Ok I am trying to basically get my fabulous LS into a 200-250 whp range beast. Keeping it street legal and not using NOS or FI is it possible? Also if someone could come up with a list of everything that can be done to reach this goal while using as many GM parts as possible I would be extremely happy. Money isn't really an issue with this either. Oh and I will not just buy an SS S/C. I love my baby.

 

its possible to get that power but i dont think it will be street legal, youll need super high compression pistons, no cat, headers, intake, exhaust, cam, cam gears, throttle body, intake manifold, basically a shitload of parts thats gonna cost you thousands to do n/a, unless you have something against turbochargers i say save your time and money and go f/i to make that power

 

-stage 2 cams

-11:1 compression pistons

-upgrade valvetrain (valves, valve springs) - wont give any hp but will help

-adjustable cam gears - to adjust your timing

-exhaust header - pacesetter is all that i know thats available, get ceramic coated and wrap it with header tape

-high flow catalytic converter

-intake - injen and weapon r seem to be the best ones for our cars, go with injen, seems to be the best quality.

-cat-back exhaust - corsa gives the best gains but its expensive

-fuel pump - msd makes one, it might not be necessary though, will have to check your air fuel mixture after these other mods are done.

-throttle body spacer - airraid makes one for the 04 cavalier that will work but you will need to buy new bolts to bolt it on. i have one but im not too sure how much it does though.

-bored throttle body - not really critical cause you are not going to use forced induction, might be difficult to find, our throttle bodies have electronic control unlike the ones for cavalier and sunfire that are available and common.

-intake manifold - get a spare stock one (its plastic composite) then use a die grinder to match the ports on the intake manifold to the ports on the head (make the holes the same size). it will help a little but wont look as good as aftermarket.

that will probably get that goal of yours atleast in sight.
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i would personally not recommend a vendor that i had bad experiences with. one of the best for parts is www.gravanatuning.com, its very clear what works for your car and what doesnt, plus they have alot available. if you have any more questions, private message me.

I would also recommend you start doing your research and get more knowledge on working on cars, cause some of these parts will be expensive to install.

good luck, i hope all turns out well for you, its nice to see someone whos idea of adding power isnt bolting on a quick turbo/supercharger kit. keep us updated on how it goes.

 

hope your ready to drop 15 grand or so....

 

ok first off thanks for all the responses. I was hoping to not use use forced induction, but it looks like I may have to. I still wanna change out the intake, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, headers, and the exhaust system. maybe after all that I will look into FI. I am basically looking at close to 50k from a military disability this summer not to mention money per month for the rest of my life, hence the reason i said money really wouldnt be a problem. But of course my car is going to be paid off before I add too much to this car. But once again thanks for all the info.

 

I would also recommend you start doing your research and get more knowledge on working on cars, cause some of these parts will be expensive to install.
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I have a cousin who owns his own mechanic shop so labor wont be that expensive for me.

 

GM is putting a warranty friendly S/C out that'll be Cheaper and easier, plus they hinted at Stage Kits.

 

yeah i was actually thinking of getting a S/C over turbo if I do actually go FI.

 

ok if you have the intention of going to a SC, the compression ratio on the pistons should be lower, maybe 9:1 or 9.5:1.
if you do go forced induction, all the above parts will actually end up giving more gains because they will be working in conjunction with the supercharger.

With the GM supercharger, i could see you even getting past the 200-250 mark.

 

If you have 50K to spend and want to add a lot of HP into this one car, why don't you trade it for something that you can get MUCH more power out of. Once you do a ton of upgrades, your gas mileage will suffer anyway. with 50k, you could get a nice Monte SS, or a 2002 Camaro SS... hmm? And with money to spare to build them up!

Or trade your car in and get a Vette. mmm vette.

 

just make sure to keep us updated with pics

 

^^ X 2

 

OK well let me answer this. I Love my car. Plus I am not putting 50k into my car, that would be idiotic especially since I will be buying a house in about 12 months. I dont want to go above 250 whp.

 

the reason I asked the original question is because I dont know alot about tuning cars since I have only owned trucks and never did anything to them. I would also like to try and keep it as close as possible to GM parts as possible for reasons other than warranty. I bought a Chevy and would like it to stay that way. Of course they dont have an intake so that one is a given. I hope to keep everything under 10k in this car. With that said it is going to be hard I want to add a trim kit and the rims that I want are about 350 a piece. But once again thanks for all the info.

 

sorry, your last post reminded me to tell you one more thing, there arent a heck of alot of gm performance parts for the ecotec (the engine thats in our cars). there are some but not alot.

if you can, do a search for the gm performance build book, it outlines roughly how GM built a cobalt LS into a 1400hp monster. although you are only looking for 250hp at the most, maybe have a look at it, it has lots of good information.

price out everything yourself, dont let anyone tell you how much it will cost cause nobody knows what it costs but the mechanic that does the work and the vendor that sells the part, plus you have that nice discount with knowing your mechanic personally.

for good prices on gm parts go to www.gmpartsdirect.com they seem to have the best prices, the only thing is that i find it a little difficult to actually find parts on there for our cars unless i have the part number.

 

ok thank. The other day I did a search on here for the build book and couldnt find it. I am thinking the first thing I am going to do is replace the exhaust system from manifold back. Then I definitely need some rims, the stock LS rims are fugly. But yeah I have been on gmpartsdirect.com so I know there arent alot of parts for the car yet. But I did hear that GM will be adding more parts to that list, hopefully that will happen.

 

gm parts arnt always the best parts, just in case thats part of your reasoning on putting on mostly gm parts. other aftermarket companys work harder than gm for your performance business. plus gm cant even fabricate their own exhaust system they had to have borla do it for them. that says alot to me.

 

here you go:

http://www.gm.com/company/gmtunersou...build_book.pdf

 

One word Guys EBAY......... none of this spending 15 Grand for 100 or less Hp or less. why pay retail when you can get brand new NAME parts that are insured and backed by all the big boys for damned cheap? I added 40hp with a chip, 15 with a C.A.I, and put on some 18 " shoes for $500 CAD.

 

hahahaha wow....Well to start throttle body spacers don't do a damn thing. There are no chips out for obd II. And 250whp n/a...damn that's a hell of a project but good luck.

 

throttle body spacers make noticable differences on larger engines, i threw one on my car and like i said above, i am not sure how much it actually did (ie. i noticed nothing but a stupid whistle).

 

250whp NA will never happen, even 200whp will probably never happen in NA form from just some random guy. If it did ever happen it would be some shop and I garauntee it wouldn't be very streetable.

If you are looking for the easiest power route and the most gains for your money FI is the ONLY way to go. 7-8psi could net you atleast 200whp on a stock engine.

If you want to stay NA just throw a couple bolt ons on the car and be done with it....you wont be super fast but you'll have saved money to put it towards other things. Just because you have money coming doesn't mean you should have a 'money isn't an issue' attitude.

Just my thoughts anyway...

 

LOL!

 

ebay is full of scammers for car parts

 

lol, "chip" ??? what "chip" ????