Track Day Monster 2009 SS/TC Track Frame

[dperkins]

Hello people of the internet!

This is my build log of my 2009 SS/TC on a track frame. I am pretty sure I will be using this as a nearly 100% dedicated track racer with CA road legality to be able to once in a while drive on the backroads. I am aiming for about 400WHP to keep up/beat the Ariel Atoms that like to visit Laguna Seca. Planning on doing a full engine build with a a big ol' turbo, cams, heads, ect. I hope the end result will be extremely fast (0-60 in about or under 2 sec) and also driveable without immediately lighting up the rears. I have choosen a 2009 TC off the cobaltss.net classifieds that is very clean but has nearly 270000 miles . Owner said he replaced clutch, turbo and tires at 230k, but Ill be replacing those anyway. I plan on having 2 sets of wheels, one that has (barely) road legal tires and one with racing slicks.

Im always open for suggestions, so let me know!

-Daniel

 

[SliderR1]

Sounds like a great build. Another possible person interested in a front aero kit, too... Those that have tracked these so far have stated the car has a tendency to understeer at higher speeds.

 

[dperkins]

Sounds like a great build. Another possible person interested in a front aero kit, too... Those that have tracked these so far have stated the car has a tendency to understeer at higher speeds.

What do you mean a front aero kit? Like a generic front kit or one from DF?

 

[Briann1177]

Holy cow. That is a ton of miles for an 8 year old or so car.

Those are some tall orders. Looking forward to seeing it come along.

 

[SliderR1]

What do you mean a front aero kit? Like a generic front kit or one from DF?

Adam has mentioned that they have considered one, but there hasn't been much talk on here lately about it. There are some older posts on the site where it was talked about and several of the builders showed in interest in it, if DF was to offer one.

 

[dperkins]

I have decided on most of the mods I will be doing to the car with help from a very helpful ZZP customer service operator. I have decided to shoot for 400whp, because anything higher than that the customer service rep (Ryan) told me the engine would have a lot of problems. 400 should be enough for my needs. Here are all the mods I plan on doing once the car gets here:

• Wiseco Forged LNF Pistons 86MM
• Ecotec 4340 Connecting Rods
  
• ATI GM Ecotec Super Damper
• Neutral Balance Shafts
• LNF Head Gasket
• Ecotec Shorty Header
• South Bend Clutch Stage 4 Plus
• Fidanza Flywheel
• Rear Trans Mount
• Front Trans Mount
• ZZP Air Filter Model 2
• Opel HP Direct Injection Fuel injector
• Ecotec head studs
• Gen 3 LNF Short block
• Race battery
• Ported Head, Cams, Tune combo Stage 2 Cams, LNF ECM Core Charge
• Stage 4 Boost Controller Platinum tuning meth/water injection kit
• AiM MXG Digital Dash with optional camera
• OMP Superquadro steering wheel
• FIA racing seats

I know that a lot of those mods aren't needed, but I decided to do them anyway because of the experience of rebuilding an engine and working on it.

 

[TheNuker]

You might not want that light weight race battery, you need all the weight you can get up front.

Nuker-

 

[dperkins]

Ah, good point. I was just reading up on that today in the build logs/ general discussion.

 

[dperkins]

The donor came today! It was very unexpected because it was due on 9/14/17. It feels great to actually start tinkering on something, and not just shop online. I will be running base lines tonight (0-60, 60-0, lateral Gs, ect) just to see how much the goblin improves on this car.

The car came very dirty, covered in this fine grey dust from texas. The truck driver said he had no idea how the guy I bought the car from drove it to his house because he got stuck with his 18 wheeler. The interior was also filthy as well, and had a bunch of ants scattered around it Overall it looks pretty good, so hopefully I wont come across any surprises...

Sorry for the bad image quality, my iPhone broke a day earlier and I am using my laptop to upload these.

How do people usually upload images to this site? I had to use imgur here, but I dont want to in the future because on some WiFi I use it is blocked. I tried to use the in forum image uploader, but I could only add one picture.

 

[Briann1177]

I also have an '09 SS/TC. I have a factory service manual so hit me up if you need any info.

 

[Adam]

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[ctuinstra]

Looks like a really nice donor! If you don't mind me asking, what did the donor cost you?

 

[dperkins]

The donor was 4000 dollars, plus 1000 dollars for a really nice shipping company (my cobalt was on a truck in front of a $140000 Mercedes AMG SUV and a few beamers). I also paid 40 for the PPI. I know it was quite expensive for the donor, but I had a lot of interest on Craigslist for the body parts so I can recoup some of the cost.

 

[theeulogy]

Adam has mentioned that they have considered one, but there hasn't been much talk on here lately about it. There are some older posts on the site where it was talked about and several of the builders showed in interest in it, if DF was to offer one.

Add me to the front aero camp.

 

[dperkins]

I also have an '09 SS/TC. I have a factory service manual so hit me up if you need any info.

If you could PM them to me that would be great, or even better, put them on google drive and post a link so everyone can see them and read them.

 

[Briann1177]

They're hard copies.

 

[Brian74]

If you google around a bit, someone posted a public library access password on the internet for Chilton's Cengage online service website. These arent the cheap, crappy manuals you buy at the parts store, but more like the factory manuals, complete with all the wiring diagrams , connector pinouts and diagnostic procedures.

If you are military, you can access the Chilton website for free through the online knowledge websites.

 

[dperkins]

Hmm. Too bad I am not military, nor is anyone in my family.

 

[dperkins]

Tonight I tested the 0-60 and lateral Gs I can pull. I had a 0-60 of 6.7, and a .9g lateral acceleration. My 0 to 60 was pretty crappy because the clutch in the car is probably one of the hardest clutches in the world. Hopefully I can find out the source of the problem, and fix it. I think its probably the TOB or the clutch line, probably a combination of both...

 

[Brian74]

Hmm. Too bad I am not military, nor is anyone in my family.

Like I said, you can also access it through public libraries. There are passwords for it all over the internet that will show up in the very first page of a google search, such as, "Chilton Online Library"