What do I do next?
 

So I'm just wondering what do do next to my car to make more power. Background on my car: I bought it not quite 3 months ago with 63,000 miles on it and it was stock besides a tune that his local shop did. It bounces off 30lbs then sits at 28lbs of boost (as the gauge reads). I have bolt ons now including intake, catless downpipe, no resonator or muffler but stock 2.5 pipe after the DP, bigger intercooler with new charge pipes (stock upper popped and put a dent in my hood). So now what? I'm thinking about going to get a dyno tune after school today to get the tune up to date with my bolt ons. I've been reading about a 3 bar map sensor, But I don't know if my car already has it since it does read 30 psi and the stock ones havnt blown out. Also what should I try to do with my tune? I see people making good power on e85 and better on 47 but I go up to north Minnesota a lot and don't want to get stranded without e85 pumps. Anything helps, thanks.

Start here : https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/2-0l...-power-316965/

Then read through the rest of the sticky's in this subforum.

You are boosting to 30 lbs on a k04?

I'm gonna guess he's spiking to 27-28 but visually it looks like 30 if it is a KO4

pressure sensors: there are 2, one in the intake manifold basically staring at you right in front of your nose when you open the hood, and a second is in the cold-side charge pipe, about 1 foot before the throttle body. the 3 bar MAP sensors are identical, they are blue and say Bosch on them.
The stock LNF pressure sensors (2.5 bar) are different, MAP=12592016, TIAP (pre throttle body)=12592017.

If you don't have the 3 bar sensors my opinion is you should get them because of how high you are boosting. The idea of "when" you need the 3 bar sensors is sometimes debated, i hope this doesn't start that pi$$ing contest again, but if it were my car, at the pressures you are claiming i'd get the new sensors.

on the topic of pressure, again everyone has 2 opinions on this it seems, but i'd say if you are spiking 30psi, and holding 28 psi, that seems a little high for a stock turbo. In general you can't even keep that pressure that high to redline.
Below link will show some peoples opinions of how much boost others run on stock turbo. Again, this is just that, peoples opinions, however generally the guys that post about the LNF on the HPTuners forum are pretty good. this link will DEFINITELY start a pi$$ing contest on this forum.
https://www.hptuners.com/forum/showt...of-a-stock-LNF

With the parts you just added in the car, personally i would stop beating on it until you get it tuned. Unfortunately these cars are very sensitive to intake changes, and besides that, who knows how good the previous guys tune is. Find a tuner that has worked with direct injected cars, preferably LNFs to get a reliable tune.

Let us know how things go.

oh yeah, on your question what to do next. Depends how far you want to push it, next thing i'd go to E47 (half 93 octane, half E85), then start investing money in tires and save for a clutch. I think you have a 2009, i think the 2009 already has the fuel injectors seals that are ethanol capable. Not sure if you're stock fuel system can handle E47, i'm sure someone else will chip in say one way or another. If it were my car i'd turn down the boost and try to run E47 on the current fuel system with the appropriate spark for ethanol.

^ it's a toss up on the injectors for ethanol, mine were fine a local I tuned ended up blowing the seals to pieces

I think the 2010 were generally ethanol compatible but not 2009. Mine were not (before they were replaced).

I have a 09 and they aren't e friendly. You can get by for awhile with e47 verses 85. But the op doesn't want to go that route.
I would also add a rotated trans mount along with Powell rear control arm bushings to the mod list.

thanks for all the input. Mine is a 2009, and I went to the local tuner today (DB Performance) who is very sought after and they said business is slow but they're still backed up a month so I'll have to wait to get in. He works mostly with efi cars but has done a SS/TC before. I think I'll Have him tune it for e85 and 23lbs of boost based on that link you had, I'll get the 3 bar sensors beforehand. Is there anything else I need to do to get my engine quick but reliable? Going to have this car through my college years starting next year and won't be in much position to do major fixes.

ah, well on that note I might want to stick with 91.
Are the stock trans mounts and control arm bushings known to go out this soon?

The trans mounts are pretty durable, but once you start pushing things, traction gets harder to achieve. This can lead to wheel hop, which hurts the transmission a lot. Rotating the engine/trans helps to minimize wheel hop.
The rear control arm bushings are pretty weak from the factory and when they start to tear it allows the arm to move and you can get some torque steer and wheel hop from those being bad.
If you are counting on this to be your college car, keep it safe and reliable and take good care of it. You can throw a bigger turbo and e at it after you graduate. If you don't beat on it, it will last you awhile. That's my advice.

first id find out what turbo is on that car, u don't wanna be at 28 psi on stock turbo. if its a 6758 zfr, that's fine. find that out and we can help better. if it is k04, u need a new tune asap. cause ur ringlands wont last with that kinda boost on stock turbo

well, if you are a college student and want it reliable, you could return the tune close to stock. Odds are the way it came from the factory is the most conservative / reliable.

Rather than dealing with the availability problems of ethanol fuels while you're in college, and dealing with the problem of cold temperature starts, id say just leave it on 93 octane, and get a more conservative tune.
I've tuned my LS1, and i've tuned my LNF, and they are VERY different, hence why i said try to find someone experienced in direct injected engines.

i'd recommend sticking with a conservative tune on 93 octane, and spend your effort on learning and partying in college. This whole automotive hobby gets a LOT more interesting once you finish college and have the funds to do whatever u want.

^That

If you starting modding the crap out of it, it will break at some point.

Gms1 or similar type of tune, keep it mild until you have enough money saved to replace a transmission if it fails or build a new engine if that fails. It's worth it to do it right the first time.

So I went to DB Performance for a dyno tune today
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cob...1409c74d5.jpeg

I don’t know if I did the pic right but max hp is 287.9 and max tq is 335. I feel like that is a bit low for the things I have done. An intake, catless downpipe, bigger intercooler with all charge pipes, and the gms1 sensors should have yielded better results right? It was ran on 91 octane and peaked at 23psi boost.

That is sort of low, the problem u have is ur going to a tuner that has done one lnf , and probably doesn't know what they are doing since its not like tuning port injected cars. U need to get hptuners and remote tune with someone like km043 on here . he has tons of experience and will get u more power and will probably be safer than the tuner with one lnf under his belt

What was the power level before the tune? Just looking at the after numbers tells you nothing. It def seems low, and he doesn't tune DI engines much, being at 11.9-12.0 for WOT is stupid rich for an LNF they like closer to 12.6 AFR

Im not sure what it was before but it does seem a bit slower now. I was kinda expecting that after dropping 5lb of boost. He didn’t run a baseline because it was acting up after I put the map sensors in the night before.