Hello all, I want to introduce myself, sorry for the long story....
I am an engineer for John Deere's Construction and Forestry Division in Iowa. I am a recent refugee from Detroit Michigan (Had a good job, but I hate the city). Moved out here with my wife and two young kids. My wife and I enjoy riding our motorcycles (She has a nighthawk 750, I am in between rides and for now I am riding my Dr650 to work). I also enjoy shooting sports (Pistol, rifle, or shotgun) and fishing with my kids.
So why a Cavalier z24?
Well, to me it makes no difference, if it has an engine, motor, or nuclear reactor I will play with it. I raced a first gen Mazda RX7 at waterfordhills. I also worked on my friend's GT2 Mazda RX7 and 550hp GT1 monte carlo.
My IT7
Friend's GT2
And GT1 (That's me hanging out of the side of the car...)
Since moving to IA I have bided my time by working on a Fuel Injection system for my Dr650 (Master's thesis for the University of MI
), and working on my new friend's 360 sprint car.
Yeah, you were saying...Why the z24?
At any rate, my wife had a 1994 Z24 in high school. She takes meticulous care of her cars. For our first date she actually drove me around (I had just moved to Detroit the weekend before, and didn't know my way around) in her Z24. Somewhere along the way she sold it to her sister, who eventually sold it to her other sister. (My Father in law has only daughters, poor guy) Well, eventually her sister called my wife and said we could have the car, as it had been sitting for a year and theyt never used it. My wife just about cried when I brought home her baby...
Now, dents I can deal with, but the underside of the car is completely rotted from sitting in the dirt for a year. Now, I don't know of any (real) man who can stand to see his wife cry... so I went on eBay and found this...
It's a 1993 Z24 convertable with an automatic. Right now it is OEM stock but I figure the convertable would be good for when my parents come out with their motorcycles. Rather than getting a baby sitter I can throw the kids in the back seat, put the top down, and we can all go out and enjoy a nice ride.
The car needs some work, I plan to strip both of the cars all the way down to the unibody. The convertable will be sent to an autobody shop to have a couple of rust holes fixed and a nice coat of paint. The regular Z24 unibody is toast, and will probably end up being melted down to make crappy chinese parts soon. I will sell the parts I don't need to partially finance the convertable.
So I will be lurking around trying to glean some info. I probably won't have much to say for awhile, but I will try to post pictures.
If anyone is feeling particularly friendly, I would appreciate some info posted here if you don't mind.
My vision for the final product will involve:
- Polyurethan for every bushing I can
- 5sp Manual Transmission
- Short throw shifter
- 1-2" lowering springs
- 0.5-1" lower profile tires
- Stock Teal Paint
- OEM engine with the best gaskets I can get (Engine painted to look nice)
- Underdrive pulley
- aluminum drive pulleys for all belt dfriven accessories
I am not looking for much more than stock horsepower, but I do want the car to look better than factory mint in appearance. (I will build my wife an uberpowered mustang or something or other later, 15th wedding anniversary gift perhaps?) Eventually, I hope my (now 5yrs old) daughter will get this as her first car.
My main question is
1.) What year/make/model of car do I want to buy if I want to do the automatic to manual conversion? I am intersted in a 5 speed only.
I will be around! Thanks
If you do not want your daughter riding on the back of her boyfriend's motorcycle, teach her how to ride her own.
I would read up in the 2nd Gen forums.
Click Me
Also I would search the transmission forums.
I know very little about 2nd Gens or I would help more.
PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO
