I have a Manual 2002 Cavalier. It’s the regular model, 2.2L. I don’t know brand of stuff is good. Please tell me what brand of what part I should buy and the estimated cost. I only want to spend about $1500 total.
I don’t know about any brands for the Cav… but what kinda mods are you lookin at… engine/suspension/looks
Im gonna assume you want engine performance mods…
If it’s an Ecotec 2.2, there’s plenty of stuff available, and will be more. If it’s a 2200, well, I’m sure there’s something for it.
Really should be a little more specific in what you’re looking for 
yea if its ecotec2.2 just buy spray and be done :tspry:
2002 i think is the 2200
Methinks you are right…
Here you go mang - j-bod performance
It’s a 2200 and yeah I want engine performance mods
flat out answer, dont waste your time unless you want to swap in an ecotec or the 2.4L. I have a 2200 in my 2002 sunfire and was looking to mod it for a while, but once you really start looking into it I found it was completely not worth it. Its like trying to mod a V6 fbody, ya you can do it and get some power out of it, but at the end of the day the money you spent would have gotten you farther if you had bought the better motor.
2200 w/boost > 2.4 w/boost
I’m not sure what boost is.
lol
turbocharger?
supercharger?
nawzZZ?
I’ve said this before, I 'll say it again.
Go drag race at a track
Go auto-x a couple times
Go to a road course (lastly)
All of that should cost ~ $200 - $250
Then you can decide what you want to do to your car. I guarantee that your approach to modding your car will change.
well, i personally do not think what you have is a decent platform if you want to go fast, they look real good if you pimp them out, but they were never made to have potential to go fast if its the 2200…my buddy has one and hes the only one out of a few of us close friends thats not going turbo, and all he talks about now is wanting to turbo it and we all have to keep tellin him its not worth it, youll never break 200whp
Here’s what you need to know.
When asking questions on this forum, be prepared for smart ass answers.
Some people don’t realize we weren’t all BLESSED with an easy to mod car, so their answer is to buy something else. This is because they lack answers.
As suggested before, I would also check www.j-body.org They have been a great resource for me in terms of modifying my car, and maintaining it.
I believe you have the 2200, which isn’t easy to mod, but it CAN be done. Depending on your expectations it may not meet them, may meet them, or could possibly exceed what you plan to do, and how fast you’d like to go.
You also have the option of (later on) swapping in a 2.3, 2.4, a 3.4 V6, or as it stands right now, the king of FWD J body swaps, a 3800.
If you haven’t been to the track yet, and you DO plan on drag racing, or even auto cross, I recommend you stop by before modding your car heavily, to see how it performs now, and see what you would like to improve.
This will give you a better idea of what you like, and don’t like about your car.
I personally prefer drag racing, and will be at Lancaster almost every week this summer.
If you prefer drag racing, enter the First timer class, try to go on a Tuesday night. It’ll cost you $15 to race, $12 for a passenger/or someone to hang out in the pits while you race, and $5 for someone to sit in the grandstand to watch.
I’m not familiar with Autocross, so someone else would have to help you there, if that’s what you’d like to do.
The Cavaliers factory wheel bearing DOES NOT have a front O-ring, or rear seal, so if you drive hard, or autocross, expect to replace one soon, I’ve done both of my front bearings this year, they’ll cost you $100 each, and will take somewhere between 30 minutes, and 3 hours, depending on skill, and if tools/help is available.
I could go on for quite a while, but if you’d like to shoot the shit or whatever, feel free to shoot me a PM or get in touch with me on AOL/AOL Instant messenger.
Take care, and good luck with the car.
EDIT: You CAN break 200 hp, to the wheels in the 2200. But doing so, will cost more than $1500. I believe the 2200 has 110 horse IIRC, which puts you around 93.5hp to the wheels, which means you’d need to gain ABOUT another 115-130hp to put down 200 or more horsepower to your wheels.
I’m also working on a few projects for my car now, as well as have already modified a few things which didn’t cost a fortune. :headbang:
EDIT #2
To give you what you’re looking for… for $1500, you can do several things.
You can combine some of these items, but cannot do them all.
Lower the car
strut tower braces
sway bars
nitrous
exhaust
intake
throttle body
update ignition (plugs, wires, etc)
The list can go on and on…
You’ve got a lot of options bro, once you decide what motorsport, or motrosports you plan to participate in, you can make much easier decisions on what you’d like to modify!
Have fun
I have decided to go a different way.
enlighten us…
There is a manual 1992 Acura Integra with 120,000 miles on the body and 22,000 on the new engine, a 1991 Toyota Celica GT but the guy didnt answer the phone so I don’t know if it’s manual or what the miles are, and there’s a manual 1996 Dodge Avenger with 90,000 miles.
I decided to go with one of those because they look better, less people will make fun of me including myself, and they have more base horsepower.
i dont think anyone is making fun of you, they are trying to explain to you that “bang for buck” that engine might not respond as well to mods as you would like, if you like the car im sure you can get creative and figure out ways to make it faster and more of what you like. when its all said and done, its your car and you are the one paying for it and driving it, make sure you are happy and screw what others think
That’s the thing, I’m not a big fan of cavaliers. The only reason I wanted it was because it was the easiest way to get a manual car but now that I have other nicer looking cars and faster (although much older) I like them a lot better.
just a couple questions.
- you selling the cavy to buy one of those?
- this a summer only car or year round?
- how much you spending on one of those cars?