rchiwawa

I didn't see a more appropriate place ot post this but here goes. I have a 100% bone stock '10 SS. While out and about I see an ninties Acura integra coming up on me at warp speed from quite a ways so since the highway was open I decided to lay into it and at least get to speed. At about 90mph he catches up and paces for a second and then dumps it without a horn honk or light flash. I am already in fourth gear but cruising atm and then go WOT. I start gaining but ever so slowly. I am curious, what would have to be done to an Integra to get it there.

Thanks

MP Cobalt

iTrader: (4)

most likely it was turbo'd with some work done.

Fitz88

maybe built engine with boost.
was it a type r?

05Slowline

iTrader: (2)

you were in the wrong gear prob just a bolted n/a b or k lol worst question ever though there's a million different possibilities

srt-10

he was probably boosted, i went against a integra and destroyed him with my truck when all i had at the time was a intake and exhaust.

AndrewSS/TC

Because a 90 roll is a good race for comparison. Lol

rchiwawa

Wow I love this forum where quick responses are concerned. I know the question was vague and open to am million possibilities but to give a more thorough description when I saw him he was a quarter mile out or so and I took third gear to 90 and that is where I transitioned into 4th. In my experience 4th at 90ish is appropriate. I overtook the small advantage he got but 100 and I let off at 110 but he seemed to be just barely slower. I was impressed as its the first integra I have ever seen that would keep up with a tc. Keep in mind this was on an lengthy ascent about 4-6% grade. That said I doubt it was an NA but what do I know? I bought the SS as the best daily driver in the world

Thanks again everyone for the quick replies.

05Slowline

iTrader: (2)

If it was boosted and you are stock he would have raped you with no lube just saying

slowstang

iTrader: (3)

probably n/a...a stock ss/tc from a 90mph roll isn't exactly the fastest car on the street if you know what I mean.

rchiwawa

still, I was impressed. thanks

kain35m

How is the gearing on SS/TCs? 80 is definitely 3rd gear zone all the way for me...

rchiwawa

I try to keep the revs down where possible and in the 5500 zone I normally will shift, it seemed there at 90ish to me. I don't spent too much time at those speeds unless its a closed road or very open.

kain35m

Hmm. The plot thickens. Well, I don't think high revs are going to kill your engine. I'm revving to 7k. What's stock redline? 6? 6.5? run it out to the end and that guy shouldn't have a chance. I know I only have about 210 hp at 5.5k out of 250. 40hp is quite a bit of a difference(for me, at least).

Anyway. Good kill. You're doing fine. Have fun.

redcobalt07

iTrader: (18)

I mean why do you even care about a car that you don't even know about.

rchiwawa

I never personally knew anyone who ever owned one and aesthetically it was never on my list... all I am getting at is it seems to be a decent enough rig upon that experience and some reading. Nice, light cars they seem.

Is it a problem?

rchiwawa

6250 rpm from memory. My concern is that I intend to have this car around and in stock trim until I die or gas pumps disappear. Am I being irrational? I have driven a lot of miles on manual transmissions and have never changed a clutch. I have never had a rig experience internal engine problems either and I figure keeping the revs down when and where possible can't but help. From what I remember seeing on a map of an LNF's output and the feel while driving I've been left with the impression that anything beyond 5,500rpm should really only be done because its inconvenient to change gears at the moment or are dead set on NLS and absolute acceleration.

Maybe I am wrong in how I have gauged the performance of the car, am going about hedging towards maximum time between rebuilds (I bought my '10 tc in april 2010 and its sitting at 40k miles)incorrectly, no matter what I know I am not hardcore. Any corrections on my impressions are greatly appreciated.

PS I know that clutch comment was a seeming non-sequitur but to further explain it I have tallied up just around 500k in 10 years of driving. Lots of highway and lots of time broken down it goes:

150k (250k total miles since new and in family) in 1991 s-10 pickup. Clutch was changed by the old man before being sold to me. It died by my being side swiped by a single trailer semi in some serious fog.

200k (305k total miles) or so in a 1991 GMC S15 Jimmy. Did a fair bit of towing in that rig of a 19 foot roundabout and utility hauling. I put the rear bumper of a Chrysler 300m into the rear bench seat's back.

50k (125k total miles when sold) 1996 Pontiac Sunfire Good riddance to Iron Duke rubbish

30k (135k miles when sold) 2001 Saab 9-5. Paid $6,000 and spent $8,000 trying to keep the thing going, for a 2 ton car it was fun to drive. The $800 fuel pump (part only local quotes) was the final straw.

40k 2010 Cobalt SS/tc

Maybe I was lucky on the s trucks but I knew the driver of the Sunfire and he bought it with 15k and a year old no clutch change out. I am not even really sure what a normal mileage for clutch life is... I just try to treat my hardware with as much courtesy as possible within the confines of its design.

kain35m

Long response..Interesting thogh. I'll reply in kind. I only meant if you shift higher you'll go faster. May I ask why you seem to never want to change a clutch? it's a fairly normal thing to do, like changing brakes. I'm just challenging your reasoning for sake of argument, not bashing you in any way. We can have an intelligent and fulfilling debate, can we not? I am only engaging you because as far as it seems, you're not the type to start screaming on here

So, why buy a performance vehicle and not use it to it's full potential? It's all in good fun and replacing worn out parts with better ones is part of the culture. Of course no one's going to ban you or curse you for driving how you want to drive(I won't, at least), but it helps to know your reasoning. So the simple question is, Why never replace a clutch? is it an experiment to see how long the clutch will last if you baby it throughout it's life? If so, what will happen when/if it does fail? will you replace it with another stock clutch? or maybe put in a performance clutch/ or an even cheaper oem style? What's the final point?

Why specifically a Cobalt? better yet, why specifically an SS? plenty of cars out there that you could baby and still win races. Again, not bashing, just asking.

Also, Why race at all? I've come across plenty of young people driving SS cobalts Who have absolutely no interest in racing. It seems you are bridging the gap between people who baby their cars and want them to last forever and people who race them.

Oh well. hey, you don't have to go on ny extremes on my account. You don't even have to respond if you don't want to. I like to challenge peoples way of thinking sometimes to test their resolve. As long as those people don't resort to that old internet favorite "FOCK HIEU, UR GHEY" type of crap. I like to engage in a nice intelligent debate with someone who thinks differently than myself. I hope you take this the right way, And I hope you're having fun. Peace.

rchiwawa

Reading your apologetic post I can only conclude that what I have felt about a lot of forum users for a decade + is true... people still have soft asses and get indignant, coarse in forum posts that should be pretty civil

I hope you are down for out of order responses because for some reason its how I roll. First question I will answer is why Cobalt SS? Well, I have always wanted to own a nicely performing vehicle but until then I really couldn't afford one on my terms: As the original owner. I wasn't going to spend more than "X" and there were several cars I test drove extensively and The SS/TC won out for me because

a.) My grandmother is a GM pensioner and the assorted nits I found with the following rigs.

Speed3: A common thing on my commute are considerable grades over long distances with less than smooth transitions between the asphalt and concrete bridges in corners. The speed3 is a sexy car to drive IMO and I am surprised I don't see more on the road but how the 3 handled shitty pavement in stock form was unacceptable. I realize it could be reconfigured pretty easily but I wanted and needed a turn key and go from the factory and since I lovel iving on the edge and mashing through corners on downgrades I simply couldn't live it

VW Golf GTI: Unlike the Cobalt and the Speed3 the GTI felt while driving noticeably faster than it actually is. When you are pulling 100+ miles per day that feeling gets old quick. The Cobalt and the speed3 to me feel slower in the driver's seat in comparison and in my opinion, just right. Back to the GTI... the interior was nice enough to have made me feel bad about smoking in it. Just saying

Civic SI: I didn't care for the sensation of rowing it through the gears and it might be in my head but when getting on it it always felt to me like the thing was exhibiting the onset of understeer a smidge earlier than I cared for.

STI and EVO MR: I am more about from a roll than a standstill. Not surprising considering how much freeway time I pull. I didn't want to make a proper exhaust manifold piping to straighten out that bizarre sound for the STi and every EVO I have been in seems to make a drive train whine that I could never learn to love.

Most cars on this order are bound to have been thrashed by the preceding owners. In my experience I have have noticed time and again that it is far more common for some tool to destroy a good package through careless abuse than it is for a person to regularly exploit a vehicle's capabilities and use it as a daily driver. I try to lean towards the latter and after 40k I am quite convinced that the Cobalt is going to be the best car I have had to date at every step towards 200k. on a related note I go through lots of rubber and suspension components because I live for maneuvering like a thing possessed and laterally testing the limits of pretty much anything into which I strap. I try to lean towards the latter and after 40k I am quite convinced that the Cobalt is going to be the best car I have had to date at every step towards 200k. I really like the stock Conti's on that come with the TC's loathed the michelin's that they put on HHR SS Think pirelli asks too much for Nero zeroes loved the Eagle GT for as long as they lasted on the car but expected more mileage even under my severe abuse and think the Conti Extreme Contact DWS is a truly bitchin performance winter tire. If I think it might snow I can live with them but otherwise they have to come off! That's what I have put on the 'balt this past year or so. The only sets I have worn down to the nub are the DWS and the Nero. I sold the PZero Neroes (summer not a/s) on CL and didn't look back. Next tires are going to be Eagle F1 Assys for what its worth

On this note I guess I may as well cover the clutch which I, in retrospect, seemed to wax on and on about and upgrades. It's simply something I try like hell to avoid changing any more frequently than necessary. Now I fear you may have gotten me wrong in the sense that I do try to drive the **** out my girl when and where possible and to that end I can't honestly begin to count the number of times in wide open spaces I have NLS'd from three to four let alone from two to three. NLS is a very fun part of this car for me. I am sure I am not doing the clutch or the transmission any favors by doing this but I love it like... how did 50 cent put? I NLS on my on ramp every day from 2 to 3 just to make sure she's running right Nice 3% or 4% grade to the highway and then a 1-2% downgrade. On the rare combination of 0 traffic and me in the right mood, I'll go ahead and run out third gear and coast back down to my cruise speed. The limit

trailing off the clutch and into culture I can only say that I will replace parts on an as needed basis and augment where I see a problem. Although the clutch has a econo-boxesque commuter car feel to it when I drop it it catches and I go. I like the civility of it and agree with how fast GM chose to have it engage. In that sense I wouldn't change a thing unless it becomes a pure toy. I don't see that happening until I am a fair bit beyond GM's powertrain warranty and its time to do what we call in the aviation field a D check before figuring out what kind of toy it is to become. Basically, while its still breathing do a complete tear down and rebuild simply because enough time and wear has to have occurred. Weird, huh? Some people have their own mind about some things is how I look at it. Hopefully in three years' time performance parts will not be impossible to come by from reputable shops. From what I have seen of aftermarket support for our cars I think I'll be ok. I am especially interested in your thoughts about this.

Gotta pass out, hope this was worth the read.

Black Napkin

u prolly shoulda went from a third gear. it sure woulda made u look good. good race tho way to beat him. cobalts FTW!!!!

04goat

me and my son build hondas. we have built alot of n/a engines that with the right tranny it really can be a beast. we have built a single cam 1.6 l and did a custom turbo build on the stock head and internals. this car did between 250 and 300 fwhp. we had it up to 140 many times with me following in my gto to see how fast it would go and my son said he never got it up all the way as the car got way to light in the front. now this car would litterally blow off the tires for 4 gears. it was a fun car to drive but it required slicks to get traction, it would blow off the dr's we had for it. so i can definately see a k-20 or even a b series running or even beating a t/c. good race and win... hondas are so easy to build as you can swap a real big 225 hp stock new style engine right into a early 90's or late 80's car with no problems. can do that with gm or ford.