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Delima!

Schmids5.3l

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Schmids5.3l Senior Enthusiast

Schmids5.3l

Posted
Posted

I've reached a delima. Here is my current situation: Just moved out and got a new job. Good news it pays good and I like it. Bad news: job sites change every few months, my current drive to job site is 40 miles round trip, gas mileage sucks, some of these union guys I work with define 'Lazy' (this work site is a mix of commercial and union workers. No offence, I've worked with lazy commercial guys too). I'm considering and capable of performing the following: Buying a 6.0l with 27,000 miles on it for a grand, throwing on headers, cam kit, beef up the tranny, maybe stroke to a 408, and buy a beater car for driving to work, OR trading in on a barely used (20k miles or less) Cobalt SS supercharged and finding a daily driving beater a few weeks later to drive to work. Which would you do? Here's pro's and cons I've come up with:

 

Pro to 6.0l swap:

-V8 sound.

-13 second truck with a little less gas mileage than I get now.

-Have a beater car to drive to work to keep off mileage and gas

-get to keep truck.

 

CON to 6.0l swap:

-requires mild amounts of work and I don't feel like doing much after work.

-Same bad gas mileage (but trumpted by beater car)

-insurence on the truck is a bitch

 

Pro to Cobalt SS S/C:

-14.4 1/4 mile stock

-$750 dollar stage 2 blower kit to achieve (I beleive) 235~WHP and close to hi 13's in the 1/4. also keep factory warranty if installed by a dealer.

-good mileage

-low miles

-cheap insurence

-BLOWER WHINE!!!!!!

 

CON to Cobalt SS S/C

-4 banger means keeping stock exhaust cause I dont like the sound of 4 bangers

-they aren't very "manly" rides

-never owned a car, only trucks. Dont know if I could get used to driving a car

-the stock blowers are very limited, and after I beleive 2.8" pullies they are maxed due to intake air temps, and after 2.8" pullies it takes more HP to run the blower than what it's worth. Also kind of dangerous to run smaller pullies.

-traction off the line and from a dig

 

 

I just got settled in to the new place, and need to find a solution for work, because I can't keep driving the truck every day. Usually I drive my girl friends Saturn and she drives my truck since she works 2 minutes away and her Saturn is good on gas. If she would hurry up and buy a new car I'd just take her Car every day and be happy and make up my mind on the 6.0 swap or Cobalt SS S/C. My truck with a 2" cowl hood and a 6.0l (possibly a 408 stroker) would be sweet, but a Cobalt SS thats just as fast factory and easy to make faster with better mileage and cheaper insurence would be really nice too. In all honesty getting a Cobalt SS would be much much easier and is much more likely to happen if I do go thru with this. This is a though descision.

 

 

The one thing I do know is my buddies 02 Acura RSX type S is built and finished and will probably be running high 13's/low 14's all motor and I need something faster than him. I've absolutely dominated his 96 Acura Intagra for a year now but the tables have turned, and they turned pretty d**n quick lol. :withstupid:

 

 

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading this far!!

Indy Enthusiast

Indy

Posted
Posted

Get the Cobalt and drive it to work. Why do you want to spend your commute in a beater? The Cobalt will get decent mileage and it's a blast to drive.

04silverado1500 Enthusiast

04silverado1500

Posted
Posted

do you have anything to tow? if not get rid of the truck and get the new G8....haha no but really the only reason i have my truck is to tow. i like my truck for alot of reasons but the gas mileage sucks so i would rather be driving a car day to day. the ride of a truck is nice though. if i were you i would look at your price range and see what else you could do. if you get a cobalt dont buy a beater****** what does your truck get highway mileage with it being a tuned 2wd? i would go with a bigger car then the cobalt personally but thats just me you could look at a g6 or better the get a pontiac GXP then you can keep the 5.3L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i think the gxp should be able to get upper 20s and you have the v8 manly sound

Schmids5.3l Senior Enthusiast

Schmids5.3l

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Well I can get my G/F's beater Saturn for free if she would hurry up and buy a car. The main descision here is dropping a slightly built 6.0l in my truck or trading the truck in on a SS Cobalt. Either would be running 13's in the 1/4 by the time I'm done.

 

My control center thing reads 20-24 on flat highway at 70 mph, but my main concern is mileage. I don't tow but maybe once a year, but I have tons of buddies with diesel trucks if I need anything towed. Even though I don't use the truck for truck things except hauling stuff every now and then, I still love it and love driving it.

thecraft Senior Enthusiast

thecraft

Posted
Posted

If it were up to me, I go for the 6.0 swap. I couldn't stand driving a four banger.

grimmysnr Enthusiast

grimmysnr

Posted
Posted

Keep the truck, you can only go 65 MPH on he highway and racing will just land you more money in tickets, fines, and maintenance fees. To make that Cavalier (yeah thats what it is) fast, it requires a s**t ton of money and even then you have to spend more money just to tune it, dyno, repair the axles, and tranny. Plus a car in a 40 mile trip is a rough ride and unless that Cavalier is a caddy you will not like it. After the third week you will start to feel every bump in the road and it will annoy the s**t out of you. Once you change the stock characteristics of the blower you have to start monitoring knock retard which requires you to put 93 octane or better in it anyway. All forced induction applications require high octane. So the money you think your saving in gas from your truck is made up slowly by buying premium gas and sometimes stuff like Torco (which raises the octane) and thats 20 bucks a can.

 

So a truck is bigger, shows you got money, has a better ride, and has a hell of a lot more power than a peice of s**t Cavalier. You will basically be on par with those kids with SRT-4's and trust me you dont want to be in that category. SRT-4's and Cobalts are jokes of the forced induction community. The best you will get with that stage 2 in maybe mid 13's. My 2002 Grand Prix has 12's with just a bolt on turbo that took an afternoon to install.

 

I dont know you personally, but making a switch from a truck to a car like that would kill me. I couldnt get in it everyday with a clear concious and especially try and go race people. Cars are coming from the factory with over 250hp stock now, so for you to even keep up with them you have to drop well over $3-4000 just to keep up with them. Only to be made fun of cuz you drive a Cavalier. That Stage 2 might be be 700 bucks but you have to factor in a new motor once it blows, new tranny, new front axles, new front differential, gauges, tires, and all the little nitty gritty stuff to clean up the rest.

 

I speak from experience, its not worth it.

j.roffel Senior Enthusiast

j.roffel

Posted
Posted

He runs quarters at the strip so racing costing him money in tickets is a null argument. Also the stage 2 is still under factory warranty if he gets the dealer to install it, as he said in his post. Not saying you didnt make some valid points, but read his whole post properly before making invalid remarks.

 

Jon

omegafiler Senior Enthusiast

omegafiler

Posted
Posted

Already been there with the whole car modding thing; trust me, keep the truck. No point in wasting your time and $$$ on a FWD 4-banger. You'll just dump all kinds of cash into it and never be happy with it. Especially after you've been driving a RWD V8 truck.

 

And the problem with a beater is you could easily end up dumping even more $$$ keeping that thing running while you have a perfectly good truck sitting at home. Also, already been there as well.

 

Use the $$$ you would have put into modding your truck for gas money. Then when you can afford it, go crazy with the truck. But not too crazy, ya still want it to be a comfortable and reliable daily driver.

my07silvy Enthusiast

my07silvy

Posted
Posted

I would stick with the truck just cause they're cooler....I also have a chrysler 300 with the hemi....I must have v8's man! There is nothing like the sound and torque as well as how far u can take them! Cobalts are OK, but it depends, are u into muscle trucks, or the sport compact scene? Personally I'd rather see a nice built truck then another cobalt with a pulley upgrade.

s-ten Enthusiast

s-ten

Posted
Posted

If you are planning on buying a beater car no matter what then just keep the truck, you already have it. That way you still have a cool truck to play with, or to tow/haul if need be.

Wingnut Senior Enthusiast

Wingnut

Posted
Posted

That 6.0 swap is going to cost quite a bit more than $1000 when you start factoring in trans upgrades, cam swap and headers...More like $4,000 before it's all said and done.

 

I'm with Chestah...Buy a GTO. There's your 13 seconds...Easily modified to 12's, and great mileage (compared to the truck) to boot. Plus, they're just cool.

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