I know i'm nowhere near the fastest or pushing the most NA power, but i'm curious where would I go from here with my current mods?
I dont really want to turbo/super yet, so what would be the next step to upgrade and get some decent power from?

AEM CAI
Custom Cat-Back with Hi Flow Cat, no Res, and flow through muffler
LE5 intake
Cobalt SC injectors
Tri-Flow Custom Stage 1 Camshafts
Tuned by Trifecta

I've also got full suspension mods completed, need to upgrade brakes which is hopefully winter project so I'm really looking for suggestions on engine power gains

I know there's the whole bottom end I haven't touched, but I'm also curious on what that will gain me?

Any suggestions would be appriciated



Buddy Club Ecotec Cavalier
* More to come *

larger throttle body, and i didn't see a header listed on your exhaust list.

better pulley/pulley's will help. aside from that there's really not much for bolt on and go power unless you wanna start talking n2o


i also should add that a good port and polish is a great modification to increase head flow, but very pricey while the actual hp gain will be rather minimal on such a small engine. now if you start talking boost and creating large amounts of power head flow becomes very important and it could end up being the best grand you ever spent. really depends what your future plans for the car are as far as p+p goes.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, September 19, 2010 5:52 PM

straight to the side of you're car with a razor blade and some goo gone.



Underdog Racing

-If you are running a/c you can take out the whole system for some free hp and weight reduction. minimal hp gain.
-A light weight flywheel will make you quicker off the line.
-Milling your head will give you higher compression and a little more omph.
-Headders will help a lot
-Aftermarket motor mounts that are stiffer than stock will regain some of the lost hp in the launch off the line or will generally help you lay your hp to the wheels.
-If your cold air intake kit is taking air from the engine bay at all you would significantly notice better bottem end if you got a kit that puts the filter in the bumper. (out of the engine bay)
-upgraded ignition system for a more complete burn
-If it is a pushrod engine lighter pushrods and rockers (mostly rockers) will give you a nice hp boost.
-After you do more upgrades get your car re tuned and make sure your air/fuel ratios are spot on as well as your timing.

Hope this helps!
-Kyle




Tunned by Innovative Tuning

Kyle Matthews wrote:-If you are running a/c you can take out the whole system for some free hp and weight reduction. minimal hp gain.
-A light weight flywheel will make you quicker off the line.
-Milling your head will give you higher compression and a little more omph.
-Headders will help a lot
-Aftermarket motor mounts that are stiffer than stock will regain some of the lost hp in the launch off the line or will generally help you lay your hp to the wheels.
-If your cold air intake kit is taking air from the engine bay at all you would significantly notice better bottem end if you got a kit that puts the filter in the bumper. (out of the engine bay)
-upgraded ignition system for a more complete burn
-If it is a pushrod engine lighter pushrods and rockers (mostly rockers) will give you a nice hp boost.
-After you do more upgrades get your car re tuned and make sure your air/fuel ratios are spot on as well as your timing.

Hope this helps!
-Kyle

Sweet! Thanks everyone for the info!

Forgot to mention I also have LZM Motor Mounts
No A/C to delete
Been looking into UDP's (really worthwhile?)
CAI is a true CAI (from fender)
Can you upgrade the Ecotec Coil pack Ignition?
Any specific header options?
What is milling the head?

Also head about Balance Shaft Delete kit... But i've heard mixed reviews on performance increase may not be worth the vibrations it causes



Buddy Club Ecotec Cavalier
* More to come *

UDPs... Every little bit helps and if cam pully is smaller than stock it will help more;
Aftermarket headers are personal choice anythings better than stock;
Milling the head is shaving a couple thou off where the headgasket goes to lower the head closer to the pistons to make the combustion chamber smaller therefore, increasing compression and gaining some power.





Tunned by Innovative Tuning

Milling the head on a OHC engine is not a good idea because ypu can end up messing up the timing if you. Take too much off.

There is no hp difference in our cars between WAI abd CAI intakes.

I'll touch the other things when I get off work.




its an old concept. time for something new to take the reigns. - Z yaaaa

As far as the milling goes... nothing a good tune wont fix?
There was a diffrence on my OHV in torque with the CAI as opposed to my old WAI with the same filter.




Tunned by Innovative Tuning

Kyle Matthews wrote:As far as the milling goes... nothing a good tune wont fix?
There was a diffrence on my OHV in torque with the CAI as opposed to my old WAI with the same filter.

can you prove that with dyno sheets or is this a butt dyno talking? if it's butt dyno it means nothing btw.

I dont know what kind of dyno this is but here how i figure this.

My firend has a 1995 eagle talon 2.2l DOHC stock at 140 hp. we used to be neck and neck at WOT if we did a pass in 3rd gear from a rolling start. (60 kmh to 130 kmh) - sometimes he'd maybe just barly start to pull away.

After the CAI it was the exact same but opposite, with me maybe just pulling away - and I did most of this in the bottem end of the rmp range, therefore I figured it was torque from getting nice colder, denser air in turn giving me a more powerful air/fuel ratio.




Tunned by Innovative Tuning

Kyle Matthews wrote:As far as the milling goes... nothing a good tune wont fix?

You cant really tune for cam timing its done by the chain not the computer. Milling the head also affects the swirl inside the cylinder and can cause a loss in power on some engines. If high compression is being done it should be done with pistons.

- LZM balance shaft delete (I have it...sure it vibs more but there is a definite power increase)
- Better cam shafts (Comp stage 2-3 or custom) (no offence but those tri-flows aren't the best)
- New Valve Springs
- 4-1 header
- Exhaust Cut-out

Thats the basic stuff you can do without ripping the engine apart.


I should add that GM recommends that you DO NOT mill/shave the head on an ecotec....a quick buff to get it flat again is fine but don't start taking off to much material.

You can run an LSJ head gasket if you like to bump compression (they are thinner), it will however affect your cam timing.

newt wrote:- LZM balance shaft delete (I have it...sure it vibs more but there is a definite power increase)
- Better cam shafts (Comp stage 2-3 or custom) (no offence but those tri-flows aren't the best)
- New Valve Springs
- 4-1 header
- Exhaust Cut-out

Thats the basic stuff you can do without ripping the engine apart.


I should add that GM recommends that you DO NOT mill/shave the head on an ecotec....a quick buff to get it flat again is fine but don't start taking off to much material.

You can run an LSJ head gasket if you like to bump compression (they are thinner), it will however affect your cam timing.

So unanimously a header would be a good place to start obviously is what I'm hearing
Newt... I heard the valve springs work in the Eco for up to 11k rpm... Whats the benefit of them?
Higher compression with the LSJ gasket = more hp? How?
And what makes a good camshaft? I know comp is the best (hearsay) but why? Just the way their angle is?

Thanks for all the help guys!!!



Buddy Club Ecotec Cavalier
* More to come *

Whoever told you they are good to 11000rpm are seriously mislead.

GM build book says they are good to 7-7500rpm I believe, I wouldn't run them any higher than 7000rpm. Also with higher lift cams you run into coil bind pretty fast with the stock springs, I wouldn't be surprised if even with the cam you have in there now you are past the recommended lift on the stock springs.

Don't expect a ton of power from the thinner head gasket....but its an option if you if you are gonna pull the head anyways....not really worth it for the minimal gains to pull the head just for that.

If you wanna play around with different camshafts I suggest you download "Desktop Dyno" you can build a copy of your motor in the software and play around with cams, CRs, head work, all that fun stuff and see the effect they have on HP and your power curve/torque curve.

Oooo that sounds nifty!
Regarding the 11k rpm, I just read it on the Ecotec Overview sticky on this forum http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=2&i=368262&t=368262




Buddy Club Ecotec Cavalier
* More to come *

Kyle Matthews wrote:I dont know what kind of dyno this is but here how i figure this.

My firend has a 1995 eagle talon 2.2l DOHC stock at 140 hp. we used to be neck and neck at WOT if we did a pass in 3rd gear from a rolling start. (60 kmh to 130 kmh) - sometimes he'd maybe just barly start to pull away.

After the CAI it was the exact same but opposite, with me maybe just pulling away - and I did most of this in the bottem end of the rmp range, therefore I figured it was torque from getting nice colder, denser air in turn giving me a more powerful air/fuel ratio.

sorry buddy, but that means nothing. any number of things can affect highway or track pulls. too many variables.

to the op, yes the header is the very first place i'd start. you still have a massive bottleneck in your exhaust due to the stock exhaust manifold.

TURBO!!

I say go with what Kyle says and get some headers for the car. He seems to know what he is talking about...

lafonjef wrote:I say go with what Kyle says and get some headers for the car. He seems to know what he is talking about...

Headder* sorry. Im trying to help the guy out I do believe he said "any suggestions would be appreciated" I was just speaking on behalf of my own personal experience building my 2200 sfi motor. he did not specify what kid of motor so I was suggesting general things!

Could you please lay off a little? Im just giving advice to where it was asked for.

Guy puts an "s" on the end of a word and suddenly he has no clue what he is talking about...






Tunned by Innovative Tuning

newt wrote:- LZM balance shaft delete (I have it...sure it vibs more but there is a definite power increase)
- Better cam shafts (Comp stage 2-3 or custom) (no offence but those tri-flows aren't the best)
- New Valve Springs
- 4-1 header
- Exhaust Cut-out

Thats the basic stuff you can do without ripping the engine apart.


I should add that GM recommends that you DO NOT mill/shave the head on an ecotec....a quick buff to get it flat again is fine but don't start taking off to much material.

You can run an LSJ head gasket if you like to bump compression (they are thinner), it will however affect your cam timing.

So Please explain What is not good about the Triflow Cams...I have been running them for years now with no issues and with the addition of a S/C put down some good numbers..

Newt is just saying that comp's cam perform better.




its an old concept. time for something new to take the reigns. - Z yaaaa

Well thats great that he may say that but where is his proof that Comp cams are better than the Triflow cams..

At least if you are going to make a statement back it up with something..has he ran the triflow cams and then went to comp cams..

I am just asking,Not trying to start @!#$ here just looking for a answer..

Kyle Matthews wrote:...he did not specify what kid of motor ...

Thanks for all the input!!!
and for the record, I have the Ecotec motor



Buddy Club Ecotec Cavalier
* More to come *

So my updated list consists now of:

2.2L Ecotec Motor
AEM CAI
Tsudo 4-2-1 Header]/b]
Custom Cat-Back with Hi Flow Cat, no Res, and flow through muffler
LE5 intake
Cobalt SC injectors
Tri-Flow Custom Stage 1 Camshafts
RK Sport Under drive pulley
Tuned by Trifecta

Come Spring:
- upgrade to better springs (suggestions for my custom grind stage 1 camshafts?)
- Possibly Stage 2 or 3 Camshafts (but I dont want to rev much higher than my 7100 redline)
- Better Head gasket since it'll be off when I delete the balance shaft (wont it?)
- possibly head bolts unless someone can tell me not to?
- Velocity Stack (with Vibrant filter on road, w/o on track, or AEM/nonVS on road)
- Balance Shaft Delete

Again... staying away from charging... Any other suggestions?



Buddy Club Ecotec Cavalier
* More to come *