Cobalt SS Stage Kits

[WetSSBolt]

Any one running a stage kit on the 2.0 LSJ? Or have an opinion on what stage kit to get for it?

[fballman1987]

i have the GM stage 2 kit on my car. i loved it at first. then i got used to it. but its def a great kit. they say that the kits are just kind of blah, but you retain warranty and everything.

[DBryden]

IMO, it's the best/safest bang for the buck. I got stage 2, and shortly after threw on a 2.85" pulley...the tune is a bit conservative though, and very rich...hence, the safety.

Then again, some LSJ folks out there say the rich tune and our return-less style fuel system leads to unburnt fuel (particularly in the #4 cylinder) washing the cylinder walls of its oil, and *POP*

I've had no problems with mine, and I'm actually quite happy with the results over stock. Shaving 7/10 of a second off of a 1/4 mile for around 600 bucks installed is definitely worth it IMO.

[WetSSBolt]

Im looking at the OTT stage kit which seems decent. Its a bit cheaper and seems like it comes with more to do future tuning which i plan to do because my warrenty is already up and i wanna see what i can really do with this 2.0 keeping it supercharged that is. I see alot of people turboing them and blowing em up

[DBryden]

Im looking at the OTT stage kit which seems decent. Its a bit cheaper and seems like it comes with more to do future tuning which i plan to do because my warrenty is already up and i wanna see what i can really do with this 2.0 keeping it supercharged that is. I see alot of people turboing them and blowing em up

Ah yeah, if you're already out of warranty, get a small pulley, some 60# injectors, and a nice tune...then worry about getting that power to the ground. You should be good for 13.5s all day in the 1/4...anything less than that and you're talking drag radials, which will mean axles in the near future lol.

If you wanna go faster, you'd have to work on the valvetrain/head of the motor a bit.

I say check out the ZZPerformance twin charge kit :mrgreen:

[fballman1987]

no dont go with the zzp twincharge kit, its a rip off and the numbers are way inflated, they seriously need to retune the car every month. that and YOU have to take the car to them. you cant buy the kit and install it yourself. totally not worth it. if you want serious power just go turbo(3071r should do the trick) mild tune and stock internals will get you about 350whp. there are 3-4 over 400whp cobalts, both turboed. one made 484 on 24lbs with no motor work. people blow these cars because they buy careless parts and get ****ty tunes. the LSj motor will not have the same effect with the same tune, the all individually need their own tunes. go to Cobaltss.net and research a little of the tuning.(the people that own OTT are great and theyve had cobalts, on ran a 2.5 pulley for over a year and then went tvs.) plan mods and dont get a half ass dyno tune it WILL blow up.

[SvicksTc]

I would love to see wes spool a snail :) cough cough

[DBryden]

no dont go with the zzp twincharge kit, its a rip off and the numbers are way inflated, they seriously need to retune the car every month. that and YOU have to take the car to them. you cant buy the kit and install it yourself. totally not worth it. if you want serious power just go turbo(3071r should do the trick) mild tune and stock internals will get you about 350whp. there are 3-4 over 400whp cobalts, both turboed. one made 484 on 24lbs with no motor work. people blow these cars because they buy careless parts and get ****ty tunes. the LSj motor will not have the same effect with the same tune, the all individually need their own tunes. go to Cobaltss.net and research a little of the tuning.(the people that own OTT are great and theyve had cobalts, on ran a 2.5 pulley for over a year and then went tvs.) plan mods and dont get a half ass dyno tune it WILL blow up.

The only downside to the 2.5" pulley setup is machining the snout of the S/C, and the ungodly amount of heat that it will produce pushing that much boost. Depends on how far you wanna go with it, but you're right, the guys at OTT definitely know their ****.

And I mean if you really DID wanna go turbo, the only thing you really need to worry about is the head...proven to be flawless up to 350hp, so if you're really worried about it, get new valves and stiffer springs, and that solves the problem..easier than a lot of people think.

I haven't followed much on the TVS since it came out...has anyone done anything crazy with it yet? We have one guy over at Redlineforums that ran a 13.1 or 13.0 in his RL with one, with the pulley that it came with on it, but I think that was with DRs as well, and his previous best with the m62 was a 13.2...

I never go on CSS.net anymore really, once I hit mid-13s in the 1/4 I stopped worrying about making it faster since it's my DD.

[WetSSBolt]

Thanks guys. The car is my dd but i travel for work all the time so technically it doesnt get driven daily so i would like to push it hard. For now i think im just gonna keep tuning the supercharger to see what i can get out of it. Ive already got a wet nitrous kit on the car and a set of dr's in my room so ill propbaly start of with the ott kit thien get the hp tuner and the snout that will allow for the 2.5 pulley. I also have zzp heat exchanger waiting to be installed so i shouldnt have to much problems with heat like these cars a known to have worked. Im looking into the wot box now... anyone running them on the lsj?

[WetSSBolt]

Also looking into meth kit. Any kits better then others?

[DBryden]

http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c133/hawlyns711/?action=view&current=GEDC1264.flv

^^Not my car, but a guy on the forums...has his box set to 4 grand (not for launching, but just to demo it for the vid), but I have to say it sounds awesome! Kinda like the dirtbike from the original excitebike game for NES...

He got the version with the no-lift shift feature and said he LOVES it, and it was extremely easy to install.

If you're going 2.5 on the stock blower, the only thing you should need to worry about is heat. I noticed you got the ZZP heat exchanger, but if you wanna go a bit further in to keeping the heat at safe levels, there's a guy on redlineforums (also on CSS.net) who made a single-pass intake manifold, and has had extremely good results and temperature drops. He says you can send him your manifold and $200 and he'll do yours as well. Here's a short thread on what he's got...he couldn't go in to too much detail without needing a vendors license on the page, so read up on this and PM him if you have any questions, or if you're interested. http://www.redlineforums.com/forums/performance-modifications/36548-single-pass-manifold-update.html

I've talked to him personally a few times and he's really helped me out with a lot of things, especially when I need it the most...so I'd assume he's very good to do business with as well.

I'd say you're good for lowwww 13s if you threw the DRs on, 2.5" pulley and supporting fuel/cooling mods/tune, and laid off the spray.

[SvicksTc]

Also im making wes buy the a/w intercooler hahaha

[WetSSBolt]

Yea the wot box just sounds intimidating haha. People are shaving .5 or more off 1/4 times to which is always sweet. I take it you dont like spray dbryden? It is a bit scary on stock internals not tuned or anything but im only running a 50 shot playing it safe haha and i rarely ever use it. I filled the bottle like 5 months ago and it still has some left so i dont abuse it

[SvicksTc]

No just when i make you abuse.....

[fballman1987]

The only downside to the 2.5" pulley setup is machining the snout of the S/C, and the ungodly amount of heat that it will produce pushing that much boost. Depends on how far you wanna go with it, but you're right, the guys at OTT definitely know their ****.

And I mean if you really DID wanna go turbo, the only thing you really need to worry about is the head...proven to be flawless up to 350hp, so if you're really worried about it, get new valves and stiffer springs, and that solves the problem..easier than a lot of people think.

I haven't followed much on the TVS since it came out...has anyone done anything crazy with it yet? We have one guy over at Redlineforums that ran a 13.1 or 13.0 in his RL with one, with the pulley that it came with on it, but I think that was with DRs as well, and his previous best with the m62 was a 13.2...

I never go on CSS.net anymore really, once I hit mid-13s in the 1/4 I stopped worrying about making it faster since it's my DD.

theres a few guys with TVS that have put down awesome numbers. unfortuneately the general forum public does not know the numbers. i however do. lol. an awesome tuner, laid down almost 350whp on the tvs on stock cams, and upgraded retainers. he makes power all the way to 8100rpms. he de tuned for the winter(lean ness ftl) and is still at 307whp, says he has no traction all the way through 3rd.

another balt, turboed, is daily driven at 411whp, no motor work what so ever, he is trying to blow it up and it wont. the head isnt an issue. its knowing how these cars are going to react and preventative tuning and modding. ie return style fuel system(for good ol #4 piston), meth, bigger heat exchanger, and an awesome tune.(which btw is very hard to find a good tuner)

[WetSSBolt]

You guys know anyone running the Jbody Performance header? It looks sick and they are saying 32 whp out of it but that seems steep

[Buster]

Hey Wes, I think if you are going to run Meth, let go of the N02. Running them both together is going to put that stout little 2 liter down. Keep running the SC. You can still pull decent power from it.

[WetSSBolt]

Oh dont be scared Keith atleast not yet ; ) haha

[Buster]

i dont get it lol

[DBryden]

Yea the wot box just sounds intimidating haha. People are shaving .5 or more off 1/4 times to which is always sweet. I take it you dont like spray dbryden? It is a bit scary on stock internals not tuned or anything but im only running a 50 shot playing it safe haha and i rarely ever use it. I filled the bottle like 5 months ago and it still has some left so i dont abuse it

I toyed with the idea of nitrous for a while, but didn't want to risk anything. There's no doubt in my mind that the motor would hold up with a good tune and a 75-100 shot, people on RLForums have done it and dyno'd 320 wheel and sprayed all day...but I just know I would get myself in to trouble with it, and decided to shy away. I've never used nitrous on a car, but just knowing that it's there would make me want to spray alllllll day lol.

[Buster]

I toyed with the idea of nitrous for a while, but didn't want to risk anything. There's no doubt in my mind that the motor would hold up with a good tune and a 75-100 shot, people on RLForums have done it and dyno'd 320 wheel and sprayed all day...but I just know I would get myself in to trouble with it, and decided to shy away. I've never used nitrous on a car, but just knowing that it's there would make me want to spray alllllll day lol.


luckly it would just be for a day lol, thats about all they last.

Wes pick up a smaller pulley and tune with meth, you'll walk me on a roll probably.

[WetSSBolt]

luckly it would just be for a day lol, thats about all they last.

Wes pick up a smaller pulley and tune with meth, you'll walk me on a roll probably.

Haha yea right. If by roll you mean you on a skateboard and me in my car haha. Im looking at kits that look alright but they are basic tunes not personal to the car so they worry me. Im gonna have to just bite the bullet and fork out the money for all the parts sepearte along with the hp tuner and have Ray tune it the right way so its safe.

[DBryden]

Haha yea right. If by roll you mean you on a skateboard and me in my car haha. Im looking at kits that look alright but they are basic tunes not personal to the car so they worry me. Im gonna have to just bite the bullet and fork out the money for all the parts sepearte along with the hp tuner and have Ray tune it the right way so its safe.

Lol, it depends on what's done to his WRX. I love pulling up to a WRX, STi, or EVO for a roll race, I usually surprise the hell out of them.

[SvicksTc]

Oh Buster will Own hands down.....

[DBryden]

Oh Buster will Own hands down.....

Heh, so I take it it's pretty nasty?

I've never been one to trash talk or say my car is the **** (I mean, it's a Saturn lol), so I wasn't trying to say my car owns all STis and EVOs. I know you guys probably didn't see it that way, but I'm just throwing that out there for future reference lol.

But yeah, I say it's still worth a shot. Nothing wrong with a friendly race roll :mrgreen:

[fballman1987]

stay away from Jbody performance stuff. the fitments are tight and not so great. it sounds cool, but you are not getting 32 hp from the header itself that number is way inflated.

[WetSSBolt]

Haha buster is my bro i know the car and yea its sick. Thanks fballman1987 ive been trying to get that info on cobaltss forums for a week now and they are all a$$holes.

[DBryden]

Haha buster is my bro i know the car and yea its sick. Thanks fballman1987 ive been trying to get that info on cobaltss forums for a week now and they are all a$$holes.

You should head over to Redlineforums.com

While there may not be as many people, very few of them are douchebags, unlike over at css.net. There are a lot of guys over there that really know their stuff.

[WetSSBolt]

Alright Ill definitly check it out thanks dude. By the way thats the sickest redline ive ever seen

[SvicksTc]

Alright Ill definitly check it out thanks dude. By the way thats the sickest redline ive ever seen

Def a sick redline and not a fan...

[fballman1987]

Haha buster is my bro i know the car and yea its sick. Thanks fballman1987 ive been trying to get that info on cobaltss forums for a week now and they are all a$$holes.


yea man not a problem, most of them are trolls over there but you have to know who to direct the threads to over there to get the correct info

You should head over to Redlineforums.com

While there may not be as many people, very few of them are douchebags, unlike over at css.net. There are a lot of guys over there that really know their stuff.

rlf is okay, theres not alot of trolling, but there are many questionable people over there as well, its kind of one of those things where you sort of have to do it on your own and go from there, because most of the LSJ community is 18 year old kids.

[DBryden]

Thanks for the compliments guys, I do what I can lol. It's hard to make people say "Damn...nice Saturn..." so it's cool when the compliments roll in. Here's a bigger pic of my avatar, just for kicks. Ignore the exhaust :(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/spyder3kgt/ION/DSC00268-1.jpg

And one more:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/spyder3kgt/ION/DSC00265-1.jpg

aaaaand /thread jack

I agree with you on the questionable people over at RLF... I mean I'm still a kid myself lol (20), but I try not to make stuff up when people ask questions. The good thing about RLForums is that the 4 or 5 active mods (that are on almost every hour of every day) are the 4 or 5 most knowledgeable people on the whole site, and even some of the veterans that sold their Ion loooong ago still come back to post and help out with any questions. Sometimes it may take a little longer to get an answer, but they're usually cool about it. I've just started to see a lot of people from CSS.net migrating over because apparently the mods there are Nazis...I never really gave it the time of day so I wouldn't know :/

[SvicksTc]

Looks dope man, i say tint the tindows and the murdered out look is complete

[DBryden]

Looks dope man, i say tint the tindows and the murdered out look is complete

Eh, I had a black license plate lined up, and was ready for tint...I also have an extra set of headlights that are apart and ready for some retro-fitted projectors so I can paint the whole headlight shroud black...

...Buttttt I've decided to just stop so I can sell it lol. Gonna get rid of it at the end of winter if all goes well and pick up a beater and an FC RX-7 for an LS1 swap.

[WetSSBolt]

Really you think you are gonna do better with that? I was thinking of starting a v-8 project car but for now gonna finish up the bolt and see what i get out of the lsj. Gonna pick up a stage 4 ecu and supercharger pre ground down for the 2.6 pulley alonge with the pulley around xmas then get meth 60lb injectors and hp tuner and get it all done right and see what i get out of that first

[DBryden]

Really you think you are gonna do better with that? I was thinking of starting a v-8 project car but for now gonna finish up the bolt and see what i get out of the lsj. Gonna pick up a stage 4 ecu and supercharger pre ground down for the 2.6 pulley alonge with the pulley around xmas then get meth 60lb injectors and hp tuner and get it all done right and see what i get out of that first

Yeah, I mean performance-wise, I really haven't put too much money at all in to the Ion. I hit a 13.7 with stage 2/Intake/Header/Exhaust, and never took it back after I put the 2.85" pulley on. I'm happy with the performance, especially since it's my DD...but I want to get out of the "trying to make my DD a rocket-ship" game and just get a reliable DD, and build a beast on the side.

Stock LS1s dropped in to FCs are capable of mid 12s all day. I figure that's a good start, especially since it's such a cheap project.

[Buster]

Heh, so I take it it's pretty nasty?

I've never been one to trash talk or say my car is the **** (I mean, it's a Saturn lol), so I wasn't trying to say my car owns all STis and EVOs. I know you guys probably didn't see it that way, but I'm just throwing that out there for future reference lol.

But yeah, I say it's still worth a shot. Nothing wrong with a friendly race roll :mrgreen:


I know what you mean man lol. If I wasnt destroying trannies like fat kids with cheeseburgers I'd do it too.

Right now its a for the most part fully bolted 2.0 WRX with a big 16g turbo. Its good for around 320whp and low 12s. With the stock turbo and just exhaust I managed a 13.2 @102. I would assume its got alot more in it now. 21psi is alot of fun lol.

Seriously though wes, your car is quick you just have to be careful using too many power adders.

[DBryden]

Seriously though wes, your car is quick you just have to be careful using too many power adders.

^ Truth. I'd say drop the bottle. Forced induction, meth, AND nitrous all thrown in to the mixing bowl is just asking for something to pop.

[fballman1987]

^ Truth. I'd say drop the bottle. Forced induction, meth, AND nitrous all thrown in to the mixing bowl is just asking for something to pop.

eh not really math is like a safe house in a way, if the tune is right it shouldnt be a problem, the problem is getting that right tune because around here everyone wants to throw a canned tune on it. these cars do not like canned tunes at all. every car individually will need a tune and all tunes will be different.

[Buster]

yes but flowing both meth and N02 at the same time may not have a perfect mix on all four cyl last thing you want is to fry something. especially considering meth and N02 do the same thing.

[fballman1987]

he could also have it set up to not run meth when he sprays. there are people running meth and nitrous. not giant shots though. everything on a cobalt heats up the 4th cyl lol.

if he gets really ballsy he can do a return style fuel system make sure the 4th cyl isnt on its own with fuel. thats a big problem is the lack of fuel through the 4th.

[Buster]

that sounds way too involved for a mediocre amount of extra HP

[fballman1987]

that sounds way too involved for a mediocre amount of extra HP

the meth has proven to give substansial amounts of constant power which would probably be better then running nitrous as its only temporary hp.

the return style fuel system is actually not hard, its a tad expensive but even GM knows the cobalts have a fueling issue with the 4th cyl, so they did the return style system on the time attack car. the time attack car was a stage 2 car, which is what i have on my car. it also had a decently built motor, but as far as the pulley system it was stage 2, and that car is insane.

EDIT: i should say the meth can be tuned for substansial amounts of HP.

[DBryden]

eh not really math is like a safe house in a way, if the tune is right it shouldnt be a problem, the problem is getting that right tune because around here everyone wants to throw a canned tune on it. these cars do not like canned tunes at all. every car individually will need a tune and all tunes will be different.

Well yeah, I was just still keeping in mind that this is gonna be his DD. Even with that aside, I wouldn't put 3 power adders on without setting up a return-style fuel system first.

[KustomZ03]

I should be running stg 4 w/ meth here in the next month or so on my balt :mrgreen: Good luck with ur build dude.

[OzerMan]

i went gmpp stage 2 and loved it. then smaller pulley eventually.

I sold over thirty stage 2 kits and never once had any complaints. Sure you can build a kit for a little less, but to keep you're warranty in tact, you're paying for piece of mind

[WetSSBolt]

I should be running stg 4 w/ meth here in the next month or so on my balt :mrgreen: Good luck with ur build dude.

Im picking up a pre ground down supercharger with the 2.6 pulley and Intense Stage 4 ecu in a week then obviously the rest of the kit 60lbs injectors belt tensioner and so on and i plan to get the hp tuner aswell as meth and have it tuned but now it looks like ill get a return fuel system aswell. Thanks for all the posts and concerns everyone. But in the end the wet system will stay on considering the car never gets driven any more cuz im always away for work and if **** aint breakin then you aint going fast enough:lol: haha

[WetSSBolt]

Hey Ozerman how do you like those full race traction bars? Any luck with traction yet? haha

[SvicksTc]

Yo wes i was looking through my camera and found a vid of your runs at Atco, i gotta load them up

[dumpleRL]

anyone got handme down parts :))) stage kits boost gauges

[Jfaphoenix32]

We have a stage 2 kit available...

[OzerMan]

Hey Ozerman how do you like those full race traction bars? Any luck with traction yet? haha

between the traction bars and the solid motor mounts i get no wheel hop, tractions not too bad, drag radials would be a must for the track however

[WetSSBolt]

Yo wes i was looking through my camera and found a vid of your runs at Atco, i gotta load them up

I started a thread with the video of the car at atco this past summer

http://www.tristatetuners.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1199227#post1199227