haha

on a separate note....what kind of tuning software what this J body using?

They gave me a reasonable quote for a full exhaust (header, DP w/ HF cat, and 2.5" piping w/ a magnaflow exhaust on my 2.2 balt. Should I trust these guys(it's only a exhaust right)? I dont want them to F*** up my car.

its something called hp tuners. it reflashes the stock computer and gives you complete control over everything. its the next best thing to a standalone, which is a pita to make work on jbodies.

how much are they charging you for everything?

ill give you an example to go by, my car, high flow cat, 100 bucks, muffler was 80, 3 inch mandrel bent stainless exhaust with my own parts cost me 400 dollars. hell my charge pipes from a local sho pwith down pipe were the same price and the car sat there for 2 days

Hey remember Mel didn't tune it's an outside tuner from the Cobalt SS site doing it.

LOL DAMN, I cant remember the exact amount but it was around 700-1000. :smilie_d0

They did my exhaust and it keeps falling off the hangers.
I took my car to Tirecraft and they fixed it.
So I stopped going there..

That's not an unreasonable price to be honest.

You get what you pay for, just remember that.

that's the same thing I was thinking about... because I got my exhaust fixed one time for my old camry for like 400 (full normal exhaust) and didnt even last me 2 years lol. So I'd figure that stainless steel custom bent piping for a whole car + a magnaflow HF cat + magnaflow exhaust + a header would be around 7-800.

very true....something ppl can't understand these days

You guys seem to be carrying the theme of do it youself or don't do it. I respect that, problem is there are many people that can't do it themselves but get hyped up by their specific car forums particular niche projects. Good example is the Cougar/Contour 3L swaps one of you guys mentioned, I threw a 3L into my Mystique a couple years ago. Not too many people had done it, and documentation was limited, but if I had a shop do that I would have been bent over and I'm sure it would have looked butchered. If your on a budget and you want a shop to do your work but your going into unchartered territory DON'T DO IT. It's a business, if they promise on something and they can't deliver it, it's usually too late as your car is in a thousand pieces and they HAVE to put it back for you. Instant bad blood. A place like Tag knows their , they build 8 second mustangs, but you know what they still break. It's the nature of the game. Don't forget you have to pay to play. There are way too mani variables when boosting a car that was never meant to be boosted from the factory, to expect a shop to magically be able to guarantee the cars reliability is nonsense, breaks. You have to be on top of if your going to drive a modified car daily. Unless your spending like 20gs on your car and everything has being upgraded.

No shop is perfect, and if they get a reputation of coming close to that, your paying out of your ass anyway.

Moral of the story is if you can't really afford to do it, do it youself. If you don't know what your doing, then learn, if you can't learn then well.... :retard:

If your getting a custom turbo setup prototyped on your car for a few thousand dollars your getting a deal, when goes wrong WORK with the shop, don't get all pissy, shits bound to break as your going away from what the manufacturer built the parts for.

Good luck!

BTW here is a video of my old Mystique. I street tuned it with and AFC and got it fine tuned on the dyno. Only gained 2HP but shifted the torque up much earlier on.

YouTube - Mercury Mystique/Ford Contour 3.0L Dyno 201.1WHP

I'm not a DIY, i pay.

2 shops have treated me and my car well, Mustang Specialteaz and Nicks Automotive. Thats it, no other mustang shop has taken such care of my vehicle as those two shops have, that includes the company discussed in this thread!!!!!!!

ive had shops do thing for me, my engine, and ive done evrything else myself. really i can afford to go out and do what i want but i feel much more satisfaction doing it myself. not everyone likes to get dirty though.

im wondering this, how did a car as new as a solstice run low on oil. even my old motor with 220 000 km didnt burn through oil and i fed that motor tons of spray. my stock motor when i boosted it wouldnt consume any oil neither does my biult one. so how can a brand new car use oil. maybe a line wasnt tightened up, maybe the return line was too small and oil came out the seals, whos knows.

regardless the amount of people defending tag are far out numbered to those who arent fans of them

lowbalt, think about it this way, a proper header for your car is what, 400 - 600 dollars? your getting a header, a 100 dollarcat, muffler might be in the same ball park, plus exhaust tubing and install for under a grand? i nthe gta of all places? makes no sense to me man. i paid 400 and i braught my own straight section of 3 inch mandrel pous other parts and mine was done with the highest quality. even my charge pipes were sealed first try. you get what you pay for man so be careful

I've only seen positive things about TAG, never had a problem with them. Us GP guys go to them for Dyno time quite a bit, and I know a few cobalt guys that have gone there for a few things and been very happy.