Hey all,
I got a FREE 98 Cavalier 2.2l ecotech 5spd which I'm going to be turning into a 24 hour of LEMONS race car.
Aside from gutting the thing to the bare min, if you had $500 to spend on one of these cars to make it go around a racetrack faster what would it be?
Obviously I'll be buying as much as possible used, but any good hints about how to get your most bang for your buck on these cars would be appreciated. Anything goes - Engine, Suspension etc.
The only thing not needed to mention is brakes, tires, wheels, and any safety related equipment, as I don't have to adhere to the $500 total investment limit for those items.
I'm a Mustang guy so I have no clue about the J bodies really....
has the engine been swapped? if not, then you don't have the eco, you have the OHV 2.2. that being said... you have the following going for you
1. LeMons car
2. ohv 2.2s are cheap as hell. i'm talking longblock for $75 cheap.
3. $500 is more than enough to put together a junkyard turbo kit.
JBO Stickers! Get yours today!
oK - its not swapped by bad..
I'd just be skeptical of running a 24hr race with a Junkyard turbo kit... although I'll look into it. I need it to be faster but the winner is most laps completed lol need to make it past lap 3
Being fast doens't mean you'll win, being consistent will though. Suspension is something to look into, scrounge around a local junkyard for a cavalier/sunfire with FE3 suspension that'll give you better handling.
Dont bother wasting money on FE3 struts and springs they are the same. The only differences are a larger front sway bar, the biggest being in the 03-05 FE3 and a stiffened rear beam, the latter probably not worth your money.
I would start with a GM convertible strut tower bar. These can be had at any pull it yourself junk yard for around $15. This was probably the single best mod I did for my car suspension wise. I would also recommend trying to find some used after market struts, tokico HP's or Dspecs, Koni red or yellows, Or kyb Agx's. I would suggest lowering springs to for a lower center of gravity but that might take up your budget.
I would say get and intake, header, and exhaust but honestly on a 2.2 they dont produce results without a major engine build. Sadly you have the least loved engine in our platform. The few who have gotten reasonable numbers from the 2.2 put a ton of money into them.
Actually for a lemons car I wouldn't do any of this.
A friend and myself are actually hunting for our "new" lemons car build and could lend you some help and advice.
Main thing you need to remember is creativity when it comes to a lemons car, also keep it simple and reliable.
Safety equipment (brakes wheel bearings and hubs included) don't go against the cost put into the car.
You also don't NEED to be under $500 you just need to have the judges believe you only spent $500
But like I had said if you are really interested in building a lemons car shoot me a PM and we can lend you a guiding hand.
Want hub spacers? Shoot me a PM.
PM Sent Jeffie... I'm right in Red Bank NJ, not far!
ZsZ - thanks for the tip, I'm sure I can find a strut tower brace... I'll put it on the list!
I've never heard of this. Once I googled it, I'm very entertained already. This looks awesome!
i find it amusing that SHOoff has nothing better to do but follow me around & be an unhelpful dick in even cross-forum. - Jon Mick
DO NOT just tear it down.
You will end up wishing you didnt just tear things out.
Also cant see your link you need to be a member.
Shoot me a text, cause you got lots ahead of you my friend.
Want hub spacers? Shoot me a PM.
Hey all! So Despite being one of Mikes best friends for o lets say a decade, you may notice i barely ever post here. Mainly because I bought a house and haven't had a life for....well...since I bought a house.
You may or may not know that I'm that 1% of mustang drivers that actually tries to use the steering wheel with my car and does open track instead of drag racing. Problem is in order to do this competitively you really have to rip the car apart for the safety equipment, roll cage etc.
Well.... this thread is my work around that problem (I love my mustang too much to turn it into a real race car). I found out about the 24 Hours of LeMons race. Basically, its a bunch of POS cars racing. The car and all its performance upgrades can't cost more the $500 (that excludes safety equipment - Tires, wheels, brakes, seats, harness and roll cage).
So my Brother in law owns a couple used car lots (or at least the cars on them). I told him about this idea and he said he had a 98 cavalier we could use as was all for it. Turned out, the cavalier had a bunch of essential items taken out of it, and we couldn't use it. However, the owner of one of the lots he uses (Rooney Motors in Pawling NY) had this gem sitting the back:
Yup, thats the man that made it happen....Tim Rooney, pround donor of our official race vehicle.
Well, I guess I can let the pictures do the talking... lets see where this adventure takes us!
Made it down to NJ for the preperation to commence (yup i live in that smelly state now..)
Whats usually in the garage
And the POS that replaced it
Talk about a "green" car!
What a fine interior
The parts pile begins
Just getting started
What the front end looked like..
....and with some LeMon Style Autobody repair...
What it looks like now s...howroom baby!
Havin a blast!
New Rad put in.
Now you see it
Now you dont!... btw taking out a heater core is the worst job....EVER! if you ever have to replace one and you get a really high estimate, trust me... its a fair price. i dont know how someone can actually replace one without ripping the entire dash to shreds...
Thats it for now, my pick up is literally overflowing with parts heading for the junk yard. I'll snap a pic before I dump it. Total time into this thing is probably 5-7 hours.... Stay tuned for more!
Club Teh Jeffie wrote:DO NOT just tear it down.
You will end up wishing you didnt just tear things out.
Also cant see your link you need to be a member.
Shoot me a text, cause you got lots ahead of you my friend.
Little late for that now... I made sure to save the critical wiring and plugs.... Lights, Speedo Cluster, I didn't touch the ignition stuff...
OH MY, I wasnt expecting a 03+ fire.
Eco could dominate, I think you should seriously consider going to Chump car instead of lemons.
Better opportunity to reuse the car then a single event build.
Want hub spacers? Shoot me a PM.
Adrian Gubbay wrote:Club Teh Jeffie wrote:DO NOT just tear it down.
You will end up wishing you didnt just tear things out.
Also cant see your link you need to be a member.
Shoot me a text, cause you got lots ahead of you my friend.
Little late for that now... I made sure to save the critical wiring and plugs.... Lights, Speedo Cluster, I didn't touch the ignition stuff...
Make sure you dont rip out the bcm or the car will have passlock issues.
Also the eco really opens up the doors, especially with weight reduction.
Is that mustang smashed too? That hood looks really tweaked.
mmmm is that the airbag thing under the passanager seat? I think thats ripped out... oops
I dont know what it actually looks like or where it is, just know if its removed the car wont start.
Yeah, That's gonna want to go back in if it is the bcm..
Did a quick google search.. I dont think thats the BCM, I think the BCM is on the drivers kick panel and i dont remember ripping out any black box from there....
the thing I ripped out i believe is just the air bag, it had the special airbag clips on it AND said air bag all over it.... it was very light and had the directional arrow for mounting it.... I'll take a peak tomorrow to be sure.
correct 03+ bcm is driver side kick panel under the dash.
BuiltNBoosted wrote:correct 03+ bcm is driver side kick panel under the dash.
I knew I wouldnt be able to sleep w/out knowing this, so I ran to the garage and checked.... its still there.... Id try and start it but the water pump would spray coolant all over, since half the lines are disconnected...... shouldnt be a problem I'm sure
Thanks guys!
