So I'm new to this site. I've looked around and can't seem to find a place to ask this question. So here goes.

I have a 2002 Chevy Cavalier Z24 (2.4l Twin Cam). I wanna make it the best it can be and I want to make it one of a kind.
I'm doing a lot of exterior work (such as paint job, body kit, lambo doors, neon, headlights, ect.) but now I want to make it fast as well.
I can't seem to find many builds for a 2.4l, and I see a lot of stuff for a 2.2l Ecotec.

So my question is: Should I swap my engine with a 2.2l and go to town or keep my 2.4l and do more research?
Pics of my baby.

I am looking to get max horsepower out of this. And money is no issue. I wanna know which is faster

Well there are plenty of builds on this site you can research on, including mine. There isnt much out there for us anymore, 2.4 guys anyway. A lot of parts are custom.

My advice
Stay away from neons and body kits. Your car looks nice as it is, maybe get a lip kit or something that is factory.

You will have to try hard to be one of a kind, cavaliers have been modded for a long time and there isn't much that hasn't been done already.

Keep the car looking clean like you have it.

For go fast parts (only some) try:

turbotechracing.com
carcustoms.net










~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ

Ok LOL, I didnt scroll down far enough in your pics. lose the tail lights, leave your factory lights in or find ya some Toyota tails. Also lose the far cannon. A nice drop would look good.










~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ

Now I don't mean to seem stupid, but what exactly is a lip kit??

Haha, well in that case, what kind of muffler should I look at getting?
It doesn't have to be loud, but performance is a plus.

you can always swap in a LNF motor...i don't think anyone has done that yet and it'd be pretty unique


http://youtu.be/RXppsUVhJJE
my car ^

They are just extensions of the body.

Look here, also known as ground effects or valences.
RKsport










~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ

if money is no issue, sell it and get a nice LS1 Camaro
your performance upgrades are going to be based on your goals. if you want to stay n/a, go get yourself a nice true cold air intake (in the fender), header and full exhaust (clean, quiet), and get some good basic supporting mods like lowering springs, shocks, strut tower bars (front rear), upgrade your joints and busings, motor mounts, etc. Once your ride is low and stiff (good handling), youll find out if you want to actually add some power to it. then as whitecavy said, look into turbo or sc solutions that basically bolt right on. But be ready to spend $3-4k minimum if you boost when all is said and done (if you do it right). thats without getting into the motor.

good'a'ruck!


04 Cav. 2dr. 5spd. My DD. 'Nuff said.

Look up Brandon Fetters, JMarks, Whitecavy's, John Higgons, Zyaaaa's, Paul Tjepkes, section8cav, Mystic02VA, speedracerZ, gmanz24 or my build. All of us are doing some fun things with quads, boosted and NA.

Guaranteed there are 10 other J bodies in your town with altezza tails and a ridiculous body kit, that's not one of a kind, that's just junk. 200wph quads that lope at idle are one of a kind.



Paying someone to install parts and bragging about it being fast, is like watching someone bang your wife and being proud to raise their kids.

austin_p wrote:you can always swap in a LNF motor...i don't think anyone has done that yet and it'd be pretty unique

You can build your current motor completely before even paying for half that swap.

Make a plan.
Whats your wheel HP goal.
Do you plan to do any racing, or do you plan a show car.
Either a show car or a race oriented car is cheaper and better than trying to build one for both.

Research EVERYTHING. Read everything you can. Research as much as humility possible. This will safe you a lot of wasted money. Read all stickies in all these forums, and on quad4forums.com.

Make a plan, research, research some more, and then start collecting parts. It is normally cheaper and sometimes easier to install some parts all at once.



Added:
Realistic power goals....
NA 200-250 for well build LD9s
M45 Super charger 225-275 for well built and thought out builds
Turbo 200-300 is fairly easy...400+ and you need to know what your doing.

TUNING is a LARGE part of everything one J-bodies.

All in my opinion.








Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Thursday, February 16, 2012 12:56 PM

PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO

austin_p wrote:you can always swap in a LNF motor...i don't think anyone has done that yet and it'd be pretty unique

Not even close to being worth the money or time. LNF is VVT, direct injection, drive by wire...NOTHING in the head is going to play nicely with J-body electronics. You'd be looking at a full standalone system, then still figuring out a throttle system, and then some.

Not going to really be unique. Considering all the hybrid Eco swaps being done (and to mention all the unconventional swaps that have been done), there's nothing special about throwing in an LNF.
And from a performance stand point, you can make gobs of power by swapping in a LSJ block or Gen 2 block with a built head and running off a trigger wheel.

Now a unique motor swap would be something like an EJ or RB motor...something a bit more useful than an LNF.


Now, to the OP:
I would say follow WHITECAVY's advice and start looking into TTR and CarCustoms...Aaron and Karo are both great guys to work with, have a good support for us, and we always recommend supporting vendors like that who continue to provide outstanding service for our platform.
Keep an eye in the classifieds, there are always tons of great parts popping up from respected LD9 builders on the site. I know Fetter just had a huge for sale thread going on, and if you can get ANYTHING that was fabbed by Fetter, it's well worth the money and then some.

I also agree, lose the neons and the ricey stuff and go with something a bit more subtle...lip kits, etc. Again, your car and your taste, so by all means build it the way you want. I just know from past experience, myself and others have done the whole body kit thing, and quickly grew out of it. I could have saved tons of money over the years had I just originally gone with a factory lip kit.

The LNF can be done, but it needs to be run with the stock computer and you will need to work with either EFI harnesses or vince at trifecta to make the stock pcm work as a standalone. Then its easy to put a c6 corvette throttle pedal in and run normal eco mounts and an eco f23. Its much easier than you make it out to be. Honestly the hardest part is coming up with a clean way to get gauges into a factory dash. If you really wanted to go this route I would look up the guy who put an lnf into a wilies jeep on the hp tuners forums or some of the sand rail guys running them.

Also you'd need to figure out exactly what you'd need to do to mate the F23 to the LNF. Most likely the same setup that is getting used on the guy with the LSJ bottom end and f23 (is it PJ or sqwirl, I can never remember)


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

Leafy wrote:The LNF can be done, but it needs to be run with the stock computer and you will need to work with either EFI harnesses or vince at trifecta to make the stock pcm work as a standalone. Then its easy to put a c6 corvette throttle pedal in and run normal eco mounts and an eco f23. Its much easier than you make it out to be. Honestly the hardest part is coming up with a clean way to get gauges into a factory dash. If you really wanted to go this route I would look up the guy who put an lnf into a wilies jeep on the hp tuners forums or some of the sand rail guys running them.

Also you'd need to figure out exactly what you'd need to do to mate the F23 to the LNF. Most likely the same setup that is getting used on the guy with the LSJ bottom end and f23 (is it PJ or sqwirl, I can never remember)

Point being, why go through all that hassle for a motor that's nothing really special. If your goal is to just have a running LNF setup, go buy a Cobalt or Solstice. There are so many more creative and more efficient motor swap options.

And PJ drives the sqwirl, btw...it's not two different people.

seems like everything i would normally say has already been covered... except holy signature batman. size it down some =)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Thursday, February 16, 2012 9:40 PM

EVILution (KGM Godfather) wrote:
Point being, why go through all that hassle for a motor that's nothing really special. If your goal is to just have a running LNF setup, go buy a Cobalt or Solstice. There are so many more creative and more efficient motor swap options.

And PJ drives the sqwirl, btw...it's not two different people.

Derp told you I got them confused.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

i have a simple solution...

buy my one off lingenfelter turbo kit like you know you want. its plenty unique.



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