I finally got my Cobalt brochure in the mail the other day and I noticed on the page showing the LS interior with the sport appearance package that the speedo goes up to 140, while the picture of the LT interior shows the speedo only going up to 120. Is that speedometer calibration specific to the sport appearance package and how truthful is it? What are speeds are these cars governed to?

 

Well since the LT and LS are exactly the same engine, I wouldn't think the LS would be any faster. Sport appearance packages can definetly include larger speedos, just for show, as for the Cobalt's governed or top speed im not sure, I would guess maybe at around 120-135 or so, at least the base. The SS i expect to be in the 150's.

 

Well, you might want to consider perhaps that the LT Sedan, I believe ONLY exclusively comes with the Hydra-matic 4 speed automatic transmission; and auto cars usually have lower top speeds (explaining the 120 speedo).

The LS Sedan will be availabe either with the 4 speed auto or the 5 speed manual, so to save money, GM probably kept the same speedo (140 mph) that will be available on the 5 speed manual cars. That 5th gear gives you a higher top speed.

This is all my own crazy theory, so don't take it as the truth.

 

Current Cavaliers and similar cars with similar tires are governed at around 170-180 km/h, which I'd imagine is somewhere around 110 MPH. I'd expect the base Cobalts to be governed around there somewhere.

The Cobalt SS has Z-rated tires, and therefore does not need and does not come with a top speed governor from what I'm heard. Apparently they are drag-limited at around 143 MPH, however one redline owner already hit 147 after changing his intake.

 

i noticed that the LT and base models have the black face gauges, which have the 120 speedo, while the LS sport has the white face gauges with a 140 speedo, i also noticed the LS sport has a 6700 redline, which made me realize that the white face gauges r the ones from the SS which they haven't made yet... i'm guessing the 2.4L SS will have the 6700 redline, too bad the SC/SS won't have a higher redline...

 

I don't see how an intake can change the gear ratios.

 

Intake Manifold? Maybe But not an intake system.

 

it doesn't matter what modifications you make to a car. If it has the same gearing (not including ecu allowing it to rev higher) it is going to shift at the same mph intervals and top out at the same speed. It will just get there alot quicker.

 

you do know what drag limited means, do you not?

unless a car has an absurdly low top gear, or a very large amount of top end power, the gearing isn't the imiting factor, power is. Changing gearing will change the theoretical top speed, chamging the power output will change the actual, acheivable speed.

simple explaination... My sfGT has a theoretical top speed(governor removed) of just short of 260km/h; that's where the gearing will take you. In practice, however, the highest speed I've seen(in personal experience) was around 230.... the car doesn't have the power to overcome aerodynamic drag. Increase the power, and the car will overcome a little more drag and go a bit faster.

some cars will be seen in magazines as having the top speed "redline limited". these cars have the power, but lack the gearing.

Physics explaination: the cars engine produces a force on the car in the positive direction, friction/drag create a force in the negative direction. as speed increases, the negative force increases. once the negative force becomes equal to the positive, acceleration becomes zero, and top speed is achieved.
the greater the positive force, the higher the speed is before the negative is equal.

 

so what that novel said, in short, is that yes, an intake can and usually will increase top speed, by increasing the power.

 

my suggestion:

if a person plans on trying to reach speeds upwards of 150 mph, get a car that is wind tunnel tested. Otherwise, that car or driver has no business reaching those speeds. .02

I remember reading about a cavalier driver who removed the rev limiter and ended up losing control at a high speed. I remember hearing that person died.

 

I work at a chevy dealership and I have seen the interiors of an BASE and and LS SPORT. The BASE gauges have 120/mph limit and the LS SPORT indeed had 140/mph limit.

 

140mph looks more impressive than 120mph.

 

my 1990 beretta 5 spd 2.2 wasn't limited as far as I can tell I got it going 125 mph once.
my 1998 malibu v6 was limited to like ~115mph indicated.
My 2001 S10 Xtreme 2.2 5 spd was limited to ~93 mpg indicated.
My 2003 S10 Xtreme 4.3 auto was limitied to ~98mph indicated.

I think the SS S/C will be limited to 143 mph because thats the max rating of the tires.

It's also pretty easy to lose the speed limiter with a PP3.

Which brings me to wonder, what will the PP3 or simular product will do for the LSJ motor?

 

The tires on the SS from the Motortrend article are "W" rated tires.
I think the "W" speed rating is up to 168mph.

There was an early article with a quote from someone at Chevy saying that there is no limiter on the Cobalt SS SC.