Day # 2 of driving it. Its got a leak. Pretty sure its oil. And pretty sure I am going to have to pull the trans to fix it.... Not sure if its the rear main or one of the oil plugs behind the flywheel. Its not a horrible leak so I am going to keep driving it for now.

Edit - Also ordered the boost solenoid on the intake manifold to see if that helps anything. And on top of that, my factory front lip came in. Now I just need to paint it.

 

thats a bummer

 

That sucks

 

It does suck but it is what it is. The trans by itself should be pretty easy to pull. Maybe something else is leaking? Dont know. I havent really crawled under it to give it a good inspection. I just know that its very odd for Ecotecs to have rear main seal problems. On top of that, I have never had one of those plugs leak. So in a way, I am kind of baffled.

 

It's not from the oil cooler is it?

 

I really dont think so. I cant find and oil traces on the front of the engine. Couldnt find any on the back either. All I can see is it dripping from the rear of the oil pan where it meets the trans, coming off the rear most bolt that goes through the pan into the trans. I looked in the trans inspection hole and the clutch is dry. Maybe its the slave leaking? I did have that problem with the pedal not moving. I will have to do a better oil analysis next time im under there.

 

Boost solenoid on intake replaced and it runs much better. Ran my dad in his zl1 on the way to pick up the kid and it did much better than I thought. Still feels slow but I feel better knowing that a 650hp beast didn't pull away like I was sitting still. Don't get me wrong, it was pulling on me for sure but it wasn't like I thought would happen. I honestly think I'm too used to my evo. I am sure a tune is going to wake it up.

 

The tune is what makes these cars fun and hang with those big boys on the highway a little better

 

Lets continue on with some bad new. Well one thing of good news first. Car passed smog no problem. After that, I went to get it aligned. Like normal, the shop sucked and only did half the job. Didnt even touch camber because "its lowered". So I am at 2° on one side and 1.2° on the other up front. I really need to find a better alignment shop. At least the steering wheel is straight and the toe is correct. After that, I decided to go get it registered. I went to a little hole in the wall shop that said they could do it. About 2 minutes into it, the lady turns her computer screen around and shows me that there are $1225 in back fees. The PO said he had it non opted. Guess not...

My other option is to register it in AZ for a year. I was going to do that this morning but guess what? ADOT is by appointment only, their phone system is so busy you cant get through, the online option isnt working and its going to take them up to 5 days to let me know through email when the next appointment is... So yes today is filled with a bunch of fails and there is nothing I can do about it.

I will at least end this post with a good note. I popped in my GMS1 tune and sensors and the car runs much better. I might have forgot to copy over a table cause the car bucks when trying to hold a constant speed. Other then that, it will now roast the tires in 2nd gear. Full throttle is perfectly fine and I am actually happy with how fast it is now. I might just do some tweaks to this tune and send it.

 

Ok finally some good news. After sitting on hold for 59 minutes and about to hang up when I hit one hour, ADOT answered my call. Yes literally 1 minute before I was going to hang up and give up. What they said blew my mind. I can do a title transfer over the phone! A hour later, I printed out my new license plate. Blown away and extremely happy.

Then to top that off, I looked over my GMS1 tune and yep, missed a few things. Copy and pasted those tables in and man, car runs perfect again. Nothing but success this afternoon. We are good to go from here!

 

That's been one of the biggest problems with the Cobalts, LSJ included. Tuning for cams was/is kind of hard because a lot of the VE tables aren't available. You can't switch an LSJ completely to speed density because of it. A lot of the big name tuners early on begged and begged HPT to get some added, but they never really did anything for us. There used to be a picture on here comparing the available VE tables in an LSJ compared to an LS1. It was pretty funny.

I've been considering getting my own alignment tools, TBH. It is nice to have a real Track-focused shop locally... but at ~$140/alignment... it's rather pricey.

Longacre makes Toe and Camber/Caster gauges that costs as much as two or three alignments for me. Owning 3 cars... it seems to make sense.

 

Got a link for those tools?

 

Glad you had some good luck with getting registered. The GMS1 really wakes the car up. I drove my stock tune for 2 years, then a shitty tune from a local clown for about 6 months. ZZP canned tune on 91 when I was in Cali. It was like a whole new car. They should sent out from the factory that way.

 

That is exactly what I told Eric haha. The tune is so much better now. Not even sure I want to tune it past this now. Again, I am building this car to be a DD, not a racecar. Power is not what i am after. I do need it to move along quite good to be a fun daily. But ya, I think the gms1 tune will hold me over for now.

 

Here's the list to their website listing all their alignment tools: Longacre Alignment Tools

Their website gives some brief details on how to setup and use their tools, as well.

And here's some Summit links to their Toe Plates and Magnetic Camber/Caster tool.

Longacre Toe-In Plates 52-79501

Longacre Deluxe Toe-In Plates 52-79505

Longacre Caster Camber Gauges 52-78272 (Magnetic base; attaches to hub)

Longacre Caster Camber Gauges 78274 (triple arm base, attaches on wheel)

Summit Racing - Search results for "longacre camber"

If you're crafty enough, you can certainly have these made or make some of these tools cheaper - especially the toe plates. If we were still cutting and bending our own sheet metal at work, I'd have them made there.

I know Powell has told me of ways to use laser levels to do some of it too.

 

I wouldnt mind paying $140 for an actual quality alignment to my specs. Thats only $50 more than I paid for half of an alignment. I do the alignment on my Bug myself using the string method. Takes about 2 hours. I have been looking at the camber and tow plates. That would make it way easier. I think once I move and build my new place, I am going to bite the bullet and get a real alignment machine. They are about $20k but man that would be awesome to have! Could also use it as a normal drive on lift so it would at least serve 2 purposes. Wouldnt mind doing alignments on the side either to recoup some of the cost.

 

Now that the Cobalt is running and driving, its time to address some of its smaller issues. Mostly suspension related stuff. First off, the H&R lowering springs it has on it suck. Maybe its the stock shocks with 120K miles on them. Whatever it is, it rides like garbage and bottoms out over any little bump. One of the struts also has a seized stud. On top of that, something clunks when I turn sitting still. Then we move on to the brakes. Car has been sitting so long the rotors are rust pitted. Front pads are down to the squealers and rears are not far behind. So here is what is on order or already at home.

- GM/Brembo front brake pads
- GM rear brake pads
- Blank Centric rotors all around
- Koni yellows
- Strut dust boots and bump stops
- Strut top hats
- YYZ springs
- Front control arms complete
- Tie rod ends for steering rack

I need to give the rear of the car a good look over to see if any of the bushings are wasted but I am guessing they are going to be. Still need to install my new exhaust too. Next up after all this, exterior work. Need to get the outside looking new! I at least got lucky on the interior. It is nearly perfect and doesnt really need any work. I will get to that portion last.

 

My front brakes were making a funny squealing noise, so I replaced them. Brembo/gm pads and centric blank rotors. Plenty of life left on the duralast cmax pads. Rotors almost look new...

 

Got the rear brakes done last night. They were in better shape than the fronts. Same Duralast Cmax pads and unknown rotors that were rust pitted. Now I just need to get someone over to help me flush the fluid and brakes will be considered done. Tonight, I should have time to get my evilbay exhaust on and then next weekend will be the front end refresh and spring and shock replacement. Not looking forward to that part. I at least have tracking numbers on all the final parts so they should be here next week.

Oh and the most exciting thing came in today. An assorted box of those plastic push clips. Now I can go through the front bumper and really get it secured down. Hopefully I can find something to cover up the holes that are going to be there when I take the stupid front bumper quick disconnects off.

Edit - Konis showed up today too.

 

It's never considered done. There is always something to do.... You thought you were done, then Links show up....

 

You know, this is just a dd for me. I don't want to mod it. So it may actually be the first car that I actually finish. Haha

 

You would think so: however once you get into modding even on your other vehicles, the gremlins in your head will whisper, "hey, you can do this too on the Cobalt, but for cheaper!".

 

I really think that besides what I already have on order, the only other thing I am going to do is get a set of track pads. I plan on doing big track days in this car so brakes will be a must. Plus I haven't changed anything on the evo in about a year now so my projects are coming to an end fast. Sad times I know. Too much money has gone into my cars over there years. Time to put money in the house.

 

Alright, got the last piece of the puzzle in today. That would be the YYZ springs. Going to tear into it Saturday morning and hopefully get it all done before it gets too hot out. Also decided I am going to do my first oil change. Should be at about 500 miles on the new engine by Saturday. Hopefully it comes out pretty clean.

 

Yeah YYZ Springs are the last thing I need also. Stupid covid 19 and US/Canada border issues are delaying me from getting them directly from Powell and yeah I know I can buy them from say ZZP or crateengine depot i'm also having to spend almost 200 dollars more with the exchange rate.