Hey guys,
Finally found another 2 door J-Body, now having a look at a 2001 Sunfire Coupe. Has the 2.2L, but I'll assume it's the reg 2.2L and no the 2.2L Ecotec (I belive they rolled out the Eco in 2002, am I right?) Only 133,000KM's on this one, power sunroof, 5 speed. it seems really good. He's asking 3500 ONO, what do you think. Anyway, my real question is what is the motor like? I looked up some specs, Horsepower seems odd-ly low if what I looked up was correct, rated at 115 HP? What do you guys have to say about it? I know if I'm going to get any good, quality feedback, it'll be from the guys who know the stuff
you're right on assuming its a 2200... the eco was introduced in 2002. the hp is also right for the 2200... they're not real quick, but they're very reliable motors. mine ran past 160,000 til the head gasket went out on it.
Check out my build thread!
Yeah, I thought they were introduced in 2002, but I wasn't exactly sure. So a relible motor hey? There's not much out there in the form of Intakes for it though
Anyone else?
Intakes ? Yes plenty.
Its reliable, but not too fast. if you can afford a newer fire (03+ ) get one of those.
You can upgrade (aka spend a lot of money) the 2200. But even after Thousands of dollars in a motor build and turbo, your still only looking at around 200whp.
Go wirh an Eco if you have cash.
Really? I could only find one by Weapon R. Yeah, see I'm going for a maximum of 4000$, so an Ecotec is a bit out of reach, I can't find one here on the island for that kind of price. Nah, my car, whatever I end up with, will not be Turbo'd, so no worries there. All I'd probably do is the intake, and anything else I can find that isn't as expensive as a turbo or supercharger (any suggestions?
) A relible engine means more to me, although I'd love to have those extra ponies with a 2.4L Twin Cam LD9 (But I've expressed my concerns over that engine, so a Z24 or GT is not being considered) Anyone else have anything to say about these 01 Sunfires? Like I said, 5 spd, 2 door, power sunroof, 133,000 KMs, tinted, asking 3500 ONO, seems good to me.
Oh, and to add, if anyone is coming down around the East Coast of Canada with a 2 door J-Body they're selling, for god sakes, let me know
Haha, I get what your saying, and it's very true! Thanks for the intake too. Anyone else have anything to say? I'd like to get talking to someone who has one. BTW Mark, my guess is you have the same engine...are you running anything on yours, or all stocker?
Ive got a 2200 5spd, an '02 Cav.
The motor is like a rock, I beat on my sunfire (also an '02 -- both around 73k miles) every day, hard and it still runs like the day i bought it, at 23k miles.... I had both motors apart for head swaps and found the engine to be relatively clean, and the cyl walls like glass.
Its not really fast or anything, but it is suprising what 8 valves can do with a little bit of work... I have a ported head, full exhaust, and intake on my cavalier right now (waiting on time to swap all my mods from the 'fire) and it kept with a few ecos near here. and my mods didnt cost me more than maybe 1000 total.... i got most of the parts off the classifieds on this site, and installed them myself.
Its easy to take the motor apart if you ever need to, because theres not much there in the first place haha.
The gas mileage is extremely nice as well... with my mods i get about 120 miles on 1/4 tank... maybe a little less... Some of this comes from me keeping the r's down below 3k as im having a lifter issue right now... haha something that I didnt do right on the head swap..
Id say go for it if youre after reliability, parts are cheap for it, and the motor is cheap and easy to find... and if it ever breaks on you, 00-02' j's are the easiest to swap an eco into anyhow
Yeah, I was going to look into Dual Catbacks when I get it, seem like a good system from any of the companies. Would'nt have a cle where to get the head ported though. Haha, and Eco swap would be fun....if I could find a decent price Ecotec lol. What mods do you have on the Sunfire? That gas milage seems ecellent too, thats like 800 KM's to a tank....like to see dad's GM<C Full Size Sierra pull that! haha
On my cav I will have: full exhaust (pacesetter header, custom catback), ported/polished head w/ +1mm ss valves, 56MM HO tb, 1.6:1 crane roller rockers, chrome moly pushrods, solid motor mounts, MSD coils, 8mm spark wires. I cant think of anything else, maybe theres more...
A lot of the stuff I have is usually floating around the classifieds on this site, theres a PP head on there right now actually.
My sunfire got worse gas mileage, partly because it was an automatic... and im sure the rest of it was beacuse I had a big system in it, and I couldnt keep my foot off the floor a lot of the time... With more aggressive driving im sure the MPG gets waaay lower, lol.
if you want to mod it i say mod everything else then save up a grand and swap in an eco, will be way more of a gain then putting an intake and exhaust on a 2200 and way more worth the money, the swap isnt to hard and then youlle have a motor worth dumping money into. not to mention the fact that if you look around you can find eco's with low miles. ive got an 01 sunfire with right close to a hundred thousand miles with a 05 eco motor with only 16k miles. its like having a new car again and it was under a grand to do including intake, aftermarket motor mounts and full exhaust.
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sndsgood wrote:if you want to mod it i say mod everything else then save up a grand and swap in an eco, will be way more of a gain then putting an intake and exhaust on a 2200 and way more worth the money, the swap isnt to hard and then youlle have a motor worth dumping money into. not to mention the fact that if you look around you can find eco's with low miles. ive got an 01 sunfire with right close to a hundred thousand miles with a 05 eco motor with only 16k miles. its like having a new car again and it was under a grand to do including intake, aftermarket motor mounts and full exhaust.
I agree with him.
FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!
Well, the way I'm looking at it, that's the only mod's I'd probably do, Intake and full exhaust. For me to find an Ecotec, and transplant it in, I just don't have the money, and it's probably not something I would want to tackle without the guidence of dad, and he probably wouldn't want to go at it. If it was, for me, under a grand to do, if i had the money, then I'd do it....but the chances of me finding a decent priced ecotec, and then getting it all in for 1000? I mean you'd spend 700 or 800 (the ones I've seen) for the Ecotec alone, then I'm sure you'd run into a pile of costs along the way. But, if I knew, for sure, I copuld get away with it for about 1000, I'd probably actually save up over the year, in time to do it for the spring or something. I mean, I know the Ecotec is the far superior of the two, obviously. But I doubt that I'll know for sure it'll be 1000. For now, it'll be full catback duals and an intake I guess. Also, anyone know what's out there in the way of tail's for these? I can't seem to find much. Thanks,
Hodder
an ecotec is better than a 2.2 ohv. performance wise or not
Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!
J To Envy, this post is gold!
Thanks for all the suggestions, what you're doing is exactly what I'll be aiming to do...if I get that stocker. One of the guys from my local site, www.newfoundlandmotorsports.com, may be selling his 1999 2 door Sunfire. She's excellent condition, was baby'd, and has many nice aftermarket and custom parts and accents. Thanks again,
Hodder
on an 01 i'd watch the paint, certain colors the clear will peel.
like my black 2001, the clear is starting to come of the room, and its starting to do it faster, grrr
2200s are very efficient on the highway with either the 4spd or the 5spd. They don't do so well in the city. J's are rated 34mpg hwy with the 2200 and 37mpg highway with the Eco. I can hit 37mpg easily on the highway with my 2200 manual. Strangely, my 2200 auto can exceed 40mpg on the highway.
I really wanted an Eco, but I got a shot at a 2200 in great shape for cheap so I jumped on it because I quickly needed a decent car that was cheap to run. Now I own two 2200s, one with 100K, the other with 112K. One needed a water pump, the other an O2 sensor (both cost less than $30US). Besides that, nothing but oil changes. The 2200 loves synthetic oil. I switched one engine over at 70K, the other at 90K, neither leaked a drop. Neither one burns oil either. I drain pretty much exactly what I put in after 5K mi.
The Eco is more powerful due to the extra valves and it's a bit more efficient (probably due to software) and it doesn't have any known issues as far as I know like the 2.4. I don't have an Eco, but I'll admit, it's better than the 2200 in every way (except for price).
You need to decide before buying this car whether you want it to be fast. If you do, save your money and buy an Eco.
If you want a quick J, DO NOT BUY A 2200! Economy is where this motor shines. Do not put a dime towards making it fast. It's designed to get you everywhere you need to go on the cheap, without surprise timing belt changes or any of that crap. The 2200 isn't going to impress anyone speed-wise but it will keep money in your pocket. It's reliability, however IS impressive. My sister's friend had 257K miles on her 2200 cav before she totalled it. God knows how much longer it would have lasted!
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
