I have a bone-stock 1999 Cavalier coupe with the 2200 and the 3-speed automatic. This thing will not even squeal the tires and cant get out of it's own way. I know this engine and transmission is not optimal for performance but I would like to at least wake it up a little without spending a ton of money. I came across the Pacesetter Monza exhaust system, which looks pretty decent and is within my price range. My questions are 1) How hard is this to install? 2) How is this going to sound? 3) Will I have a noticeable gain in performance? 4)What is the build quality like? Also considering a Spyder Auto or Hurrican cold-air intake and possibly shocks and springs for autocrossing.
Honestly I wouldn't waste you money trying to make more power. For what you would put into the engine to boost power you would enjoy it more if you put it into the suspension with a swaybar kit, strut tower bars and drop struts/springs and better tires/light rims. I used to own an ohv and unless your going to boost it, or port the head and replace the cam your going to be hitting your head against a wall with the 3 speed. Now if you have access to a welder you might want to look into a 5 speed swap. That alone will improve performance tremendously. I put my money into my 01 ohv/5spd starting with the suspension and it was worth it. I honestly enjoyed driving my ohv daily with just suspension mods, than I currently enjoy my boosted eco on stock suspenion.
Hope this helps you out.
Thanks. I have considered swapping to the 4-speed auto but being electronically-controlled, that scares me a little. Also I have considered swapping a junkyard 2.3L Olds Quad 4 with automatic but I am not sure how difficult that would be. And considering that the car is getting a little rusty I don't know if it would be worth it.
Crazy Z24- I've gone the bottle route, and would advise against it for a dd. Maybe if he had another car and didn't car if a tiny mistake grenaded his motor. Plus he would have to fill it up, and it adds up quick. In 3 months of having my OHV on the juice I went through 13 bottles. at roughly $35-$40 a fill....at that point I could have assembled a simple turbo kit including the cost of the kit I purchased.
Nicholas- I'm not knowlegable on swaping to a 4 speed, or a 5 speed. All my j's have been 5 speeds. If the car is starting to rust don't even bother swaping the motor if your current one runs fine. If you ended up swapping suspension parts, at least if you ended up getting another J from95-05 you could swap suspension parts over to the new car......just my .02
I guess my biggest issue is what I believe is lousy throttle response (Maybe it's the transmission.) I jam the throttle down and it takes a couple seconds before it starts to roll, kind of like turbo lag but without turbo speed. Once it's moving it'll run 85MPH no problem but getting moving seems to take forever. I drove my sisters first-gen 4dr with the 2.2L/auto and that car was just so much crisper and snappier. Is this something to do with the different generation cars and states of tune?
If you're swapping transmissions, don't waste your time with a different automatic, go manual.
2010 Honda Fit LX
i have a 2001 with the same enigne, transmission. i got a header of ebay and a full 2.25 exhaust from a local shop. kept the stock cat and used a glasspack as a muffler, it sounds amazing and actually has a good amount of go. oh, and a sparco RAI from advanced auto. but i wish i had the time/money to do a 5 speed swap, especcially how crappy the 3 speed shifts after abusing t for a month or two
Definitely agree with the above posts do a five speed swap and clean up the rust i have an ohv with the f23 5speed and really enjoy driving my car as far as the wheezing sound check the welds for leaks or if the oe flex pipe is still on the exhaust system check that for leaks mine made a nasty noise at high Rpms before I upgraded the system
Hope this helps alittle good luck
Oops ignore the parts of my post about wheezing lol reading multiple posts at once sorry
