This is something I did recently to my cobra that I think can be easily applied to the Cobalt. All I did was replace the intercooler coolant resevoir with a larger resevoir (5 times the volume). Now, the car does not heat the coolant nearly as quickly, and allows me to hold hp longer until heat soak sets in. And when heat soak does set it, it's effects are not as dramatic as the coolant does not get as hot as before. Think of how easily it is for the sun to heat a pool compared to a lake.

The new resevoir also has an enlarged opening up top so that I can pack it with ice at the race track. Most cobra's pick up around 15rwhp and 15rwtq with ice, and IAT2 temps can go down quite a bit. Just driving around town IAT2 temps can go down 10-20 degrees even without ice.

Here are some pictures of the before and after. Notice how big the Cobalt resevoir is. It's almost non-existent compared to my stock cobra tank. These has got to be some room for improvement here, particularly for those who are pullied.
stock cobra...

new resevoir


Cobalt resevoir...


The only problem is that nobody makes such a thing for the cobalt yet. Here is a link to the company that produces the vast majority of cobra intercooler tanks. http://www.lightningforceperformance.com/home.php

 

Cool, lol. thats a good idea. Over my head but cool.

 

Room is a big issue on these cars. If I had a SS to play with I would work on something for you guys.

 

I was thinking of making one that would mount on the passenger wheel well. There are 2 studs sitting there, why not use them.

Edit: Here is a pic I found courtesy of P7x look at the passenger side strut tower.

 

Can I trade cars for the Cobra?

 

That is my exact thought. There is TONS of room over there. All you would need are a couple longer rubber hoses and it would work perfectly fine.

 

It would also balance the appearance of the engine bay.

Perhaps a mirror image of the Coolant resevoir bottle.

 

Currently I am working on just that including a larger FM heat exchanger, will advise after its done

 

that spot over on the passenger side would make a great location for a larger reservoir... especially with that wide seam there where the intake box normally mounts on the n/a cars. When the SS S/C's first came out I said the first free mod would be to dump some ice in the intercooler reservoir... and then i saw that measly, pathetic little neck they gave it, well, so much for that idea!

edit: durr there's two studs on the body seam on the strut tower.... so yeah, you could even do this with a no-drill installation.

 

it like a tank of some sort is beggning to be placed there!

 

Yeah, it's basically a mirror image of the coolant resevoir bracket on the driver side. Then we could have cool matching tanks on both sides just like the C5 Corvettes.

 

this would be nice

 

What are those two studs there for? Do they hold a tank on one of the base model cobalts? Maybe we could steal one of those tanks.

 

I believe that those hold the airbox.

 

Correct.

I found this courtesy of PenguinPIE

 

My friend did this to his ion, what iam going to do is just buy the stock colant box, flip it backwards, and it lines up perfect to the stock holes on the passenger side.

 

this is sweet! someone with knowledge on how this works needs to get this going

 

All we would need for that is a longer bracket across the back and some extra hose. Assuming that there are no clearance issues.

Edit: and additional coolant of course.

 

I wonder though, would the longer hoses slow down the coolant to the aftercooler?

 

not unless you put different sized lines on it. If you keep them the same size it should keep the flow the same.

 

The whole on the passenger side gets small really gast. I have a Cobalt and my icebox is 10"x7"x6". It just BARELY fits. I actually had to make it fit the wheelwell so it would fit low enough to close the hood. Now the Ion is a COMPLETELY different story....so much room it makes me sick.

The other thig with the Cobalt is that it is hard to have anywhere to run hoses to hook back to the IC. But, it is not impossible

 

Any chance you can post up some pics?

 

bump to get this thread going again.... seems like a good idea

 

This Ideal, with the front cobra H/E would do wonders in cooling the air in are Cobalt's SS/SC. What I dont understand is how come no Vendors have come foward and made this into a bolt on kit, yet? or even mention about any plans in the works...

 

Actually, LFP, the place that made that one for the Cobra is making one for the cobalt and will be out here in a couple weeks. They also have one for the RL that will actually fill up the whole left side of the engine bay, back to front, left to right, will even have an angle for the front part!

I made the mock up of it, should get here early next week with the actual prototype! If anyone has seen a RL up close and personal, you will see how much larger the RL area is than the CSS. The one for the RL is larger than the Cobra's. But the LFP design for the Cobalt will incorporate everything for the most room possible so expect to see it maybe mid August!

Oh and tomorrow I should have dyno numbers and IAT2 drops for the LFP HE...


PS: LFP has been trying to get set up as a vendor, but no one is helping them out with it! I gave them one of the IDs a while back of one of the admins to get set up.