It's a great motor waiting for an outstanding chassis.

Is it the 4-cyninder 'big block' of today?

It's a completely average 4 cylinder. Almost every single manufacturer has a mediocre strength, 1.8-2.4 liter engine making somewhere in the 140-170 hp range.

chuckspeed01-27-2006, 07:11 AM
Re: ecotec 4 cylinder...

It's an interesting motor.

Engine architecture is very good - I've spent a fair amount of time looking at the various pieces/parts as they're made. Block and head are both aluminum alloy, which eliminates the differentials in coefficients of thermal expansion that caused the Quad 4 to spit head gaskets out. Complete assembly is cast via the lost foam process up in Massena NY; a lost foam motor exhibits high dimensional stability during the pour, which allows the engineers to build in strength without sacrificing weight.

Bottom end on these little guys is stout as hell - it's a deep skirt block. I don't recall if the bearing caps are crossbolted or not - I think they are, but then again, most alloy motors these days have crossbolted mains. The basic design of the bottom end lends itself to high rev, forced induction apps with minimal modification.

Top end looks like someone lifted a page from the Universal Japanese Motorcyle handbook - 4v head with good breathing characteristics designed in right off the bat.

Bone stock normally aspirated Solstices and the soon-to-be-released Saturn Sky's come with 177 HP, which is pretty much what you'd expect these days. The supercharged eco's are at 205 HP with *very* mild boost; the turbo'd units (scheduled for release late this year, BTW) are rated at 270 HP as someone mentioned earlier.

Do keep in mind that speedparts follow an inverse curve when it comes to pricing. First few years they're really expensive...when there's enough demand for the parts, the cost comes down. First sets of alloy V8 heads were shockingly expensive (if y'all recall) and now a nice set of alloy SBC heads can be bought new for about $1200.

Rate limiting event on Eco's when it comes to HP is gonna be forced induction - if you wanna go fast with one, it's gonna hafta have a blower or a turbo. The hot setups will be judged on how much boost they make - the goal most guys will try to break the 30 PSI mark on the street. If you figure the motor makes 200HP lightly modded, a 30 PSI motor will make *about* 600 HP.

It's also handled 400whp with just Cam gears and LSJ connectiong rods/pistons. That's damn tough if you ask me. Like, B-series tough.

Even Zetec's and QR25's can do that. Almost any 4 cyl out there can swap rods, pistons, use the stock crank/cams and make 350-400WH with boost and good tuning.

and a quote from someone who claims to have driven one...


"the boost comes on at 2300 just like it has been stated in the writeup's on it and it pulls....HARD! The car has very quick turning ratio, it makes my brother's LS feel like a 1980 BOAT full sizer GM put out then whereas the turbo feels more like a Vette: quick and nimble. The no lift shift feature actually works pretty well and DOES shave time off your shifting (assuming no mis-shift) and the launch control/competitive mode does exist and its the button to the right of the steering wheel on teh silver trim piece.

Brake pedal feel was somewhat firm with feedback, I haven't used it repeatedly so I cannot judge fade or mushiness after prolonged use, but its a brembo, highly doubtful any negatives.

The car is just phenominal, the seats hold well, they're ultralux suede material and the drivers seat has a bolster, rear seats also get this insert material. Good support in the front seats too."

JMO

CobaltSS

stories about it's greatness are generally vastly exagerated. It's not ubber-weak, nor is it ubber strong. It doesn't have great heads, but they aren't bad heads either. It isn't ubber trick, nor is it a relic. It's just there. Keeping the space under the hood and b/w the firewall and front fascia filled as to keep it from looking stupid. It also gives the radiator something to do and provides heat for the interior.

About the only thing that is amazing is it's average-ness, and how it turns dumb-@$$ blind fanboi's into weeping dumb-@$$ blind fanboi's.

From a reliability standpoint, it's not horrid.

Remember, some people value performance over being nice.

My Spec V was "nicer" than my SRT-4, but it didn't hold a candle to the performance. Obviously, I'm not the same buyer as I was when I had time to race and mod, but the Cobalt will be about bang for the buck performance.

The people that were making 800+whp on Honda's when the cobalt SS came out have been raving about this motor, and it's head.

[quote=Impulsive]Remember, some people value performance over being nice.

My Spec V was "nicer" than my SRT-4, but it didn't hold a candle to the performance. Obviously, I'm not the same buyer as I was when I had time to race and mod, but the Cobalt will be about bang for the buck performance.

Remember, some people value performance over being nice.

My Spec V was "nicer" than my SRT-4, but it didn't hold a candle to the performance. Obviously, I'm not the same buyer as I was when I had time to race and mod, but the Cobalt will be about bang for the buck performance.

Suposeidly the new one is pretty good in the twisty department.

Oh and lots of honda guys have given respect to what the ecotec can do.

id say the only thing it has on say the gti or Si is straight line speed. handling/grip/braking/and feel is probably better on the other two. theres more to performance than just straight line speed.

Since when does the cobalt perform better than the ms3!?

I am just wondering how long it will take Nissan/Honda to realize they need a turbo powered car to compete.

but do they really? People will still buy the cars....and the new engines respond quite well to bolt ons and a reflash.

Meh, I think it adds a little spice to the lineup. I mean FI is great and all but if every sport compact on the market is a turbo 2.0-2.4 it's a little redundant, no? I don't know that I personally would buy an Si but at least the option's out there... they seem to be somewhat popular around here.

Stock for stock and mod for mod a factory F/I car will always perform better.

stock for stock? not so much, totally depends. only in recent years have the FI cars really had a big advantage over the n/a counterparts stock for stock...

mod for mod turbo cars have always had an advantage , which is definately understandable but in recent years (k series) that advantage is more even or even behind lol gti for those first bunch of bolt ons.

When they were all NA you had the GSR, the 2.5RS, celica GT-S, GTi VR6, etc. Yeah they were all NA and relatively slow but there were revvy ones and torquey ones, etc. I just appreciate having a few different options. Same reason I wouldn't want all the cars in the segment to be coupes or hatchbacks or whatever, even though I'm big on hatchbacks lately.

so a turbo upgrade isnt major? but some cams are?

I am sure there still will be high-revving turbo cars, and turbo cars that only rev to 6500.

STI in japans rev to 8k, Evo's here still rev to 7k or so. The Meh up top you say is from a small turbo

Dont make me send some shavers to you now saspotch!

lol, they'd better have a lot of time on their hands!

You are taking the best kseries reflash/bolt on times. The SRT turbo is good till 108ishmph, and than its only a turbo upgrade to get more. Whereas a kseries motor will need a F/I setup or major major N/A work to get to that.

err his post contains half my post

iirc a chipped gti is still quite a bit slower than a reflashed/ intake k series.
Im not quite sure what mbc or simple bolt on srt's are trapping.(100-102ish?) Cobalt SS(turbo one who knows since its not out but even the scharged one doesnt get much from simple upgrades )