So my sister and my wife both have 98 cavaliers for dirt racecars. My sisters is a 2 door and my wife's is a 4 door. We recently found out my sisters car had a bad head. Her and her husband went to take one off of a 4 door that we have and they are different heads. Can anyone tell me what other differences there are? We figured out that u can tell the differences by the valve covers. The 2 doors are smooth rounded valve covers with plastic intakes and the 4 doors have lines on the valve cover and have cast intakes. Why would chevy do that? What else is different and which ones are better? Thanks for any help.
possibly somone did a swap at some point? seems odd...2.2 with grooved valve cover sounds more like the 2nd gen 2.0s iirc.....unless its something ive never seen personally but maybe one of the CNG motors ??...the 2.4 motors have grooves in the IDI /cam tower cover but they are also say 2.4 Twin Cam on them so guessing thats not it?...got me tho..Pics would help prolly)
The 2.2 had the grooved valve cover up through 97, then it went to the smooth one in 98 and the name changed to "2200", but was still the LN2. The same LN2 was used in both coupes and sedans, so the difference has nothing to do with body style, only with year. Check out this link-
2.2 History
If your wife's car has the gooved cover, and the engine was never swapped, it's a 97.
The 2.0 OHV valve cover looked nothing like the early LN2 valve cover, and all the CNG LN2s I've seen have the stock valve cover.
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The 98 and newer head(FWD) 2200 is the same head that is in the 94 and older2.2 (RWD), has to do with where the water inlet/outlet ports are mounted. I think the 2200 has an opening in the left front of the head where the 2.2 97 and older has it on the right side.
Ronald Cogan wrote:The 98 and newer head(FWD) 2200 is the same head that is in the 94 and older2.2 (RWD), has to do with where the water inlet/outlet ports are mounted. I think the 2200 has an opening in the left front of the head where the 2.2 97 and older has it on the right side.
Ummm No.... if you read the growing pains on the 2.2 the pre 97- heads are very different from 98+.... the exhaust ports in the 98+ are considerably smaller..... the 2200 has a coolant pipe that runs directly into the head on the right side the 2.2 is smaller and runs in the left.... but if you put a 97- head on a 98+ block you get 13:1 compression... just remember to upgrade your headgasket if you do this
Erik Packard
