I just picked up a 1990 2 door Cavi 2.2 Auto.. She was owned by a flagger so as you can imagine the car was filthy when I got it. The dash had "bad to the bone" written on it, headliner sags, busted driver window, rattle can paint job, Rollin' on 13s. Anyhow, I've got the inside cleaned up real nice now. My local junkyard has my window for cheap, and I've got an uncle who can paint cars professionally. After a mishaps with my front tire, I am now running 17's in the rear. The 17s I have however won't fit on the front because that stupid plate on the shock/strut comes down and rests right on the tire. Ok now that that's all out I have a few questions. The gas pedal is still as hell? How can I fix this? Also I miss the hp of my 2002. This one is kind of lacking at only 95 hp. How would I go about swapping in a 2.2/5spd. Out of a newer model. Non ecotech. I do not want to swap in a 3.1/3.4/3.5 or any other V6. I just want something that's still great on gas has some good pickup and is dependable. So how hard would it be to swap in the newer 2.2 and 5spd. I'm sorry if this has been covered but I can't find it anywhere. Also will 16s from a 2000-2005 fit. I know they'll bolt up but will I have the problem I'm having with my 17s and if so can I cut down that plate on front strut/shock? I was also wondering, did they make an instrument cluster with the tach and trip in 1990? I can't seem to find one. Will a center console from a 3rd gen fit without much hassle? Thanks everyone for looking just really looking for info. Sorry this was so long and hard
Any rim from any J-body from 1982-2005 will fit without any issues.
I'm guessing you have this
Dash If so yes there was an optional full gauge instrument cluster however they are extremely rare. Orlen has done a write-up about it
Here.
Spike J wrote:Any rim from any J-body from 1982-2005 will fit without any issues.
I'm guessing you have this Dash If so yes there was an optional full gauge instrument cluster however they are extremely rare. Orlen has done a write-up about it Here.
Man first of all I want to thank you immensely for responding. Great info as I understand it, I can not put a tach in my car wit out serious mods, however I only skimmed I will read more in detail later. Any hop on the engine info is appreciated. Again thanks so much for your reply.
If you want a newer 2.2, use a 94. You'll need engine, trans, mount brackets, axles, exhaust, engine and dash wiring harness (because the older 2.2 dash harness is different), ECM, and probably a few other items. Basically everything that makes the car go got changed in 92, and the 91 is the same as what you've got.
Ok, once again thanks for the info. My boss has a 1993 Cavi she's using for parts for her '92. I thought about offering her around $300 for her '93. And using the engine and some other parts. I know the '93 doesn't have as much power as the '94 but has more power then my '90. Also was wondering how hard it is to upgrade to abs and intermittent wipers? If I had all the wheel bearings from a car with abs how hard would it be to hook up the harness. Thanks all!!
Adding ABS is a huge project that really isn't worth it. The harness is part of the body harness, so you would have to swap the whole thing. You would also end up needing to swap the master cylinder and all the lines hooked to it. Then the module and relay. It's just a bunch of work for a crappy system.
James Cahill wrote:Adding ABS is a huge project that really isn't worth it. The harness is part of the body harness, so you would have to swap the whole thing. You would also end up needing to swap the master cylinder and all the lines hooked to it. Then the module and relay. It's just a bunch of work for a crappy system.
Ok thanks, I suppose when I'm done with the car I really won't be driving it in the winter anyhow, so I really won't need it. Anyone have any info on the intermittent wipers? Also, was wondering. You said I would have to change the dash harness if I used a newer engine. Does that mean I have to change my cluster and all to the newer style. I really like my old style dash. But I will be buying a complete '93 model for parts so if absolute need be I can change the entire dash. When I purchase the '93 model I'm going to pull and "freshen up" the engine. Not really gonna rebuild but just pull it apart and make sure everything is ok and clean it all up and make it look nice, replace all the gaskets, etc. any tips for gaining a little extra power. I apologize for all these questions.
Basically I'm trying to build a nice driver that looks good, runs good, has a little more power then it came with, and turn a few heads.
Also my gas pedal is stiff as hell could anyone trell me why? The throttle body is clean as a whistle, So any info would be great.
You may need to repin some connectors to keep the older cluster, but you can keep it. The biggest difference is where the ECM is. It's much easier to swap the harness to the newer one so all the wires are already there instead of adding wires where needed.
I agree with the '94 2.2. This was the year they cranked out the most HP(120Hp) before the feds forced them to back off due to emissions. My 94 Sedan is a joy to drive and gets good mileage too.
On the 1st gens changing to interval wipers was easy. The brains of the system is contained in the square box on an interval system . I had to swap in an turn signal stalk with the interval controls on it and the motor. The wiring harness works with either style so that makes this a fun upgrade!!
I upgraded both the Wagon and the Sunbird with this when I switched over to the tilt columns. Tilt wheel and power seat makes for the perfect driving position - I Love It!! Just finished installing a power seat base in my '94 Cavalier - the donor came out of a '94 Caddy Deville.
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Orlen Brown wrote:I agree with the '94 2.2. This was the year they cranked out the most HP(120Hp) before the feds forced them to back off due to emissions. My 94 Sedan is a joy to drive and gets good mileage too.
On the 1st gens changing to interval wipers was easy. The brains of the system is contained in the square box on an interval system . I had to swap in an turn signal stalk with the interval controls on it and the motor. The wiring harness works with either style so that makes this a fun upgrade!!
I upgraded both the Wagon and the Sunbird with this when I switched over to the tilt columns. Tilt wheel and power seat makes for the perfect driving position - I Love It!! Just finished installing a power seat base in my '94 Cavalier - the donor came out of a '94 Caddy Deville.
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Thanks for the info, I wish I could find a decent '94 for parts. But unfortunately a '93 will have to do for now, as it's the only one I can find at a good price. I know it doesn't have as much HP as the '94 but I know it has more than my '90. Thanks a lot for the info on the wipers. The '93 I'm buying has the tilt column with the stalk, etc. so should be pretty easy then.. Thanks a lot
Just because I love reading Orlen's posts and how he gets the job done, I'm gonna send him down the rabbit hole...
A telescoping column is even better than simply a tilt...I bet the Cimmerons had them.
Wayne you got me flat footed this time!!! Never had the pleasure of owning any vehicle with a telescope column , so I really have no idea what I might be missing! As far as I've seen none of the J-Bodies have come with one.
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Ok I need an answer asap. I bought a door for my car from the junkyard, the guy who pulled it cut the pins. Can the pins be removed without cutting or does the whole hinge have to be replaced.
so...does that mean you have 1/2 a pin in there?
I have a pin popper tool, basically it allows you to get some leverage to hammer them out.
but if the pin is cut, about all I can guess at this point is to lube the heck out of them and slide them out.
Or you can use the hinges you have on your current door and swap them to the new doors.
Get an 11mm & a 15mm socket
go behind the kick panel and use the 15mm to remove the inner bolt on the lower hinge. you can go higher up the kick panel to another access hole to reach the inner bolt on the upper hinge.
your wheel well wall is plastic, held on by pop rivets, open that up and use the 11mm to get the outer hinge bolts.
Remove your old door and put the old hinges with the pins intact onto new door.
would what I put here work for you?
Wayne Schiff wrote:so...does that mean you have 1/2 a pin in there?
I have a pin popper tool, basically it allows you to get some leverage to hammer them out.
but if the pin is cut, about all I can guess at this point is to lube the heck out of them and slide them out.
Or you can use the hinges you have on your current door and swap them to the new doors.
Get an 11mm & a 15mm socket
go behind the kick panel and use the 15mm to remove the inner bolt on the lower hinge. you can go higher up the kick panel to another access hole to reach the inner bolt on the upper hinge.
your wheel well wall is plastic, held on by pop rivets, open that up and use the 11mm to get the outer hinge bolts.
Remove your old door and put the old hinges with the pins intact onto new door.
would what I put here work for you?
Thank you very much but what i meant was the door i bought has no pins at all in it. It doesn't really matter now. I was thinking the pins in these doors could not be removed, but i realize now that this isn't the case. Thanks for your info though.
I have another issue I'm hoping to get some help with. Ever since i got the car i've had a small inconvenience with the ignition switch. Every once in a while when I would put the car in park and shut it off, the switch would not go all the way to the off position. It was never a big deal I would just play with the shifter and it would be fine. Well it took a turn for the worse last night. I went to turn it off and it just got stuck. Wouldn't go either way and the steering wheel acted like it wanted to lock but never would. Finally after breaking the key and the little "wings" off the end of the switch with a pair of pliers, I freed it up. Now almost every time I turn the car off it will not go into the full off position. On one occasion also the car would not start in park, and it had to be switched to neutral in order to start. but that has only happened once. So I was wondering, is it most likely the lock cylinder, the entire ignition switch, or possibly a linkage somewhere? Thanks for the info!
Brandon Scheuvront wrote:Also my gas pedal is stiff as hell could anyone trell me why? The throttle body is clean as a whistle, So any info would be great.
It may be the rod in the throttlebody that the cables attach too. Try spraying some WD40 around the area where the spring is while working the throttle by hand. This may loosen it up some. My 88 was very stiff when I first got it and that fixed it. It's been light and smooth ever since.
Ok Brandon - sounds like you gotcha a nice mess going on inside your column. There is a safety lock device that works between the shifter and the ignition switch under your dash on the steering column - it is operated via a cable. This forces you to shift into Park before you can remove the key. It is possible the cable is busted or that it is out of adjustment. One simple solution is to simply disconnect the cable from the switch and it won't give any more troubles. You might have an ignition switch that has moved out of adjustment too - so you'll need to crawl under the dash and readjust that. Lastly it sounds like you are going to need anther ignition lock since you broke the key off.
Here is some oldie but goodie posts I did a long time ago:
This one will explain a bit about the stuff in your column. The ignition switch is the part with blue on it in the 3rd to last photo - you can see the rod going to it in the 2nd to last photo the housing has the number "116" on it. Both the high beam switch and the ignition switch are adjusted independently after you loosen both these little bolts and it can be a PIA to get them both right before you tighten them down. Note that sometimes when you tighten the bolts it can cause the 2 switches to move so double check your adjustments before finishing up so you won't have to dive back under there again.
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=28&i=15658&t=15658
And here is some photos in this post where I crawled around under the dash showing you all the wonderful stuff to pull the column. Last photo has a shot of that shifter interlock so you'll know what you are looking for
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=28&i=12825&t=12825
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Orlen Brown wrote:Ok Brandon - sounds like you gotcha a nice mess going on inside your column. There is a safety lock device that works between the shifter and the ignition switch under your dash on the steering column - it is operated via a cable. This forces you to shift into Park before you can remove the key. It is possible the cable is busted or that it is out of adjustment. One simple solution is to simply disconnect the cable from the switch and it won't give any more troubles. You might have an ignition switch that has moved out of adjustment too - so you'll need to crawl under the dash and readjust that. Lastly it sounds like you are going to need anther ignition lock since you broke the key off.
Here is some oldie but goodie posts I did a long time ago:
This one will explain a bit about the stuff in your column. The ignition switch is the part with blue on it in the 3rd to last photo - you can see the rod going to it in the 2nd to last photo the housing has the number "116" on it. Both the high beam switch and the ignition switch are adjusted independently after you loosen both these little bolts and it can be a PIA to get them both right before you tighten them down. Note that sometimes when you tighten the bolts it can cause the 2 switches to move so double check your adjustments before finishing up so you won't have to dive back under there again.
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=28&i=15658&t=15658
And here is some photos in this post where I crawled around under the dash showing you all the wonderful stuff to pull the column. Last photo has a shot of that shifter interlock so you'll know what you are looking for
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=28&i=12825&t=12825
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Thanks for the info, I'll most likely just replace the key cylinder and unhook the cable for now. Sorry if it was mentioned in one of those posts but how do i remove the cylinder?
Remove the steering wheel.
Remove the C clip and the steering lock plate. Be careful with the horn ring as I shown on the earlier post.
Remove the 3 screws holding down the turn signal switch and gently pull it back to give you access to the ignition lock.
There is one small torx bolt holding the ignition switch on place - it is easy to remove just as long as you have the switch in the "Run" position - if not it is a PIA to get out since a tab raises up to lock the ignition lock in place and must be drilled out to obtain removal.
Just take your time and be careful. It isn't too bad to do.
Old school fools like myself have have done this so many times over the years it isn't funny........Hahaaa
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Orlen Brown wrote:Remove the steering wheel.
Remove the C clip and the steering lock plate. Be careful with the horn ring as I shown on the earlier post.
Remove the 3 screws holding down the turn signal switch and gently pull it back to give you access to the ignition lock.
There is one small torx bolt holding the ignition switch on place - it is easy to remove just as long as you have the switch in the "Run" position - if not it is a PIA to get out since a tab raises up to lock the ignition lock in place and must be drilled out to obtain removal.
Just take your time and be careful. It isn't too bad to do.
Old school fools like myself have have done this so many times over the years it isn't funny........Hahaaa
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Once again thanks for the info, and thanks for your patience. Do you absolutely have to use a steering wheel puller or is it just recommended? I've removed steering wheels before just not on one of these, lol.
Auto Zone has steering wheel pullers you can get with their Loan-A-Tool. You put up around $20.00 to use it and when you return it you get your money back. I would recommend using puller rather than tapping the shaft with a hammer while pulling on the wheel. But if you have to tap the shaft, use a rubber mallet.
Thanks for the reply if that's the easiest way I'll probably just rent the puller thanks
Hi again everyone. Posting again for a few reason one is to stupidly ask, how do you unhook that safety lock cable? I'm sorry, I'm sure it was covered in one of those threads but I'm a tad impatient. So how do you get to it and disconnect it?
I have few other question here as well, Starting today my brake light is coming on periodically. It'll come on for about 10 minuets, go for about 2, and repeat. I just went through a huge ordeal about 3 weeks ago with my brakes. For sometime my brakes weren't working at all and I was literally using my e brake to stop, eventually a brake line busted and had to be replaced. They have been working perfect ever since. They are still working perfect and almost all the brake lines are new. So why would my light keep coming on?
My passenger side window rattle like a sum bitch, what causes it and what can I do to remedy it?
The car doesn't have much power going up hill or really at take off, I was wondering what might cause it, could it just be engine sludge, or is that just how a 95 hp cavalier runs? I have no CEL except every once in a blue moon when I start it the CEL comes on for about 5 minuets then goes off.
Ever since the third day of owning the car, my seat belt light has not gone off, I'm not sure why, it worked perfect when I got it, however I removed the cigarette lighter fuse, would that have anything to with it?
Ok, in my first post I mentioned my driver side window was busted. Well I sucked it up and went and bought a door, Real nice door too, almost rust free, the seat belt works and feels like new, the door panel looked like new but I swapped mine on, it had some damage up around the mirror causing problems mounting my mirror on it but few taps with a hammer and it lined up and mounted perfect. Yea it's a different color than my car but I can't tell from inside and it keep my warm, window doesn't rattle or anything. I picked it up for $75 at my local junkyard.
Also just wanted to share these:
The ad says it fits '85-'87 but im pretty sure thats wrong.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/84-85-86-87-CAVALIER-RIGHT-PASSENGER-HEADLIGHT-BLACK-BEZEL-EXC-Z24-91709-/400717367157?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d4c9dc775&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/84-85-86-87-CAVALIER-RIGHT-PASSENGER-HEADLIGHT-BLACK-BEZEL-EXC-Z24-91709-/400717367157?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d4c9dc775&vxp=mtr
The safety lock cable has a small bolt or screw holding it in place to the ignition lock switch down low on the column. You will need to remove the black plastic shroud underneath to get to it. Simply unbolt it and hang it out of the way.
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