Sorry if these are stupid questions -- I've searched with limited success, and may have the wrong idea about some things. It wouldn't be the first time. Most of the problem is that I haven't had a Z24 in front of my to inspect, and I'm just trying to cover my ignorance.
I've got a base '97 Cavalier, and I've taken the notion that a Z24 body kit would be a nifty addition while maintaining a clean look. Before I start scouring the local wrecker however, a few questions:
- I understand the skirts are "clipped" on in several places. How hard are these to remove? Any particular tools needed? Should I be trying to preserve these clips, or is installation just a matter of measuring, drilling, and adding screws?
- Are the bumper "lips" a removable piece like the side skirts, or am I looking at swapping whole bumpers?
Thanks in advance.
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yes, the skirts are held on bu clips... and a birage of screws/mounts under neath the car.
as far as the clips go... if you ruin one during removal, go to ur local gm dealer and they can provide u with new clips.
buy the "clip pulling tool" at your local auto parts store... its a fork looking deal-VERY useful
bumpers-depends on what year... 02 z24/ls sports have "lips" that just clip on the bumpers, 03+ ls sports its the entire bumper and 95-99z24's its the entire bumper
UFlip06 said it best: Just look underneath the engine and if you see big hairy balls it's a 2.4 Twin Cam, if they're shaved it's an Ecotec and if you see nothing it's a 2200!
Ah... I was afraid of that. As I'm looking at the 95-99 style, I hadn't realized a bumper swap was involved. It's probably more than I'll try to bite off and chew at the moment, but I'll definitely keep an eye open next time I'm around the local wrecker's yard. Thanks.
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swapping bumpers is easy. it was the first actual mod i did to my cavalier. and the z24 front looks sooooooooooooooooo much better then the base model one.
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BoltZ22 wrote:swapping bumpers is easy. it was the first actual mod i did to my cavalier. and the z24 front looks sooooooooooooooooo much better then the base model one.
X2
97 z24 front bumper is also my first mod in my cav. It looks sexy, specially when lowered. i also have a pair of sideskirts laying around and also wanted to know how to install them, is there any how to forums for it?
geeky-there is i think a company that sells lower lips for your stock base front and rear bumpers-that u dont see much on cars on here. if i remember correctly-they look damn nice.
UFlip06 said it best: Just look underneath the engine and if you see big hairy balls it's a 2.4 Twin Cam, if they're shaved it's an Ecotec and if you see nothing it's a 2200!
I'd certainly be interested in looking at any add-on solutions, if you can remember who makes those. Judging by the cost of most new body kit parts, however, I wonder if I still won't be further ahead to scour the car graveyard.
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oh man, eh... maybe rk sport? i doubt anybody still has it available brand new tho. u might try searching through the classifieds or get ahold of jason at apluperformance.com and see if he can get anything for ya.
theres an entire body kit on ebay for like 700... gay to much tho man. its nasty looking anyway and just adds to the lower rear and front bumpers as well as the side skirts.
UFlip06 said it best: Just look underneath the engine and if you see big hairy balls it's a 2.4 Twin Cam, if they're shaved it's an Ecotec and if you see nothing it's a 2200!
Zyaaaa asked me to chime in on this so here you go guys. I installed Sunfire side skirts on my 97 RS and it was easy. Took me all of 20 minutes, and I didn't even clip them. Instead I lined them up, screwed them on at the wheel wells, and screwed the tabs to the underbody jsut like they were on the Sunfire using short sheetmetal screws.
As far as lip optiions, I haven't gotten my lip yet but the one from RK Sport is like $150ish and it looks like it will match up nice with these sides. If you want the Z kit you need the whole front bumper, skirts, and rear bumper. If you wasnt a way around lining up the clips to make them fit, jsut use double-sided tape that you'd use for an aftermarket body kit.
Oh and these side skirts only cost me $30 for both at the local salvage yard, and I got lucky because they were off a purple 'Fire. Same one I got my console out of lol.
I have a RKSport front lip for sale meant for 95-99 base model front bumpers, looks like this:
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$125 + shipping
Let me know if your interested!
Rob Weis (RobsCavZ24) wrote:I have a RKSport front lip for sale meant for 95-99 base model front bumpers
I really like that look. A lot. I might drop you a PM.
Come to think of it, I probably wouldn't even need to paint them -- I think black lips under a red car would look pretty slick.
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Scratch that -- just realized you were using that pic as an example, not necessarily same color.
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wow... i actually LIKE that base bumper with that lip-its def different and different around here is awesome.
johnny... holy crap, ive always wanted to see what those side skirts looked like on a cavalier non-vert (i do believe those sunfire skirts are the same ones used on all the convertibles during the older year z24's)
they look very similar to the ones i just bought for my car (03-05 ls sport's) i cannot wait to get them painted and put on!
geeky... your absolutly right, i think ur car would look AMAZING with the lower lips and side skirts in black.
UFlip06 said it best: Just look underneath the engine and if you see big hairy balls it's a 2.4 Twin Cam, if they're shaved it's an Ecotec and if you see nothing it's a 2200!
z yaaaa wrote:johnny... holy crap, ive always wanted to see what those side skirts looked like on a cavalier non-vert (i do believe those sunfire skirts are the same ones used on all the convertibles during the older year z24's)
Yeah as far as I know they're also the Z24/LS Sport Vert skirts. It's funny, I've seen tehm with the Z front, and I've seen Z-skirts with the base front, both on vert models. So far my car is the only coupe I've seen with them, but I'm sure there's others running around. Once I get the RK Sport lip, that's it for this car. Gonna fix the tranny and call it quits. I lost first gear this morning and I aint happy about it. I sold the turbo parts I had accumulated over the last year and it's all going toward the transmission and the VR4. This is going to stay my daily driver cuz to drive the VR4 every day and expect it to be that reliable, would be masochistic of me.
Just a quick photochop of what this thread has influenced me into wanting to do with my Cavy:
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They'd look soooo much better painted, that's jsut my honest opinion, for what it's worth.
ln2johnny wrote:They'd look soooo much better painted, that's jsut my honest opinion, for what it's worth.
That would be the typical approach, and I agree that would look good too. Leaving it black is just an alternate appoach I might toy with -- I think it looks surprisingly good, and gives me an option to save a few bucks on paint.
Honestly, I probably would do any of this for quite a while.
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Understandable. If anything, get yourself some silver or something and do them that way. If you had the front, sides, and rear valance done, it might not look so bad done in two-tone. GM did that with a lot of cars and it looked decent. The black doesn't sit well with me because it sort of blends with the ground rather than the car, and makes itl look like it's sitting higher than it really is.
Geeky wrote:Just a quick photochop of what this thread has influenced me into wanting to do with my Cavy:
Not bad, but you need more black on the car though.
I'd just paint them red. They are small pieces, and you can probably get them painted pretty cheaply.
