We never thought we’d cover anything with a Buick badge on it ‘cept maybe if it was followed by the GNX acronym. We feel sort of obligated to do so now however since the top brass at Buick has decided to toss in some turbocharged, direct-injected, 2-liter love that we all know as the impressive LNF powerplant. The LNF has been the force behind many of GM’s most popular tuner cars so what is the engine that gets more horsepower per liter than the Corvette ZR1’s LS9 doing under the bonnet of a Buick?

We’ve been working hard over here to bring all of you the latest on the LNF Stage kits as the information becomes available. As we released more and more information it seems we received more and more questions, from you, about the LNF Stage kit. Is it a good deal? Why doesn’t it deliver X amount more horsepower? Will it turn my Cobalt SS Turbo into a chick magnet? While we’ve worked with the great folks over at GM to get answers to every one of your questions, one seems to still linger around – why doesn’t the LNF Stage 1 make more horsepower than the LSJ Stage 2 kit? While this may seem like a ridiculous question it deserves an answer. So we got with Bill Duncan over at GM HPVO again and he helped us explain the answer a little better.

The Cobalt Stage 1 Kit is well along its way to being available at a dealer near you. As such, we hear more details weekly that we can then pass on to you, the Cobalt SS Turbo owner and fan. If you are the lucky owner one of these turbocharged monsters, you’ll be able to run out and buy the new Stage 1 kit from a GMPP dealer and instantly add 20hp and 60lb.-ft of torque to your Cobalt and keep your full factory warranty intact. In addition to the added power, the kit serves as the gateway mod for the Cobalt and will disable the “learn down feature” of the stock PCM. This nifty feature allows your Cobalt to fully utilize any other modifications (intake, header, exhaust, downpipe, etc) that you’ve may have or wish to add in the future – making your dream 350hp Cobalt a very close reality.

Two weeks ago we had GM HPVO Design Systems Engineer Bill Duncan on GTMS to answer some questions that folks had posted across the various LNF Upgrade Update Posts We received some great response from all you guys out there about having a GM Engineer on here giving you some feedback on all your questions and concerns so we are lucky enough to welcome Bill back to the site to answer some more questions from the Cobalt SS Turbo owner community. 

In GMTS's effort to keep a constant vigil surrounding any and all news we receive about the upcoming LNF Turbo Upgrade Kit, we bring you a small update with some timelines of production plans. While no official release date has announced for the Cobalt SS Turbo Stage 1 Kit because of CARB certification timeliness, we can begin to speculate that date with the help of the following information.

The voice of the Cobalt community is being heard inside GM! The team in charge of the Cobalt LNF Turbo Upgrade has seen the comments left on the Petition post and have been working tirelessly to deliver a kit that will meet all the demands and expectations left by all of the owners there. We’ve been doing our fair share of hootin’ and hollerin’ over here saying that this kit will let you dominate the streets, make mince meat out of your competition, etc and we’re just glad that the folks at GM aren’t going to make us eat our words.

The LNF Turbo Upgrade Kit for the Cobalt SS Turbo is going to bring the Cobalt SS into a whole new arena in terms of performance and power output and is the only upgrade available to enthusiasts that want to retain their factory warranty. In addition, GM wants to make sure that regardless of which one of the 50 United States you live in, that you will be able to enjoy this new upgrade. That ability comes via the form of a CARB EO approval and is the main hurdle that the team in charge of the upgrade has to deal with to bring this upgrade to all enthusiasts across the country.

Well the time has come. The LNF Upgrade kit is almost upon us but there are a few more steps until the Cobalt SS Turbo can finally have the ability to completely terrorize the streets. We had a meeting today and they are pushing to get this out the door. We have told them of all the demand and how many people are ready to go, which has helped light a fire under them.

Creating any sort of factory-backed performance upgrade is a task that is destined to be plagued with issues. However, the great folks over at GM Performance Parts are experts in this arena and have fought hard to deliver a performance upgrade tailored to exactly what Cobalt SS Turbocharged owners are looking for. This is important while developing performance upgrades that will let you toast your tires without toasting your warranty. Now this is where it gets good. We know all of you have been waiting rather patiently for some news and updates and we have been waiting patiently to deliver something to you.

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive and we see online is concerning the issue of splicing into the factory wiring harness to install the new sensors needed for the LNF Stage 1 kit. We see the possible arise for concern if this was an aftermarket kit but rest assured that the connections made by the tech installing this kit at your local GM dealer will be as good as the factory connections, or else this kit would not be released as such. Regardless of that fact, some guys want to keep their engine bay as clean looking as possible or have some other reason for wanting a harness adapter and we understand that as well.