I know bob is probably the person to ask but here is my story: I race superstock, built a 97 sun fire for my son, originally an automatic bought a 91 cavalier for the 5 speed spun a bearing on the 96, found a 2000 2.2 with 66000 miles on it.I am goingt put the 97 head on the 2000 motor.
I also just bought 89 2.2 5 speed the class is pretty stock.
what motors should I be looking for what are the difference betweenthe block piston years etc and how to identifies each one?
thanks in advance
this is from my phone so please pardon the grammar.

I dont know the most about the 2.2s and 2200s but the heads are different. I dont remeber exactly which one is which new block old head or old block new head but one will give really really high compression and the other will give really really low compression. The blocks are the same but the cranks have different timing marks. The pistons are different due to the different sized combustion chamber. I think the rods are the same. I read a lot about these because I was looking for a 97 2.2 5sp to play with for a while. I just havnt personally worked with any of this stuff with these motors.

The 97 head on the 2000 block would yield really low compression I belive. You want to look for a 94-97 2.2 the 98+ are the 2200 which has the different head and camshaft. 88-91 had the old throttle body injection 91-92 are ok but 94-97 2.2 have the most horsepower 120 and would be a direct bolt in for the sunfire. The 2200 has 115 hp and you might have to change some stuff in the wiring harness to be able to use the 2000 block. I'm sure someone more knowlegible on the subject will chime in.

I don't have the head off the 97 yet but have the 2000 apart thinking I can put the 97 head on the 2000. gotta be ready by sunday. it wouldbe so great to have a year, number guideor a change log. someone has already done the homework. as an example the front timing cover gasket set is the same from 87 till 02 what year did they change the piston and was it the rings or the dome that changed. Thanks again for the help.

Rebuilding the Chevy 2.2L Engine by Doug Anderson, published in Engine Builder Magazine.

thanks I just returned from that page now after reading this I the crank timing would be off or does it just match the block?

If you want to use the 97 head on the 2000 block you need to put the 97 pistons in the 200 block also. you will have somthing like 6.5-1 compression. keep the cranks with the blocks. 97 cranks and 2000 cranks have different timing marks. the head has nothing to do with the crank timing. the crank timing has to do with a sensor attatched to the block.

well that's good news I thought the puter did the adjusting for the difference not the sensor location. I hope it was a main that spun. new bearings rings, good 2 go. thanks again for your time. I will keep you posted

you need the 1998 and newer bottom end with the 1997 and older for high compression, on these motors all the compression in the world wont yield power until you put in a cam or port the head. the head is the bottleneck on the 2.2

do they check the motors in the class, if not lets have some fun

well getting ready to go to the track got 60 pounds oil pressure. ended up with a 2000 block and crank, 97 head and cam , 3 97 rods 1 95 rod and piston. put new rod bearings and that's about it. finally my son willget 2 race, on fathers day besides. we will redo the rules over the winter, oh did I mention that im the president of our association? well thanks again for the help will be in touch will post pics too.

he placed 5th in the feature 2nd in the semi. now the tires are the wrong size hits the rev limited way to early. I would love to go over bob engine builds but can't seem to find them. we could builda real good motor we won't check that close

dont go over to many i post on here seems i post the destruction pictures two or three days later haha

last year we got durablility down toa science, this year we started trying to make big power just having trouble getting the durability up there

oh I plan on learning from yours and others mistakes, I can't afford,or will I live long enough to make them all my self.
again thanks the help! I will be asking a lot of questions before next season and where can I find your track rules?

the series i started is here, http://www,northeastministocktour.com

where do you race at?

well my 14 year old son qualified 7th and won the A feature, passed first on the last lap. second week on the track. Says to me as I get out of my car, I got one before you dad .(A feature win ) we race at thunder valley Marquette michigan site I am trying to split our 4cylinder class and make new rulesfor next year, I would like to base these off someone else rules. I like your rules bob and will incorporate them would like to know how to program the pcm it is a 97 so no prom. not to mention build a stock appearing kick ass motor

As for rules, here's Ocala Speedways Mini Stock Division Rules. They are pretty much typical of the tracks in the Central Florida area. They also have a Gladiator Division as a beginner class.

As for the tuning of a '97 + J-Body, it can be done with H.P. Tuners. See the tuning forum for more information on HPT.

you should allow teams to swap to carb's if they want to, what we do is if a carb intake isnt availabel the FI car can build their own intake, like i have done