hey guys, just seeing what you think would be my best option for a cheap bang for buck mod..
my car is a daily driver so i dont plan on going stupid crazy in modding.. currently just have the tb and cai.. now im just deciding what the best bang for buck would be on my next piece.. the stage kits sound nice but to me thats more money then i want to dump into the car. i do have a fully built 5.0 so thats where the money goes in modding.. im just looking for a cheap pick me up for this car.. recommendations?

i did a search on the 3" pullies but i came up pretty empty.. i guess all those old threads have been erased, i was trying to find out what all was required and if everything went hunky dory with it. right now this is the path im leaning towards just because it seems to be the cheapest..

 

well if u want to go 3 inch and u dont have a friend with hptuners..... or if u want to keep ur warranty i would strongly go with the gm stage 2

because if u want a 3 inch u will need bigger injectors and a tune

pulley-100
injectors-200
hptuners-500 for non prof edition

and that doesnt keep warranty once u use hptuners

 

well you already bought the bang for your buck mod you just didnt get the bang for the buck , the only real bang for the buck mod is the airbox mod its just like an intake except it costs 60 dollars instead of 225-325 anything else you buy your just gonna start running into problems you could get a pulley but then your gonna need a belt and then your gonna need something to start monitoring knock and all that good stuff i would say 3 inch downpipe without cat its only 150 from zzp this will add around 10 hp but when you open up the dp your gonna want to add boost and all that good stuff and then your gonna want a header and exhaust so i dont know what to tell you

 

im pretty sure the 3" can work off stock injectors and doesnt need a tune either...?

 

I slapped a 3" pulley on my Cobalt without changing tune and injectors. I wouldn't do it again if I had it to do over again. I would go with a slightly larger pulley. At 15psi of boost your stock injectors have zero room to play with. Get a nice chilly night and you start running it hard you may not like the results. Can you do it? Yes. Would I recommend it? No. Your stock tune and injectors are fine for swapping on a smaller pully, just don't over do it.

 

I've been thinking about doing either the GMPP Touring exhaust or the GM Stage 2 kit first on my car when I get it shortly... if that means anything to you.

 

I'll sell you a 3.1" INTENSE pulley cheap if you want it. You just have to get an INTENSE hub. I ran it on my car stock, no problem. INTENSE advised me that it was the smallest I could go stock. I hit about 13psi under WOT romps. Torque was increased a decent amount.

Your best bet, however, it will technically void your warranty. Get GM STAGE 1 from Jim Pace. Get a ZZP or INTENSE MPS with a 2.9" Pulley. Get a belt tensioner. Get NGK BK7REs and gap them to .35. Ta Da, Stage 2 for a little under cost of stage 2.

Consider the K&N drop in filter, or filter bod modification as well....

Chris-

 

yeah you may wanna be careful you might lean it out too bad and cause serious damage a cheap upgrade could cost you alot in the end and if its a daily driver you probably dont want it broke down

 

i did 3" and colder plugs, all from Cobalt-Addiction now i have a throttle-addiction

LOL