Any hip hopper worth his bling can tell you that Tony Montana said that once you get the power then you get the women. If it's truly that easy to snag a chica then Jonny should rely on GM Performance Parts instead of his customized pink and purple Air Max's. Rather than suffer through the indignity of pastel-colored kicks, anyone who rolls a Saturn Ion Red Line ('04 and up) or Chevy Cobalt SS Supercharged ('05 and up) can choose between two performance upgrade kits, called Stage One and Stage Two, that produce real power increases, are affordable, and can be installed by the average enthusiast (uh, that would be you).
The Stage One and Stage Two performance upgrade kits were developed by the actual engineering nerd-herd from the GM Powertrain, GM Performance Division and GM Performance Parts brain trust so you know this bacon will sizzle. These kits are incredibly easy to install and make a dramatic difference in power output because the people that originally developed the LSJ 2.0 L Ecotec engine went back and got the most performance from it with these Staged kits. Even better, the team was able to achieve this power increase while maintaining full 50 state emissions status, meeting the formidable requirements for California Air Resources Board (CARB) Executive Order (E.O.) certification. Or if you prefer plain English-these parts are smog legal.
While the LSJ Ecotec engine is rated at 205hp at 5,600rpm and 200 lb-ft of torque at 4,400rpm, the Staged kits bump the power considerably. The Stage One kit raises the horsepower and torque output to 230 hp at 6,800rpm and 200 lb-ft at 5,600rpm. Even better, the Stage Two kit puts out 241 hp at 6,400rpm and 218 lb-ft at 5,400rpm. Those of you who did well in math know that's a 36 hp gain. Now that's a spicy meatball!
To show you how easy this is we're going to walk you through the install of a Stage Two system on a 2006 Chevy Cobalt SS-SC.