Hey guys, first off i dont have the ss or supercharged cobalt. just regular 4dr with auto. (wifes car) now i would like to do a few simple mods mostly because im a guy and cant leave anything alone. neither of us are in the whole race scene but a few more ponies are always fun. id like to do an exhaust but would not like to change the sound too much. what would you guys suggest just a possible muffler change vs a catback? i would also like to do a cold air intake. ive never heard of injen before this site, is it comparable to k&N, AEM and others? would you guys recomend it over the others? i know there are plenty of threads and i have searched, promisee! im running a AEM brute force on my jeep and love it. im not really looking to start dumpin alot of coin into the cobalt. but if we can improve gas mileage just a tad more it would be fine with me as well. also what are some other 'simple' effective modiciations you can do to these without breaking the bank. i aslo assume the pulley kits i read about are for the supercharged only correct? thanks for any help!

 

pully swaps are for superchargers.

for performance id go w/ a Corsa touring exhaust for it sounds like stock iv heard and not the ricey sound like a tin can.

also an intake such as weapon-r ( thats what i run and love it) or an injen is your best bet.

both of these mods will increse hp along w/ gas milage aslong as you dont have a heavy foot.

 

I'd say get a full exhaust, just find the thread with the sound clips and choose which one sounds best to you. Yes, Injen is a reliable company with good performance, I haven't heard any complaints yet. And yes, pulley mods are for the supercharged cars only. If you're looking for stock appearing car with some extra kick under the hood, I'd go full exhaust, Injen intake, maybe a chip or ECU flash however that would likely hinder your MPG.

 

You can rest assured that Injen is good quality!

Also, I would have to say go with either the Corsa or GMPP touring cat-back's as from what I have heard they barely raise the noise level while providing a good push in HP/TQ.

As someone said above, if you keep a light foot, these things will help your gas mileage too!

 

check my sig. my mods have improved my gas mileage even with a heavy foot but it is so much nicer when i dont mash the gas.

 

some light weight rims would make a world of difference and better handling as well as a pro kit drop so it still looks close to stock height, light weight crank pulley,

 

very very good advice right there

keep in mind too, you can always cover things under the hood with the stock airbox assembly if you really want to keep the "sleeper" effect going on. I did mine a few months back and it's worked great so far. same goes for welding a stock looking turndown on an aftermarket cat-back system. then again, your post doesn't sound like that's what you meant when you said sleeper.

 

i almost posted this question. i was going to ask how much the stock rims weigh. however i dont think i could talk the wife into getting rid of them lol. she likes them too much, shiny and all, i tried to talk her into black rims but she said it would be too much black... (is that possible?)
basically i know how to build power i was just trying to learn some lingo just found out what CAI meant yesterday lol. weapon x sounds cool ill look into several. i was thinking cat back and maybe even headers. how hard are headers to put on on these vehicles? thanks for all the opinions! also dont want to throw and CEL. we paid a big down payment so as soon as the bank account gets squared away ill start tinkering.
cobalt cowboy-> we have the same vehicle. ive looked at your sig several times!
thanks for the suggestions!

 

Where in ky are you at?

 

how about an underdrive pulley for some more torque, thats one kinda pulley you can use but also at the same time i have no clue what the aftermarket looks like for the 2.2s except for a turbo i know of out right now and thats not really what your into. but go with an underdrive pulley, cai (ive heard bad things about cels on cobalts for the K&N but i dont know about the 2.2, just the 2.0/2.4) also dont get a muffler swap it will just make ur wifes car sound like an old beat up early 90's crx driven by a little 16 year old who dont know his ass from his elbow about what hes driving, go with a full catback, preferably a touring exhaust... making it sound deeper but not louder, remmeber its still a 4cyl so it cant get that deep but these mods are the cheapest and your best bets for less than 500 bucks, good luck man

 

Greenup/ashland. about 3 hours from ya.
ill look into the under drive pulleys. ill assume there is no loss in charging system no dimming headlights etc? right? Ill look into weapon x and injen intakes, and touring exhaust. thanks!

 

from what I have read there actually is a slight loss...or rather your alternator has to work a little harder for the same effect. for a daily driver I would probably avoid that mod, especially if you have any type of audio system that consumes alot of power.

the weapon r intake also comes in contact with the underside of your hood so personally I would avoid that one as well. Stick with an Injen intake or AEM intake...the Injen intake gives you the option of keeping the filter in the engine bay or running it down into the fender.

as for exhaust, the GMPP or Corsa touring seems like the more popular systems for a catback.

 

injen doesnt throw a cel where as others have been known to. best sleeper mod is niitrous which is gonna be my next mod along with new headers.

 

ill stay away from nos. like i said wife daily driver, no im not disrespecting my wife. she would say the same thing "hey honey you can get a cobalt with a supercharger, how cool is that?!' reply "uhh.... do you think I really need that??" anyhow. exhaust and CAI it is then thanks!

 

it would be impossible since we only have 1 header.

 

Yeah, I was hoping that an underdrive pulley would eventually be available for our 2.2L's. K&N does not make an intake kit for the 2.2/2.4. Yes, the 2.2 and 2.4 have the same intake systems. I may update you with more later.

 

you know what i mean!

 

I heard that Day Running Lights consume 5 percent more power from alt and batt while on, but explain this mod to me please.

 

basically a lighter, smaller pulley frees up HP because there is less rotating mass...the downside is that your alternator will have to work harder or spin more to get the same effect as before. What I believe people are doing (correct me if I'm wrong) is running an underdrive crank pulley and an overdrive alternator pulley to sort of balance it out. I can't remember exactly but something to that effect...

the best thing to do, would be to run a pulley the same size as the stock one(s) only lighter so that wouldn't be an issue.

 

^^^ that's what's being done to offset the diameter difference made compared to the stock crank pulley

personally I would just go with lightened ones.

 

You install a smaller crank pulley and larger accessory pulleys. This spins all of the accessories slower using less power reducing parasitic power loss. Think of a multi-speed bike: with the smallest pulley in the front and the largest in the back very easy to pedal but no speed larger pulley in front and smaller pulley in rear much harder to pedal but higher speed so underdrive pulleys use a small crank pulley (where the power is input like the front sprocket on a bike) and larger accessory pulleys or driven devices (such as the sprocket on the rear wheel of the bike) this in turn makes it easier to spin the accessories decreasing the amount of power needed to turn them, but yes it decreases alternator output and water pump speed etc, however once above idle say 1,500 or better rpms output is sufficient for underdrive street pulley sets (race sets need even more rpms to obtain idle amounts of output from the accessories).
Underdrive pulleys are not about rotating mass!!

Hope this is an ok explanation.

Scott