Hi!
I recently picked up a 2000 Cavalier LS sedan for my kids to drive. I've been a car guy for many years and always leaned toward Dodge/Plymouth vehicles, including 4 Neons ('95, '97, '01, '03), but found this Cavi w/ only 45k miles for a great price at a local dealer.
So, it's my first J-body car, although my wife and I owned a '77 Skyhawk (H-body) back in 1988 and she owned a '76 Skyhawk prior to that.
I'm just starting to learn about some of the quirks of the Cavi: rear defroster not working, OEM stereo upgrade challenges, dash cracked...and I'm hoping to be able to wrench on the car without it being too much of a hassle and looking forward to getting some good advice from the resident J-body experts.
Rear defrost is almost always a melted green plug down behind the carpet on the drivers side.
The oem stereo can be upgraded very easily with a geo tracker harness. You lose your chimes but is much cheaper and easier. Check the audio forum for details.
The dash....well they crack. Find a wrecker with a good one and swap them out. Or a easier way is a cover made by coverlay.
http://coverlaymfg.com/lookup.html?PartTypeTree=Dash+Board+Cover
My radio harness was $35 with a chime box from amazon.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Philly D wrote:Rear defrost is almost always a melted green plug down behind the carpet on the drivers side.
The oem stereo can be upgraded very easily with a geo tracker harness. You lose your chimes but is much cheaper and easier. Check the audio forum for details.
The dash....well they crack. Find a wrecker with a good one and swap them out. Or a easier way is a cover made by coverlay.
http://coverlaymfg.com/lookup.html?PartTypeTree=Dash+Board+Cover
^This all sums it up well.
J's are pretty easy to work on once you're familiar with them. I think the 2200 motor is a bit inconvienent to work on in its placement ofthings (not oil filter change friendly to someone with adult sized hands lol)...though I may be spoiled of the convientient and accessible layout of the ecotec, but over all tthey're simple cars to work on.
EVILution (KGMs FrankenCav) wrote:though I may be spoiled of the convenient and accessible layout of the ecotec.
Until you supercharge it, lol.
Anyway the beauty of that motor is that your kids will have a hard time blowing it up as long as it has some oil in it. And if it blows a timing chain, you just put a new one on. I have a soft spot for that motor since my last 2 J's had it and took more abuse than any other motor I've had.
"In Oldskool we trust"
So it's a non-interference design?
That's cool and it reminds me of the old Chrysler 2.2/2.5 engines. I shredded the timing belt once in my old Shelby Charger during a drag race. I towed it to my buddy's shop and was back on the road in less than an hour.
the 2200 is based off the big block chevy. not alot of ppl like it compared to the ecotec and that "quad4" which i dislike with a passion.
