Hey everyone, i have officially joined the cobalt family... I purchased a little project car and figured id start a thread of the progress I made in the next few months on it. It is a 2006 Cobalt SS 2.0. I purchased it for $900 with the motor completely dissembled. It spun a rod bearing and needs some work and has 108k miles on it.

The back story... The kid I bought it from purchased it 2 years ago from a used car dealership for $8500 !! Was driving it home and the clutch went out. He took it to get the clutch replaced and the didnt tighten the bolts on his tranny. Needless to say it basically blew apart and he sent it in to get re-manufactured. He drove it for about 8k miles, decided to put a stage 2 kit on it, drove it without a tune for a week and that is when the rod bearing came loose and ruined the crankshaft. It was then stored for 1.5 years until i towed it home

The good... The body is pretty close to flawless. I few scratches here and there but something i can deal with for $900. The interior is in better shape than most from my experience. The Transmission has been rebuilt and comes with a clutch with only 8k miles.

I will get some pictures up tomorrow sometime after i wash her down and clean her out real good.

 

My Plans !

Well first off, I am going to look at a running engine today that if it holds compression. I will get for at most $600 with 140k miles on it which is a good deal to me if the compression is good. Ill then have a nice running balt for around $1800 after fluids and everything.

I then have a motor that can easily be built. I plan on starting with the bottom end and building it to handle some boost. This is where the build will come into play... im going to be turbo swapping the cobalt once i rebuild the motor so it can handle anything i can throw at it.

Thats it in a nutshell... feel free to comment and suggest things as I am still learning about these cars.

 

Just remove the motor and get it rebuilt to how you want it. Spend once. Save your back on labor.

 

Im doing everything myself with the help of one of my friends who has taken about 20 of these cars apart. so labor costs 0. The motor is currently out. However if i get a running motor as well. especially for $600. I will have parts for days. This inst including all of the parts my buddy is letting me use from the past 2 years of him working on his 3 cobalts.

 

I guess that works lol. Btw. Replace the flywheel bolts all the time you take the flywheel off.
Theres a guy selling them cheap on the marketplace. I ordered 18 and got em.

 

He's just saying, and I agree, why don't you just build the motor you want from the start? Unless you are just trying to get the most bang for your buck it's silly to put an old worn out engine in there when you could grab some rods, get some .002" oversize pistons so you can get a fresh cylinder finish and you have a pretty much brand new bottom end and the components are ready for you to add power whenever you decide to down the road.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

That is true I suppose. I think i just want a motor in it to drive it. lol. I personally would like to daily it with the stock old motor so i can tear my 300C apart and fix some stuff inside as i believe i have a lifter issue. But it would be much more financially beneficial to just build the one motor i've got.

 

If you just want to get it going and use it while building for power down the road just kind of being a side thought, then I think you are on the right track. Ultimately it sounds like you may end up just driving it as is for the duration you own the car.

 

That's exactly it !! haha. Its just too nice to not drive right now. After a nice cleaning, its like new again.

 

Nice deep red after a nice wash. More pictures soon !!

 

Well this is currently how the engine sits....

But i have found a used running engine like i said i wanted to do for $600. We tested the compression on it and all checked out. Guy just needs to pull it and we can get it installed probably within the next week or so.

 

Here's the poor crankshaft that the kid ruined... I have found a good deal on a crank though So hopefully i can snag it and begin the building process of the block of the motor I've got.

 

This is currently how she sits. Power washed the crap out of everything though !!! Basically 0 rust.

 

Gonna be a bitch to drop the motor in thru the top.

 

I agree. Lol. My buddy did his that way. If it serves us too much of an issue i'll get it towed to his shop and borrow the lift for a few hours just to get it in there.

 

It does look like everything (besides engine of course) is in really good condition. Unless you like throwing engines in and out I think this car is in good enough condition to deserve a lower mileage block. But we have had this discussion . Also I personally find it much more pleasant to drop the cradle than to remove/install the engine from the top. Only thing you have to figure out is how to lift the front end high enough which is possible with floor jacks but finding a good jack point may be difficult. The reason I think it is better to drop it is because you can install nearly everything with the assembly out in the open where bolts are easy to get too. There are also other people on here who do it through the top every time. But about the only part of working on cars I really don't enjoy are getting at bolts in tight spots and busting my knuckles doing so. With the engine cradle assembly out of the car everything goes together so smooth.

 

just jack it up high enough. Drop the subframe. Assemble everything on it. Slide back in and jack it up lol. Easy peasy

 

I agree that this car looks nice enough to deserve a better block. Lol. However i think i can make this one last. Held good compression and i bought a timing chain kit to put in it along with the balance shaft tensioner plus all new gaskets (except headgaskets because im not pulling the head off the block)

I agree that i might be able to get the car jacked up high enough, and i guess we will see how it goes

 

We will see how it goes i'm sure we will probably say **** it and do something like this, or like i said, may just tow it to his shop so we can easily get it in with a lift.

 

With access to a lift I would put it in from the bottom no question. The LSJ build book has really detailing install/uninstall instructions. Just don't torque your top trans bolts to 74 ft-lbs like it tells you to!

 

I think we've got this !! I'm no expert by any means... My buddy has built three of these and that doesn't include the near 20 ecotecs he has taken apart in the last 6 months at work. Hoping to post some pictures tonight of the color scheme im going with under the hood. Along with pictures of the throttle body, supercharger, and fuel rail im polishing. Previous owner painted the sc black

 

Wish I had a buddy like that lol.

 

I am super lucky haha. Helping me do all the labor for free. Basically just telling me what goes where and I do it. I never would have taken this project if he wasn't so eager to build another cobalt. Plus i've wanted a cobalt for like 4 years now anyways.
Although i do have some stuff done to my 07 300C which pulls on his stage 3 SS balt. But his cobalt is much more fun to drive.

 

I'm just finishing up a rebuild and now in the tuning phase. Just got to drive to work this morning with the ability to go WOT for the first time in months. It put a huge smile on my face. I think these things are a blast to drive.