Hello everyone i am new to the cobalt ss ( i come from the turbocharged DSM family ). I have been lurking around this forum for the past couple days finding out all the info i need to mod mod my newly awaited cobalt ss/sc. i have used the search button but for these questions i would like to see if i can get a direct answer from the knowlegdeable people on this forum.

As you guys probably know the ZZP stage 3 kit comes with an optional choice of a e85 tune with either 60 lb injectors or 80 lb injectors for a little extra cost.

1.Is this e85 tune ALL i need to run e85? ( with dsms you need to upgrade fuel pump, ect. )

2.What size injectors should i choose my HP goal is 280FWHP?

3.What size pulley should i use? I was going to get a 2.8" pulley but that was for the stage 3 gas tune. So should i get a smaller pulley since i am going to use e85 to help me reach my HP goal?

4.When using e85 do you need extra cooling mods besides for the H/E that comes with the kit? (dual pass, option b, ect. )

5.Last but not least How bad is the gas milage loss of e85 compared to premium gas? i know normally a cobalt ss/sc gets like 22/29 right

the other mods that will be done to the car will be a air intake and then eventually headers and downpipe.

Thanks everyone

 

Yes all you need are the injectors and a tune. 80# is your best bet there. Also a 2.8 would be fine, but I would consider a 2.7" pulley with E85. For cooling just use whats in the kit, as you can always add them down the road. For fuel mileage, when its warm out I get between 19-21mpg in town on E85

 

I would think about getting a custom tune, not a canned tune that comes with those kits. Try finding a local HPT tuner.

 

Kinda shocked zzp would offer e85 tunes. Canned vendor tunes for e85, with fuel changes with seasonal blends etc hmm, I can see these tunes being very laid back, 18ish degrees of timing with fuel trims way way off, especially with different intakes, etc.

 

Point is it SHOULD get him up and running. There has to be someone in texas with HPT that knows how to use it

 

Yup, should being the key word. haha

OP just find someone with HPT and can tune E85. Like said above it should work but you definately need a custom tune to get everything out of your tune with those mods.

Make sure you find someone that can tune E85, there are some tricks not everyone knows to the tune that I have seen help with cold weather starting (not sure how cold it gets there) and some others.

 

If you go with the zzp kit, get a regular pump gas tune in my opinion and then find someone to tune you. It's really a waste getting zzp's canned e85 tune, but then again I haven't seen it. Logic just dictates its bad though.

 

Do need. Time to do some research. I currently have to crank the car 4-5 times to get it to start. That and gas mileage have been my only complaints with e85.

 

Op I think laser racer is down in Houston and he can tune for E85. Texas is a big state though and I dont know how far away that is lol

 

Haha This^ good call man

That is a different issue than I am talking about. If you let your car warm up by itself does it go rich to super lean then start to fall over itself? Ours did here in AZ with 29-50 degree starts.

 

A battery could also be the cause of slow starts not just the fuel, if you are having an issue with e85/75 try e50. The detonation properties are about the same and it's much easier to start in cold weather.

 

Arlington is near Dallas, so Houston is about 4 hours away IIRC my Texas geography.

 

Yup. Once I get it running, every once in a while it'll run fine for about 2-3 minutes and then all of a sudden it just starts to sputter and stumble over itself.

My battery is 10 days old, I kinda figured putting a new one in would make the problem better but it hasn't. I'm thinking about just ditching e85 altogether over the winter. It's just daily driven from November - March so I don't really need the performance and I wouldn't mind getting regular mileage out of it for a few months.

 

Its not the battery. I know what he is talking about. It cranks fine just tries to start and doesnt for a couple cranks or after another key turn.

 

It's she, LOL. But yeah, it actually kicks over, starts, but the revs never stabilize. It jumps to 1500 RPMs and then just shuts off. Each time you start it, you get a couple fractions of a second more out of it until it finally decides to stabilize.

 

Its been a while since I mess with my winter tune but IIRC I messed with the cranking table and Open Loop table since the car goes into open loop when it is first started, maybe a few more but thats all I remember since its been over a year. But my car starts like its on pump gas in the winter, first crank every time.

 

My bad! I am use to saying he...

Same here.

 

Nice. I'm still trying to decide what to do whether to switch it back to pump or keep it on e.

As for OP can't remember whether I posted an answer to your question or not, but I would NOT do a canned e85 tune. It seems to be a lot more fickle than 93 and as you can probably tell by this thread, it's a lot more sensitive to environmental factors like temperature than 93 is.

 

Why would you go back now? because of the crappy start up?

OP like someone else said, go with the 93 tune then find someone to tune the E85. The E85 is really nothing special other than some timing, fuel, and stoich change vs. a pump gas tune.

 

Crappy start-up and crappy mileage. That and I've heard several people who are local bitch about the winter mix e85. I didn't know they switched it out between summer and winter but it even says on the pump that octane varies by "seasonal availability" so I guess they do.

Meh. I don't know. I'm kinda hooked on e85 so I doubt I'll change it up, just need to find a solution to the crappy start-up.

 

i start mine in 19* weather and doesn't sputter or anything at all. starts like a normal cobalt ss. e85 is nice when it's actually e85..... can't wait till summer

 

need to get a better tune is what you need to do jabroney.

 

Yep they actually have different blends for summer, winter, and spring/fall. And the Ethanol content in the pumps seems to always vary just a bit.

 

So is there a better time of the year to get tuned for it than another? Is it safe to run the same tune year round?

 

Best is to get tuned in summer since the other blends have more gasoline in them so your tune will only get richer, never leaner.