cougar2cobalt

what do you all think... CAI and full exaust, new rods and pistons, cam gears, and 150 shot of nitrous, my target goal is 300hp and this would all of course be with upgraded suspension and tires. which company would you guys recomend for the rods and pistons gm performance build book recomends eagle, manley or the 2.0 litre connecting rods and JE, Wiseco and Diamond pistons, anyone running any of these? i have done alittle research but need help deciding, my budget will be alittle over 2000 for the engine as i plan on doing the suspension and CAI/exuast this summer and expect a bonus check from work, and some tax money next spring, hopefully by then HP will be ready with some tuning software! oh yeah valve springs and head gasket/bolts too with the stock body it will be a great sleeper those SRT-4s won't know what hit them

biohazard

halfcent could help you, hes upgraded his valvetrain/pistons/and cams

NJHK

Ok, you say you want to do pistons and rods...what compression are you planning on running?

Are you aiming for 300 wheel horsepower or crank?

What about the rest of your valvetrain?

I will say this, if you're planning on having a shop do the motor work for you, you're going to be spending over your $2000 budget. Put it this way, parts alone will put you close to it:

(Estimating prices)
Pistons - $475
Rods - $350
Cam Gears - $250
Nitrous kit - $550
Intake - $250
Exhaust - $300
-----------------------
Total $2175

That's over your budget right there and prices could vary depending on where you get it from. This is also not including nitrous re-fills. With a 150 shot you're going to go through a tank pretty fast.

If you're changing your pistons & rods, get Eagle Rods and Wiseco pistons. You can find Wisecos much easier than JEs with no problem.

cougar2cobalt

well i'll do all my own work, 10:1 compression, and about the valve train i'm going by the gm build book that suggests Bates engineering valve springs to be used with the stock camshaft, it says that the combination should be good to 400 hp. and thanks njhk for suggesting the eagle rods and wiseco pistons. i wanna see 250+hp at the wheels.

cougar2cobalt

next problem of the puzzle is the tranny, what is the hp rating for it? i figure clutch flywheel and lsd will be a seperate project.

NJHK

Honestly, if you're going to change your pistons AND not run any type of forced induction like a turbocharger or supercharger, raise your compression.

Also, are you sure you'll be able to replace your bottom end? It's quite involved and you'll basically either have to put your car on a lift and drop the motor or lift the motor out of the engine bay to replace them. Just making sure you're not getting into something over your head.

With the cam gears, I'd suggest adjusting them on a dyno but the problem is that you'll have to remove the valvecover everytime you want to adjust timing... a real pain in the ass.

You're welcome on the suggestions. By the way, those prices for the Rods and Pistons are based off the www.carcustoms.net site. If you do decide to raise the compression like I suggest, contact Karo @ Car Customs and he can get you whatever compression you want.

NJHK

A clutch and flywheel upgrade should be all you need. LSD is optional but a good investment.

NJHK

Oh I just realized something...

Since you're replacing your bottom end, you have to seperate your cylinder head and block, you're going to need a new head gasket and bolts. Get a Cometic Head Gasket and ARP Studs. Contact Ryne @ Team Vision Racing (www.ryne.com/storefront) for these items.

cougar2cobalt

yeah i already mentioned the new head gasket and bolts but thanks for the link, the main reason for replacing the rods will be to run alot of nitrous as a power adder, with a good setup i should be able to run a 150 shot, but i suppose while i'm in there raise the compression too... don't worry about me working on my car, try a 3.0 liter swap in a 2.5 liter 99 murcury cougar, thats probably one of the most involved projects you can do on a car! i read step by step instructions on this procedure and they never removed the engine from the cobalt but if worse comes to worse i have an engine lift and it would be a good oppertunity to replace the engine mounts thanks NJHK for all your help

NJHK

Well there you go...sounds like you've done some of this hard work before already.

Well good luck with this car. If you have any more questions, just ask.

IonNinja

looks like you're going to be easily passing your $2K budget here, just a couple questions for you.

1) why cam gears? with the large shot you need something to control ignition timing not cam timing...think MSD DIS-2

2) also since you plan on running a 150 shot of nitrous I'm assuming you're going with a direct port nitrous kit? are you picking up any extras for the kit? mainly window switch, purge, and bottle heater...

Also at those power levels I could definitely see a clutch as a good investment, I could imagine it slipping like crazy.

Oh and ditch that OEM exhaust manifold while you're doing bolt on mods, it wont provide tremendous gains but certainly more than just an exhaust by itself.

good luck, and what happened to the 3L Cougar? Straight 3L or 3L/SVT hybrid?

NJHK

Good points.

vandy0419

You could always do the INTENSE kit Stage 4 with a 2.5" pulley instead and then downpipe, exhaust and clutch and that will put you about 280whp for about $2000 with no labor. You won't really need pistons or anything until 300+whp

vandy0419

Also, running the 2.5" pulley will get you 21psi and will give you more torque than horsepower...you'd really be sitting with what I told you around 275-280whp and 285lb/ft I'm guessing.

NJHK

Bro...wrong forum

He has a 2.2L Base Model Cobalt, not an SS/SC.

vandy0419

Oh cr@p...my bad...I didn't even pay attention which section this was under...just found it on the "New Posts"

Once again, sorry.

NJHK

it's alright.

cougar2cobalt

the cougar kept breaking and it was a hunk of junk. i bet you can find it for cheap at a wholesale lot somewhere. the car was not good to me and long story short i needed a new engine and i found a 3.0 liter cheap so bingo bango did the swap and attempted to drive the car to the dealership (it broke on the way) second attempt i decided to go to the dealership just down the street(which happened to be a chevy) and found myself the owner of a brand new cobalt LS

now back to cam gears and the upgraded springs, these will let the engine reach better then 7.5k in rpms, in case you didn't know nitrous loves high rpms, also about funding, i'll be getting around 2k at christmas time and then whatever i get back from my tax return, i will do the internals first to "prepare" the car for the nitrous kit which will come later on that spring, just in time for drag racing season! and by the end of this summer i should have a cai and (full exuast) = (headers, high flow cat, and muffler). the 2k will be for internal engine parts and whatever is left over towards the nitrous, and of course i'll get all the goodies i can get, a nitrous purge is just so cool and intimidating!!

MSD ignition added to the list thanx!

NJHK

If I were you, I'd check out the Patriot Performance Stage II Heads.

www.patriot-performance.com

You can buy them from Ryne @ Team Vision Racing (www.ryne.com/storefront)

FYI: I have the Stage II head on my Sunfire

cougar2cobalt

does anyone know how to contact bates engineering, they don't seem to have a website

NJHK

Don't bother...it's mission impossible.

Did you check out the patriot head site I sent you?

cougar2cobalt

yeah will the stock cams work with it?

NJHK

Yes but if I were you, I'd invest in some camshafts as well.

IonNinja

what are the gains like in the 2.2 with the patriot head? from my understanding the head is actually pretty free flowing as is...

also what does the patriot head + cams do to your powerband? i'm a fan of the low end torque this car provides...does it make it peaky with all the power up high like a honda?

NJHK

If you're staying N/A, I'd suggest getting a bigger profile camshaft so you can have a good amount of valve overlap. The bigger cylinder ports will result in loss of torque and decrease low end intake velocity, so basically it will shift your powerband upwards because it's going to take more RPMs to build up intake velocity. This is why you should have camshafts that have a higher lift and duration.