Bacon's Slowbalt

[canadianbacon]

Figured I might as well put a thread up for this, even though it's nothing special. It's a 2008 Cobalt LS (base), 2.2L putting a monstrous 150 hp and 150 ft/lbs.

First little bit after I got it:









Then I picked up some fishing line and Automotive Goo Gone and went to town on the trunk, and to the little silver GM badges on the front fenders:

Oh, hey




Then I went and got some VHT tint and Dupicolor clear and went to town on my tail lights:





All cleaned up


Enter wintermode:





And these will be going on in the spring:



I love the interior of this at night:



And the sound of the stock exhaust, nothing impressive:




Only mods done to it so far is the "airbox mod", which is just taking the silencer off the bottom of the airbox where the filter is, leaving the 2.5" or so hole completely open. No, it has no adverse effects from doing that, and my filter is in the same condition that it was in before taking the silencer off. Also took the stupid plastic engine cover thing off. I don't know if it's a placebo effect but it seems like my exhaust is a bit louder without them, on the intake side you can definitely hear the difference however.

Also changed the front door speakers (since the drivers front was dead when I got it) to MTX Audio Thunderdome Co-axials (TDX65). Rear speakers will be changed to matching MTX speakers in a little bit, then add a sub and amp.

Future mods include an LE5 aluminum intake pipe from ZZPerformance and Magnaflow muffler, for now. A full exhaust system (manifold back) and wheels/tires will have to wait as funds are pretty tight, unless I find a great deal for them. I also might tint the windows, but I don't know yet.

[LR3]

Cobalts are good vehicles. And no surprise that taking off that cover increased the engine noise, typically they have a small amount of sound blocking material designed to make a quieter in cabin noise.

[canadianbacon]

The engine cover has foam stuff underneath it, and it covers pretty much everything. The intake silencer is just a tube that connects to the bottom of the air box, but has a chamber on it for the sound to escape to so that you don't hear it, which is the opposite of what I wanted.

[canadianbacon]

Got my springs installed today, rides pretty good now.

[BJoe]

Looks better sitting a bit lower like that, what are you going to be doing for rolling stock on it?

[canadianbacon]

I'll just be painting the wheels black in a month or so, the tires on there are practically brand new. I'll probably end up with 16's since I like some sidewall, something like these:



http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Wheel...All&sort=Brand

[Ty@Tekin]

Had an '07 for a few years with the ex, was a great little car and got excellent mileage. Quiet, smooth and dependable for sure.

[canadianbacon]

I can get around 2 weeks or so out of $40, and by then I'm still a bit over 1/4 tank left. She still rides pretty smooth even with the increased spring rate of the Sportlines. It's still relatively quiet until I get into it since I took the intake silencer off, so the bottom of the air box is open, basically a cold air intake since it's drawing from the same location a CAI would. A catback is getting ordered for it in a week or so it'll be louder then, but it won't be buzzy or raspy like most Honda's.

[canadianbacon]

No major update, but decided to eliminate the door trim on both sides, as well as the bit before the rear wheel arches.




And ordered the catback, my neighbours are going to fawkin love me at 6am

[Ty@Tekin]

Looks clean with no trim! What catback did you go with?

[canadianbacon]

Thanks man, what a pain in the ass to get the tape residue off though. Had to use a hair dryer, goo-gone and patience...

05 07 Chevy Cobalt 2 2L N1 Full s s Stainless Catback Exhaust Muffler System | eBay

I'm cheap, it's cheap, but I've heard lots of people had good results with it, and it sounds great. You can take the silencer out to make it even louder, but I'll just probably leave it in, after I test it without it of course

[Ty@Tekin]

Originally Posted by canadianbacon

Thanks man, what a pain in the ass to get the tape residue off though. Had to use a hair dryer, goo-gone and patience...

05 07 Chevy Cobalt 2 2L N1 Full s s Stainless Catback Exhaust Muffler System | eBay

I'm cheap, it's cheap, but I've heard lots of people had good results with it, and it sounds great. You can take the silencer out to make it even louder, but I'll just probably leave it in, after I test it without it of course

Nothing wrong with that, I had a $300 SRS setup on my WRX and loved it.

[canadianbacon]

Originally Posted by Ty@Tekin

Nothing wrong with that, I had a $300 SRS setup on my WRX and loved it.

That's what I'm thinking too, it's only a base model (LS), I don't need a Magnaflow system for it, which is over $800... If I had an SS/TC then that's another story.

[canadianbacon]

LOUD NOISES:

[EeePee]

Ricer.

[canadianbacon]

So my Slowbalt is still going strong, now with 103,000 km's on the clock. These are from like a month ago, it's definitely fun driving it in the snow now with it lower.





#teamrecall

I also have new headlights going into it in the Spring since some lady decided to cruise through a yield sign in front of me and I couldn't slow down enough. Bumper cover is scuffed a bit (I can polish it out), but my passenger headlight was cracked. These are the ones I got:



I'll be putting them in when it's a bit warmer, and also I'll be getting an HID kit for it, so I'll put both in at the same time (going with either a 6000k or 8000k)

I'm still on stock wheels, since I'm barely breaking even after everything is paid with my current job, but I got an interview next week so hopefully I'll get that job instead.

[Sarra]

Wow... Haven't even got the engine fully broken in yet.

A friend of mine has an SS supercharged Cobalt.

Why studded snow tires?

[canadianbacon]

The tires can be studded, but I don't have them, just regular Goodyear Nordic winters.

[Sarra]

Ah. Yeah, I guess mine can be as well. I just don't see the point of studs. They're heavy, loud, and you generally don't gain anything from them in traction...

[canadianbacon]

I mean, on really hard packed snow they'll grip better than non-studded tires but I don't like the way they feel on dry pavement.