Blade619xp

ok, so i've noticed everyone wants to know the cheap way to get upgrades or how to get to a certain horsepower. My question is regardless of all that, I just bought my 2007 cobalt SS 2.4 back in january. I'm planning on having this car for a while and I bought the car to build it up....over time due to lack of a large income lol. So my question is where should I start and what upgrades are good and what upgrades are a complete waste of time. I bought the GM performance intake, but thats where i stand at the moment. Any input would be appreciated.

iLLmaTic3s

stick with your basic bolt-ons. then a good tune will open our cars...i have a tune on my car and wow..it def opens up the car alot.

Blade619xp

How did you tune the car, did you have to get a computer modual or did you take it to some one? How much does that cost?

iLLmaTic3s

are u auto or stick? there is a program called HPtuners that tunes the whole car. My buddy charges around 125...i think. yeah so far i have a intake with the bigger injectors and great tune. my next mods are a tranny cooler and gm cat back exhaust

Blade619xp

I have a 5-speed. Yeah, i deffinatly want the cat-back system. Does this tune void the warranty? About how much hp can you get from the tune?

nitrous818

yeah if u get a tune your warranty is gone

NJHK

If you're using HP Tuners, you can save your stock flash and have it flashed back to it incase you have to go back to the dealership. It's like saving a file on your laptop...simple.

As far as "cheap", take that word out of your vocabulary if you want to do this right. You want bargains, not cheap products.

First, how much money are you trying to spend? what kind of power are you aiming for?

Blade619xp

Well no, I'm not looking for cheap. I know that speed costs, but as far as where I want to get to, the goal at some point is to put a turbo in the car. Its just not happening anytime soon due to lack of funds. I'm at the moment trying to get a direction on what I should work on getting first.

Jimmys2007CobaltSS/C

iTrader: (1)

how would the dealer know if u got a tuned or not?

Blade619xp

I would assume that a dealership would run a diagnostic on my car and find that the factory specs were changed.

NJHK

Honestly, if that's your true intent, save your money and put it towards your turbo setup when you're ready. Bolt on **** can wait and can get costly for little power compared to a proper turbo setup.

Brandon97Z

iTrader: (1)

They have to get into the ecu and check the settings yes but i've honestly never heard of a dealer doing that. Even if they did do this i'd say 95% of the GM techs wouldn't know what they are looking for or would even know if anything was changed. There souldn't even be a reason too. Most dealers whould just order a new ecu for the car.

DarkSergeant

Absolutely true. The Hahn kit for example comes with a custom tune, CAI and header included in the system. If warranty is a concern for you - and it should be if you're limited on funds, realize that with any kind of boost you can kiss it goodbye.

My advice would be to figure out where you want to go - normally aspirated or forced induction - and then head that way. If the answer is forced induction you might as well just not do anything until you've got the 5 grand or so to go sc/tc..

Another bit of advice - nothing you can do bolt-on/tune wise is going to really effect you daily driver wise. If you're looking at this as a daily driver, and keeping your warranty - I'd look at the GMPP short ram, which you have; one of the GMPP catbacks, and as mentioned above a tune. You may want to look at spending the rest of your money on cosmetic/apperance mods if you never plan on taking it to the track..

Wade Peer

[QUOTE=iLLmaTic3s;1114866]stick with your basic bolt-ons. then a good tune will open our cars...i have a tune on my car and wow..it def opens up the car alot.[/QUO


What upgrades for the 2.4 are available and where from ?

Slowbalt2000

iTrader: (1)

Check out zzperformance.com

chevygirl2006

This post is 12 years old

CPDubya

That's awesome. But I also have a 2007 2.4 ss 5 speed, and was curious where this post was going too. Want to known the best/ quickest way to get a tune. MINIMAL DOWN TIME. I have heard that doing your suspension upgrades first is the way to go. Thoughts on that?

DFZ24

iTrader: (5)

I never did my suspension. The FE3 suspension is good enough unless you are doing hardcore autocross lol. I went power and safety first (tires and brakes)
Tune, fastest way, dyno tune. One day.

CPDubya

I'm guessing there is another thread somewhere on this forum about dyno tuning right?

steelmesh

2.4 N/A Engine Power: you're not going to gain much unless you have a few thousand to spend on an intake manifold, cams, springs, ported head, exhaust, tuned of just parts for example speaking only to gain +50 bhp when you can do this with NOZ for the fraction of the cost or go boosted with turbo / supercharger for about the same cost (few thousand) but you'd make a safe +100 bhp or a wicked +200 bhp if you improve all the bottle necks and use E85 or methanol injection. My hypothesis is, if you open up the ring gaps on the stock 2.4 pistons, you should be able to get away with 400 bhp.

If you get the suspension mods and tires, your car would do well on a tight track (autox) even with N/A. If you're a young person, I'd also suggest the exhaust because I know you think it's cool.