i have a 98 cavy 4dr with a 2200 VIN4 engine and a 4spd. im looking to make it a faster 4dr. i only paid 1k for it and it just ticked to 115000 on the odometer so i have some budget left. i was thinking about boosting but i have no idea what these engines can take pressure wise. the last thing i wanna do is give it juice, its too hard to come by around here. any help would be much appreciated.

Save your money for a better engine to work from bud. the 2200 is just too outdated for todays times. It would suck for you too put a lot of money into boosting and only be as fast as a mediocore new car.

4-6.5psi seems to be the limit stock. But to really take advantage of it, allot more needs to be done. Search for the following thread & you'll see:

Building a better LN2. (<-This is not a link!)


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

is the LN2 a different engine entirely? im new to the cavalier family and i dont know a whole lot about the 2.2, 2200, 2.4, ecotecs or n e thing

Yeah ln2 is the 2200 SFI. It's the older model of engines they stopped making. The 2.4 has stopped being produced aswell. Although it's arguably on par with the 2.2eco.

You can find 2005 sunfire/cavaliers with low km for cheap. Maybe saving up while you ride the 4dr beater would be the best choice if you want to have a good base to mod from.

There tough little engines I consistently ran 12psi on my old cavy(which also was a 4dr 98) daily driven in texas humidity and on occasion it would spike to 15psi the that motor is capable of making 300whp(some let go before this but its possible) and has been proven by a member on here but needs really good tuning and he was a tuner.

My 3 speed blew up before that engine ever did. Car never left me stranded wish I could say that about my eco.

LN2: AKA: 2.2L, 2200. In-line 4-cyl OHV engine, produced by GM from '90(?)-'04 M/Ys. The workhorse of the GM 4-cyl lineup, the LN2 was designed primarily to power GM's "economy" model FWD cars (J, W & N-bodies). It's relatively light weight & good low-end (below 3500rpm) torque production for it's displacement (2.2L, or 134ci if you wish) made it suitable for these applications, as the many factors that effect fuel mileage where well-played upon by it.

This is not to mean it's weak, or unable to produce or handle higher levels of power. Truth told... some have modded LN2s to the point of making +300hp, and dispite the odd block failure (rare to see, if you ask me) the crank amazingly survived. Hence the term: If you need a made to handle the power you're making with an LN2, tell us how you made it!

I consider you in luck in getting a 4-spd auto LN2'd cavy, as it seems most are built with the 3-spd auto. Something that plays against the fuel-mileage capability of the LN2, as the 3-spd doesn't favor maintaining low engine speeds... Something critical to good mileage. Especially at highway speeds.

I would say any mods worth making to an LN2'd cav that's your lone source of daily transportation are those that increase fuel-efficiency & durability.
Namely:

Transmission-fluid cooler

Header & exhaust with resonator (Read-up on that & you'll see why)

Air-inlet tract & filter

Lowered ride-height (Less wind-resistance = Better mileage)

Lower rolling-resistance tires

Ignition mods ( The better you can light it off, the better it'll burn)

Increased oil capacity & filtering media area (Think like what's gained in using a larger area air-filter, but for the oil) & cooling(?)

Custom tune programing (Not plug-in modules) of the fuel & spark mapping.

Everything after that is just regular maintenance, which if done will help alone.




Go beyond the "bolt-on".

I wouldn't go far with a 2200 build, to be honest. As much as I like the simplicity of a push rod engine, it costs way more to make numbers people are easily putting down with ecotec and LD9 (2.4L twin cam) engines. If you did want to boost it though, you can get a kit from Hahn Racecraft that will run on a stock engine. In all honesty, you'd get more power out of a light all-motor LD9 build than a boosted 2200 on stock internals, though. There are a lot of things going for the LN2 as a commuter, but as a performance engine, it takes a lot of work to get it up to similar output from an ecotec or LD9


2010 Honda Fit LX

whenever someone sayd they want power everyone says do a swap.... it doesnt sound like this guy wants 600HP but a little perofrmance boost which is more then capable

ported head, header, some light camw ork would help him greatly

i dont have the ability for downtime with my car and i dont have time to take a week at a time to get things done because of the northern ohio weather. im just curious what would be the best set up to get maybe 200-225hp out of the 2.2. id love an N/A tune but i dont have that much money or time to spend tuning it for optimized numbers. i just want something solid to romp on here and there but still maintain driveability. after i get the engine where i want it im going to mod the suspension. i have an idea on paper im working on for an IRS setup and i wanna do this all on the 4dr platform because aside from being a little lower its gonna appear stock and be a nice sleeper.

irs is already done.

see sticky.


sorry. but irs seems not possible for you since you cant have downtime.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, June 10, 2009 11:00 PM

The best way to do a build with minimal down time to the car is to get a motor from a salvage yard and build it. When it's built, take a day (or two if needed) and pull the stock motor and drop in the built motor. The more hands on work you can do yourself the less it will cost and the more you'll learn.

Before you go spending money needlessly, do you research and decide what you want to do. Take you time and make an educated decision, not on a whim. There are plenty of threads on just about every aspect of these motors. A car works as a system and is only as good as it's weakest link (which quite often is the diver/owner! )

Well said madjack

well ive been thinking alot about it and i decided i want to build a turbo motor. i read in a thread on here that a guy was running 10-12psi and occasionally hitting 15psi on stock internals. is this alright to run? im looking to run about 8-10psi, 12 at the max for now. i was also wondering about cam specs that would help with the benefit. im pretty handy with engines but ive never built a 4 cly or a turbo motor. eventually i am gonna build an all out mini rat for the cav but thats gonna have to wait a year or more.

Shane Reid wrote:Save your money for a better engine to work from bud. the 2200 is just too outdated for todays times. It would suck for you too put a lot of money into boosting and only be as fast as a mediocore new car.

Bull@!#$, with boost they can be pretty peppy..but yeah, it's not going to be cheap though...the cost of going turbo will be more then the car's worth but I always say work with what you have



Don't buy from MANTAPART!!
There is no easy ways to get HP, no magic box or gizmo... And if you get more hp, there's no way to make your car still behave and sound like a stock one. More hp usually makes your car louder, more vibrations and harder to drive...but still people hope or think maby there's some magic way to have it all, comfort, stock sound and drive.

itsmaxwell wrote:i dont have the ability for downtime with my car and i dont have time to take a week at a time to get things done because of the northern ohio weather. im just curious what would be the best set up to get maybe 200-225hp out of the 2.2. id love an N/A tune but i dont have that much money or time to spend tuning it for optimized numbers. i just want something solid to romp on here and there but still maintain driveability. after i get the engine where i want it im going to mod the suspension. i have an idea on paper im working on for an IRS setup and i wanna do this all on the 4dr platform because aside from being a little lower its gonna appear stock and be a nice sleeper.

It's not possible to get 225hp out of a 2200 with no downtime.... you could install bolt on parts on your days off, but even with every possible bolt-on and exhaust mods, you would only be in the 150-160hp range.... getting that kind of power NA would require a LOT of work.... you could get a spare head, port and polish it, 1mm oversize valves, shave it for more compression, etc... but a turbo kit would be your best bet to get the power you are seeking.



Don't buy from MANTAPART!!
There is no easy ways to get HP, no magic box or gizmo... And if you get more hp, there's no way to make your car still behave and sound like a stock one. More hp usually makes your car louder, more vibrations and harder to drive...but still people hope or think maby there's some magic way to have it all, comfort, stock sound and drive.

My 1st car was a 2200 sunfire givin to me from my father. I loved it at the time. It was sporty, paint shined like new even though it was a 2000. And I felt fast. A year later due to a dear I crashed and totalled the car. I saved up over the next 5 months and by spring I had picked out a 2002 sunfire gt ecotec. Now I'm boosted on the gm supercharger.

Point is. I felt more of a difference going from 2200 sunfire to the ecotec sunfire, then i did from the stock eco to supercharged eco.

Not trying to be a dick but let's say you put all this money into a 2200 turbo build...
- It's going to take a lot of work.
- A lot of money
- A lot of research
- Hopefully no problems along the build.
- Engine's already @ 115k, and the car's been around over 10 years. How long do you want this car to last ya for?
- In the end you will still be slower then a grandma in a v6 malibu.


Sorry again for being a downer. Just don't want you to waste your time and hard earned cash.

Shane you have some good points except for the last one which is BS, since a 2200 turboed will be pretty quick.... My old '96 fire was customized to how I liked it, so I would tell people that told me to get another car to kiss my ass.... but if the car is totally stock. I agree, might be better to sell, find a cheap ecotec powered car and work from there instead.



Don't buy from MANTAPART!!
There is no easy ways to get HP, no magic box or gizmo... And if you get more hp, there's no way to make your car still behave and sound like a stock one. More hp usually makes your car louder, more vibrations and harder to drive...but still people hope or think maby there's some magic way to have it all, comfort, stock sound and drive.