GMTunerSource.com - John Heinricy Q&A on the Cobalt SS Turbo Stage 1 Kit

John Heinricy Q&A on the Cobalt SS Turbo Stage 1 Kit

Written by Corey Mullane Wednesday, 26 August 2009

Last week we got word that famed race car driver and former Assistant Chief Director for Corvette and Director of the GM Performance Division John Heinricy would be driving around in a Cobalt SS Turbo that was fitted with the upcoming LNF Stage 1 kit. Upon hearing that, we reached out to you to send us questions that you would like to see John answer about his thoughts on the LNF Stage 1 kit. We compiled those questions and shot them over to John, who after spending some time getting to know the Stage 1 Cobalt SS better, answered them for the GMTS fans. We're excited to have John on here for you guys so without further ado, here is his take on the Cobalt SS LNF Stage 1 kit and answers to just about all of your questions.

John Heinricy here. I just had a chance to spend some time driving a Stage 1 Cobalt SS Turbocharged and the impression I got when I went to wide open throttle in 2nd and 3rd gears was, "WOW!" The torque increase was very very noticeable. It's hard not to keep doing it over and over because it is so much fun. I even got some occasional wheel spin in second gear when the boost came on if traction conditions weren't perfect. I know you GMTS fans had a number of questions you’d like answers for so let me see if I can shine some light on them...

Slapbetcommissioner: Id like to know what his first thoughts are compared to the stock form on just initial feel of the vehicle both from a day to day driving and performance aspect. Basically how the car behaves in normal driving conditions compared to stock or if its even noticeable until you start getting into the throttle? Does the added low end torque make it nicer in high traffic situations?

John Heinricy: One of the things that I like to play around with on my Cobalt is shifting into higher gears at relatively low RPM and seeing how good I can do on MPG. I know that there are not supposed to be changes to the cal below about 2000 rpm, but I swear that the car now pulls better in high gears at low rpm. It seems like the turbo spools up quicker and I get better response. It is a nice change. Otherwise all the around town driving that I do there seems to be no noticeable difference.

Fumanchu: Are traction/launch control any less effective with the stage kit? Does power hop become unmanageable? Torque Steer?

John Heinricy: I don’t notice any difference in the operation of launch control. There is no difference in the torque allowed in 1^st gear so there really should not be any difference. Although there is no difference in torque in 1^st gear, there is an increase in the RPM limit and this is a nice change in 1^st gear because it is now a little more forgiving hitting the one-two shift exactly right to keep from hitting the rev limiter. In 1^st gear, you can feel the torque drop off dramatically between 6200 and 6500, but it is still nice not to hit the rev limiter if you don’t shift at exactly the right spot. As far as torque steer is concerned in 2^nd and 3^rd, well yes if you are in a situation where you get torque steer with the stock cal, you’ll get more with the stage 1 cal. More torque, more steer. However I’ve always felt that it is quite manageable.

Kildore: Basics if able to collect data: 0-60, 1/4 mile, passing time @ speed on hwy, MPG +/-.

John Heinricy: Sorry, I don’t have any performance data yet. I’m hoping to get to the race track in the next couple weeks so that I can properly exercise my Cobalt. Now that I’m over the initial excitement of the Stage l cal, my fuel economy has returned to about the same as before, which averages around 28 mpg. I get 31 to 32 on highway, same as before. I couldn’t keep my foot out of it for the first week so MPG did suffer during that time!

Kildore: Is there any bogging when launching. How does the SS launch with launch control. How does the SS launch with the ESC off and at what RPM is he launching. Is the vehicle using 91 or 93 octane and about what sea lvl?

John Heinricy: Launch control has not changed. Competitive mode, foot to the floor and modulate the clutch based on the surface and temperature conditions. I’m using 93 octane at about 600 ft above sea level.

JTurner.CTN: My question is does the car still feel like it's being restricted with the stock exhaust components?

John Heinricy: I don’t think there is much restriction behind the convertors with the stock exhaust system.

JTurner.CTN: Do you feel like you are hurting the car when you get on the throttle?

John Heinricy: No I don’t feel like the car is being hurt when I get on the throttle. I think it is talking to me saying, “yes,yes,yes…”, like releasing the reins on a spirited horse.

JTurner.CTN: How is the daily moderate driving feel?

John Heinricy: I really like the feel of the torque build up in moderate driving. This to me is the area of biggest improvement, the mid range torque. It is a very big change that makes the car accelerate much quicker without necessarily downshifting.

Kilpatrickracing: Can we get some feed back on NO LIFT SHIFT? Has this been used with the stage kit yet?

John Heinricy: No lift shift still feels great. I believe that it works best when shifting below 6500 rpm. Then it is very smooth. I think the reason for this is that the torque is falling off at the higher RPM. It is best for the no lift shift to do it while the torque is still relatively high, say 6200 to 6400 for the most satisfying feel. I’ll have to take some data to find out which RPM is the fastest though.

blacky09ss: Can you feel the surge of power come faster and lower on the rpm range?

John Heinricy: It sure feels that way to me. Very dramatic increase in the surge of torque and power in the mid range and as I said above, it feels better below 2000 RPM also.

blacky09ss: Does it keep on going up to 6,000 rpm." no drop off"?

John Heinricy: The car feels very strong up to 6200 Rpm in 2^nd and higher gears.

cuzimaluzer77: How's the clutch holding up with all the added torque?

John Heinricy: I haven’t noticed any change in the clutch at all. It still hooks up very good.

80vetteL82: One thing I would like to know is how the wheel spin is with the kit?

John Heinricy: I do notice a little more wheelspin in 2^nd gear when the boost kicks in. I like it!!

Aterminatorz: Can you feel a difference during normal driving, or only under wide open throttle do you feel the added power?

John Heinricy: Mid range part throttle response has dramatically improved.

Aterminatorz: Does the turbo spool up more or less easily and under what conditions?

John Heinricy: The turbo seems to spool up more easily even below 2000 rpm and dramatically more above 2000 rpm. On warm days I see peak readings on the A pillar gage of 22 to 24 PSI.

Aterminatorz: Does engine braking have more, less, or unchanged affect on vehicle speed?

John Heinricy: I have not noticed any change in the engine braking with the Stage 1 cal.

Aterminatorz: Most importantly does this stage kit accelerate harder pushing me into my seat and at least making me feel like I am going fast?

John Heinricy: Oh yes. Wait till you feel 20+ psi kick in!

/Q&A

There you have it! You asked and GMTS delivers! We hope you enjoyed this Q&A about the LNF Stage 1 kit and if you haven’t seen the Q&A session with GM HPVO from earlier this month, make sure you take a look at what the engineers behind the kit had to say. See for yourself how John drives the tires off a stock Cobalt too in this cool video.

All of us here at GMTS are working for you so if you have a suggestion about something you'd like to see or anything else you can always drop us a line on our contact page.

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Comments (28)

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Awesome. Thanks for doing this guys. Nice to be able live a little vicariously while we wait anxiously for the kit to be released.

the-greatest-tuner-evar , August 26, 2009

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The Stage 1 kit sounds awsome and I can't wait until GM releases it. I am actually posting a question not related to the Stage 1 kit, but did not see any other place than comments area to post. I was wondering if anyone has tried any of the performance all season tires on their SS/TC (like Conti extreme contact DWS, Pirelli PZero Nero M&S). I live in New England, and the stock Conti's are going to be nearly useless in winter here. Has anyone tried any that they recommend? I realize since they are low profile they do not have the tread depth and resulting traction of a normal all-season/ snow tire. I would like to retain most of the performnace of my car while still be able to get out of my driveway after it snows. Thanks.

F_Imports_09TC , August 26, 2009

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To: F_Imports_09TC, Yes i use all season tires on mine because of good chance of snow in winter where i live, i use Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position on mine, they are almost as good as the summer only conti's, the only difference i notice is in turns, when pushing the car into a turn the bridgestone's hold well but you can tell they have to try harder to hold the turn, every other aspect of driving is same or better, i tend to get less wheel spin in 1st with the bridgestone's and the harder tread makes them last longer too, hope this helps.

BlueSSBolt09 , August 26, 2009

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Thanks so much john for taking the time to answer our questions! F_imports_09tc depending how regularily it snows during the winter there you may wanna consider getting full on winter, tires all seasons are ok but full on snow tires will blow them out of the water everytime on anything less than dry roads. Plus being sonlow profile and wide they will still not dossapoint on dry roads. It's like night and day. So just ask yourself during the winter months do you spend 50% of the time or more on any kind of snow? If no get the all seasons. If yes definantly get the winter tires. Hope this is helpful. I curreny run Goodyear winter tires on snow. With the LSD and the winter tires on it's quite fun to drift around and still be in controll. My old man has expensive all seasons on his mailibu ltz and they are poor at best on snow. Not as bad as summer but no where near as good as winter. I live in canada so I do my fair share of winter driving.

slapbetcommissioner , August 26, 2009

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Oh nice post thank you so much Corey Mullane and John Heiricy.

cuzimaluzer77 , August 26, 2009

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Oh nice post thank you so much Corey Mullane and John Heiricy.

Thanks for the love but it's all thanks to you guys. We're here for you. Oh yeah, don't forget Bill Duncan, he's a HUGE cheerleader for you guys inside GM. Without him, a lot of the cool things we feature would not be possible.

alphajaguar5 , August 26, 2009

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Can we get some insight on the stage 2 intake? When can this be expected? First quarter of 2010? From my understanding the intake should give roughly 15 hp bringing stage 2 hp to 295 crank hp?

Kilpatrickracing , August 26, 2009

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Wow! Thank you GMTS for being such an inside friend for us. Bill and John.. your words have made so many smile. Please take our thanks to heart. Thank you.

Stage II: a time line would be nice, but i don't see this next stage being thrown together anytime soon. With the amount of time and energy to bring the cobalt ss/tc owners this amazing, the stage II kit shouldn't be any different. All good things to those who wait! We do know that the kit consists of an intake. Like others have claimed on actual hp/tq gains of about 5-10 hp/tq, it is almost like this kit will have some other form of power adder. Is this kit "just" an intake GM?? Either way.. we are all in this for the win.

Kildore , August 26, 2009

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What about if I live in Quebec? The only gaz available is 91 or 94 octane .. what do you suggest?

jpower102 , August 27, 2009

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To slapbetcommisioner: Thanks for your reply. I guess i should have asked before, but do you have another set of smaller rims, like 17", with snow tires so the overall size is close to stock diameter? Does anyone know if just plain steel rims w/ snows would fit over the front rotor/ caliper. I went down to a tire shop and they said snow tires wouldn't fit on the stock wheels, which is what I figured. So I was wondering if anyone has any suggestion of a wheel that will fit over the front rotor/ caliper with snows on. Thanks.

F_Imports_09TC , August 27, 2009

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Thank You for answering my questions and all that you do!

aterminatorz , August 27, 2009

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There is no steel rims that will fit believe me I tried everything. I've seen 17" cobalt ss sc rims fit with spacers you may wanna research that. The only other solution I found was a place in Toronto and they want 3600$ for the set with rims and spacers. Thats just crazy expensive because only aftermarket rims fit. The other option is go to thetirerack.com try have good selection and the best prices I've found. Also they do have winter tires. This got very expensive very fast for me. I was dead set against using my rims in winter but lost that battle due to cost. Using they website I saved about 200$ per tire that way even after delivery. The tires are not cheap as there's only a few cars that have that footprint and all of them are a good double or more the cost of our car. Fron tires on a Ferrari 360 moddena. Nobody in there right mind puts whinter tires on a Ferrari they just pull out there cayanne type s lol. Good luck to you.

slapbetcommissioner , August 27, 2009

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Correction* by type s I mean turbo......

slapbetcommissioner , August 27, 2009

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What about if I live in Quebec? The only gaz available is 91 or 94 octane .. what do you suggest?

Either will work, but 94 would be the best.

alphajaguar5 , August 27, 2009

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Great stuff guys!

Routs , August 27, 2009

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I'm a new 2009 Cobalt SS owner and this information and website are very much appreciated! The car already performs admirably in it's stock configuration, and after reading Mr. Heinricy's report I can't wait for the release of the LNF Stage 1 kit. I believe both the car and the kit are a great value for the money, and to have somebody with John Heinricy's credentials providing a personal report is impressive. Thanks for the detailed info and for keeping us up to date with the latest developments.

73Bill , August 27, 2009

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Thanks slapbetcommisonar. I didn't even see the snow tires on tirerack.com when I looked a few months ago, probabbly because they are on the last page after the racing slicks. I would also prefer not to use my stock rims in the winter, but I don't really see any other option that isn't ridiculasy expensive either.

F_Imports_09TC , August 28, 2009

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Ok.. so we have had test drives.. any updates on actual logged data?? Word on actual release? It's getting close.. can feel the power!

Kildore , August 28, 2009

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Is there any up date on the timeline for this upgrade?

lizhutch , August 30, 2009

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Update Update Update!! smilies/grin.gif

Kildore , August 31, 2009

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yes please update!

cobaltss1 , September 01, 2009

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I think unfortunately they have no way of updating us since they're just waiting on word from CARB. I read somewhere about Bill saying if they call and see where they are with it, it seems to take a lot longer so they're leaving them alone. I'm sure they're just as anxious as we are in the wait for CARB to release the upgrade. Here's to hoping it's soon!

09SSTurbo , September 01, 2009

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Whats the deal with the kit LNF kit not coming with plug-in pigtails when the 2010 test car physically shows them in the pictures in the following link?

http://www.cobaltss.net/forums/showthread.php?t=185859

Someone needs to get some part #'s for the pieces from the 2010 so installing the upgrade will not require cutting into the factory harness.

1rare4door , September 01, 2009

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I noticed that too. Good question for Bill...

80vetteL82 , September 01, 2009

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I think they amnswered that question for sure....wish they would put this kit out already...I have some feriends coming into town this weekend and I so do hate mustang fanatics!!!!

Penguin , September 02, 2009