Hey, I'm new to the forum but not to the car and not to my goals. I've seen all the wonderful things FI cars can do, but I want something else. I want to build up my car keeping it NA, while still keeping competitive with my boosted counterparts. Sounds crazy? Yeah, I suppose it might be to some.

I've picked up every bolt-on and am planning on getting an aggressive HP Tune shortly, but even at that I know it won't cut the mustard.

Power adders to date: L61 motor/F23 tranny
Injen CAI
LSJ TB (not installed) w/adapter plate
LE5 IM (not installed)
ZZP Midlength header (1.75'' primaries) w/200 cell cat & wideband
GMPP catback

I was told to expect anywhere between 170-180whp with this setup. So I imagine cracking open the engine and playing with internals is next. My question is what can be done and what can I expect?

The car needs to stay street legal as it is my DD, but be competent on a track, be it drag, autox, or circuit.

 

Here's an idea of how much power you will get with those mods.
170whp is kinda high
The Official Dyno Thread 2013 - Cobalt SS Network

You can do cams, port and polished head, and assume you can upgrade the pistons and rods.

 

If it is a 2005 or 2006 you can get the comp cams stage 1

 

Unless you are changing compression ratio there isn't a point in swapping pistons or rods

 

I was looking into 12:1 or 13:1 CR pistons, but I believe it would have to be custom. Car is an '06.

 

06 can't use hp tunners. Yet you can do cams, there was a guy from Washington state that did an NA build, intake, intake mani, tb, cams, shaved head, long tube header and custom exhaust. Made somewhere around 190.

 

Yea as far as I know 11 is the highest that is readily available

 

13:1 will also require meth, even on 94 octane. Looking to stroke the block as well, make it a 2.5

All of this will cost money though.

 

Do E85

 

Would love to, but that fuel isn't available in my area. 94 would be the best brew on tap.

 

NWAE_Cobalt still holds the highest N/A hp on the forum despite selling the car 3 years ago.
For the money, N/A is far more work and costly to get a little bit of power. A simple M62 setup would have costed less and put down more power. But it's what he wanted to do. I drove Tom's car a couple times, that thing would die if you didn't throttle on decel in neutral. I don't know how he managed to DD it as long as he did, it would have drove me mad.

 

Yes, the $/hp ratio is crazy bad. I understand that. But it isn't all about dollars and power. Sometimes you just gotta take the road least traveled.

I was quoted by a race engine builder that it'll take $40k+ to get her into the mid-low 12's without nitrous.

 

You wont hit 12's. na unless you take all the car out so its basically weightless

 

Highest na cobalt is 201whp, but everyone said it was on a high ready dyno.

 

All motor cars just aren't fast unless they are gutted. A very simple boost setup or a little nitrous will make so much more power so easily.

 

This.

It's been covered before what these cars can do NA, search for some of the naturally aspirated builds like newt on here. Even with cams, ported head and valve springs revving to the moon you won't see 200whp. It won't come near a boosted car

 

That money would be going into more than just the engine mind you. The car will be gutted as well.

Yeah? That's what I love about it. It's a challenge. Will it be expensive? Probably, very. Will it be the fastest EcoTec in the world? Not a chance. But can it be done? Absolutely. Plus, I'd be far more impressed by a 200whp NA L61 than a 500whp LNF. Just saying.

 

Best of luck OP! keep up a build thread and document what you do. I know myself and many others would be excited to follow the thread and see what times you run.

 

Well best of luck then. Read over all of Tom's build thread since he's been down that road before. Driveablility will suffer a lot if you're looking to break 200whp.
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/2-2l...uild-d-155396/

 

We meet again



Building the transmission with shorter gears and an LSD would be an option, F23 comes in as low as 4.41 and getting that is cheap (less than $500) but if you want it rebuilt and add in an LSD had me quoted at about $1800 by Powell.

 

Thanks for the support. For the time being I am just waiting for winter to die down to get my car dyno tuned with the bolt-ons I have. I'll defiantly post the results of that (again, looking for a magic number between 170-180whp) Once that's complete, and I quickly become bored, I'll move on to the bigger and better things as mentioned before.

Hello Andrew. Yes, a built transmission would be necessary to run a time in the 12's. There are options I imagine. How hard would it be to pick up a used F35 and bolt that in? Will it even bolt in?

 

You would need different clutch, flywheel, trans mounts, and shifter cables for it to work. Flywheel would have to by custom made. Not worth it when the F23 is better and like andrew said there are many FD options.


So go out buy cams, valve springs, balance shaft deletes, custom high comp pistons, injectors to run ethanol then lets see some numbers

 

I really hope you do this because I am quite excited!

I might be talking out my butt here but can't you get even more gains if you go for one of those aluminum or sheet metal high flow intake manifolds?

 

I don't think a built transmission is necessary but shorter gears would help acceleration.

 

x2. More interested in power numbers though. Go for it, I'm aiming to break that 180 hp record on here as well