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Finally cleaned my valves. Runs a lot smoother now. Just used throttle body cleaner and various picks and brushes. Took maybe 30 mins per set of valves. Didnt do an amazing job but definitely an improvement.
I drove it to a car dealership to buy a new car. A 2015 FIAT 500 Sport in "Laser Blu" with 88 miles for $11k (insert hateful comments about Fiats here). Nothing wrong with the Cobalt, it's a fun car that I have had a ton of good memories in, but it's time to upgrade to a newer car. I have a good friend who is buying my 'Balt from me for a reasonable price, so I'll still get to see it here and there. On to my next adventure!
I got a new hood, traded my OEM style CF hood for this one. Traded with another member, don't know his screen name though. He found me on kijiji, I have an add up looking for some parts so I can send them for powder coat without having the car down for a week.
Then I took off my headlights to tear them apart and rebuild them.
I'm going to order all new LEDs for them and have the inserts done to match the color I'm getting the car wrapped in June. Satin Pearl White
I'm not a fan of the stock lights lay out. I'd rather put new projectors in these headlights. I hadn't thought of it though. Honestly hadn't noticed any issues with these projectors. Before the lens fogged up they were nice and bright and have a pretty clean cut off. (I do have HIDs in them)
I've had a look through some of the retro threads. I'm not putting anywhere near that work into these. I'm not cutting and drilling and pasting, I'm just replacing LEDs and getting the inside wrapped. I may drill a hole or two in the bottom of the projectors to put some LEDs in there too.
The most work I'll have into these are polishing the lenses, but if I picked up a set of stockers at the wreckers (like whats in the car now) to retro, I'd have to polish those lenses anyway. These are the lights I bought the car with.
I'm not a fan of the stock lights lay out. I'd rather put new projectors in these headlights. I hadn't thought of it though. Honestly hadn't noticed any issues with these projectors. Before the lens fogged up they were nice and bright and have a pretty clean cut off. (I do have HIDs in them)
I've had a look through some of the retro threads. I'm not putting anywhere near that work into these. I'm not cutting and drilling and pasting, I'm just replacing LEDs and getting the inside wrapped. I may drill a hole or two in the bottom of the projectors to put some LEDs in there too.
The most work I'll have into these are polishing the lenses, but if I picked up a set of stockers at the wreckers (like whats in the car now) to retro, I'd have to polish those lenses anyway. These are the lights I bought the car with.
FYI retrofitting Gen 1 projectors is a bitch. but worth it
Me and a friend put some 42lb injectors into Sally today to replace the stock 36's. Had the 36's maxed out on the stock supercharger pulley. Looks like they give up around 230whp. Interestingly enough the 42's improved drivability a good bit. The car is much smoother running and accelerating with them. Makes me thing they might have been having some issues.
Overpriced, I agree there. Thing is, I wanted a brand new car and I'm not paying $35k+ on a STI with a dated setup, $37k+ for a Golf R, GM doesn't even want to compete in this segment so I left them out (how hard is a Cruze with a LDK in it?! Come on!), and the Evo is dead. It sucks but face it, there's no such thing as a good performing car in the mid 20k-low 30 range new off the lot. The Type-R might change that, but I don't care for its looks. I'll spend a premium and go with something that is trying to push the market forward on the tech side of things. Don't care for larger cars either so the Mustang and Camaro were left out, CTS-V wagons are demanding one hell of a premium ($40k+ for something with 50k miles!), and while the insurance is cheaper on a Vette vs the Cobalt it's $55k so I can't do that.
Overrated, that's different. I limited my hype when looking it up. I took it on a test drive and it was a complete blast. Salesman wanted me to throw it into the turns going down a hill here. The handling is just awesome. The shifter was so smooth, the brakes grabbed so hard with minimal peddle, it sunk in just how much cheaper the Cobalt was built. I get it though, different class of car and 7 years separating them. I even had a run in with a STI which was fun too.
I also found a dealer that's had one on the lot for 2 months at MSRP and told me they'd deal on it to get it sold.
The Cobalt is definitely a bang-for-your-buck car. It's been so good and honestly if I had room, I'd keep it as the backup fun car.
/Rant over. Sorry guys.
Last edited by trainplane3; Mar 6, 2017 at 08:10 PM.
So a couple weeks ago I picked up a spare M62 and intake manifold so I can get them Powder coated without having the car down for a week or two. Also got a fuel rail with green top injectors, throttle body and a spare bypass actuator. I think the injectors and the TB will end up going back on kijiji along with the stock pulley.
Last night I washed the laminova cores in a bath of CLR for a few hours. They weren't as dirty as I thought they were, but they are sparkling clean now. One was covered in oil.
I also started pulling apart the supercharger that the PO said had been rebuilt, this thing hasn't been apart, probably ever. oh well, getting rebuilt now. All the bearings feel great, I just have to pull it all apart for powder coating.
I also dropped off the intercooler endplate that came with the setup with John Powell to be turned into a dual pass and picked up a set of his tow hooks on Saturday.
SC nearly all blown apart. Just have to get to a press to pull the shaft and bearings out of the snout
A couple minor scratches, but they are in better shape than the ones on the car now.
Needle bearing grease looks pretty new. I'm going to clean them of the grease and leave them in there. Hopefully the powder coating process doesn't hurt them. Worst case scenario I have to replace them later
Are those 2 circles timing marks? should they line up? If its fine the way it is then I'll likely just paint the plate a contrasting color to the powder coat, rather than take the rotors off.
Now I just have to wait for my powder coat guy to get back from vacation later this month.
Finally cleaned my valves. Runs a lot smoother now. Just used throttle body cleaner and various picks and brushes. Took maybe 30 mins per set of valves. Didnt do an amazing job but definitely an improvement.
Looks good man! Hats off to you for deciding to tackle the job. It's not a hard task, just time consuming.
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