Boyes50
Member
- Boyes50 Member
Hi Everyone!
I posted a couple questions in the electrical forum and needed some help. A few people saw the pictures and were interested in my Cobalt/G5 Racecars, so I thought I'd post some pictures and some background on my front wheel drive racing program! We are based in Caledon, Ontario, Canada, and race weekly at Sunset Speedway in Innisfil, ON. It is a 3/8 Mile Banked oval, with significant banking and a D-Shaped back straightaway. At this track we have tons of different classes, but the two we run specifically in two different classes.
I race a 1990 Honda Civic with a D16 in the Mini Stock class. These are modified chassis cars, permitted to run welded differentials and 200TW tires (Falken RT660 are fastest), and stock D16A6 engines with Headers and Cold Air Intakes. We wind these cars up to around 75mph around the oval. You'll see some pictures of it being the #78 Green Tractors car that I race. It's a ton of fun for limited investment and maintenance!
Below that class, we have Bone Stock! This is stock EVERYTHING! No tunes, no racing springs, stock cars. Must run a minimum 400TW tire, which makes it more difficult. We are allowed to add 3 degrees of front camber to the suspension to help it turn and not destroy the front tires. I've built 2 Cobalt SS Cars with LE5 F23 Combos (3.84 Final Drive), and now am building a new 2009 G5 with an LAP F23 (3.63 Final Drive) to get some more straight line speed before hitting the rev limiter! If anyone has any questions pertaining to racing these engines or making them survive at high rpm, let me know. We have had really good luck with no engine failures even spinning 7,000rpm lap after lap. A few things we have learned include:
- Hengst OEM Made in Germany Oil Filters: E630H02D103 is the ONLY filter that resists crushing/collapsing under sustained high RPM running, and helps prevent massive oil pressure loss/engine failure. They are dirt cheap from Rock Auto, and are the OEM equipped filter when the cars are shipped from GM.
- Running a 4AN Fitting w/ 1/8 NPT Adapter on the fuel rail allows a manual fuel pressure gauge to be connected. This is awesome as it permits quick diagnostics to make sure the rail pressure is as expected!
- Running 0W-40 has allowed the cars to have comfortable oil pressure on startup and maintain better oil pressure when getting beat on hard during the summer!
- LE5 Big Runner Intakes (2006-07 LE5 Engines) are worth almost 15WHP when properly tuned on a 2.2L. Copper plugs are also worth another 5WHP if you're shooting for every last HP for a track day.
- F23 Transmission work GREAT on Gear Oil even though absolutely everyone will tell you not to. John Powell told me this who used to run the Cobalt Race Program for General Motors, and he is a wealth of knowledge for performance with Ecotec G5/Cobalt.
Here are some pictures! My old #23 and #25 Cobalt's are sold to new owners, and I am building a new car. I now have the #78 Honda and this new car which will be the #25 Pontiac.
I posted a couple questions in the electrical forum and needed some help. A few people saw the pictures and were interested in my Cobalt/G5 Racecars, so I thought I'd post some pictures and some background on my front wheel drive racing program! We are based in Caledon, Ontario, Canada, and race weekly at Sunset Speedway in Innisfil, ON. It is a 3/8 Mile Banked oval, with significant banking and a D-Shaped back straightaway. At this track we have tons of different classes, but the two we run specifically in two different classes.
I race a 1990 Honda Civic with a D16 in the Mini Stock class. These are modified chassis cars, permitted to run welded differentials and 200TW tires (Falken RT660 are fastest), and stock D16A6 engines with Headers and Cold Air Intakes. We wind these cars up to around 75mph around the oval. You'll see some pictures of it being the #78 Green Tractors car that I race. It's a ton of fun for limited investment and maintenance!
Below that class, we have Bone Stock! This is stock EVERYTHING! No tunes, no racing springs, stock cars. Must run a minimum 400TW tire, which makes it more difficult. We are allowed to add 3 degrees of front camber to the suspension to help it turn and not destroy the front tires. I've built 2 Cobalt SS Cars with LE5 F23 Combos (3.84 Final Drive), and now am building a new 2009 G5 with an LAP F23 (3.63 Final Drive) to get some more straight line speed before hitting the rev limiter! If anyone has any questions pertaining to racing these engines or making them survive at high rpm, let me know. We have had really good luck with no engine failures even spinning 7,000rpm lap after lap. A few things we have learned include:
- Hengst OEM Made in Germany Oil Filters: E630H02D103 is the ONLY filter that resists crushing/collapsing under sustained high RPM running, and helps prevent massive oil pressure loss/engine failure. They are dirt cheap from Rock Auto, and are the OEM equipped filter when the cars are shipped from GM.
- Running a 4AN Fitting w/ 1/8 NPT Adapter on the fuel rail allows a manual fuel pressure gauge to be connected. This is awesome as it permits quick diagnostics to make sure the rail pressure is as expected!
- Running 0W-40 has allowed the cars to have comfortable oil pressure on startup and maintain better oil pressure when getting beat on hard during the summer!
- LE5 Big Runner Intakes (2006-07 LE5 Engines) are worth almost 15WHP when properly tuned on a 2.2L. Copper plugs are also worth another 5WHP if you're shooting for every last HP for a track day.
- F23 Transmission work GREAT on Gear Oil even though absolutely everyone will tell you not to. John Powell told me this who used to run the Cobalt Race Program for General Motors, and he is a wealth of knowledge for performance with Ecotec G5/Cobalt.
Here are some pictures! My old #23 and #25 Cobalt's are sold to new owners, and I am building a new car. I now have the #78 Honda and this new car which will be the #25 Pontiac.
