Ladies and Gents,
Finally moved up enough in the world to do what I've always wanted to do with my 2008 Cobalt Sport, 2.4L LE5 Ecotec with a manual trans. I purchased it new in 2008 and am the only owner and driver. With this build I'm looking to improve drivability, handling, and a little bit of performance. Basically get my Balt driving like a newer, slightly more powerful car so that the bug to go out and buy a new car goes away. I want to ride this puppy to 1,000,000 miles. To reach that goal, I'm starting with forced induction via the ZZP turbo kit.
My goal is not to have a drag car or track car that smokes stock Vette's like they're a Black&Mild. I just want a little bit more out of my stock setup.

The car/motor have 151k on it, so to handle the 9-12psi of boost I want to run (I know, moderate numbers), I'm having to upgrade my internals.

Build plan:
Replace Timing set (hasn't ever been replaced) - either Cloyes or the ZZP set
Replace Pistons with custom forged Wiseco Pistons at 9.5:1 comp and 88.5mm bore. (Ordered yesterday)
Replace rods with ZZP 4340 rods:
http://zzperformance.com/ecotec/engine/ecotec-4340-connecting-rods.html
Keeping the stock Crank, can't find a 4340 crank for the LE5 anywhere. Scat quoted me 5 grand for a custom billet one....I said no haha.
ZZP turbo kit:
http://zzperformance.com/ecotec/turbo-parts-kits/2-2-2-4l-turbo-kit.html
New head gasket
Turbo Oil pan
http://zzperformance.com/ecotec/turbo-parts-kits/turbo-oil-pan-for-ecotec.html
ARP Head Studs
Manual Boost Controller
AEM wideband AFR and boost gauges
BC Racing Coilovers
http://zzperformance.com/ecotec/bc-racing-coilovers-1.html
Exedy Stage 1 Clutch (my stock has 125k on it, so I'm sure it'd last me a day with that extra HP and torque going to the wheels haha)
http://www.jcwhitney.com/exedy-stage-1-clutch-kit-new/p2009559.jcwx

Of note, I already have the GMPP Performance exhaust installed.

I'm also having the head ported. I have a machine shop that will be doing a 20 over bore so the cylinder is uniform for the forged components. They'll also be doing the porting on a flow bench.

I had thought about getting a sway bar to help with the handling. Is there anything else that will help with our body roll? The BC set seems pretty solid though.

Anyhow, to my questions:
1) I'm planning on dropping the motor myself to save cost. Only issue is I can't leave the car on the lift I'm using. My plan is to get the engine and trans out, disconnect the trans and then mount the trans and the subframe back into the car to make it a roller. Has anyone done this and can it be done without damaging the car (Chevy told me they couldn't promise I wouldn't bend the frame???). I searched the forums and couldn't find anyone that has made a roller out of their Balt. I only need to move it a couple thousand feet to a parking lot for safe keeping while I'm getting my machine work done, but it'd be easier to push it there.

2) I'm in Ridgecrest, CA (read: middle of nowhere). We have two shops in town, and J & J's Automotive Machine Shop has been the locally recommended shop to do my work. They have a small shop but with all the tools required to do the work I need and 15 years of experience in that shop alone. They're contracted by Driven Experiences to work on their Baja Trophy Trucks that come out to our desert fairly often. Driven Exp is owned by Hendricks Motorsports, so I think that's a good sign of J&J's quality. They haven't worked on a ton of Ecotecs, but they have experience with them and lots of different inline 4 motors. Anyhow, I'm only a couple hours from LA too. Does anyone know of a shop in LA or the OC that deals in Ecotecs specifically? I'm fairly confident the shop in town could do it, but with the aftermarket auto mod capital of the world 2 hours away, I want to make sure I'm making the right call.

I want to do this build right so that I'm not dealing with reliability issues after the build is complete.

Plan is to drop the motor next Saturday, April 2nd. I'll do what I can to post pics and details as I go through that process and all the subsequent mods.

Thanks for your time, happy weekend!

 

Pulling the motor out from the top isnt too hard, just have to take the balancer off. That saves you from pulling the front frame and suspension. Good luck with the build.

 

excited to see another LE5 build. post plenty of pics. good luck!

 

Can you elaborate? My Chilton's, Hanes, and ZZP all say it has to come out from underneath the car. Through the top would be way easier!!

 

I pulled mine out from the top and installed it from the top. You must remove the crank balancer so that it will fit, but i left the transmission totally bolted in place and just plucked the motor out with a crane. Its nothing crazy but for some reason everyone thinks the botom is way easier. From my experience if you live anywhere it snows, the frame bolts will be rusted in and youll be spending an entire day just getting the frame off.

 

And you had access to the transaxle bolts to remove the engine from the trans from the top?

 

I jacked the car up to unbolt the trans

 

Gotcha. So, I'm just assuming you have a Chilton's or Haynes on hand: Did you just follow engine removal steps in chapter 2B, section 7 all the way from step 1 through 21 and then skip ahead to steps 32-34?

 

I dont have one of those, sorry

 

Got through a fair amount of removing it yesterday. Here are some pics:












Me discovering the left mount on my radiator was sheared in half by my sister 7 years ago.




Got the wiring harness out of the way, the oil and coolant drained, the heater hoses disconnected, the alternator out, the AC compressor hanging out of the way, and the exhaust manifold almost off.

Slowbalt, just to confirm, when you said to remove the balancer, you were talking about removing the balancer/crankshaft pulley on the front of the motor to give another half inch or so of play on the left side so that we can slide the motor left and then up to remove it, correct?

 

Sub'ed. Good luck to your build, I always enjoy following others progress on their mods!

 

Yes that is exactly what i meant

 

Well, day 2 crack at getting it out didn't end well:










As you can see, the crank and bottom of the case are running into the frame, and even if I can get them above the frame, I won't be able to angle the motor properly to get the flywheel out of the bell housing.





With the angle it's at, the bell housing and flywheel are fully seated on the top, so the motor can't lift out.

We started by taking the crank pulley off. With it off, there was not enough space on the left to slide the motor off the input shaft.

Next, we tried taking the tensioner pulley off too, but that didn't give us enough space on the left either.

Then we took the front cover off the motor. This gave us enough room to get the flywheel off the input shaft. But in order to do that, we had to slide the motor so far left that the crankshaft was underneath the frame and wedged into it when trying to lift the motor out and clear of the input shaft.

So, is there a trick to this? I've seen YouTube videos of guys removing it from the top, and I know Slowbalt has done it.

Is it simply a matter of just lifting it until it clears, even if it lifts the car up in the process?

Or do I just need to try and drop the subframe and the transaxle and do it the way the books say to do it?

At this point I'm 90% of the way out. I would really really prefer to get it out the top. I have to roll the car out of the shop after I'm done, so leaving the subframe and transaxle in is saving me a lot of work. But at this point I've probably spent more time than I would've had I just followed the standard steps and removed it out the bottom.

 

Should have left the trans bolted to the motor. Pull the axles and intermediate shaft.
Pull motor and trans.

It will still roll with no axles or trans. The trans being in place is stopping you and now in your way.

 

When i did it i had the engine tilted up like crazy on the passenger side until the bottom was above the frame rail, then you can pull the flywheel out feom the bellhousing. Let me find the pics

 

 

 

Awesome, thanks slowbalt! I think we can get it down lower and try the tilting bit. We just tried tilting it too high I guess. Any idea if tilting the drive side up first might work better?

 

I dont think that will work because of how widethe clutch/flywheel are

 

Well I can still get underneath and unbolt the subframe, trans, and everything. I was going to do that for when I put it back in.

So looking in my Haynes, it says I would need to remove all hoses and electrical from the trans, disconnect the stabilizer links, tie-rod ends, and the steering intermediate shaft. Then I'd disconnect the lower control arms from the steering knuckles and remove the driveaxles followed by removing the transaxle mounts with some wood blocks between the motor/trans and the subframe. Then I would unbolt the subframe, lower it out of the way so that it can slide out, and then lower the motor and trans onto the ground.

Of note, it says to not allow the steering shaft to rotate after the intermediate shaft is disconnected as I could damage the airbag clockspring.

So, if I did all of that ^^^, I could still put the wheels back on it and roll it somewhere for storage? It sounds like if I do this, I should lock my steering wheel to ensure the clockspring isn't damaged, which would mean I couldn't turn the wheels (kinda crucial for where I need to roll it to). Or is it simply a matter of just bolting the intermediate shaft back up after everything is out? I guess worst case I could get a tow truck/flatbed to move it.

 

You have to have the subframe in for the wheels to support the weight of the car. Also, get the steeringwheel to lock, and mark the position of the steering shaft on the rack and the shaft itself with a paint pen so you know how to put it back.

 

Roger.

Also, did you remove the head because it was hitting the transmission when you tried tilting it? It looks like you threaded your chain through the cylinders once you got the head off also. Is that where you have your chain attached or is it hooked somewhere else?

Thanks for all the help!

 

The first pic is of my reinstalling the engine with the head on, so i dont think that matters. I pulled the head on the original motor because the piston broke. The chain was bolted down with the head bolts

 

Ahhh, tracking. That makes sense. I don't think it would matter except at super extreme angles. Bummer your piston broke. Did you go forged?

 

No i had an l61 and swapped to a stock LE5