John Lenko wrote:TheFlyingSquirrel (PJ) wrote:have fun changing your water pump 
is 40more hp worth the pain in the a$$ the twin cams are? I think not...
Where did that come from? Out of all the people I know in the area (over 300) with J-cars... most with 2.4L's... only one has ever had to do the water pump. About 5 with 2.2L's have had to do the head gasket.
Problems like the water pump are rare... don't blow it out of proportion.
I still stand by my 2.4L swap opinion.. There are so few fast 2.2L's compared to even the number of spraying 2.4L's... which are still faster. Geez, my old Z24 ran 13.8's on giggle juice and not much else. Show me some 2.2L's that can run 13.8's that cheap.
(Not ecotecs!)
def definately must disagree with ya john..... you my man, 50 grand and all, but somethings are being overlooked...
for starters, i have seen more #3 rod bearings spun, and water pumps going out than i have seen on headgaskets in the baltimore/dc area. about a 4 to 1 ratio at that....
i;ve personally changed 3 head gaskets, but have turned down over 10 people on doing water pump or rod bearing repairs cause i dont feel comfy with em.... but really the older 2.2;s were known for the head gasket problems.... by 98, the quality of the material was fixed. so 95-97 were the mainstay for that, but then again the 96-98 2.4's had their #3 bearing and water pump issues.
and i;ve def seen quite a few posts on that on this forum and the rksport forum back when it was still up.
water pumps where you are might be rare, but in this area, it was common. might be due to the avg temps... no idea.
might just be what factory it came from.....
now on few fast 2.2;s...... i can legitamently say the same for 2.4's.... you guys run 15's and 16's stock... the avg is around low 15 seconds out of most here on this site.... not really that impressive for a 35 hp lead, and more of an abundance of parts readily available for some time now...
but you have people who break out of the mold, like karo for example....
N/a karo ran 13.1 seconds i believe.... built motor, lightened car.....
Byron clements did 13.6 N/A in a older 2.2 ohv sunfire....
http://members.aol.com/KWZ26/byronC.html
.5 seconds.... not really that much a difference, not to mention karo did later run faster with nitrous.
but how many people realistically are gonna reach 13;s N/A or take the time to learn how to use nitrous properly or do a turbo setup that will do 13;s or less?
take a look at any forum....
you have people asking repetitive or straight out rediculous questions about ebay electric superchargers....
but no one takes the time to read anything....
no one takes the time to learn.... and thats the main reason they arent fast.... in whatever racing you do.... more than just drag racin
now you ask, name a 2.2 thats doing 13.8's in the price range of your past z24 and nitrous setup?
no praaaaahblem, brah!
http://www.j-body.org/members/scrufdog/cars/1/
Scruf was doing 13;s before anyone else really even hit 13's if i remember correct, atleast none that were on rksport of jbo at the time....
and i am def sure the price of a z24 and nitrous vs what he paid for his entire setup was decently less than what you had paid.
but what does that prove? it proves that in all three engines available, the same goals can be accomplished.... it doesnt take a boat load of money. the 2.2 ohv isnt hard to mod.... after doing my rebuild... i found this out.... ITS EASY.
but you have to know what you want to do, roughly how much you wanna spend AND above all you have to be realistc about it. and know what you are shopping for....
so far i have seen people rave about 3 angle valve jobs like they are really amazing..... thats stock...... but the person who was raving about it, paid about 40$ more than i did my valve job which is multi-angle radiused. which offers more flow at that.
the reason you dont see as many 13 second 2.2's....
its not because the parts arent there......
its not because the the support isnt there, theres plenty of people who want your money
its MAINLY because with 2.2's being the majority of the 3 engines.....
theres younger people
theres less knowledge
theres less effort
and theres less patience to learn.
you tell someone to read an faq when they ask about an intake, the b--ch and complain.... but its the same person a day later asking why his check engine light is on..... but that could have been avoided if he would have read the FAQ and saw on page 2 where to put his IAT sensor and not throw it out in the trash.....
but check the boost forum.... plenty of boosted 2.2's.... not alot of money either....
above someone posted 275 for a 2.2 on ebay.......
i went to the junkyard and pulled my own, with my bare hands, lifted it with my body, brought it back here, and took it apart in my living room. cost me a total of 125$
http://www.angelfire.com/md/TOWSONFTBLPLYR/PROject2200.html
you can ALWAYS get something for less, when YOU do more of the work yourself. and you learn alot more than way as well.
also on fast 2.2;s vs 2.4;s spraying???
lest not forget justin cox with a 2.2 ohv, 3 speed auto with basic boltons and a full body kit and molded wing running 15.9's
but then we have posts like
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=2&i=205833&t=205833&arch=1#205833
2000$ in mods on a z24, and running 16's???
brads a cool kid, watched him over the years, and hes learned...that i can vouch for him in his defense..... now hes applying what hes learned and improving. but justin had prob less money in parts, and ran faster with a slower engine?
goes to show you, its not how much you spend, its what you spend it on and the knowlege of knowing what works....
sure big reciepts may impress some, but for others time slips matter.
on that note i;ll conclude, swapping an engine, for 35 hp.... for me... prob isnt worth it. i'm not trying to make a magazine for having the most horsepower. to have a decently fast car it can be done easily with any of the 3 gm engines for j bodies and it can be done for relative LITTLE money.
thats if you know what you are doing, and know how to shop around.
for the amount of people who will swap over an engine, and not do much with it, there will be MANY more who stick with what they have and surpassed the guy who swapped.
cause as it stands, you can swap to a DOHC..... but then you pay nearly double in some parts that i pay single for.... so then you will have those complaining about parts being so expensive... like cams, etc...
as it stands on fast cars, theres only a handful of 300+ hp cars...
200+ is easily reachable on any engine.... so is 300, but it takes some knowledge and patience.... the second is of which the majority in life in general lack
If you were to compare a 2000 with the LD9 to a 2000 with the 2200... put the same amount of money into both... it's a no-brainer which one wins. (and still runs at the end of the quarter mile).