600 WHP Drag Sonic 1.4L Ecotec Engine Teardown 

Neat lol. Yeah it is

We will be watching that a little more closely on the next engine. This one was assembled with stock specs which is on the tight side, which is one of the reasons we kept the oil light.

Just a crummy cooling system

@Richard Russell why they sell parts for it

Ikr

Much success!

😂

Thanks for watching!

Yeah I’m going to have future pistons made with larger/deeper valve reliefs, and note the change in the part number.

The options that such a kit would need to have, just based on the companie's 20+ years of experience, would be too much to have an easy to kit/store package. We either have or will have everything needed available, and CS can help guide you in the right direction. We do not sell "race prep" engines on the site, but we do build them for in-house customers on an as-needed basis.

@@armcclure OK thanks . I have had hard time finding full gasket kit.

Anytime ;)

Also lookin big bro

Already have! Back in 2018/2019 we made over 600whp on our customer Allen Mayo's car. We'll be shooting for 1000 in the upcoming year.

You're a mad man. start a go fund me I'll donate.

I am going to look at what options are available for the next engine.

Stock head and our stage 1 cam. Will be getting a ported head and our stage 2's when it's back together!

@@gbrunner24 wow, so much power left on the table once you get ported head and custom intake manifold. I feel the stock manifold even though it can hold boost if just very flow limited especially at the throttle body opening. Look forward to build.

@@dtbrown1978 The throttle body opening still has quite a bit larger cross section than the turbo outlet. There may be a gain there, but I don't expect it to be significant. The runner length works well, but I could see a significantly larger plenum being beneficial.

@@armcclure I'm speculating as my test of the LNF tb on even a ported manifold was pretty much zero gain in throttle response or power vs stock TB as the intake manifold TB opening is significant less than the LNF TB. I did have an interesting result when testing the LNF TB with a heavier WGA spring as it did pickup a bit whereas before with stock TB nothing. Similar result with the LNF going from stock intake to GM intake it did gain unlike with the stock TB little to no difference. I test using a Dragy 0-60, 1/8th mile and I have an automatic so very consistent with tests. From my testing the LNF on a stock turbo has little to no benefit as the stock TB is sufficient for the amount of volume the stock turbo can produce even at 20 psi. I'll be testing the LNF with an upgraded turbo soon so if my test are right I may see a larger performance gain with the added flow rate.

Well, it's not like I had load cells placed throughout the block, but I can tell you that if there was any flex, it wasn't enough to leave a single trace. All of the bearings were in spectacular shape, and the only damage to the crank was where the flywheel bolts had snapped. You have to keep in mind that this is an iron block with a full bedplate design (as opposed to individual main caps) similar to the Ecotecs that we're all more familiar with. Additionally, this engine is incredibly compact. None of the typical flex points really have enough leverage to do any damage. The bore spacing is very tight, and the bore is relatively small, both of which are favorable for keeping the head clamped down.

As far as "knock monster" I meant that the factory knock sensor is very sensitive to noise, far more than any other engine combo I've dealt with. Switching from a full exhaust to the hood exit exhaust made the knock sensor go crazy, and I had to switch back to more traditional standalone type tuning. Reading plugs, inspecting pistons, watching boost and backpressure fluctuations, etc. All things that need done anyway on an engine running at this level, but especially important when you can't fully trust the knock sensor.

Is there any powertrain or suspension difference between the pre and post facelift sonic 1.4s? As well as normal 1.4 vs rs? Additionally, what was done since the last breakdown and parts list besides the new turbo?

@@zachward6441 since the last engine swap all we’ve changed was the turbo and added a 35 shot for this last event.

Suspension wise I’m personally not familiar with the facelift changes.

@@zachward6441 Suspension and powertrain is exactly the same between the "generations" of Sonic; only differences were cosmetic exterior and interior.

Rally cars have done that for decades

My LSJ was over 200k before I did my first turbo swap, this engine was put in fresh a couple years ago. I mis-spoke in the video; This engine has been in for 2 years but this was the start of the 3rd season. I should have Tyler add up the slips and dyno pulls sometime...

I've got a corsa e with the same engine. They are basically the same, yes.

Many. Over 3 years, 50-100 drag passes, and likely 200+ dyno pulls.

Missing what parts?

Ounces make pounds

It has a factory 1.8 Chevy Cruze transmission with Sonic RS final drive.

@@ZZPerformanceChannel Do you think youll be running into the limits of the factory transmission soon? Have you run into any issues with that transmission and fixxed it?

@@dantheman1998 The transmission failures were more of my fault than the actual power. Worn synchros and teeth on gears gave us some issues, but we haven't broken anything OEM from pure power. You can still purchase new OEM gears and synchros from overseas (although it's kind of hard to find).

@@gbrunner24 isn't this transmission still in production? Why is it hard to get parts???

I believe that the aluminum directly under the bolt heads yielded, taking the tension off of the bolts and allowing them to work loose.

@@armcclure I agree

ZZP 4340 rods and Diamond 73.5mm pistons.