hey guys new to the site. couple ?'s I have a 95 cav with the 2.2 in it I use this for racing in the dirt. I am looking for ways to boost power, I have a motor now that we have milled 30 thousands can i go farther than that like 100 thousands? any where sell flat top pistons, cam with higher lift etc.... Any and all help would be great.

Bob, I believe this is your area of expertise.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

IIRC Bob Guptill has taken the head down to .070", combine this with a zero decked block should yield some really good compression. Depending upon what rules you have to run, depends upon what cam profile you should be running. Most must run a flat tappet cam, which can be reground to about any profile you want. If you can run the hydraulic roller cam, the regrind options are a little more limited. Raymond Soos ran a mechanical roller conversion, using the stock HR lifter bodies and machined lifter plungers from LT1 lifters. He turned that motor to 8000 rpm and was beating V8 cars on a 1/4 mile dirt track. There are plenty of lobe profiles to work with, since these motors use the SBC lobe dimensions.

ill post later when i have more time, im on my way to work, search for some of my motor builds, btw the head i put on the motor yesterday is milled .100+

thank you so far guys, I have looked at some post and am seeing alot of similarities between the sbc and the ld9 which i have is this true? As far as compression I have too be 210 or less

ln2 is the motor you have

before we get started... speed cost money, how fast you wanna go

Dirtracing..I would assume you will be in continuous high rpm operation.... would the car be driven on the street at all? If not you could do a bunch of things to give it medium/top end power, but it would not be happy driving at lower rpms...a race port and polish on the head, oversize valves, bore out the aluminum intake runners, larger TB or a TB conversion, competition cam or equivelent roller rockers..... I saw a page of a guy with a OHV that was a dirttrack racer I think, he was running a huge cam, got rid of power steering, and AC and hooked up the crank via a sprocket and chain, had a custom made 4-1 header that had larger primaries and a huge collector, ignition upgrades, and he had motec standalone engine management, I'll see if I can find the page or if it still exists.



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.

well bob too answer your question i guess i need to go faster than everyone else on the track in order to beat them....... money is kind of an issue but not in a huge aspect as i am planning this build over the next few months (wanting to bring the motor out in the car in late july or early august) Too fast I have a P&P what is if any diff between a race and regular? I am not real wise when it comes too building engines I can work on them all day and night just cant seem too get the engineering part of them down. as far as car being on street (not in my ownershiop days will it ever be) I have msd coil packs what else is there?

A street port will not have a huge loss of low end power, it will have nice overall gains but not as large top end power...a race port will make the engine run best at high rpm operation, but will not want to run well at low rpm, not much low end power. MSD coil packs don't do anything, the ohv can benefit a bit from ignition upgrades like wires, DISII, etc..but if moneys tight, sounds like you'll need to think carefully about every penny you spend. Weight reduction should help a bit, if it won't be driven on the street why not strip the interior and everything you don't need like the passenger seat, rear bench, seatback, spare tire, jack, etc



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.

yeah all of that has to be removed any ways it already gone. I have the only wires i could find accel and the iridium bosch plugs, the car seems to smoke alot on start up after putting all of that on. money is a little tight but wanting too get the most bang for my buck as stated this is going to be a few month build. each month = more money. as far as the port i guess i dont know what the shop i took it too done but he charged like 600.00 too mill the head 30 and port and polish.

A cam regrind on whatever type of cam you can run is highly recommended. Call your favorite cam company for more information. I used Jones Cam Designs on the cam I'm getting ready to put in soon. Call him with the specs on your car and what you want from it and he can design a cam just for your needs. Bob uses Cams Northeast in his race car, I'm sure he did the same thing to get his cam reground.

If allowed, roller rocker arms, if not SBC high performance (long slot) stamped steel rocker arms, in a ratio that will work with the cam profile you run. Read through the 2.2/2200 Rocker Arm List for info on rocker arms.

Look into the Comp Cams 26981 "Bee-Hive" Valve Springs, they will fit the stock locks, retainers and spring seats and can handle up to .530" net lift. These have been the only mass produced valve spring we've been able to find that will drop in with no modifications, everything else required atleast having the valve spring seats machined down (such as I'm getting done now). Remember max lift at the valve must not exceed the recommended max lift of the springs.

are there any rules you must follow? do you have to stay fuel injected?

yes I have too stay injected. the rules are pretty simple they dont want any aftermarket performance parts( I have yet too see them pull a head too look) they can see the obvious ie turbo things of that nature must maintain stock compression ratings they will test but I have too be under 210 I checked last year after milling the head 30 and was I think around 130 avg. I would like too get more competitive with this car without being obvious.

If you do aftermarket stuff, they will know unless they are morons... are other racers, umm.. cheating? What kinda cars are you racing against... if no mods are allowed, seems like you are really at a disadvantage, also wouldn't awd or rwd cars be better then fwd for dirt racing?



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.

yes others are modifying cars but too a certain extent. no rwd or awd are allowed. other cars range from other cavaliers too saturn older grand am celica escort new and old focus crx just about any car on the road is on the track. as far as aftermarket they check your car as little as possible they dont really look at a lot but i am thinking they would notice a turbo or header fairly quickly

(Heh, heh, heh) Reminds me of something I said once about these circle-track inspectors: If it don't look like it came from an Indy car or NASA, they won't know the difference. Sounds like more of the same at that track to me.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

port the head and exhaust manifold, run a decent cam and bring the head down to about.070, should net you more than you need to help... or mess witht he gears in the trans to get the rpm range better

On a limited budget, with the mods you've listed, I'd say a cam regrind, the Comp Valve Springs and a set of SBC long slot rocker arms would be the best bet for the money. Call Mike Jones at Jones Cam Designs (see link in post above) tell him what you've got and the cranking pressure limits and you want a grind that will be sound nearly stock at idle, yet can perform better than stock on the track. Be sure to let him know the rpm range you currently run and where you expect to be at with the new cam (should be slightly higher than it is now). Remember the stock rev limit is 6250 rpm. It was $150 + S&H for my regrind.

yeah on the rev limiter is there any way too bypass it I try too run in second gear but am constntly hitting it. also where would i find different gears for the tranny.

start digging haha, geo storm uses the same gearsets but different case but the pieces swap over

I know a buddy that has like fifty of those things around he swears by them wont drive anything else.(I knew he was good for something.)

i ended up taking apart a couple different cavalier trans and found some different ratios, i played with a lot of them and got my 3rd gear final tot he wheels from a 5.18 to a 5.86. which will help on my asphalt track a ton, we run 3rd gear

okay can you give me an idea on differences too look for in trannies to be able too tell gears apart?

gotta look inside and start counting teeth

okay I will do