For the money, nitrous would put you far ahead with a 75 shot. Its also not that labor intensive to hook up. you might be able to do it with a race header, stage 2 or 3 cams and gears, flex back and a tune or good chip. The simplest way would be sabotage. J/K. Theres nothing like a little completion to get you moving.
the problem is, he can't shoot a 75 shot of nitrous into his engine safely either, and not to mention after that 75 shot, at best he's about 30hp over his dad's hp and nitrous can only last for 10 seconds max because if it's longer than that the silonoids will freeze open. if the silonoid freezes open then your 10 second 75hp wet shot of n2o turns into a constant 45hp dry shot which means his engine WILL blow up
and like i said he can't shoot 75hp of nox into his engine safely, most without a tune is 50 and that's pushing it.
here's a few things to think about:
The colbalt is about 500lbs heavier, so that removes about 15 - 20 hp advantage
the colbalt has a lower revving engine, so if that horse power is a 5500rpm then that's great... IF you get it to 5500 RPM. where as the focus WILL get to it's 5500 RPM
horse power like that is calculated at the crank, the focus is 130 at the crank the colbalt is 170 at the crank, but the drivetrain is where the difference is made. the focus has a much better drivetrain with much less loss
All in all i'd say you have to get your 109 at the wheels up to about 130 - 145 at the wheels and your dad's colbalt can't touch you.
To achieve 130 - 145 at the wheels, you need a complete exhaust with no cat, if possible in your state, or a super hi-flow cat at least. look in the for sale section of the forums, you can find something there.
that will add about 15 hp atleast
instead of platinum plugs, get motorcraft coppers one step colder gapped at 60, that will add about 1 - 2 hp
do an oil change with royal purple and a napa gold filter, that will add about 2 hp
see.. now we're up to about 125 - 130 whp
no, loose so weight out of your car! take out the spare and back seat (if possible) that will save you almost 100lbs! which brings the HP requirement down to about 125 whp to keep up with the 170hp cobalt
farther in, you can get a lighter fly wheel! there's a general calculation that says that every pound shaved off the flywheel will make 3hp at the wheels.
also you can get bigger lighter wheels! making a mass rotate is one the hardest things to do mechanically, so if the mass is lighter it's easier to turn (thats why a lighter flywheel means more power, because it's less work)
after all said and done (minus wheels and fly wheel) you'd probably spend $500 and work on your car for 6 hours, but you'll have a much faster car!
and if all else fails you can slash his tires!
