I have a question for all you Cobalt drivers out there. I have a 2006 Cobalt ss/sc and i want to do a stage 2 upgrade. Since it is already supercharged, I would assume that stage 2 consists of the injectors, pulley, belt, retune, etc. I talked to a guy on the phone from the dealer and he told me that i would have to install stage 1 and 2. He said stage one was the injectors and stage 2 was everything else. This didnt seem right to me, why would they split the process up? I asked him how much this would cost me to get the whole thing done and he quoted me at $1,200 for everything. This seems pretty steep, can anyone out there verify this for me or tell me about their experiences with the dealership and the stage 2 install?

 

Find a different dealer, that one is full of stupid people.

 

Call around and try to find someone who has done it because they dont know what they're talking about. Stage I is already in Stage II so you only need to buy Stage II.

Stage I = injectors, tune
Stage II = injectors, tune, pulley hub, smaller pulley, smaller belt

Get the kit from CED for about $550 and install should run you anywhere between $150-$300 depending on where you get it done.

 

I appreciate the quick responses. The problem Im facing is that even if i do buy the parts online, then I'd have to find someone who can do the install and the tune. Since I dont know how to install it or have the tuning software or the know-how, I'd have to find someone who does. This would mean a dealer. Then they probably would just hit me with heavy labor fees or probably refuse to install it since it wasn't purchased through them...

 

The confusion is that there is actually 3 kits available
Stage 1 - injectors and reflash only
Stage 2 - all of the above + pulley and belt
Satge 1 to 2 upgrade - Just the pulley and belt

In the end to achieve Stage 2 you can purchase a single kit OR the Stage 1 AND a Stage 1to 2 kit (which is a bit more $$)

Here's a list of Gm Performance Parts dealers in your area

BOB BROWN CHEVROLET, INC.
4224 MERLE HAY RD
DES MOINES , IA 50310 -1317
Phone: (515 ) 278-7800 Fax: (515 ) 278-7773

KARL CHEVROLET, INC.
1101 SE ORALABOR RD
ANKENY , IA 50021 -4022
Phone: (515 ) 964-4255 Fax: (515 ) 299-4396


RYDELL CHEVROLET, INC.
1325 E SAN MARNAN DR
WATERLOO , IA 50702 -4334
Phone: (319 ) 234-4601 Fax: (319 ) 234-5660


I suggest you call each of them to get a "STAGE 2 INSTALL ONLY" price first.
(Telling them you have purchased the kit online from GM- GIVE THEM THE PART NUMBER)

It shouldnt be more than $400 labor ususally (eg 4 hours@$100/hr)
Lots of dealers have lower than $100/hr door rates and some only charge 1-3 hrs for the install of the injectors, pulley, belt, and reflash

Good Luck
WOT

 

for the install time i have read it's only 2hrs for the stg1 and 1 for the stg1. This was the tech line for install times and rates. Not sure jsut asking if anyone on here had dif hrs for their install. Or any GM mechanics..

sorry 2hrs for stage 2 and 1 for stage 1

 

Mine took longer then 2 hours casue they never did one but they still only charged me for the actual time suppose to take to do it so install and reflash and cpu upgrade shold run about 250 ish

 

Its all GM and the instructions that come with the kit contain a user specific code to download the tune from GM. They are not going to punish you because you didnt get it through them, they are still going to make money off the install. Dont assume anything.

The best thing you can do is call around, like WOP said get prices for just the install and ask if they hvae done it before.

I ordered mine from CED cheaper then I could get it from any dealer. Then called about 8 dealers and found one that gave the best price and had done it before. Nothing was ever mentioned about the parts being bought somewhere else I just left everything sealed up in the box, and that was that.

 

Few shops are installing the kits for the GMPP "recommended times" which were a farce.

Fact of the matter is the flat-rate "book time" for replacing 4 injectors and R&R the supercharger is HIGHER than the GMPP recommended times, and that's not including the time for the pulley swap and the reflash. So many techs were just refusing to do the kits. (dealers are in no way obligated to install the kits for the GMPP recomended time)

Some shops are still charging the GMPP time but still paying their techs 3.5-4.0 hrs just for the business, and that's fine, but some shops pass that on the customer. Which is essentiallly the retail flat-rate costs to do each of the 3 pimary operations + 0.5 hr for the pulley swap. Flat-rate is what it is...

Wop

 

ironically I am doing this through Karl Chevrolet in Ankeny and they are trying to give me these answers that I know arent right. So i kept asking questions and they finally emailed me back and said they themselves weren't sure and they would look into it. They had only done it once before anyways...kinda interesting when you think about it

Just a heads up to everyone out there. I finally got a decent price on the stage 2 from another dealership. The one I was working with went down to about $1,000, but I called another dealership and told them my problem and they went down to about $700. Definitely better than the $1200 I was initially quoted from the first dealership!

 

$700 with installation? or just the kit.

 

I dont know but that should be with installation but a while back the kits were almost 700

 

$700 total, $400 for parts and $300 for installation

 

I just did mine at work friday night seriously took me about 2 hours. the injectors and the reburn on the pcm don't take much time. I used a ZZP pulley remover and installer...made the job of removing the old pulley and installing the new hub amazingly simple. Seriously find another dealer I know the last time we did one at work we only charged 3 hours labor i believe.

 

400 for parts? I think that qualifies as the cheapest non-employee discounted Stage II ever!!!!!

But the total sounds about right

 

It was surprisingly cheap, i had 2 dealerships competing against each other, thats why its so low....