i just moved back to the DFW area recently and am living in arlington now, just bought a 96 2.2 cavy, 2-dr 5-speed with no a/c cracked windshield, and in need of some serious bodywork. The guy i bought it from even has the trunk held down with hoodpins punched through the trunk deck, holes in the air intake box to "sound like a turbo" ( i asked him why he put holes inthe air box and that was his reply) .. well i bought it for $700 and just opened my eyes and realized that it needs alot more work than i can afford.. anyone have any suggestions as to what i can do to at least make it LOOK so much like a POS?(runs great surprisingly)
Post up in got regional forum looking for body parts that need to be replaced, swap on a new trunk and trunk latch etc and just macco the car.
Get rid of it asap. Start parting it out.
thats the thing though.. its an ONLY car.. cant afford to part it out.. my wife totaled my other cavy so this is going to HAVE to be my daily driver.. it was originally bought for a project car.. and turned into my daily ..
I used to have a crapload of cavalier body panels a couple years back....
What does it need. Could most likely find some good deals on everything it needs. Hey long as it runs it's good =]
1997 Cavalier Z24 4Spd Auto. Magnaflow dual exhaust.
it needs both front fenders (looks like a ball-ping hammer won the fight) the hood is primer black(rattle can) and is horribly done, both panels behind the doors are jacked up, a bodyshop told me that they were going to have to replace the entire panel on the passenger side bc the damage is pretty rough on the rear passenger corner a new trunk deck with assembly (hopefully) i would just find a shell but i honestly dont know enough about cars to replace the guts of the car nor do i have a place to work on it..
i had a guy approach me this morning while i was at wal-mart and said that he worked at maaco and that today was his day off and that if i wanted to that he could do all the bodywork today for like 150 bucks.. scam or no?
I know plenty of guys that will do work for next to nothing, replacement fenders are like $50 lol. it's the paint that will kill pricewise. I'd say go for it, but stay with the car so they cant rip it to shreds while you're there =]
1997 Cavalier Z24 4Spd Auto. Magnaflow dual exhaust.
No Edit button >.<
That's the only thing I can think of as far as what they could do to the car.... But pretty much whatever they could do might be an improvement. Wish I still had my fenders laying around....
1997 Cavalier Z24 4Spd Auto. Magnaflow dual exhaust.
yeah your not the only one that wishes you still had the fenders.. yeah it was the first time that someone approached me like that so i didnt know.. oh and did i mention that the car has like 215k on it?..lol
lol. well my old 2200 had 199k on it and still ran strong. hmm... I know a guy who might have fenders.. I'll check with him today see if he has any
1997 Cavalier Z24 4Spd Auto. Magnaflow dual exhaust.
lol nevermind. just looked at your profile and where you're located. Check local yards for fenders if you like. might get lucky on a color =] and they're pretty easy to replace. but if he's gonna do everything today for $150 might as well go for it lol
1997 Cavalier Z24 4Spd Auto. Magnaflow dual exhaust.
yeah at the time i thought it was a scam so i didnt jump on it.. and as soon as i told him no he bolted .. ive checked the local yards a lil bit but im fairly new to the area and not sure where alot of stuff is so ... i thought about just going and ordering a blitz kit and some f-1 fenders... but i dont want it to look too rice.. so my options are kinda limited.. do you know of anyone in the are that could possibly help me a lil with it... i talked to the guy that i bought it from and he said that he was a member on here and that ppl on here were super judgemental but i havent had any problems nor have i seen any thing like that so.. everyone has been cool to me (the ones that i have talked to) but i did find the guys old profile and he was a super D-BAG so maybe he brought it upon himself
lol. Well check the regional forums, or ebay. Phone book for auto salvage yards. Google =]
1997 Cavalier Z24 4Spd Auto. Magnaflow dual exhaust.
BAHAHAHAHA You bought the car in this thread?
Click Here.
Did I mention I drive a 2000 Lumina now?-----wigm-tuners.org member
yeha i bought the car.. mainly bc it was 700 bucks and i needed another car so that my wife and i didnt have to share the cavy i had so i came across one and since i dont know anyone in the area. and i guess crap rolls down hill bc my speedometer started twitching on me on the way back from lake worth (outside fort worth) and i have come to the conclusion that my speddometer cable is about to snap.. so thats something ELSE i have to replace..
You dont have a speedometer cable.... every gauge in your car is electrically ran.
The whole gauge cluster is one piece and "plugs" into your dash.... then the wires on the other side of the "plug" go variouse places.... most of wich through the ECM to sensors.
IF your speedometer is twitching.... you either most likely have a wiring problem or a bad VSS.
Also.... an alternator thats about to completely die can cause that too... but you'll see lights dimming among other things with it to clue you in if thats the problem.
so how do i fix that.. my speedometer will twitch at ramdom increments ranging from 10mph to 60mph..the cheapest way possible
well my wife drives the car too and she isnt comfortable enough in the car to be able to tell how fast shes going in what gear.. if i was to buy whatever pcs i will need to fix it.. how hard would it be to fix it?
Option # 1
Just tell you wife to quit complaining and drive the damn thing anyway until she gets used to it...
Option#2
Just replace the VSS and see if that works.....
Option#3
Do it the right way..... going through the wiring of the car and checking every possible thing that could cause it by hand and tracing the wires... if the wires going to the VSS look good and tapping the cluster / dash doesnt make it move... I would replace the VSS, and if that doesnt work.... check the cluster..... then start tracing wires if thats OK.
i appreciate it, thats exactly what happens though, when i tap the cluster the needle jumps
It might be a bad connection or something in, at, or near your cluster then....
I've never taken the cluster out in a 3rd gen yet (just a sunbird) but I know you have to pull the top of the dash out..
i guess i dont know enough about the inner workings of my cavy yet
