Hi, just thought I'd start a thread to keep track of things I've done for my '02 Cavalier LS sedan. To keep things shorter so I don't have to say "my Cavalier" every time, I'll refer to the car as "Dana".

Exterior
14" wheels from a 1990 Pontiac Grand Am (to be installed in the early summer)

Suspension
New wheel bearing on left front side w/ new tires

Engine
Stock 2200 I4 engine w/automatic transmission

Interior
Dash cover (cracked plastic on dash underneath)
Aftermarket radio

Planned/Wanted
Upgraded throttle body
Body work on left rear quarter panel
Liquid wrap
Powder coated wheels
A few planned maintenance items

Photos




Background
I got Dana in September 2016 from a pre-college student, for $400. It was headed to a scrap yard if it wasn't sold soon. Apparently they had taken it to get it inspected and they were told the car wouldn't pass, because there was frame rust. So they decided to just get rid of the car and get a new one instead of fixing it. Well, after getting under the car, I discovered repairable rust that definitely wouldn't fail an inspection in our state. So I bought it two weeks later, took it home, had it inspected and registered easily. As of now, Dana is pretty much just a daily driver for my father, because I keep both Dana and my Camaro at his place. I live in a city and can't have all three of my cars parked out on the street, so he lets me keep my other two out there. I'll swap my Accord for Dana when I want work done on it (my father is my mechanic for things I can't do myself).

When I got the car and drove it home for the first time, the whole car was rattling and shaking a bit. Turned out to be a wheel bearing, and the tires they had on it were super noisy and worn out. Dana rides pretty quietly now. After that I bought a set of Pontiac wheels that I'm gonna get powder-coated and installed with new tires.

Recently I had to troubleshoot a broken speaker that was causing the entire sound system to not work. Apparently this car's sound system works like Christmas lights...one goes out, they all go out. That was all sorts of fun. But the problem was identified and I will be installing new door speakers eventually.

In the future I'd like to do some small upgrades to the engine, I saw an upgraded throttle body is available here, sorry if linking is not allowed, please delete if so: http://www.chevycavalierworld.com/ipp-throttlebodies.php



I'll post anything new I add to the car here I suppose. Thanks for reading.