Aging of the Cobalt and Trans Parts
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Joined: 04-12-14
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From: MI
Aging of the Cobalt and Trans Parts
I continue to see ZZP posting on social media and FB groups posting about the z54 turbo being back in stock soon....
My 08 SS/TC just turned over 80k miles and I'm considering that average. I look at it and the only thing holding me back from pulling the trigger on a bigger turbo is availability of transmissions.
As these cars get older, is it safe to assume that if you need a trans to just buy a beat to **** or wrecked car? I've basically decided to leave this thing where it is at for now but when it gets retired to true "toy only" status, a ZFR would be nice.
Maybe I'm paranoid, maybe I'm expecting a flood of cobalts to end up on CL with blown trans b/c the high school kids don't have the funds for a new one?
Whats the current thoughts on going ZFR at this stage of the Cobalt's life?
My 08 SS/TC just turned over 80k miles and I'm considering that average. I look at it and the only thing holding me back from pulling the trigger on a bigger turbo is availability of transmissions.
As these cars get older, is it safe to assume that if you need a trans to just buy a beat to **** or wrecked car? I've basically decided to leave this thing where it is at for now but when it gets retired to true "toy only" status, a ZFR would be nice.
Maybe I'm paranoid, maybe I'm expecting a flood of cobalts to end up on CL with blown trans b/c the high school kids don't have the funds for a new one?
Whats the current thoughts on going ZFR at this stage of the Cobalt's life?
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Joined: 09-18-15
Posts: 747
Likes: 96
From: Battle Creek, MI
I picked up one of those Z54 turbos, and I'm at 80k on the stock 3.82 with a gmpp clutch. I'm not to worried, as the car is my summer toy, so if the trans blows it blows. Since I don't feel like touching my savings or credit cards, I'm just going to rebuild my play money and get a trans built for it down the road to install over the winter in my garage. I usually only drive 3-4k miles a year with it anyway.
I am going to tune conservatively to start, but I was originally only looking at a k04+/r/wr-1, and this popped up for only a little more so I said screw it and grabbed one. This way down the road if I really want more power, I won't need another turbo.
This is true as well. OP, if you beast on it all the time, expect things to break more often. A good tune and good driver mod and the trans can last you for some time. If the tune slams the boost in fast, you bang the gears/nls, etc., then it's gonna blow. There have even been a few people in the past who have blown 4.45 trans and I swear I read someone detonated an f40 swap in the past.
Sorry for the wall of text guys, just my $0.02 on it.
I am going to tune conservatively to start, but I was originally only looking at a k04+/r/wr-1, and this popped up for only a little more so I said screw it and grabbed one. This way down the road if I really want more power, I won't need another turbo.
This is true as well. OP, if you beast on it all the time, expect things to break more often. A good tune and good driver mod and the trans can last you for some time. If the tune slams the boost in fast, you bang the gears/nls, etc., then it's gonna blow. There have even been a few people in the past who have blown 4.45 trans and I swear I read someone detonated an f40 swap in the past.
Sorry for the wall of text guys, just my $0.02 on it.
Last edited by Tdubbs; May 12, 2017 at 10:36 PM.
