Hey everyone,

I just purchased a 2010 Cobalt 2.2 LT 5 speed about 3 weeks ago, and have already installed a CAI. This being my first mod to any car ive owned, Im hooked. Im already looking for more to do, and was looking into deleting my cat (our emissions laws are almost non-existent in my area) and getting a ZZP tune. They claim a 10hp increase on a stock car. Does anybody know if this is accurate, and if the canned tune is worth the money?

 

Well every answer you're going to get is going to be biased. On one hand, if you're bone stock outside of a Intake and Exhaust and do not have the funds to do much of anything else, then yes the tune might be a good option for you. On the other hand, you may not want to waste your money on a canned tune if you plan on doing more upgrades in the future because that's where somebody who knows how to tune comes in handy.
My recommend is this:
Figure out exactly what your goals are with the car. Look down the road and not right now, are you planning on doing more mods? My guess is yes, sh*t is addicting.

If you do plan on doing more mods, save your money for the mods before you get a canned tune. Down the line you will want HP Tuners which is my next move. Although it is intimidating so do your homework first!

My opinion of ZZP, these guys are great. They are not perfect but they will do you good. If you do have issues with them, which knock on wood I haven't had any with them, you have this entire community to back you up. Are they worth it? In my book, yes. In a lot of other people's books, not worth it at all. Hope this helps.

 

From what I have heard, a lot of people use the ZZP tune as a base file and tweak it from there as they datalog while Dyno tuning and or street tuning. So in many cases it is worth it even more so if you are not an HPT pro.

 

Not worth it. You won't get much from bolt ons with your car.

 

Im basically looking to build a fun daily car. This car is also my family hauler, so forced induction builds are better reserved for a second car in my case. Im basically looking to reach around 190-200 CRANK hp, and then focus on brakes, suspension and tires. Something fun to throw around the backroads with my buddies, but still reliable to do long distance road trips with the family.

 

What would you consider not much? Im not looking for a bunch of horsepower, as I dont plan on doing forced induction on this car. Just looking to get 190-200 CRANK horsepower, and then focusing on handling.

 

Well I can certainly understand that as I'm a family man. But I will say, for a reliable, giddy up and go, worth the money, a less expensive option is just get a S/C kit... trust me, far worth it. Go to ZZPerformance.com , EcoTec platform, S/C kit. It's what I got for my DD, but I do have all other boltons besides cams. Actually I'm thinking going forged internals but that's for a different discussion entirely.

The S/C kit, in my opinion, go for it. Do the math... add up every part you're thinking about putting in your car. Then, go to ZZP fill out the drop down menus for the SC kit they have. Next, compare the two totals. Then take the cost of all the bolt on parts you want, divide that by the entire cost of the SC kit and you will see your percentage difference for the cost of the SC kit versus buying part by part.

Every opinion will be biased my friend. Do what you think is god for you. I'm just helping you make a more informed decision. Check out the Threads for LE5 performance mods, pick out what you wanna do, and go for it!

Lastly, it's going to be really tough and expensive to try and go past -200whp if you stay NAon this car. Just FYI...

 

You won't notice 10hp.

Without forced induction or cams, piston etc you won't really make any power. Bolt on's won't do much.

Pretty sure all you notice is different throttle response from a tune making it feel more responsive/"powerful".

You could just go the handling route. You don't need much hp for auto cross.

 

Im shooting for 200 crank, not wheel. So around 170whp. I do understand that going supercharged is a more cost effective route, but being my only car, I cant really have the downtime that comes with forced induction. I'm not a mechanic by any means, nor do I have whole lot of hands on experience. From my understanding, its a day job for somebody who knows what they're doing, I would inevitably take much longer. This is why I like the bolt on N/A route. Being able to gradually spend money when I have it, and it only taking a few hours max to install, even for me.

 

The thing is you'll need a fair amount of mods for that goal. And ideally tune after each mod.

I understand you're excited about modifying your car but you won't get your money's worth out of your build plan. Every once in a while someone thinks they want to build N/A but 99% of the time they give up.

 

Go take a look at the Dyno results thread . The highest horsepower NA 2.2 dyno is 180whp and that person put a LOT of work into their engine. Your gains per dollar are not going to fair very well NA. Supercharger kit is not too hard put on. Somebody recently even did a There is a person in the classifieds section of this sub selling most the parts needed all for around $600. M62 with 3.1" pulley and you should be right around at least 200 to the wheels. Trust me that this is more what you are looking for. If you go the NA route it's almost a guarantee you're going to be disappointed.

 

^ Exactly jdbaugh! Hand over fist S/C is the way to go. It doesnt take much experience or skill.

1) You watch some videos, read up a bit for some knowledge.
2) You put aside a weekend, maybe call up a buddy and..
3) Get yourself a case of beer, or gatorade for you underage punks, or both.

Voila! its that simple.

 

Yeah, I definitely understand what you're saying. I can dump thousands upon thousands into my engine, to reach my 170whp goal, and eventually get bored and want more, only to end up being dissapointed. Or I can spend less and get 200whp, along with the room to expand, which I probably will, seeing as how addicted I got from just a single mod. So I guess its settled. Save money, plan a weekend, and go supercharged.

On to my next question then, is there any way to E-Tune a supercharged build? I live in a very rural area, and the nearest dyno tuner is thousands of miles away. (Shitty hey? :/ ) Does ZZP offer this service? Or would I be better off spending the money for HPtuners?

 

Out by New Foundland? Yeah youre pretty rural. Fortunately for you ZZP does offer a tune for the S/C... the best part about your ECM for the 2.2 is that they usually have them in stock so you'd have no down time waiting for the tune... what you would do is.... order the ZZP tune, select the option for "Send me a computer first" and then when you get everything, all you gotta do is send them back your original ECM. That simple brochacho.

You are making a good decision going S/C... trust a lot of people on here... well not everyone, but i can say first hand S/C is the way to go!

 

If you buy HPTuners you can have someone remote tune you.

 

Yeah i mean for the long haul HPTuners is the way to go, but if money is tight and youre only wantin a little somethin fun then getting a canned tune will get the job done. It wont be perfect but it'll be good.

If he decides to further with it then sure, HPTuners might be a viable option. But for just gettin your feet wet for the first time, just stay with the canned tune from ZZP.... go from there.

 

Yeah NL is pretty out of the way, and I live in one of the most remote areas of Newfoundland, so im WAAAAAY out there. Gotta love the age of the internet.

After doing some searching, it really doesnt seem too difficult of an installation. With the help of a buddy or 2, we'd easily finish it in a day, maybe even less. Now, when I go on ZZP and look at the 2.2/2.4 PCM tune, I dont see an option for "send me a computer first". Only "sending PCM first" "email a file" and then a few options for buying and renting interfaces.

 

Ah crap, i guess they changed that again. For a while they were shipping you out an ECM first... Before you rule it out completely, just shoot them a quick email. Theyre pretty friendly and will usually respond same day, if not, the very next day. Ask them if they have any 2.2 ECM's in and explain your plan. They constantly change so... its one of those things you constantly have to check their website.

 

If you are going to go can tuned with ZZP (I think they use HPtuners?) you will want to have a way to datalog. I have seen multiple 2.2 SC builds that the canned tune from ZZP was way to rich and caused driveability issues which from what I have seen seem to be corrected from a data log and minor adjustments from ZZP. I'm not sure what all you need but make sure you work it out with ZZP so that adjustments can be made if needed. It can be pretty discouraging to get everything together and have it run like crap so it's easier to just anticipate that happening.

I didn't go the ZZP route as Trifecta was my only option (being 06 2.2) but I had to do quite a few datalogs before I could even go full throttle. It is fairly dialed in now and it was all done remotely via datalogs but the initial configuration was rough to say the least.

My best advice for when you do get around to installing everything is to not get in a hurry and anticipate some things not fitting quite right or minor modifications needed. Lay everything out before you begin and make sure you have all the correct parts. If you think it will take a day, plan on 3.

 

Go straight to boost. Don't waste your money on n/a mods. I'm speaking from expirence. I spent about 1,500 on bolt ons and I regret it. Was only around 180whp and ran a 15.5 1/4 mile. I then supercharged it for about 1,100 and I dynod 271whp and ran a 12.8 in the 1/4.

 

Hey chevygirl, what MAP are you using on your set up???

 

Just want to thank everybody for weighing in on this and giving lots of good advice. Im really glad I asked before dumping all my money into N/A mods, only to be dissapointed. So now I guess im off to making a part list, researching, and saving money for this build. Aiming to hopefully have everything done by the end of the coming summer. I will also try to make a beginners guide when the time comes to put everything together. Thanks again.

 

Supercharging isn't too difficult with research or some help from someone that's done it before. It's pretty cheap too.

 

The lsj one

 

Did you splice your factory harness to fit that?