A friend of mine bought a used 2009 Malibu as his DD and since he's gonna get some more exhaust work done by me for cheap, he let me pirate his intake/TB/booster hose off of his car for mine. I didn't look too closely @ the intake itself so I can't really say what kind of differences there are size wise. I DID however, notice that the 2.4L TB is a good bit bigger in the butterfly area than mine was. I checked gmpartsdirect.com and did some digging. Is the 06-07 manifold some kind of "special" part compared to the one I got? It costs over $300 for just the intake mani by itself for those years and the 08+ is only $87.....what gives?? There was no cel thrown @ all and everything bolted right up. The one small snafu I noticed is that the TB sits in a slightly different location between the two. It doesn't hurt me @ all, but on his car, we had to do some ghetto trimming of the engine cover/intake plenum so the oil cap will screw in like it's supposed to. My car has no such issues though.

 

Anyone? I have been searching in this section and have found all kinds of issues the earlier 05-07 Cobalts were having with a bigger TB. It was literally a pnp deal and no codes for me @ all.......yet. I reset my ecu today while changing oil so we/ll see what happens in the next few days or so. If this does work, then everyone w/a 08+ 2.2L can just use the 2.4L intake/TB from a G6, Malibu, Cobalt etc and it be a straight bolt on affair.

 

the 06 07 cobalts had a one piece manifold what you have is the two piece

 

Is the one I got any worse (power wise) than the one piece design?

 

yes the one piece has better flow numbers I believe

 

So me putting this one on didn't really help at all besides the bigger TB?

 

IIRC, the two piece flows about the same. It's just not as suited for boosted applications since it has a seam it can blow out at.

 

I dont know...i have a 05 2.2 and put the 2.4 manifold on and it totally change my power band and gave me more pep up top...

 

The larger 2.4 manifold will work better up top on the 2.2L, but one 2.4 to another 2.4 doesn't really matter, I know the cobalt LE5 mani is different than the G6 ones i've see, but it is most likely just to make production easier for the manufacturer or a different manufacturer, not for performance.

 

I am looking @ schematics of the two and it seems the older one piece has a slightly shorter/fatter runner vs the one I have now. Otherwise, they bolt up the same, have the same TB mount and sensor points. Where's the cheapest place to get one? I've been scouting the local boneyards and no luck......

On a side note, I notice how the power is more linear than with the 2.2 manifold. It doesn't go flat up top. Very nice for free IMO......lol.

 

Crate engine depot has a kit avaliable. They reuse the factory 2.2 TB with a supplied adapter plate.

 

I am aware of the kit, but I have no use for that when I have the entire 2009 Malibu 2.4L manifold and TB already mounted and in use. I'm just wondering if on a n/a application, if there's a real difference power wise between the two styles.

 

any difference between what you have and the one piece 2.4 would be single digit loss at worst

 

That's good news. I figure @ most, maybe 2-3bhp? Then again, the CED kit doesn't have the bigger 2.4L TB like I have now so maybe it will not be a loss at all and just be better all around. I need to get a 2.25'' c/b fabbed up and I'm thinking of using that company that sells the piping, flanges and hangers as a kit. Anyone know how well it fit up?