So I've just recently purchased my first Chevy vehicle, a 2007 2.4L Cobalt SS.

But, I actually wanted to buy an 06 SS/SC. Now I've got a little more displacement than the 2.0 SCs and I want to make use of it by adding forced induction. What would be best though? A supercharger or a turbo? What would be cost effective, and require less maintenance in the long run?

Heres what I'm looking to get our of my Cobalt,

I want my SS to be able to have enough power and the ability to get up and go and be able to get still decent fuel economy. I know my 07 is rated at factory, 171hp and 163 ftlbs tq. I want to break at least 230 hp and around the same with torque. Now I just need to know what would be the first steps towards this goal.

What path would be easiest to go? Turbo or SC? I do understand that either these applications are not bolt on, fine with me. I can handle amounts of fabrication and tinkering under the hood. But I don't want to get stuck with spending of $4,000 on a setup.

Ideas, comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated!

 

What can u spend?

 

Supercharged will be easier to do/cheaper and you should be able to achieve your power goals with the m62, or be close to at least.

 

+1 on the supercharger, cheaper to do and you should hit what you want. If you want more pooowwwwaaaaa, go turbo.

 

I'm amazed the first comment wasn't saying search. You should search the forum though. The blower turbo debate can be hazed to death. A supercharger might get you that power. I assume you mean 230whp? cause that 171 is crank not wheel. 230 is doable. 230 is easier with a turbo

 

I'd want to keep budget on this less than $3K.

Which setup requires more mechanical parts? With either of these setups with i have to open up my engine?

 

If you are just going for 230-250hp then neither should really require you to dig into the engine for part swapping.
If you want an idea of the parts you'll be dealing with for either of the 2 choices just look on zzp's site and see the pictures of the parts you get for either the tubocharger kit or supercharger kit. Should give you a pretty good idea of the number of parts each deal with.
Only thing you don't see in the turbo pic is that you'll need to weld in a bung for a oil return from the turbo.

You could stand to get an m62 cheap if you find a used one or get one from a wrecker if any of them have it. Probably what I'll be doing too when this summer comes up.
This is your best bet for staying under 3 grand.

 

Nitrous /thread

 

s/c with a 1" polley

 

Just checked out ZZ Performance, and the "new" kits seemed fairly priced? I'm not sure what an entire kit would run without doing some intense research. I also noticed that both kits required a tune? A tune that modifys fuel/air? Or something else?

$2,600 for SC or $2,900 for TC. From the few reviews that they had, most customers were happy with the kit and said the install was fairly easy and straight forward. So from 170 to ~230 hp for the SC and 170 to ~260? with a TC? Do those numbers sound about right?

Has anyone here on Cobaltss ever purchased/installed either of these kits?

ZZPerformance | ZZP | 3800 Performance Parts | Series 2 3800 | m90 Eaton | v6 3800

 

Yes a lot of people bought this kit on this site, just do a lil research. You can check the classfields too, there are many supercharger "kits" out there.

 

If you checked your new member thread you would see that I have you some info based on my ZZP turbo kit on my '07 2.4

 

The tune accounts for a few things.
The tune is required since they both require new injectors which have to be scaled for. Plus you generally run more rich to cool the cylinder walls down to prevent knock.
You also have to account for new cells being referenced in the higher g/cyl rows that would have never been touched by natural aspiration airflow.
There are also some adjustments made to the torque limit settings and a switch from fuel cut to spark cut for rev limit conditions if, for some reason, throttle cut isn't viable.
The tune they'll send you is tuned for the safe side and runs rich with very little in the way of spark advance. It can be optimized by further tuning for the most out of it.

Read around. Its how we all found out.
Research isn't always fun but doing something like this to an engine requires nothing less than your full attentiveness to detail. If not, you'll be buying a new engine before you know it or paying someone else to build it for you. I can tell you're excited. I was too when I got my car. It will motivate you to learn everything you need to know.

EDIT:
The thread mentioned above:
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/loun...-jacob-293354/

 

Op my advice would be to hook up with a tuner first and discuss your power goals and what you want out of the car. Might not be a bad idea to hook up with a local that has been through the proccess to help you out either. And search an read other people's build threads to get an idea of the work that's needed and any issues they've run into. Much easier to learn from someone else's mistakes than your own.

 

If you're patient and do some searching, you can do a supercharge setup for less than 1400 (and probably lower if you have a bone yard close by with a ss/sc sitting in it). A 3.1 pulley will yield you over the 230 mark and is safe.

Check this out --> https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-...through-80620/

I was around when he first did this and I followed this when I supercharged mine years ago. There's a couple things different with his than others (he had a custom bracket made for the idler pulley instead of using the lsj idler setup), but it's a good start. There are a couple 2.2 walkthrough's around here that are good too look at as well.

 

Piece together a turbo kit.

Also one is not easier than the other.

A. You trade out intake manifold stuff for the S/C

B. You trade out exhaust stuff for turbo

 

^ true

 

you can do 230-250whp been sc and supporting mods on your 2.4

imo supercharging will be the best option for the power and realiability he wants

 

Turbo the car!! its like dating a hot mental chick!... its alotta fun!... most of the time..

 

Sounds like BEFORE I decide to do any performance upgrades, I'd best get the drivetrain ready for whatever I may throw at it.

I plan on starting this build sometime early summer when I have all of my goals on paper, cash in hand and know EXACTLY what I want and will need to upgrade my Cobalt. Plus, first I need to find some other cobalt enthusiasts in my area and have a chat with them about their expierences while building their car.

I'm pretty stoked to start getting into this engine. Can't wait to see what the future has to offer. Now to decide for a sc or tc...

 

I do have to say S/C would be better for daily driving. You have instant power and no spool.

 

^^^ lol lol ^^^^^^

 

A bit off topic but just a quick question for Cherry GT.
How is your transmission holding up with the added power. I also have the 4t45e and was shying away from the turbo route because I was concerned with ******* the clutch packs and didn't really want to get into building up trans parts.
I've read any number of threads making claims as to how much power our transmission but its such a wide range of values with no citation that I don't really put too much faith in any of the values.
I remember following your thread over at hptuners when you were looking for input tuning your shift pressure tables.
How is it holding up?

 

The 4T45E is holding up just fine after 3 years of turbo power for me.
Its been down the 1/4 strip 25-30 times and lots of 0-100 tuning runs (out in a field of course !)
I installed a trans oil cooler, I would suggest that and no aggressive down shifting.
I like how the shifting for DD turned out with the changes learned in that hpt thread.
I'm trying to learn how to better tune to get down the strip a bit faster

I've read about a few tearing them up, but I think more powr than mine,
I might be a bit closer to 300 now.
So I have no trans problems what so ever and loving it.

 

its true...but more power might outweigh having the S/C