I hope you don't float a valve with that 7.5k redline. Nasty way to mess your motor up.

 

well I haven't started to lean it out yet, but I can assure you this car is pig rich. I pulled the plugs just the yesterday and I just chuckled to myself about how much the car needs to be leaned out. I don't plan on going with the most aggressive tune. i'll let ya know for sure what a/r ratio I use and how much timing I use. I've only bumped the base timing 5* at this point. I doubt I've done anything to harm the motor yet. As for the 7500rpm rev limit. I actually shift about 7200. The 7500 is just kind of leeway for if I miss a gear or something. The car pulls great all the way through. I do want to get some valve springs though since I think the car can make power all the way to 8K. but that will be an eventual mod.

 

You know, if you tried to point out the information that you were using to make those numbers from the start then a lot of flaming wouldn't have happened in the first place. I understood what you were saying on the other thread but without any information to back up what you were stating, of course I am not going to believe you. I wanted you to come down to where I was in New York but I see now that your elevation has a whole lot to do with it. Your elevation has a lot to do with the cooling mods needed along with the lack of dense air that we enjoy at lower elevations. So I wasn't flaming you, just trying to egg you on enough to see why you considered those times to be as good as you did. Trust me, the times that I talked about in the book are the actual times that our cars run. I ran similar times in New York, Virginia and South Carolina. So I am not speaking out of a motor trend magazine but from experience. I respect your different approach but have one question. I see you raised your limiter to 7500. You have a lot of things that are going on here. The supercharger for the most part is not actually being very much efficient, your engine temps will be higher; though you have cooling mods, your air density is not that great, so I don't really know if you benefit or just negate the extra heat that you get. I know you said that cooling was foremost in your mods but why not at least upgrade the valve springs and retainers. In that rev range, you know as well as I that the engine has a hard time keeping up. Just wondering.

 

Another thing on your list that i really havent seen anybody do is port and polishing your intake manifold and head. Thats where alot of improvment out of your vehicle should come from. But raising your rev limiter to 7500 incase you miss a shift, there is no point. Keep the rev limiter at 7000 and you will be just fine. Thats my .02 cents though. But i deffinetly think your going the right approach. Traction is the big key in these cars and thats why im building my own traction bars now. Should be done building the in about a week or so and they will only cost about 50 to make and be the same as bwoodys.

 

power drops off at 6300~6400 rpms on stock cams...

 

But it is nice to be able to shift into the powerband in second with the higher shift point...

 

im the one who has the hp tuners and is helping him tune his car...

and i was the one who helped talk him into getting more cooling mods

i just kinda wanted to see something different because i tried the normal power before cooling and i saw how the heat affected us in the worst ways

i was surprised as hell that he gained so much from the h/e and water meth but hey its all a learning experience

we havent tuned his air/fuel yet because he needs to learn how to get a real gauge and then we can finish his tune

i would definately recommend first mod being a heat exchanger even if ur just going to go with stage 2 and want to keep ur warranty

 

7200 is more than enough

 

see I already proved that wrong. I went from trapping 72mph inthe 1/8th and 94mph in the 1/4 stock. to trapping 77mph in the 1/8th and 96mph in the 1/4 with just the rev limit raised. Plus I had the boost limited way to much in 1st gear that day. I honestly think it would have trapped higher. So the whole theory of "power drops off well below 7K rpms" is bullcrap.

and I think that the reason I didn't gain more in the 1/4 itself was because of heat soak, hence I ventured the way I did with cooling mods.

 

don't you guys have stock dynoes that prooves the fact that power drops off?

 

isnt the after market heat exchanger from CA basically the same thing as the cobra heat exchanger?

 

good job on doing the testing. i totally agree you NEED cooling mods before you do anything in the power range. u can see the mods in my sig and i have everything for cooling except a meth kit. im putting on my cobra tommorrow and getting 60lb injetors with a 2.9 or 2.8, then throwing in the meth. i have hptuners as well and heat i a killer in our car aswell as traction.

i ran a 14.1 with everything but dual pass with a 2.1 60ft. grant it , it was 90-95 degrees out at night and humid as hell. these cars have a ton more power in them if we figure out how to kill the heat and get some traction of the line. from a roll our cars destroy alot of more powerful cars (sti's, evo's) but from digs we are destroyed.

get some lighter wheels and slicks, solid motor and tran mounts and some traction bars, that will help alot

 

Subscribed!!!! I have started the moding process with a cai and one step cooler plugs. I also installed a 2.9 zzp pulley. But after reading this I belive I will also start with more cooling mods.

 

different days different weather da a multitude of things could do with that my friend. Look at stg2 ss dyno's and see were power starts to drop it is generally around stock redline. Didn't you have a cut out as well that can shift were you hit peak tq and hp as well.

 

I do have a cutout but I really haven't noticed a difference with it yet. I think I need to start moving more air in order for it be somewhat useful. I know it helps the top end, but the low end suffers so much.

speaking of airflow, I saw your thread and my god, your car is moving a crap ton of air.

 

yeah its making it a bitch to tune and im leaving a lot of power on the table lol

i checked the da for both days and they were around the same for each so i think you might be onto something

 

what thread??? whats the secret to your airflow??? i want in on this secret lol

 

2.5 pulley

 

Dude, I came into this thread late, but good job and + rep for doing something new. It isn't all about power. This is a prime example of what could be done with the stock motor, just get the supporting mods first, then get the power later, sets everything up perfectly.

If I ever get good at tuning and all that stuff I want to see what the support mods can really do as well. + rep.

 

good stuff i actually was planning on going the build the motor route then add the power but i realized in need to get the power (turbo) first so that i can get that investment out of the way. I wont install it though untill im sure im ready. Even though its not really what you are doing its kind of similar. anyway plus rep will be yours today (that rhymed) .

 

thanks again for the rep and positive comments. lsjwannabe, i think you see where I'm getting at now. Once I get my shifter cable problems outta the way, I'll look into head work this winter. Next year should be a good year for the cobalt. Traction and more of optimizing the stock motor. HELL, I probably won't actually buy a "power" mod for my car until '09! and even then I might be looking into the new camaro. lol. we'll see what happens.

 

Interesting thread. I am just curious what your 60ft times were for the runs you listed in your post.

Thanks.

 

if u do head work its not a stock motor

and hey.... wheres my rep for helping him choose this path and tune his car??? jk

his 60s are 2.3 with the stock wheels and tires with boost reduction in first

 

with no track prep! next time I go back hopefully i'll cut some good 60's. If not, I'm getting some slicks right away.

 

yea but even with our gay track prepped MAM u still got 2.3 learn how to drive and u can get like a 2.2 jk