I've got a 1991 Cavalier with a 2.2 which I race on an asphalt circle track. We race for nothing more than a trophy and I am trying not to dump to much money into the car. Admittedly, I am not a mechanic, however I understand enough to get by. The car is currently a third place car. On any given night it can finish second, but there is one car there that wins every race and right now, he is untouchable. I am trying to find out what I can do to catch up to him.
I am running the car as I bought it, and as far as I know it has a performance coil from summit (probably an Accel) and also a K&N filter. The car handles great, but gets beat by the other car on the straights.
So basically, I am asking you all what I can do to improve performance. Anything I do has to be stock appearing and must be hidden. My thoughts are pulleys, adjustable fuel pressure, and possibly upgrades to the computer. With that, I have to ask which of these should I do and how should I go about it?
Thanks
Pulleys would be a great addition. How about a header? You could get a non ceramic one, and paint it black so it looks stock. What type of exhaust do you run?
Does the car have AC? A AC delete could help, aswell as removing as much unsprung weight as possible.
You could replace the cam. No one would know unless they
opened up the engine block.
You could port the intake and exhaust manifolds, as well as the head. Also grinding down the head to raise the compression could help yield more power. Poly motor mounts too are a good idea.
What transmition do you have? auto or manual?
The AC has been removed, and all weight that can be removed has been.
I am not sure I could get away with the header, as the OEM part is stamped and they'll look at that.
What type of pulley should I use and where can I find it?
What is a good cam for this car?
It is an automatic and must be per the rules.
Thanks
What car is beating you on the straights.
You could have your stock exhaust mani extrude honed, not sure how much this would run but it would aslo yeild some power.
P&P would be good if you can do it yourself, its free then since your not trying to dump a lot of money in it.
I might stand corrected, but dont you have to run the stock air cleaner assm.? If not, im sure you have an open element.
Cam would be good, check out comp cams. I know mantapart.com sells cams, not sure on their service as ive never dealt with them. Good luck on this.
The 2.2L motor uses a rocker arm with the same dimensions as the Small Block Chevy, but uses different rocker balls and studs. Your valve springs will handle some additional lift, so what you can do is a rocker arm conversion. Get the ARP-100-7201, set of 12 (10mm X1.5 base, 3/8"X 24 top), $45.39 from Summit Racing and SUM-G6801, 16 rocker arms, 1.6 ratio, $56.95 from Summit. These will give increased lift at the valve, for more torque and a little more HP. This will give you an adjustable rocker arm also for some of the mods listed below. Normally I would reccomend a roller rocker, but if you have to pull the valve cover it would be too obvious that they aren't stock, with the stamped steel rockers the will look very similar to the stock rockers.
Surfacing the block and head will increase the Compression Ratio, for more HP. This will be more easily done with the adjustable rocker arms that are listed above.
A good multi angle valve job(three, five or continuous radius) will help with the with the airflow around the valve for a little more rpm.
If you want to use a better version of this motor try a '94-'97 model. They came with a hydraulic roller cam, larger intake valves and narrower valve stems, all of which will help the performance a little. The intake port will have an eye brow cut into it for the later MPFI, but will work with the TBI intake. The mods listed above will work with this model year motor also.
You can port the stock exhaust manifold, it seems to have helped a few on here a little bit, as I'm sure it will help yours. The manifolds get hard with the repeated heat cycling, so use some good cutters to do this work. Don't get too aggresive though, they aren't very thick and you dont want to grind through the casting or leave it too thin.
ASP makes a pulley for the '95-'97 2.2L Js, I'm not sure if it will fit your accesory drive or not, you could give it a try. Summit has them for $97.99, part # ASP-840097. It is an anodized blak aluminum pulley as opposed to a black painted steel pully and give about a 20% underdrive.
Look into
This Thread about the 3sp auto, it lists the torque converters and available gearing for the 3sp. The torque converter (something in the 2560-2795 rpm stall range) might help on the restarts, but what you would need is an appropriate gearing. Read through for more info about what gearing you have and determine if more gear will help. BTW, you didn't say what size track you are running or the banking or rpm you run. These will help to determine what gearing you need.
The best thing you can do is to be able to maintain as much speed as you can through the turns, so you can accelerate off the turns quicker. See
This Thread for more on chasis and drive line set-ups. Do as much of the mods discussed in hare as the rule permitt, if you haven't done so already.
This should help, feel free to ask more any time. Good luck!
A little to add to that, about your exhaust. Use a 2 1/4 pipe from the stock manifold to atleast behind you seat, with just the bends nescissary to get it to the center tunnel. You will need some length for decent torque production and the 2 1/4" pipe will be the best for the rpms you are turning. If you track rule require a muffler, get a straight through with a perforated core, not the louvered core. Magnaflow and Dynomax both have round bodied straight through perforated core mufflers that would work well, though the Dynomax will be less expensive.
The car that is beating me is also a 1991 Cavalier, however I am under the impression that he has a 1994 motor. The rules don't say this is illegal, however, I can't afford to do this. The thing about it is, I know it's not the driver for two reasons. First, I used to beat him all the time, and second it dosn't matter who drives it. Three different drivers, same result.
The rules say we must have a muffler and I just had a Dynomax Thrush Turbo muffler installed, which replaced a glasspack muffler that wasn't really functional (exhaust pipe right through it). I was under the impression that the muffler would help due to back pressure?
The air cleaner assembly must remain stock and is. The guy I bought the car from cut a hole in the back of it, does this help/hurt/or make no difference?
How hard is it to install a cam? Should I enlist the help of a engine shop?
What about the rocker arm conversion, how long should that take?
About the pulleys, do I want a smaller diameter pulley or larger? I am assuming smaller is the way to go?
I am going to go read the other threads now. Thank you all for the support. I'll throw a J-Body.org decal on the racecar if you all don't have any objections.
Where are you all from?
By the way, the track is 1/2 mile and I think it is 12 degree banking. Small 1/2 mile on the outside.
Round Racer wrote: The car that is beating me is also a 1991 Cavalier, however I am under the impression that he has a 1994 motor. The rules don't say this is illegal, however, I can't afford to do this. The thing about it is, I know it's not the driver for two reasons. First, I used to beat him all the time, and second it dosn't matter who drives it. Three different drivers, same result.
The rules say we must have a muffler and I just had a Dynomax Thrush Turbo muffler installed, which replaced a glasspack muffler that wasn't really functional (exhaust pipe right through it). I was under the impression that the muffler would help due to back pressure?
The Thrush turbo is an improvement over a stock muffler, but doesn't flow that well, I reccomend a stright through design to get the best output. See the
Dynomax Race Magnum Bullet Mufflers, this would be a good one with low restriction. As for the back pressure myth,
from the FAQs in the library.
Round Racer wrote: The air cleaner assembly must remain stock and is. The guy I bought the car from cut a hole in the back of it, does this help/hurt/or make no difference?
It will probably help. Do you have the K&N filter or a paper filter? If it's paper try the K&N, it should help a little.
Round Racer wrote: How hard is it to install a cam? Should I enlist the help of a engine shop?
If you don't know how, go to a shop, or find someone who's done it before. You don't have a whole lot of options for your year motor, since it was a flat hydraulic cam. A regrind would probably cost almost as much as a salvage yard '94-'97 motor.
Round Racer wrote: What about the rocker arm conversion, how long should that take?
Just a couple of hours for someone who hasn't done it. See the stick about lash adjustment at the top of the Performance forum.
Round Racer wrote:About the pulleys, do I want a smaller diameter pulley or larger? I am assuming smaller is the way to go?
Yes, smaller.
Round Racer wrote:I am going to go read the other threads now. Thank you all for the support. I'll throw a J-Body.org decal on the racecar if you all don't have any objections.
Where are you all from?
Florida, done most of my racing work at Volusia Speedway Park on their Dirt 1/2 mile dirt oval and some asphalt racing at Volusia and Ocala Speedway.
Good Luck!
thanks for the input. Any suggestions on tires?
Rules say 13 or 14 inch, 70 or 75 Series on 6" max wide rim.
I am currently running 185/75/14.
Thanks
Try a 195/70R14 on the 14" X 6" rims, if you can run different size tires try a 205/70R14 or a 215/70R14 on the right front for a little stagger. If you need more stagger goto a 185/70R14 on the other postitions. Any of these tires will fit the rim. A 225/70R14 would be too big, you'ld run into rubbing problems and would throw your gearing off too far.
The RF will be the hardest worked tire, so a bigger tire there will help, if you can run it. Any high performance tire you can get will help.
We have to run all four the same.
Thanks for the input.
According to the chart on your transmission post, my final gear is 2.84. If I race in 2nd gear, how can I tell what gear I'm running?
