Just got my SS back from installing Turbo Upgrade
 

All I can say is: Wow! I didn't think a modest increase in HP and a large increase in torque could make that much difference. I haven't done any launches from a stop yet but I mashed the gas on an on ramp a few minutes ago and the torque twist just about ripped the steering wheel out of my hands into a right turn! Luckily, I expected it and reacted accordingly but I'll bet some folks are going to be very surprised when they try it the first time.

I had my dealer install it and naturally mine was the first one they had seen so they had it for 24 hours while they tried to figure out how to install it. They charged me for 2.5 hours labor so I'm interested what others on this forum are charged. I'm sure they actually spent more time on it than that but I've read in several blogs that the install should only take an hour. I guess I'm happy that I was first at something but I don't know if I'm crazy paying for the dealership to figure out how to install it, if that is what happened.

Bottom line is it was a jet before, it's a rocket now! Cool little car!

mine showed up at the dealer yesterday-unfortunately I'm down in DC and have to wait until next thursday to get it installed. I'm glad to hear that it makes that big of a difference, it's a lot of money so I'm hoping the woo hoo factor is worth it.

What turbo upgrade? Chevy doesn't offer a turbo upgrade.

I assume he's referring to the Stage Kit. ;)

GMPP HHR LNF Turbo Upgrade Kit.



SPPD

No turbo upgrade kit?? I think I've been had! My Chevy dealer charged me a lot of money and kept my car for over 24 hours but for some reason my car now goes faster! <wink>

Turbo upgrade is a misnomer.

Exactly I agree W/Aaron misleading but there are Turbo upgrades available for it......ask me how I know..... Sinister laugh inserted here (MMMMMMMUUUUUUAHHHHHHHHHHHH)

Agreed!

Chevy doesn't offer a turbo upgrade but others do.

And yes, people that think chevy upgraded your turbo HAVE been had!!!!

Read a few posts where the install time for the "Turbo Upgrade" was charged out at 3 hours. Early estimates seem to be 1 hour but not sure how many have actually been that low? So the dealer had it for 24, hmmmmmm 2.5 installation, 21.5 hrs joy riding, oops I mean test driving :lol:

Sorry folks. Being a neophyte to the world of turbo, I was simply using the terminology I got from the GM Website (LNF Turbo Upgrade Kit, Part #19212670) for what they did to my little screamer. Didn't mean to step on any purist's toes. All that really matters is that whatever they did to my HHR, it's scary faster than it was.

Just so you know, they changed two sensors, the connectors and reprogrammed the computer.

Where in MD are you and what Dealer did the work for you?? I have
been waiting for someone in MD to have it done!

I live in Laurel but had the work done at Sport Chevrolet in Silver Spring. My service rep is named Mike Temple. If you have it done, I'm sure the mechanic that did mine has learned a lot from having done mine first. :smile:

So you are the one!! Mike Temple is also my service writer and I had the car in there 2 weeks ago and he told me he had ordered one!:nuts: Cool!
I am waiting now for the parts to do the Brake fix and parts to fix my Emergency Brake!!

I've never had any problem with my brakes but after reading some of the posts regarding possible issues with the brake fix and the tuning upgrade I'm not sure I want to rush back to Sport if I don't have to. If you get yours done, I hope you have as much fun as I'm having with mine.

Got mine today as well. Very pleased so far. I knew what to expect with the torque steer, and honestly it's not that bad. Helps that I have an auto so I can keep both hands on the wheel when I'm launching, but I've been equally impressed with the overalll acceleration for passing, and also that it seems I can coast more now than before. Could be imagining that, but we'll see. Only driven it twice, one of which was in rush hour traffic, but tomorrow I'm driving to Dallas (hockey...let's go Blues) so we'll see what happens there.

My car was also the first to be done at my dealership, and so far it seems like they did quite well. I dropped it off around 8:30 AM and they had finished it by about 2:00 PM, not sure how many hours labor they took total. Also had my headliner taken down and reattached more securely (via warranty and some two sided tape) to 86 the rattles. I paid $266 with tax and labor for the stage kit install.

FINALLY!!! I have been looking for a MD dealer to get it done at. I know where i will be taking mine now.

Just had mine upgraded 08 red ss 5 speed lim slp,every opt, plus amber lenses. love the extra hp,noticable difference..:bow::thumb:

I purchase my ss from sports my rep is keith. I had mine there 3 weeks ago and ask if they had any stage I installed yet he said no. I was trying to get an estimate on labor cost. Now I got estimate thanks mike

I thought the upgrade was in the $600 range? :eek:

It is for the parts + labor of install.... Have you not been reading the posts? You have to buy BOTH....

That was just for the install. The recommended time is 2.0 hours now, I believe. I bought the parts from CED.com for $562 including tax and shipping. Total just shy of $800...maybe a little more than I would have liked to have spent, but I'm enjoying it so far. It was nice to have that extra bit of passing power on my trip to/from Dallas this weekend.

My HHR is Staged
 

I know there are other forums on this topic but with the awesomeness of this kit can there be too many? ;)

I just got back from Rockenbach Chevy and they installed the stage kit I ordered. Let me just say what a difference in the Auto. Acceleration is effortless. We had a bit of snow last night so when it dries up I am going to give it a try with the Traction Control off and in launch mode.

Thank You to all the people that provided information on here and to those that suggested Rockenbach. They were fast and curtious and it was well worth the 1½ drive. It is a shame that my dealer and many others seem to be uninformed about this. 4 other dealers in my area basically refused to order the part because it was on back order and when I mentioned it to them they gave me a blank look or silence on the phone like they had no idea what I was talking about. I mean they work in parts and service, shouldn't they know, especially when I gave them the part number(s) and all the info. Oh well, it all worked out in the end anyway.

Merged threads. Too many threads on the same subject? Possibly.

My total w/parts and install was $950 canadian after sales tax.

Cant shake a $90 install ;-)

I think that is why I was having problems keeping up with all the prices mentioned here. Some were for everything, some for the install, some for the parts. Patrick49's post clarified everything nicely.

OMG stage kit
 

our SS has so much more power its unbeliveable , I never imagined in my wildest dreams that it would change this much. my ole lady smoked me on my harley sportster 1200, I mean spanked me and she doesnt know how to drive , that was 900 dollars well spent. I tried it in comp mode but couldnt get it to hook up in 1st and got more wheel spin in 2nd than I wanted.prolly would have to have drag radials if I wanted to hook up in launch mode. its going to take some pedal finesse to get hooked up. all I have left to say is three words , WOW WOW WOW.

My cars in the shop getting this installed right now :D

Sportsters are slow :D Anyway, glad you like the kit. It really is worth it. So the second dealer got it done for ya without issue I guess.

It really does turn into a little beast, doesn't it. It's unimaginal what that "kit" does unless you have driven one before and after.

I am wondering if anyone has broken their axles yet. I hear about a lot of SC cobalts snapping their axles and having to replace with aftermarket, and thats with around 260hp. Theres a TSB not to warranty them. And then theres the TSB on the cracked tranny case too.
Have the turbo parts been strengthened?

I know the new turbo Cobalt SS and HHR SS suspensions are much improved over the old SC cobalts. I haven't read of anyone here breaking the axles. I thought many of the problems were at least partially related to wheel hop issues in those old suspensions. The SS suspension is much better and wheel hop is not an issue.

Finally
 

I finally found a dealer to install my kit. Only two in the St. Louis area on the Missouri are willing to touch them. Weber Chevy at I-270/Olive Rd. in West St. Louis County and Weber in St. Peters, Mo.(St. Charles County) and ELCO Chevy in Ballwin, Mo. (WSLCO also) No installs on Saturdays. Weber takes appiontments and ELCO does not. 2-3 hours they to install.

Weber is Crever Coeur does good work. Service manager, Jim Farmer, is a great guy. :thumb:

Gotta say though, they will still try to tell you your transmission fluid needs to be winterized! :eek:

Installed GM turbo upgrade finally.
 

Well I finally took the wife's car to work today, I was really worried about letting her take my truck, but I still managed to part with the keys. So I work at a Ford dealership and pulled the HHR in. I started at 7:00 am and had the new sensors and wiring in and all wire loomed up at 7:43am. So I took it next door to my buddy at the Pontiac/GMC dealer next door(same owner of both the Ford Dealer and GMC dealer) and had him progam it. Done at 8:13am. Then I was a little anxious to take it out for a test run,but I wanted to take the blizzacks off first.

So at lunch I went home and picked up the summer wheels. at about 3:00pm I was done all the work for the day,besides swapping tires. So I swapped the tires and decided to give it a good undercarriage wash, and shinned up the top as well. So just as I took it off the hoist again my wife showed up, boo hoo, I wanted to play. So she say's to my surprise let's go try it out. So I take it out and run it up well above the 200 mark as I was watching the road more than the speedo(in kilometers remember,Canadian) and the wife say's "hmmm, It doesn't feel any different" so we pull over on the 4 lane highway and I put her behind the wheel. And off we were, at this point she is smiling and says "it is different,kinda fun".

So we turn around and head back into town and she is playing with the no lift shift,as she hit's 4th I point to the RCMP car rushing through the center ditch (same as Highway patrol,state trooper,and city police all in one) with the cherries on. As we're pulling over the wife is trying to convince me to change seats, all the while I can't stop laughing. The officer comes up to the window, and looks surprised to see a hot blond driving, hand on his pistol he warily asks for licence and registration and asks us both to exit the vehicle. So we exit the vehicle and I start laughing harder as I see a quick smirk from him. He asks my wife if she knows why he pulled us over. She play's dumb like what I have instructed her many times, and says "no,is there a problem?"
He say's he caught her doing 235kph in a 110kph zone. So he give's me a look and I nod back and he say's "you are under arrest for dangerous driving,exceeding speed limit and he's gonna have to impound and crush her car" She loses it and starts pouring tears out.

I can't hold it any more and I start laughing again just as the officer starts cracking up too. It turns out it is a good high school football buddy of mine and was playing her along pretty good. So after 20 minutes of calming her down and letting her give us both heck he let's us off with a stern warning, but I had to ask. How fast were we really going,and could I get a fake ticket to prove it? He replies,I would have to really give it to you and impound the car,and yes we really were going that fast.

Well as driving home nicely I felt pretty good, I like our family cruiser of an HHR SS. Can't wait for all the water to dry up and get my real hot rods on the road, but goes to show we can still get into a little trouble with our dail driver.;)

I second that. The RPMS ramp quickly and I see the car into boost much quicker than when stock. Its definitely worth the $660 spent........its really a SS now.:D

That's who I made contact with he sounds like a nice guy. It goes in on April 20, 2009 I had to take a day off of work, oh darn.

I just got my car back today. And as everyone else said. Its like night and day. Totally feels like a different car. I'm a little afraid of it again lol.

I constantly forget its only a 2.0..My pickup has been relegated to backup vehicle and heavy and dirty jobs so its parked most the time.Havn't driven it for about 4 months and had to use it last weekend to haul a cabinet for the kitchen, I was lost,for the size and weight it hauls along real good ,but that day I thought something was wrong,felt really slow...until I realised there wasn't any turbo gage...anywhere! Might have to remedy that..hmmmmmmm....Its going to be really hard to have to drive something else after this car.A hotrod you never forget what your driving, can't say the same for the SS with a kit.
Smooth quiet and a true sleeper,with 28 mpg to boot!.Love passing somebody and having a tire break loose, the look is priceless!And so far the coppers pay no attention to it. What more can A person ask for!