SS/SC Vs. Modded 5.0

(Long post...Cliff notes)

Alright, I'm still stoked about the other night. Best night of racing since I can remember.

So I'm at the same buddies house where I raced the RSX and the 1990 SI when our friend Jake comes over, but to our disappointment he's got his mom's little Mazda truck.:disappoin So Dustin says to him "Jake! Where's your damn 5.0? You need to put a beating on this Chevy!" (Most of my buddies are Ford guy...heh)
Jake replies with "Man, gas is too expensive, I don't wanna fill it up..."
We all laughed at him when he said this and my buddy Vaughn chimes in with "I'll give you the 20 bucks I just got for selling a 4 cyl rearend for gas money if you kick that peice of shit Chevy's ass!" (By this time Vman as we call him was drunk and probly stoned so he was a little irrate and didn't mind forking the dough over :lol2:)

You see, all my buddies have been talking Jake's 5.0 up to me, saying it'll waste the SS in any gear at any speed. They've all been in my car as well as his, and they all pretty much say the same thing...I'll lose. I haven't been in his car for some time now and he's done a few mods since then so they got me thinking I've got no chance.(Jake's mods: CAI from our other buddies Vortech system, long tube headers w/ Bassani x-pipe, 3.55 gears and bumped up the timing for our race)

Now for the fun part...
We head out of the neighboorhood to an open street just North and line up in 2nd gear at around 20 mph(this puts me a good amount under my powerband). We each have one passenger in our cars which makes us even on passengers, although mine wieghs about 60 pounds more than his. :icon16: I tell Justin who is ridding shotgun with me to count us down.

3,2,1...GO!! We both simultaneously nail our throttles and to my complete surprise I gain about half a car length. Jake, with his much shorter gearing shifts to 3rd long before I do which gets him dead even with me again. Then I powershift from 2nd to 3rd which jumps me a half car. After the 55 mph mark it's obvious the SS has the upper hand as I keep a steady pull on him untill we shut them down at about 85-90(empty road very late at night) with the SS leading by about 1 1/2 car lengths. I looked over at Justin who was himself elated over the run, and said "Hell yeah!." He nodded in agreement with a grin on his face.

Jake is ahead of us now and takes a right turn along the same city block and we follow behind him. He wants another rolling go, so we line up to his left. Justin gets ready to count us off again but this time I tell him to roll his window up after he counts us off. He agrees that this is a good idea. 3,2,1...GO!! This time I'm ready for him and I downshift into 1st gear which shoots me ahead by a car but I can't get out of 1st fast enough and hit fuel/spark cut-off for a split second which gives the 5slow the lead. This is easily regained with a powershift into 2nd gear as I pull ahead by a half car length. After that he could never make up the deficit and by the top of 3rd gear at 95-100 he was 2 cars behind. :sunglasse

We pull into a LDS church parking lot in Vman's hood and rolled down the windows for a little chat. It went like so...

Me "Nice run dude! That blue oval moves pretty quick for a relic"
Jake "Thanks man. Goddam that thing's got some top end on it though!"
Me "Surprised?"
Jake "Heck yeah, that thing hauls ass."
Me "Vman's gonna be pissed! Let's go tell him the Ford got beat"

After pulling up to Vaughn's and telling him the outcome of the race, we listed to him rant and rave about wasting 20 bucks on a stupid Chevy and how I got a supercharger and it wasn't fair...blah blah blah. Then we went out for some more fun.

This time we decided to do a couple runs from a dig...
We traveled about 7 miles north to a more secluded spot with some carless street lights. The first run was a no-go for Jake as he bogged 1st and missed 2nd gear all in one whack(I pulled a good 10 lengths on this one :)), so we staged at another light. This run I didn't fair so well because I bogged first gear and the 5.0 got a good lead which I couldnt make up. After seeing the 5.0 take off from a dig like it did I pretty much figured I'd have no chance and would have to stick to roll racing any future V8's. At the next red light we lined up for one final run, but not before watching a cop cruise on passed us head the other direction(both cars we filled with laughter at the irony).
Red turns to green, and we're off! Both of us getting great launches this time, and to my surprise I pull a half a car on him through first gear. Second gear on the other hand isn't so spunky in the first moments of gear change so the 5.0 pulls ahead a half length in 2nd. By the time we're doing 55mph (still 2nd for me) or so, Jake is eating up the gears with solid chirps from his tires on each shift. When I powershift into 3rd Jake is already about to change to 4th gear and I'm right next to him. We stay dead even with eachother all the way to 95 mph with me close to the top end of 3rd and Jake getting ready to shift to 5th. :eek7:

After tieing with the 5.0 that final run, the Ford guys gave the SS some much needed respect and Jake admited he shut down at 95mph cause he knew I was going to blow by him in the upper gears. Which is cool cause that was pretty much a 1/4 mile run since I finish the 1/4 mile around 95-96. He asked me how I thought my car did compared to the track and I told him it was a much stronger run than what I got at the track so I figured it might be lower than a 14.88, but theres no way of telling. This made him happy because he figured his car was a mid 14 in the 1320.

All in all, it was easily the best set of street runs I've had with the SS yet. Topped off with a trip to Sonic...mmm limeade. :icon16:

(Cliff notes)
-Ford buddies talk smack about the Chevy.
-SS races buddies modded 5.0 from a roll and kills it twice.
-SS races 5.0 from dig...wins one, loses one, then ties one.
-Ford buddies don't talk smack about the Chevy.
-Had one kick ass night.

Man that's the best kill story i've heard in about a month. hehehe that's cool as hell. Can't wait to get together in august. Hey hows the heat in AZ? still over 100 in the day? What about night time?

sounds like an awesome night :sunglasse

So yr buddies weren't convinced too about the SS at first.
Well,... you made it clear just like you did a couple of weeks ago inhere.
Good times. :)

Man that's the best kill story i've heard in about a month. hehehe that's cool as hell. Can't wait to get together in august. Hey hows the heat in AZ? still over 100 in the day? What about night time?

I can't wait as well. Although I won't stand much of a chance against your Blue oval.:grinno: As for the heat here, it was about 113-116 everday up untill the monsoons hit. Now it's about 104-110 w/ 80% humidity...UGH. Didn't start going below 100 at night untill a week ago either, now it gets down to 90-95.


sounds like an awesome night :sunglasse
So yr buddies weren't convinced too about the SS at first.
Well,... you made it clear just like you did a couple of weeks ago inhere.
Good times. :)

Oh yeah, in the best way possible too. Run what ya brung. :grinyes:

I think the low end torque of the 5.0 is what made them think the Mustang was much quicker, it tends to pulls you in your seat much harder at WOT but then runs out of juice and gearing soon after. The SS on the other hand, has nice linear powerband passed 3800 rpm as appossed to running out of breath after 4600 like the stang. This lets me utilize all of my gearing and saves shift time as well.

Sweet action! :thumbsup: Haven't read any good races in a long time.

Sweet action! :thumbsup: Haven't read any good races in a long time.

well, go and read my thread, civ. It's a good death story...I think. :wink:

Actually. I have a question about that. Do i write lots o mistakes or do i build up a sentence in a wrong way?

well, go and read my thread, civ. It's a good death story...I think. :wink:

Actually. I have a question about that. Do i write lots o mistakes or do i build up a sentence in a wrong way?
Yeah, I see about 4 mistakes in this quote alone :biggrin:

I did read your thread, and like I said, I haven't read any good stories in a long time...:owned:

:grinno:

lol, indeed.

Never thought i would get owned like that, especially from the civracer. :crying:

lol, indeed.

Never thought i would get owned like that, especially from the civracer. :crying:

It could be worse...much much worse...:evillol:

Just ask Musashi...

Sweet kill. What's the redline on the SS? Just imagine if the air temp was cooler...

Redline is about 6800-6900. Hard to tell exactly where it shuts off at. I also notice a big difference in performance from driving during the day when it's 110 or more out compared to the 98-100 at night.

Yeah, I see about 4 mistakes in this quote alone :biggrin:

I did read your thread, and like I said, I haven't read any good stories in a long time...:owned:

:grinno:

Ouch...owned by the Indian. :disappoin













:icon16:

Redline is about 6800-6900. Hard to tell exactly where it shuts off at. I also notice a big difference in performance from driving during the day when it's 110 or more out compared to the 98-100 at night.

nice kill man, but damn i would not beat on my car with those temperatures. The SC has no cooling abilities besides the air around it, and im sure you know, that running it hard heats it up pretty good. Running it hard in 100+ temp wheather is just asking to destroy that blower. Please for the love of eaton superchargers, give the car a rest in the heat! Or buy an alcohol injection system, mmm that would be nice.

Sounds like a good time!

nice kill man, but damn i would not beat on my car with those temperatures. The SC has no cooling abilities besides the air around it, and im sure you know, that running it hard heats it up pretty good. Running it hard in 100+ temp wheather is just asking to destroy that blower. Please for the love of eaton superchargers, give the car a rest in the heat! Or buy an alcohol injection system, mmm that would be nice.

I don't run it hard during the day for just that reason and the fact that I'll only haul ass with the A/C off and during the day time A/C is a must. I only have my fun during night time as of now. Can't wait for it to hit 60 or so this winter.

edit:After my exhaust and intake work I'm getting a coolingmist system and a 3.25 pulley w/ colder range plugs. :evillol:

yup 5.0's don't have good top end unless its got head work done or cams. they got a shit load of tq though, i don't really trust butt dynos anyways.

yup 5.0's don't have good top end unless its got head work done or cams. they got a shit load of tq though, i don't really trust butt dynos anyways.

Thet really don't especially stock, but I thought it was slow because of the poor auto tranny...how "modded" was the 5.0 anyways??
My cousins owned a 5.0...it had very nice grust from a start, but it really did lacked strength up top

Either way nice races, you should definately do it again with him...

No auto tranny involved dude...both cars are 5 spd manual. His mods are in my origional post ;)

Still hangs around 100 degrees at night? sheesh...i think i might have to a couple of test runs a couple of nights before just to make sure it ain't gonna ping. lol As for 5.0's lacking up top, the main culprit is the E7TE iron heads. I could blow more air through a straw than what those flow through an intake port. The exhaust is also poorly made from the factory. But anyways enough with the excuses. It lost but its all good. Hey bulldog, what kind of power should that thing put down with a 3.25 pulley?

A 3.25 pulley will add about 2 lbs of boost. So another 20 hp in stock form would be about right. I dunno what it'll get after the intake, exhaust and methanol though, but with all of that some ecu tuning will be in order as well as some dyno runs. The PCM will also have to be adjusted sooner or later as it controls the blower bypass valve which is set to vent off anything more than 14 lbs of boost...and we can't have that now can we. :grinno:

You're going to ruin you car soo fast. I mean you've raced waay too much already in 100+ degree weather. Just take it easy on the car. You probably don't have more than 3000 miles on it, anyways.

my car aint got much past 2k miles. hehehe its good for break-in.

LOL, I love how people make it out like the Cobalt SS is gonna fall apart. This is stupid guys, give it a rest. The car was made w/ the import enthusiast in mind (Though it is a domestic). Even if it were to have problems, he has a warranty. Not all cars suffer from little break in period, and i'm sure Bulldog won't have problems with it for awhile. Though he will have problems after he puts on that new pulley (ECU tuning is needed).

as long as he takes care of it and it doesn't have any detonation problems in the heat. then it'll be ok.

You're going to ruin you car soo fast. I mean you've raced waay too much already in 100+ degree weather. Just take it easy on the car. You probably don't have more than 3000 miles on it, anyways.

You make it sound like this guy has it WFO everywhere he drives. I've opened my car up several times in 100+ degree weather and did I have problems? Nope. The only problems I ever had was sitting in traffic idling. That was probably worse on my car than keeping the revs up going down the highway.

nice kill. i figured you had a camaro or somethin when you said 'ss.' little did i know it was a cobalt. friend of mine has one and i think they're pretty sweet little cars. good races/kills/deaths. also, what is "powershifting?" i heard you use the word once or twice and i am fairly intrigued.

The car will be fine guys. It's a purpose built sports car, it's made to be driven fast and I don't abuse it.
If something happens the warrenty will take care of it as it will be something wrong with the car and not my fault.


As for powershifting, it's just a term used for upshifting without taking your foot off the gas when shifting hard.

Purpose built sports car, haha thats stretching it a little. Never the less, I agree that its more resiliant to heat damage than people are giving credit for though. Its brand new and the motor was made with a supercharger in mind, I don't see how a properly cooled motor would suffer in stock form. Todays motors are built to take a beating.

Hey Bulldog nice runs. Your friends probably just figured you'de lose cuz that 5.0 sounds mean. Always get the newbs.

What kind of numbers are Cobalt SS tuners seeing nowadays? I know the car is relatively new but one of the big SRT-4 tuners was working on a turbo swap kit for the SS a few months ago and I was wondering what kind of hp/tq numbers they're competing with?

Nothing is really out for the car just yet, hell K&N doesn't even have a typhoon for sale yet. But some people have done some custom things here and there and are getting 50hp or so more than stock, which is pretty much all I want, just without doing custom fabrication.

i dont think the motor has a single problem at all with the heat or abuse. The engine is oil injected, so its pleanty safe. The problem is the supercharger. Those things can get to hot to put your hand on. ANd when its 100F outside, you cant really keep the liquid inside cool. And the hotter that liquid gets, the thinner it gets. If it gets to thin it doesnt libricate very well, this puts excess wear and tear on the bearings. And no i doubt his warranty will cover that. That little computer in the car records everything that goes on with the car. The warranty covers "normal wear and use" when that black box records 6,000 RPMS, 12 lbs of boost, and an intake temp of over 100F, and a supercharger outtake temp of prolly close to 300F, then can void the warranty.

Once again... I DON'T juice it when it's hot out. I wait till night time to have my fun. The monsoons have rolled in and cooled things off around here. It's about 85-95 during the night hours now.