Part of my philosophy as I get my business and my services out there and fired up, is to do everything in a manner as efficiently as possible. A big part of that is my tuning. I have spent 100s of hours (and subsequently $100s of dollars on gas, tires, oil, and spark plugs) just tuning my own LSJ and LNF (and even my L61) cars. Picture this: I have a 2004 Ion Redline. It still has the stock pulley, stock blower, stock head, stock block, stock cams, stock exhaust from the cat back.

The ONLY modifications I have made to it are a Pacesetter header, which isn't the best quality, but let's face it, it has probably the best bang for the buck appeal as far as headers go at a mere $150 with 1 7/8" primaries and a 2.75" collector. I have cut, welded, and modified the collector so that it makes it's way straight through 2.75" piping and doesnt have to go through a reducer or that poor excuse for a flex joint that they incorporate. I will tell you now that simply adding a header and tuning for it makes all the difference in the world on the LSJ.

I have a SPEC Stage 4 clutch. It was in there from the motor living on a 150 shot of nitrous, C16, and a 2.7 pulley with a slew of other mods. Now I just plain like the way it feels. I also have ONE solid motor mount insert on the back tranny mount. I also like the way it feels.

I have cleared out the cat. I have cut out the stock intake box and removed all hoses completely and simply attached a 3.25" AEM dryflow filter to the end of the stock MAF and trimmed the shroud around it. This mod is obviously different for the Cobalt guys. It is open and exposed to the elements. So what, I don't even have $50 in that airflow mod and based on all the cars I have tuned with the Injen on the Cobalts, the K&N on the Ions, etc it will flow better than all, except the Rebel 3", which costs 4 times as much as my mod. I am considering a larger throtte body and porting out the s/c inlet to help the car at higher RPMS, but I don't want to make a jumpy car down low that has the possibility to suffer a small torque loss.

My only other mod is my laptop, and HPT cable, and some software. There is also an AEM wideband setup incorporated to tune with. I have picked up quite a few tricks and from personal experience learned what works great and what doesn't work at all. I can say that a 7500 rpm redline on a stock pullied car with some airflow mods makes a car that feels like it will pull to 9000 rpm without backing off. It is a different experience than slapping on a 2.8 and feelings the side effects of a stock head at 7000 rpm. The car as it sits right now will take a Stage 2 Cobalt or Ion with ease, please don't take that comment lightly either as I have seen it first hand.

My challenge this spring is this, and I welcome all comers including individuals and shops. The smallest mods yielding the most power and best times. This may come down to a tuning match, but that's the point. Maybe we will break grounds on a new mod path for the LSJ that people are happier with. No more heat problems and the need to add $100s of dolalrs in cooling mods to make up for poor efficiency.

Here are my guidelines:
1. No race gas, 93 octane only. No meth/alky/water. No nitrous.
2. Stock ignition system.
3. You can use HP Tuners, EFI live, etc, however the stock PCM and electronics must remain intact. No piggybacks.
4. Stock M62. Stock pulley. Stock housing. Stock rotors.
5. For the sake of the less skilled/brave owners, no internal mods allowed.
a. I feel this is only fair because while I and many other could easily build a motor that
would make significant power gains, this challenge is meant to broaden the spectrum
for the DIY guys in their driveway.
6. Larger injectors are allowed, trust me they will be required.
7. You can use any intake modifications you desire BEFORE the throttle body.
8. The stock exhaust after the catalytic converter must be 100% intact. No cut-outs.
9. Any header of choice is allowed. You can make your own or buy one.
10. You can clear out/remove your cat.
11. Street tires only. You can use any rim/tire/spacer combo however, as long as the wheels still turn without rubbing and they can't stick out from the fenders.
12. Interiors 100% intact. No ripping out all the seats, no gutting the doors, no lightweight windows.
13. Any clutch or flywheel is allowed. I warn you though, as lightweight parts will hinder your 1/4 performance, they will help with top end pull. Upgraded axles are also allowed.
14. Any method of solid motor mounts, traction bars, torque braces is allowed.
15. Any sort of cooling modifications that you desire.
16. Any dyno data must be submitted with ALL testing parameters, conditions, make, model, and location. Any dyno data collected without this will not be counted. Also, there must be three dyno runs made back to back within 10 minutes of each other in order the be proved. We know timing makes lots of heat, which can cut back some power. So this is intended to make sure you don't just bump timing through the roof for one run, when it would punch a hole in a piston on the next run.
17. Any track data collected must have fully detailed timeslip as well as video proof, temperature, track temperature, and elevation.
18. Final rule. You MUST have fun with this. It is not meant to be a pissing contest, but rather who has things in order. This is meant to be a help to the community.

So with that said, bring it on. April 30th will be the deciding day. If everything is not in order by then, your results will not count. I will decide over the next few days based on feedback to see if internals should be allowed, but I do feel it is in the best interests of the community to stray away from that on this particular project. Perhaps part two of the project will involve internals only.

 

I like your ideas but see things I dont like. The main one I really dont like is the fact that Tracks here dont open until the end of may and the contest is over by April????? Well, count most of us in Canada out.
Second, track temps and all ambient data???? do you also want to density altitude?? because now we are just getting into bench racing and correction factors. I think the video and timeslip along with the ambient temperature should be plenty. I am not going to get out of my car and shoot the track surface every run, or even one run. And how about the people that dont have infrared temp guns etc?? Many tracks dont list track temp. Finally the only other info that should be mentioned about the track is if it was prepped or not. Our street legal drags are not prepped and main events and points days are, so depending on what day you go, there is a big traction difference.

You state that meth is not allowed, however you also state that any cooling mods you desire are, well, I employed it for cooling and safety, it also opens up the tuning as well, meaning that if you cannot tune for it your not seeing the benefits. Water/meth injection is also highly popular and is used on a few stock pullied cars as well, ralliartist comes to mind right off the bat, although he may be pullied after the fact now.

Just some ideas.

I would also like to open this up to classes as well, following much of your outline but make a pulley class. IE: 2.9" class 2.8" 2.7" etc.

 

Not to mention stock cat-back, very few people who mod/tune their car keep a stock cat-back.

Kevin

 

I don't see this happening. Most SS/SC aren't on the stock pulley much less the stock cat-back esp the people that are really good at tuning. I think later on in the season the LSJ, LNF shoot-out will be the big hit/comp.

 

yawn

 

 

Agreed. I'm pretty sure few if any people actually meet his requirements, and having it end before track season begins is just silly.

 

i just wasted a bunch of time reading this that i will never ever get back