune and a downpipe is the best bet for a good gain over stock and then an intake helps if the tuner tunes it right? I'll look in to all that stuff. thanks.

With basic mods like these are yall still able to see above 20mpg's in town and 30 on the highway? or does it kill mileage? I know driving style has a lot to do with it, but just curious if all things equal... like 2500 rpm or 3000 rpm shifts in town and little bits of throttle.. can that still get you good mileage with the basic mods?

Are they still very reliable with over 300 horse and tq to the wheels? where does it start getting dangerous?

Do BOV's help at all or is it just fun/the sound? Because I thought I read somewhere the cobalts have something different that keeps the pressure down between shifts rather than a bov...

hiltu

iTrader: (5)

just curious, is the concept of a forum new to you? im not trying to be mean but you can skip the whole "im new please be nice to me" skit and use the search button and/or roam the forums and you'll be surprised how exhausting the list is of similar questions/answers is.

rukkee

iTrader: (3)

I still see 32-33 MPG on the highway with the simple stuff I have . You should see high 12's fairly easy (couple bolt on's and good tune) with decent weather at a reasonable elevation.

There are alot of people running over 300 ftlbs at the wheel without any drivetrain issues . GM did a decent job beefing the drive line up from what the SS/SC had . I haven't seen anyone complain about broken front end pieces in quite some time.

BOV are all sound .... they don't add any power , just noise . The SS/TC has a bypass valve that recirculates the air back into the system.

BadBowtie03

no im not new. just google my name. ive been to about a million. thats why i said be nice.

I looked a bit, but i wanted to post... get my name out there, as well as have "my" exact questions answered directly. Everyones been really helpful so far.

I really hope I can get one of these things here pretty soon. I have a tuned 07 vortec max silverado now... and thinking about adding a cobalt to the stable. I just graduated from college though and looking for a job and trying to sell a jet ski and a scooter for a down payment.

If I can get my ducks in a row hopefully I will have one in the next few months and then you will see me asking all kinds of questions.

Im an inquisitive little bastard. Please forgive me.

rukkee

iTrader: (3)

In all fairness .......the search function sucks .

ronn

iTrader: (3)

The function doesn't suck, but it's difficult because most of the time, you still have to wade through a LOT of SH$$T.

I have tune only..no bolt ons with around 300HP to wheels see my *image link* for dyno graph. My take only>>>
If you're boosting over 22 bs and over 325WHP you're asking for trouble (motor and clutch life). Many here will disagree with me and I respect that. As far as bolt ons...some of them will result in CELs and the ECU may have *issues* as well. If you're putting on new collars/boots...better watch them carefully..lot of problems there too. From what I gather here, the CATLESS DP is the item that will add most bang for the buck...but don't expect more than 20HP.
I'm sure we'll now see some *other opinions*...so do your own DD.

rukkee

iTrader: (3)

OK ......but............ I still think it sucks .