hello im new to this forum so i figured i would introduce myself,
i bought a 96 z24 cavalier off a co-worker bout a year ago and am now in the process to get it running, theres quite alot of work done and even more left to do, ill start with whats done; 2" megan drop springs and new struts from lowtec( on their website lowtec say they work well with lowered suspension but they look pretty much the same as the factory struts). and thats about all thats done.
on the to-do list: timing set replacement, cylinder head replacement, time sert cam tower bolt holes in head.
originally the timing jumped a tooth on my co-worker so for sure it would need a timing set and possibly a few valves. when i took it apart i found 100% compression leakage across all cylinders from intake and exhaust valves, pulled the head and found every single valve bent or broken. i ordered up a re-manned head torqued it down and started torquing down the intake cam towers and pulled the threads out of 3 bolt holes. ive been taking pics and video through the project, ill post up pics and links when its all set and done.

Welcome to the forum.

Tons of great info on here.

Good luck with the project man. Not my favorite motor but it sounds like you're on the right track.



"In Oldskool we trust"

oh this car is determined to fight me every step of the way, i had add fuel pump and fuel tank to the to do list. when i tried to start it up it was struggling to start, i first figured it was because it was setting for nearly five years and the fuel injectors were stuck because after two minutes of trying i got it to fire up and it gradualy started running better but still had a missfire felt like one of the cylinders was a dead hole, the previous owner had problems with the coil bucket and coils so i swaped it out with another one (he gave me two other sets of used buckets, coils and icms). when i tried to start it back up the following day it was fighting me again, like a timing issue, im willing to bet the buckets he gave me are junk and try another one, thats as far as i got because the ignition lock cylinder siezed up >:o. I ahem "extracted" the cylinder/theft lock assy and ordered one from work for monday.