NewToTheBuild

Hello everyone I need help! I’m a college student trying to get a faster, better sounding and better looking car while maintaining a budget. I am very new to modding cars and very inexperienced.

I bought a 2.4 liter 2006 cobalt with 56k miles for 2500 last month. It’s nearly perfect inside and out but it’s entirely stock. I have been researching modifications for quite a while but I’m incredibly overwhelmed! Is it worth modifying my car or is it just too difficult since it is a 2.4? If it could be modified, what should I start with? Keep in mind I would be doing a little at a time due to a budget.

cobaltss#01

iTrader: (4)

Welcome first off. Good buy also. Just might want to save up for a bit being on a budget and all.

steelmesh

Welcome, I hope you keep your interest but reality is a beeatch. With the 2.4 N/A you'll be disappointed to hear that it will be incredibly expensive to make more power and for the same money you can go forced induction and end up with 100 hp more.

Intake and exhaust will make the car sound cool, but the amount of power added would be barely noticeable (sad face after spending $1000 here). I say if you have to start making changes now, go all out on handling mods and performance wheels/tires, if you race this on a tight track you'd be quite satisfied. Once your car has race wheels and coil overs, then it will earn the intake and exhaust to make it sound the part (even though it's still slow in a straight line).

Otherwise, if you want to prioritize acceleration g-forces on a budget, then your only solution is forced induction. There are kits out there for this platform which you should be grateful they exist still especially for beginner people, someone with skills has already done all of the hard thinking and you will have to pay for this, that is why the kit is expensive in your eyes. Think about it this way, when you see the price to replace a simple roof you'll think it's a rip off until the day you do a roof.

NewToTheBuild

If I would go with forced induction could my car handle the standard bolt-on supercharger from ZZP? And even if it can, is that the right route to go? I thought I would start with my exhaust, (cat back, down pipe, header), save up again, and then buy the SC

jdbaugh1

iTrader: (1)

Welcome to the forum and steelmesh is giving you solid advice. To add, with you being in college I assume you need your car to be reliable, that combined with needing to be on a budget, you'd probably want to hold off on going boosted. Like he also said cold air intake and exhaust will make your car sound better but not really do anything for power. You just have to decide if it is worth it for basically a sound improvement. I also agree with him one suspension mods as when you add power down the road you won't have to buy parts twice like if you got a CAI but then later went boosted. Good (handling) suspension mods aren't cheap either. However, wheels and a slight drop can do wonders to improve the appearance of a car. Wider wheels can fit wider tires which will also be a handling improvement but keep in mind tire price. Lighter wheels will also yield an improvement with handling and putting power down.

I know I said up above that exhaust and CAI are basically just for sound but I did it anyway when I was in college. Not saying it was the wisest financial investment but the stock exhaust/intake sound is pretty lame though I do have a 2.2. The 2.4 probably has a better sounding stock exhaust.

steelmesh

All good advice above. To your question, if you go the supercharger route the LSJ M62 is what you want because it's factory made / bolt-on and old posts from 6 years ago said parts would be hard to find but if you go shopping today they're still plenty of used parts that are affordable. I picked up a second good used SC locally for $130 because I have craigslist alerts set for various ecotec related parts. Another bolt-on option is the LNF turbo. Turbocharger > Supercharger, when it comes to max power and efficiency with exceptions but not many.

When I was young, what I found was that a used plpd sportbike is the least expensive way to accelerate like a rocket. I didn't get back into actual car modding until 11 years after I graduated when I built up enough tools and skills to make something ridiculous to my standards and just as exciting as my 1000cc bike. Basically it is what you're dreaming of as a younger more poor person (not my car exactly, but it's capability and noises). We all kinda know how you feel and been where you are; especially us folks who are the only car people in the fam. I did the home depot flex duct cold air intake and slip-on loud muffler stuff to my first car, I wanted to make it go super fast but had no idea what I was doing and no experience modifying cars so I put on some more stickers and a bra, smoked light covers front and rear...I had to start somewhere. Today with more content shared on the internet and Taitanium turbochargers, young inexperienced people are diving in a making it happen on a budget, this could be you. Like mentioned above, your daily driver isn't a good prototype training platform in your current situation unless you do something about it.

DFZ24

iTrader: (5)

Welcome.
You can either finish school, get a new car and mod it, keep the cobalt as backup car or drive it off a cliff.
The end.
Telling you from a 2.4 owner to another 2.4 owner.

WICobaltSS

There is a blue LSJ supercharger for $125 in Craigslist. Came off a Saturn Ion Redline, but says it works for a 05-07 Cobalt. Located in Greenfield (Milwaukee). Not sure how far a drive that is for you tho. I thought about it, but the quarters are so damn rusted on mine, it'd be foolish of me to pump money into the car.

NewToTheBuild

I’m blown away by how helpful you all are. I didn’t expect this many responses this fast. From what I’m hearing, I could mod my car, but since it is my daily driver and I am still figuring it out, it wouldn’t be smart to screw it up. I am 3.5 hours from Milwaukee so purchasing that supercharger would definitely be an option, but now I’m starting to wonder if I should be working on a non daily driver. If I put a supercharger or turbo and a full exhaust on my 2.4 manual would it be a lot less reliable or will it still function well unless I drive it hard?

I have access to a shop with all the tools I will need, so that will cut down quite a bit on costs. Should I be looking for used exhaust systems or only buy brand new? I would love to buy a motorcycle but recently one of my buddies broke half the bones in his body due to poor decisions while driving one and my family has decreed none of us will ever buy a motorcycle.

chris88z24

Keep it stock and clean.

jdbaugh1

iTrader: (1)

The forced induction itself doesn't necessarily make you car less reliable just because it's hard on components but because you introduce so many factors that could lead to issues or downtime. The more factors you introduce the harder it makes it to diagnose any issues you may come across. When it is stock that process is much more simple.

WICobaltSS

Definitely keep it clean! Winter salt does hell on the underside of the car! I was going to fix the rust spot on mine, but once it started, the rust spread like crazy! Too late now!

steelmesh

Like JD alluded to, it's not likely the engine or trans that will fail because of the SC, but more likely something related to the installation of the SC which will cause minor problems and even failures including complete engine destruction because of a bad installation. People get away with a lot of bad practices building and modifying cars, but sooner than later these bad or ignorant decisions will bite them in the butt (these are usually not daily drivers too intentionally). I pushed the 2.4L LE5 with a turbo to 320 whp (about 380 bhp), it never failed but I did start butting piston rings which caused accelerated bore wear on #4. This engine was beat on hard too, probably why it got hot enough to butt the ring ends.

A motivated newbie with tools would take this long to install guesses:
Coilovers - 1 day
Wheels - 2 hours
Exhaust - 1 day
Intake - Half-day
Forced induction - 5-10 days if you have all the parts, experienced diy people will be 2 days to install the SC kit if they have all the parts. ZZP could do it in a day. Add a little more time for the turbo because of the hotside and intercooler installations.

Motorcycle topic: I have just over 20,000 mi of motorcycle riding in mostly the city (it's a seasonal activity where I live), I've avoided motorcycle accidents and close calls and take full responsibility for this fact. I learned to ride a motorcycle on my own (quads and minibikes as a kid), then took a motorcycle beginners course anyway just to be sure I'm good. Motorcycling for me is stressful because I see everyone in cars around me as murderers, so I have a heightened awareness constantly which takes it's toll. I even installed a custom strobe light system where when I hit the horn it would turn on the strobes for a set amount of time, I used this all the time and for all cars waiting to make a left turn infront of me (opposing traffic or side streets).

jdbaugh1

iTrader: (1)

And I don't specifically mean something could go wrong because you are ignorant or don't know what you are doing just that **** happens. Forget to tighten a screw here, a piece of debris is introduced there, or even an O-ring gets pinched or torn. This kind of stuff can happen to even those that are very experienced an careful. Even if you don't make any mistakes and assemble everything perfectly in a clean room with white gloves, brand new, what should be quality parts can be out of spec or have material defects. Best case you discover the bad part early, worst case that part destroys other parts on its way out. I've had a brand new Clutchmasters clutch destroy a $300 lightweight flywheel and cause me $500 in transmission repairs because it also took out a synchro from the pressure plate not disengaging evenly. I've had a set of brand new cams with material defects chip the lobes out and luckily only ruined a few cam followers before I discovered it. I've had a brand new timing chain kit (non-OEM, I learned my lesson there) have an incorrectly formed top bracket which rubbed on the chain and put metal shavings in my oil oil. I've also got burned pretty bad on sourcing used parts trying to save some money which I won't get into but I think you get the point.

You have a relatively low mileage 2.4 which can be a very nice reliable car for you that can get you through college with good gas mileage and no repair bills that I think you snagged for a hell of a good value.