Hey Fellas, I stumbled onto this forum a few months ago looking for information to help a friend out with her 02 Lightning and thought it was a great forum for information.

Anyway, I traded my 05 Cobalt SS/SC yesterday for an 06 Silver Birch Metallic RCSB 1LT w/ light duty power package and 3.73's. Although the gas mileage in the Cobalt was awesome and pretty darn quick with a few mods I just ran into too many problems...both mechanical and cosmetic. I spent 11 hours at a local dealership and managed to pull off getting my $8k+ negative equity completely paid off so I couldn't refuse the deal lol. Here are some pics:



















This is my first truck, and so far I absolutely love it. I know the price at the pump will probably give me a heart-attack...but for the savings in insurance and monthly payment I don't think I'll mind (I hope). Anyway, I had a few questions if you guys don't mind (sorry if they are "newbish" lol). I haven't really done too much research, just looked over a few threads via search...but it seems like the locking differential is a piece of crap...is this something I should have just opted out on? And is this also something that is basically going to go out no matter how I drive? Also, right now as I'm in college I'm not looking to go crazy with mods but I would like to do some basic bolt-ons to help improve airflow and possibly increase my fuel economy...what would you guys suggest? I read an article from JBA and it seemed they had some impressive gains w/ headers, intake and a "chip". I live less than 4 minutes away from Conleys Performance in Houston and I know they do LSx tuning...so I might see if they have ever worked on a Silverado lol. Although it's no Lightning like most of my friends I am incredibly impressed at how stout the motor feels.

Anyway...sorry for the banter, I can't wait to learn more here.

 

Welcome to the site.Congrats on the new truck.From the pics it looks like you already have E-fans so thats good....one mod down.
The G-80 is a pile of crap...it shoudn't break in any hurry though.It will hold for a while as long as your not lifting the truck with huge tires are just putting way too much power through it.IMO get a Eaton locker and be good for good while.
On mods I'd say do not waste your time on Short tube headers.Do it right the first time and get some long tubes for it so you can see some good gains.CAI will help a little.A tune should help out a decent amount.
On your tranny get a TransGo HD2 shift kit for it with a vette servo and add a tranny cooler onto your stock one for extra cooling.Heat kills the trannys in these trucks.I'd say get at least a 24,000BUI unit.
Been up for like 33 hours so thats all i can think of right now.....

 

whats up from Humble TX. what college do you go to?

 

Hey there from Baytown. Have fun with the truck and on the site.

 

Thanks for the info and welcome guys. I'll have to shop around and see how much the Eaton Locker is...The G80 sounds like a time-bomb waiting to blow.

TX- I'm currently at Kingwood College, hoping to transfer to a University in the next yr or so.

 

i wouldnt wory bout the g80 until it actually blows. some have good luck with the g80(like me so far)

 

Welcome aboard,man, nice truck!! I awlways see Munday's commercials on t.v they look like a good dealer.

 

Welcome to the site, and nice choice on the truck. I'd say put your first few dollars towards LT headers and a full exhaust and a CAI. Once you get that put a couple of buck into the stock trans... as prev. mentioned-> TransGo stg 2 shift kit w/ a corvette servo. Once you have those take it somewhere for a dyno tune like the place you had mentioned or another route is a mail order tune... see sponosors for that----->

After that you may be happy enough to add some wheels or a drop kit for a little show.

Good luck and let us know what you do!!

 

Awesome, thanks for the info. Any recommendations on the LT's and CAI (as far as brand)? Also, I noticed on Transgo's website it only lists the vehicles up to 05, will it still work in my case? I'm assuming it'll work on the 06's but just wanted to make sure. One more thing, how much is install typically for a shift-kit installation?

Thanks!

 

or try out an STS turbo set-up. just jump straight to the big guns, saves money. imo. btw. welcome. my brothers 5.3L feels stout. i love that thing, screams up top