need a little advice from the crowd

apchar

Member
APCHAR,
Welcome to the Forum. See you are in Tucson, I am in Phoenix (west valley).
Let me provide some answers to your questions from post #16.
The SS/TC Cobalt has the FE5 suspension package which has larger ball joints on the aluminum front control arms, the front hub uprights have corresponding larger mounting holes to bolt to the ball joints, the axles are larger diameter, the front brakes (rotors, calipers) are larger and may be Brembos, the fuel pump (in the stock tank) is different in size with no return line, the ECM is different, some parts of the wiring harnesses are different, plus several other ancillary items that are specific to the TC.
The fuel tank from DF is specific to the turbo fuel pump, plus (as RouteAbel stated) the fuel tank is notched to allow more room for turbo plumbing. The rest of the package from DF is the items needed to install the manual transmission and the air-to-water intercooler and heat exchanger system for the turbo. This assuming your donor is a SS/TC.
Using a NA on the DF turbo option kit and then upgrading to a turbo should be discussed with Adam and Lonny, they are very easy to discuss things like this and are very accommodating to special orders.
Desert Sasquatch: Why do you suppose they put larger ball joints on the front of a rear wheel drive? And can the smaller base version ball joints be replaced? Axles & brakes too? What are the consequences if I dont? The ECM doesn't worry me, I was going to hack that anyway.
 

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Spend a little time with Brian74 and look over his Goblin, you will get a better understanding of what is involved with a build. It is much harder to explain in words on the forum than to see it in person. I had much the same questions and being able to look at and ride in a TC Goblin (thanks RichRich) made all the difference in the world.
Just a quick response to some of your questions (this is all factory equipment, aftermarket parts may vary):
A 'base' Goblin (EFE or LS or LT with 2.2) will have the FE1 suspension - steel control arms, soft springs, small swaybars, small ball joints, thinner axles.
A 'sport' Goblin (SPORT/SS with 2.4, early SS with 2.0 SC) will have the FE3 suspension - aluminum control arms, stiffer springs, larger swaybars, small ball joints, medium axles.
A 'turbo' Goblin (late SS with 2.0 TC) will have the FE5 suspension - aluminum control arms, stiffer springs, larger swaybars, large ball joints, large axles.
The EFE, LS, LT, SPORT/SS and 2.0 SC cars will have an ECM that looks like this:
11943
with 3 plugs.
The 2.0 TC cars will have an ECM that looks like this:
11944
with 2 plugs.
 
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apchar

Member
Most of the cobalts I've seen online are automatics. But salvaged manual transmissions are easy to find on ebay for a few hundred bucks. As long as I match the year & trim, is it an easy swap?
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
HP Tuners doesn't do any torque limiting on my 2006 manual transmission. It doesn't even have a sensor for what gear it is in...
But automatics do torque limiting when is shifts, to prevent damage to the transmission.
So you would need the TCM and ECM, or to retune your TCM. In my 2006 they are combined into one PCM.
 
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