Freak

Not making fun just stating a FACT. The LS is a econobox meant to commute not race.

tiny

and civic get 400WHP, and they're econobox's

thehemi

Who says to "race" you need a car that runs low 14s?
Maybe to "race" you should have something in the 13s.
(Some folks may consider low 14s to be pretty slow.)

If someone wants to race an LS, let them. Who cares?

CobaltSS313

What kind of ******* changes his name so he can come back and argue his opinion...next time i want to hear it from an ass ill fart

xXx

not sure if this helps anybody, but here goes. I got my Cobalt 2.2L coupe about a month ago and i love that thing. it's arrival blue with custom tribal graphics down the side, its sleak.

But to the point, on the 2.2L coupes I'm pretty sure there is a rev gov. because it will NOT let you rev past redline, it automaticly begins to decellerate if you even TOUCH the redline. So a hint, shift about a microsecond before you redline, as your speed will boost as you hit the next gear.

I've raced a Honda Civic hatchback (around a mid-90 model), which had your basic cold-air intake and HUGE muffler (go figure), and beat him rather easily. Only challenge I've had so far was from an '01 VW Jetta, not sure if he had any aftermarket stuff under the hood, but he had one of those huge mufflers too, bleh. anyways, got beside him at a redlight and raced him. I took him off the line, about half a cars length ahead of him, but by the time I hit 3rd gear he was slowly gaining on me. I looked down and saw I was doing 80mph in 3rd gear down a street with a 45mph speed-limit. So I put the car in neutral and idled to the next redlight, at which he rolled his window down and gave me a holy **** look (at my car). Cobalts aren't the fastest car in the world, but I think people underestimated them. I love it.

tiny

right, thats called the rev limited
it is the highest point the computer will let the motor rev to due to fuel cut and power curves
if you were to get past that point, you would produce less power, and overheat your engine like whoah

brianfcp

doesnt it create the full 145hp at around 57-5800 RPMS? So should that be the shift point?

Nightcrawler

Well... ideally you want your shift to the next gear to land within the power band of the engine.

If you shift at 5800 or what not.. the next gear will start at say 4500 or something. Which is around maximum torque point, so maybe that's not a bad idea. I don't race cars so I'm talking out my rear with speculation.

mchat

Running a car out to redline is not always the best for quickest acceleration. Let say we have a car that makes 95@5000, 160@5500, 115@6000, 90@6500 and 70hp at the Rev Limiter (7000). And lets say that on the 2-3 shift the RPM drops 1500 rpm.

You can see that it would be much better to shift at 6500 rpm (90hp) dropping to 5000 rpm (95hp) than it would to shift at redline (70hp) dropping to 5500 rpm (160hp). Although, holding it out to redline will "feel" faster because you're shifting into the peak hp. You may even "chirp" the tires shifting at redline like that, but in reality you'll be slower because the average HP used across the gears will be lower (160, 115, 90, 70 = 108 average) vs shifting at the optimal shift points (95, 160, 115, 90 = 115 average).

If you have a dyno chart, you can use Car Test v4.5 to find optimal shift points. You'll need to build a car (probably start with a similiar car like the Cavalier since the software is older & the Cobalt won't be there) and modify the car specific parameters to put the torque curve in there. Then when you do the standing start acceleration test, you'll see what the computer comes up with for optimal shift points.

The Car Test software can be downloaded here:
http://www.richmondgear.com/01cartest.html

nodnarb22

as for weither the ls with the manuals and the 2.2 can chirp the tires into 3rd..ive done it..ONCE but i have done it.

stlurbanpunk

one thing i instantly noticed with the ecotec 2.2 vs the old 2200, is they love higher rpms, and they get up to speed quicker. obviously the aditional 25 hp and 35 torq helps but its just smoother. when i test drove a base cobalt i noticed 2 nd gear is its strongest. it just rips, so make sure you shift quick into 2nd. I would shift right before red line never at or into redline.
ull find a grove and it will become natural, good luck.

wikkymaster

ive also only chirped third once in mine, i wish i knew what i did to do it cuz its fun lol

tiny

mine can do it all the time
i try to shift and drag the clutch so it goes in at higher rpms
i dont like chirpin gears, poor tires

but i do love 2nd gear

brianfcp

what is ecotec btw? i know vtec from honda is the variable timed electronic controller, but what is ecotec? economy controller?

tiny

ecotech is the engine, not Vtec, which is pretty much ricer garbage

mchat

VTEC -- all of the turbo lag, none of the power.

wesmanw02

Ummm...no

First of all, Honda VTEC stands for "Variable Valve Timing and Electronic Lift Control".

Ecotec doesn't really stand for anything. Its just a word thats a combo of "Economical Technology" - meaning the Ecotec engines are both high-tech and efficient.

VTEC is a system of variable valve timing, Ecotec is not. VTEC is not the name of all Honda's engines, its just imprinted on the valve covers of engines that have that feature. Honda engines don't really have a specific name, they just have numbers, such as "b16a", meaning a b-series 1.6 liter engine.

GM's version of "VTEC" is just called VVT, for Variable Valve Timing. So VTEC is the equivelent of VVT as Ecotec would be to b16a, one is an engine technology and the other is a name for a series of engines.

Hope that clears things up for you

stlurbanpunk

hahaha...

VaMP

Actually Honda/Acura makes some of the best engines in the world. Anyone who is into F1 racing would know this. They just don't put them in low income consumer cars like Civics - which is marketed as a computer controlled 'gas saver' not a performance machine. The major problem with Honda is that if you do anything such as turbo, the computer requires major tuning. I go to highschool with a kid who put over 3k into his Civic and he runs a 15.5. Kind of sad, but at least he's Go over Show.
The Ecotec engine might as well be the second coming of Jesus for tuners. If you want 250 to 600 streetable HP its the perfect engine to start with.

I can't believe no one has called him on this yet, but you should base your shift points on RPM not MPH......

2 far gone

i have a ss/sc and i shift around 5,500rpms b/c around that rpm is were the max hp/f.lbs acumulate and over that rpm like around 6,000 to 6,500 u are loosing hp. i raced a mustang,eclipse gsx,jetta gls,vw corrada vr6 if that is the correct name and my friends other ss/sc cobalt and beat everyone of them. ecept the vw corrada vr6.but that was a good race. it all depends on how well u know ur car and how it performes. just my 2 cents on this convo.

car is basically stock but im upgrading to k&n cai,2.8 pully,psi-fi,new mecanical gauges for better readings,and 3" exhaust for now. till then ill keep yall updated on races and mods

VaMP

I know you're new and all but next time check the post date on the thread. This one is over 3 months old, lol.