Hey, i am a college student with about 3 grand to spend, but have an income of about $200 a week and i would like to know where would be best to start. I have a 2005 sunfire auto trans. Should i start with ordering the kit or do exhaust and internals work first? Also, how do our auto transmissions hold up to this? Thanks for any help! I am not ignorant to your responses like half of the other new people on this site that think they know everything and argue against reason.
Much appreciated,
Dustin
Dustin, it depends on how far you want to go.
TBH, a new kit from GMPP would be a waste of money, considering you can build a quality one for a fraction of the cost if you shop and dont be an impulse buyer for the first cheap s/c kit you see (try to keep it low mileage).
You wont need to worry about internal upgrades if you keep it simple and follow the steps that Evil put in here (emphasizing cooling).
These guys can fill in way better than I can, but I would say header/full exhaust is about the only prep you can do as your intake and other components will be covered with the pieced together kit. Unlike a turbo, you can build exhaust now, and not have to replace parts of it when you actually add boost. I would also look into cheap upgrades that make a WORLD of difference, like both strut tower bars, rear sway bar, bushing kits, motor mounts, tranny mounts, etc. A good suspension and stability setup will help ANYTHING you do to your car and youll get the maximum benefit out of the motor putting the power through the drivetrain. Plus, most of these upgrades can be done in your dorm parking lot in less than 20-60minutes depending on your mechanic skills.
Oh...and the "Search" feature here and on ecotechforum are great resources for questions like yours that are asked about 1,038,038 times a day
04 Cav. 2dr. 5spd. My DD. 'Nuff said.
Thanks man, i never thought about all the other small stuff.
Yeah I would definitely start off on exhaust and things like suspension and motor/trans mounts. Having good supporting mods is key.
And like blue04DD said, shop around for the s/c kit. People on cobaltss.net practically give away stuff, so if you are patient and shop smart you can walk away with a hell of a deal.
hi i just finished my install, just need tuning.
M62 off an Cobalt SS
3.1 pulley
42 lb. cobalt turbo injectors
Cobalt SS TMAP sensor harness (joined stock IAT / MAP using the Diagram)
Cobalt SS TMAP sensor
ZZP Heat Exchanger
headers w. custom 2.25 full exhaust & magna-flow muffler
stage 2 Cobalt SS cams
fuel pressure regulator
255 LPH gas pump
AEM CAI
i went to the dyno few days back and had problems since i mixed up the iat signal cable with the map sensor signal cable on the new harness and couldn't tune my car
now i re-make the connections to the harness and going tomorrow to try and tune my car once again at the dyno
PLEEASEEEE, can you tell me any how to's or what i am up against when tuning so that i can explain to the dyno tuner and don't get any more surprises?
He is using HP tuners
tmap sensor harness
my engine bay
my car
If your tuner has any experience with hpt tuners, and tuning j-bodies (alpha n), you shouldn't need to explain anything. If you do need to explain, I would suggest finding a new tuner.
he tuned my car when was all motor
but he encounter problems when tuning supercharged
my doubt is if it could have been because of the mixed iat and map sensor wires ?
Just wanted to bump and say thanks for the write-up. Very informative for my future projects.
well car as tuned....
made 205 whp 177tq
pretty satisfied, car is fuc*ing fast but...
was hoping for more :\
That seems low, especially the tq. You should be making more with a 3.1, I'm guessing those 42# injectors are completely maxed out. Has rev limit been moved up at all?
and i changed the pulley to a 2.9, my bad
On 2.9 @ 7k I'm gonna say those injectors are DEFINITELY maxed out. You need something bigger than 42lb. And you should be making more hp for sure, certainly alot more torque with a 2.9. Pretty sure you should be in the 230hp range and easily 240+tq. Sounds like maybe the tune is lacking. Or perhaps pulling timing due to heat. Hard to say without seeing the tune, but with your hardware (other than the tiny injectors), I'd say the tune is restrictive you.
what injectors specifically do you recomend?
i will see if i can get my tune to post up the pictures
I would say at least 60s to give yourself some headroom. Im running them with a 3.1 and have tons of room to expand, and Tinkles is running 60# with a 2.9 (both of us at 7k). I'm not sure what his max duty cycle is hitting, maybe Oldskool can chime in as he is doing the tuning, but I'm fairly certain he still has a little headroom left before maxing them out.
Any idea what your IATs were throughout the pulls? If it's getting too hot, the computer is going to pull timing at certain temps as a safety measure, which will obviosuly result in lower power.
2.9" pulley + 60 pounders on stock pump is maxed. Everything I've seen says our stock pump is dropping pressure with these bigger injectors. Grab a racetronix and you should have a ton of head room with 60's and 2.9" pulley.
Anyways, your relatively low numbers are either from excessive heat, not enought advance/too much knock, too rich/lean, or a combination of all the above. You should be able to run anywhere from 11.8-12.0 afr and about 15-16* advance with the 2.9 w/o knock. If it's knocking and you have to richen it up or pull timing, it's getting way too hot. If you want to get more agressive and you have the fuel to spare (but it sounds like you don't), richen it up to the low to mid 11s and shoot for about 20-22* advance. My car made 213whp, 200trq on a stock pulley at 20* advance, facilitated by water/meth.
Cliff notes - the primary goal is keeping it cool, and if you can't do that, you better damned well supress knock
oldskool wrote:2.9" pulley + 60 pounders on stock pump is maxed. Everything I've seen says our stock pump is dropping pressure with these bigger injectors. Grab a racetronix and you should have a ton of head room with 60's and 2.9" pulley.
Anyways, your relatively low numbers are either from excessive heat, not enought advance/too much knock, too rich/lean, or a combination of all the above. You should be able to run anywhere from 11.8-12.0 afr and about 15-16* advance with the 2.9 w/o knock. If it's knocking and you have to richen it up or pull timing, it's getting way too hot. If you want to get more agressive and you have the fuel to spare (but it sounds like you don't), richen it up to the low to mid 11s and shoot for about 20-22* advance. My car made 213whp, 200trq on a stock pulley at 20* advance, facilitated by water/meth.
Cliff notes - the primary goal is keeping it cool, and if you can't do that, you better damned well supress knock
I'd listen to this guy. The man knows a thing or two when it comes to tuning
what a great write up, now if we had one of these for us LD9 guys that would be awesome
i dont have the stock pump.. i have a 255lph
i should get the 60's then
aire/fuel is constant 11ish
could be the heat, but i certainly think i can get a better tune...
it is difficult to find a tuner experienced in j-bodys over here at P.R.
pretty sure mine's the only one supercharged over here!
is it possible to get a tune sent via email or something ? (pardon me... i dont know s#!t about tuning...
)
If you are at constant 11's you dont need bigger injectors at this time. Thats pretty rich, leaning it out would make more power. From what I've run into in these engines is that you start knocking over a certain amount of advance but you can go leaner and not get any more knock at the same amount of advance. Like I can only see 15-18 depending on iats whether I'm using 11:1 or 12:1. Might just be my setup though. I wouldnt experiment too hard with it, with a tuner who's not terribly experience with our cars and/or without an egt probe.
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I just got mine done!!! have the stock pulley on right now, 60lb injectors on e85 and it is too rich will not hardly run on gm reflash, i am going to go with the 2.8 or 2.9 with e85 but need some tuning, is there some one on here that can send me a tune on a ECM if i mail it to them.
03 Chevy Cavalier $1500.00
Turbo T3/4 $100.00
Inter-cooler $40.00
Kicking your $10,000 cars ass $ priceless $
Also what spark plugs would you all rec.
03 Chevy Cavalier $1500.00
Turbo T3/4 $100.00
Inter-cooler $40.00
Kicking your $10,000 cars ass $ priceless $
