This is a thread to help give memebers a direction in modding their LNF.

So far, its only been a year and a half since the Cobalt SS/TC has been out..however the aftermarket support is not to bad..ill list some mods memebers should get.

1. Tune
A tune should be any LNF’s first performance modification. Why you ask? Because the LNF ECU has what is called a “learn down” feature. This “learn down” feature doesn’t allow the car to produce more then what it’s rated at (260 crank horsepower). A tune allows to by-pass this feature and unlocks the cars true potential. You’re probably wondering what tuning options are available, ill list a few and give a un-biased opinion on them.

1.A) HP Tuners: Hptuners is a “do it yourself” type-tuning program. It allows people to purchase software to modify cars ECU. A very skilled tuner with HP tuners can give your LNF a lot of horsepower well remaining still very reliable, however this method can end up costing a lot of money depending on what your “skilled tuner” charges. Another risk factor is running into a tuner who is not as skilled as the next guy. This can run huge risks in damaging your car in the long run, however with the LNF it is a some-what easy car to tune.

1.B) Trifecta: Trifecta is a tuning company owned by a man who is very popular in our LNF world. His name is Vince. Vince owns and operates this company as well as writes the tunes for his clients. How it works is a client will order a tune from Vince, Vince will ether find a dealer close to the clients location or send the client a GT tuner unit to upload the tunes. Trifecta first got on our LNF radar by producing the cheapest most effective power-creating tune. For roughly 200 dollars a LNF owner can get upwards to 60 whp and 60+ wtq from stock. The downsides to Trifecta is that if you don’t get it through a dealer you will need to order a GT tuner unit from Vince in order to revert back to stock tune (in case of going in for warranty). Vince is continually upgrading and testing new tunes out with our cars and advancing the limits of the LNF. I personally became a dealer for Trifecta after doing lots of research on tunes for our cars. I recommend Trifecta but do not bash the others (Hptuners or tuner shops) because you can get very good tunes from them as well.


2. Downpipe
A downpipe should be the second modification you pick to do on your vehicle. The stock downpipe has two very big cats on it, which are very restrictive. Getting a catless or non-catless downpipe will really wake up your vehicle. Depending on your states/countries emission laws you might decide to go with a catted downpipe. A catted downpipe will generally cost you more money and reduce your performance a slight amount, but will improve the sound of your cars exhaust note in most cases. I personally went with Clear Image Auto’s catless downpipe because it was the cheapest option (200 dollars group buy price) and personally owning CIA parts in the past, I knew it would be made top notch. The catless downpipe doesn’t sound bad on our cars until higher RPM’s. If you are worried about gather attention from the police or not passing emissions (my province has zero emission’s law) then a Catted downpipe should be for you. A few companies produce downpipes for our cars (Clear image, Dejon, Synapses, Hahn and ZZP) The Synapses and Hahn downpipes seem to be more expensive then the others but are very high in quality. The Dejon is around the same price as the Clear Image and ZZP but has been known to toss a code (due to no angled bung) the Clear image and ZZP are priced roughly the same and apparently toss no codes (I can only personally agree that the CIA tosses zero codes). All the downpipes I have looked into (listed above) have all meet the quality control standards so I can not say one is made better then the other, it should come down to price and customer loyalty from the companies.

3. Chargepipe
A charge pipe is the pipe that goes from the turbo-intercooler (hot side) and from intercooler-intake manifold (cold side). The stock piping is very restrictive and is a known problem in our cars to break or come apart. A lot of owners find this a annoyance and spring to upgrade to a new charge pipe. There are two styles of hot side charge pipes one can go with.

3.A) Appearance style charge pipes. The appearance style charge pipe option is for the person who wants their engine bay to look “nicer” then the next guys. It is in the same form as the stock charge pipe.

Dejon Charge pipe

3.B) Performance style charge pipes. The performance style charge pipe is just as it sounds. It comes right over the head of the LNF producing maximum airflow.

Injen Charge Pipe

In my personally opinion id prefer the performance style charge pipe, because this is a “how to make your LNF fast” thread not a appearance thread. I personally really like the Clear image automotive performance charge pipe, however their price tag includes both the hot side and cold side. If you are just looking for a hot side upgrade id recommend checking out the Injen charge pipe. Its almost identical to the clear image one and costs roughly 210 dollars.


4. Cat-back
A cat-back is pretty self-explanatory. It’s the exhaust from the cat-back (or downpipe back). The only upgrade us LNF owners should do is 3-inch cat-back. You will see a lot of owners do “Muffler deletes” or “straight pipes” but in my opinion they sound like garbage and is a cheap “omg faster” mode. You don’t need to break the bank when purchasing a cat-back. A few companies offer us 3-inch cat-backs (Hahn, Clear Image, Mandrelexhaustsystem and Magnaflow). The one I would recommend is the Mandrelexhausysytem or MSE exhaust. http://www.mandrelexhaustsystems.com...alt/Categories
They offer 3-inch exhausts in ether aluminized (330 dollars) or Stainless (405 dollars) with your choice of brand name mufflers (Borla or Magnaflow). IMO if you working on a budget and want well put together exhaust this should be your route.


5. Intercooler
An intercooler helps cool the air before it enters your engine. This will probably be the most expensive upgrade for LNF owners. Currently there are three manufactures I can think of who make Intercoolers specifically for our LNF’s (yes there are universal intercoolers). Hahn, Synapses and Crazysteve. Hahn and Synapses both make very good quality intercoolers but at a price, well Crazysteve’s seems to be the cheaper of the two, I have very little information on their products. I personally am leaving an intercooler for the last upgrade well I wait for more manufactures to produce more of them for our selection.


If anyone has any information i should add please feel free to post it in here or PM me. hope this helps you inspiring LNF modders out!!!

 

Very good write up. I have a stock SS/TC and this is going to help me a lot. My question to you is, do you recommend I go with only a tune now and save for a DP later(will/should I re-tune after my DP install?)? Or should I save a little more money and go for a DP and a tune at the same time?

 

Good thread

 

Somebody should sticky this so we dont keep getting the same damn questions asked over and over again

 

nice write up. didt read it all
sub'd for later

 

nice write up. didnt read it all
sub'd for later

 

The question is: Do we make an SRI or CAI the sixth mod?

 

Id put intake in there before charge pipe imo

 

The only reason i put intake last is because their has been lots of issues with intakes. I for one have the dejon and i dislike it alot. Id personally stick with KN drop in and do a air-box mod but to each their own.

 

Good write up. I never knew the downpipe was that important of an upgrade!

 

Yes thats why I waited for the CIA intake to be finished and I ordered it with the tune so Vince can tweek any issues. Waiting impatiently for arrival

 

nice write up. what kind of numbers do you think these mods would make?

 

Very nice

 

Good writeup overall, but I would recommend a different order. SAVE THE TUNE FOR LAST. Build up all the supporting mods - even though you wont see a real difference until the tune, that way you only need to be tuned once. If you get the tune first, then bolt on all the upgrades, you wont be seeing the real gain from those parts until you get re-tuned. Yes there will be a slight gain, but in the case of the intakes and such, many times adjustments need to be made to the tables for max gain.

This is what I did - purchased and installed all the supporting mods (the clutch, trans mounts, downpipe, charge pipes, intercooler, catback, intake) and now just waiting on Trifecta's tune to arrive. This way I only get tuned once, and get the most bang for my buck.

If you aren't going to replace all those parts, just get the tune and be done. Its the most bang for the buck for any single mod you can buy.

 

i wouldnt recomend the mandrel exhaust if it were 200 bucks, things a piece of junk, ive had it so thats my .02, but if you like an exhaust that doesnt fit, and the hangers arent hung in the right location with right bends then go for it

 

Projekt, you should post a pic of the stock downpipe vs an aftermarket downpipe. Its is like comparing apples to Watermelons, lol. The stock downpipe even has a crush point in the pipe where they put the bung for the o2 sensor, its rediculous.

 

some kinda misleading info. Personal opinion doesnt make things best. just saying.

 

ok, well some people believe tuning should be the last thing you do after you get all the performance parts on the car. I think the only performance parts your gonna need on the car prior to tuning would be the Downpipe and intake. everything else can be switched out afterwards with no tuning necessary.

The exhaust might be the last thing i would replace just because 2.5" to 3.0" just seems unnecessary for the amount of power you get from it. Its basically a noise improvement or "un-improvement" for some. lol. Projekt, you should also make a dollar to horsepower comparison for each part!!!

 

CudaJoe, i was referring to the OP, sorry that i didn't specify that, some of the things you said are right on. a dollar to horsepower comparison would be extremely difficult, simply because without a tune, you won't gain a single bit of power from any mod.

 

dp, and tune should be done together at the same time. no questions asked. or save and stock up all the bolt ons, I/E/DP/CP/IC/ put em on once u collected all them and tune. if u cant do either of those. then get the tune, by reading the gains it seems to be the best bang for the buck. what 300ish for like a 50whp gain. thats insanely inexpensive, and plus it gets rid of the learn down feature so that way when u do other mods ur car will act accordingly so u gain a lil more.

 

oh yeah, true. but the learn down thing doesnt occur right away... sooo.. They could slap the part on real quick and throw it on the dyno! lol. no your right, tune needs to be done first and then all the parts following that would have to be referred to as powergains after the tune.

i'll start! Its rumored that the downpipe wether it be catted or catless gives a good 15whp. I paid 320$ for a catted one. 320/15 = 21.33

so $21.33 per hp.

 

lol, i like rumors. hmm how does that song go again? lol

 

I like this write up. I have all my parts waiting at home for me, a tune is last for me though, that way I dont have to retune after I put everything on.

 

Mine fit perfectly.

 

Guys, a retune is only going to be necessary for the intake. I don't think that freeing up restriction after the MAF is going to skew MAF readings any.

If it does, I'll find out really soon as I'm going to be putting my intake on Friday and tuning it that night. And DP/CP/IC will be shortly after that.