I really don't have all that much experience in doing performance mods. I put a Intake and short shifter on my old Cavy, and bought a header, cat, and catback for it. Now that its gone, and I'm getting my cobalt built next week, I've been wondering about what kinda steps to follow. I know that opening up the flow of air works well, so basically start with an Intake and exhaust. After that I'm not all too sure. I guess the gm stage upgrades will work well, but does anyone know exactly what will come included?

As of now I know about (but not much else about) chips, spark plugs, larger throtle bodies, fuel pumps and lines, cams, pistons, and rods. Then of course you want to get bigger and better brakes with this much power. Of course also you probably want to do some suspension upgrades as well.

I was just wondering what you guys' opinion was on what steps to take in what order and a good why would help.

If you had all the money you needed, How would you mod your car (performance wise?)

 

I would do Intake exaust and header. thats probably good for about 30+ HP and torque to the wheels.

From there if you want any chance of keeping your warranty I would stick to GM upgrades from that point forward.

I hate to hijack this thread but if you get a header and the small pipe attached to it and get a high flow cat is that legal?

Mainly refering to the high flow cat, is that legal?

 

No its not legal... You are not supposed to swap your cat out unless its faulty...

 

I heard somewhere on here that the cat on the SS s/c is already very high flowing. To the point that the only way to really get more flow is to replace it with just a straight pipe. At least thats what I remember.

Now back to my orignal statement

 

Intake, Headers, Downpipe or Offroad pipe, Exhaust (3") are a good start...I would imagine all together they would have to be worth atleast 20hp... Im running the Psi Fi kit (smaller SC pulley, piggyback) and gained about 25-35hp... great mod for the price.. $550.... Im waiting for my throttle body from saturn motorsports (doubt it will show great gains but after you return the core its only $170.

Nobody knows for sure what will be in GM stage kits... or when they will be released.. All info out there right now is speculation... Im sure at SEMA next months GM will release OFFICIAL INFORMATION... Stage 2 will PROBABLY (nobody knows for sure) be smaller pulley, maybe injectors, and PCM recalibration... I believe Autoweeks article said its good for 40hp... Like I said though... wont know till GM annouces something...

Bigger brakes would be nice but they are so darn expensive... something like $1500-$2000 I think... Shoot... For that kind of money you could have Psi Fi kit, Intake, Header and DP, and Exhaust probably... be making 250+whp...

My goal is free up air flow coming in and exhaust flow coming out first... Ive got an intake now... getting the TB... I want to have the supercharger ported (about $500).. Get Header, DP, and Exhaust...

 

I've heard of engines being ported and polished, my dad has one from his trans am a couple years ago still in his garage. But not the blower. I've read a lot about turbos, and know a lot more about them, but how do you port a blower?

 

This guy was recommended to me by somes friends in a Cobra club...
Stiegemeier
I called and talked to them... its $499 for porting... They are all hand ported by the owner... Turn around time is about 2-5 days depending on how busy... I guess they go up and down depending on car shows schedules etc... They seemed really nice and Ive seen my buddies M112 that they did and its awesome work... He gained 36hp on his 03 Cobra just from porting....

 

hmmm. sounds pretty good. Now why would you port the supercharger over porting the engine? Or do you plan on doing both? Or is there worry involved with it, since the walls are thinner (I believe I heard)

 

No advantage in porting one over the other... they are 2 seperate components...
Porting the supercharger just allows more airflow and slightly increases the volume of the supercharger... which I believe allows to create a little more boost (I think this would be VERY minimal on an M62... MAYBE 1psi but maybe no even that)...
I would love the port the cylinder head (what i think you mean by engine)... But thats a little more invasive then Im willing to go on an 05 car with 4600mi... Im sure the gains would be terrific though... Its also pretty costly...

 

yes! the cylinder head. I couldn't think of what it was for a moment there, long day . Anyways, any other plans?

 

To wait another 6 months

After SEMA and when the new year comes we are going to have TONS of options for modding.... Many companies are working on many different things for the SS/SC and I would imagine after SEMA a lot of them will be becoming available within a few months !
I dont know how far im going to go... I would like to get 300-350whp .... I hope this is possible with the stock supercharger...

 

How realistic is it to think 450-500 HP? I mean the GM build book goes up to 1400.

 

Not on stock internals... But heck... Im sure if you threw in rods,pistons, cams etc etc etc Im pretty sure the Ecotec block is good for it ! Also I dont think you could do it on the stock supercharger... would have to swap it for a bigger one or a different one (IE twin screw)... Hell anything is possible.... how much $$$$$$$ you got is the only real question...

 

What is the max on the stock internals for the SS?

 

Everything is forged in there.... Ive heard 400hp.... dont know for sure though... maybe somebody would know better then me

 

300 whp would be great to get and that is around where I wanna be in maybe a year or a lil more (going to buy a house soon if possible so the sooner the mods come out the better) has anyone run into any word other than the rumors about the twin charged setup gravana wants to do. I mean just the fact that GM has gravana's back on the project is in itself amazing

 

I heard here that Gravana is having trouble with the dual charger, and won't be releasing it to the public anymore, which sucks cause that is what I was really looking forward to getting. I did hear that someone else is still working on one for release. I think it's Psi Fi?

 

I will be at SEMA this year again, I'll make sure and take lot's of pics of everything cobalt related and post them on here asap.

 

OMG NO where did you read that Gravana was scrapin the plan to twin charge the balt?

 

You rock!!!

 

Here's a link to the build bok that gm offers.
Acording to THAT book the stock internals are only good for 250 hp, however Im not sure if they are refering to the 2.2l or the 2.0l.

http://www.gm.com/company/gmtunerso..._build_book.pdf

 

i think this is refering to the 2.2. Most of the build book talks about the 2.2. also, if the was true of the 2.0 most ss s/c would be close to or over the 250 mark with the discussed first 2 stage upgrades.

 

That's for the 2.2

 

Yes, I have the book at home, I'll check but i thing it says the SS stock internals sre good upto 400hp.

 

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/show...ht=twin+charge
It says they're still working on it, just not likely to get sold.

But still, isn't Psi Fi also working on one? Didn't they do one for the mini that's working great?