Aside from removing the Cat and going Cold-Air Intake, what else could I do to increase Acceleration? I'm not wanting to up the Top-Speed. I want to be able to leave people in the dust sitting at the traffic light.

Since I never go above the speed-limit, I don't need Top-Speed changes.

My car is a 4Cyl 2.0L Automatic FWD and I pretty much drive it like a stick-shift by manualy shifting via 1-2-D rather than letting it automaticaly shift. I've driven it like this for about oh... 2 years? lol. I've pretty much learned when the best time to shift from gear to gear... I've managed about 25-35Mph in 1st before going to 2nd and 50-60Mph in 2nd before going to 3rd(Final Drive). This is the ONLY way I can get the car to haul-arse. But it is still slow on take-off.

I know Removing the Cat and going Cold-Air intake will only give me a limited number of HP, but I am jsut curious of what else I could do that doesn't require any heavy work\mod to get the acceleration torque up.

I also need to find out what size tires MAX I can put on me car?
I'm runnin normal 13" tires right now (P175/R80 i believe - could be wrong tho) and am thinking about going to 14" or 15" Low Profile tires... possibly ones with a wider offset than stock to compensate for the custom bodykit im putting on.

Need to find a body kit that exists that I would be able to fit onto this type of car with little modification.

I was told that I could perhaps use the Front & Rear Skirts from an 87 Cavalier Car (Stationwagon or Not) abd they should fit on my car with little or no modification. Is this true?

I've got specifics on the dimensions the front skirt would need to be and perhaps I could form a mold out of a huge block of Syrofoam, sand it down smooth and use a Carbon-Fiber (or fiber-glass) resin and then after it dries, take out the styrofoam and bolt that to the car... Would that work?

I'm leaving Friday to get the Styrofoam so I can begin to work on the form regardless of it being possible or not. I just wanted to ask if it was more feasible to get an already made body skirt from a 87 cavalier car or to make one myself using the styrofoam\carbon-fiberglass resin method...


Any Ideas?


1987 Chevy Cavalier Stationwagon RS
I NEED OVERHAULED

Removing the cat will only hurt your performance, buy a new high flow one and get a dynomax cat back system plus the cold air intake with a K&N filter, should give you 5-10 hp+tq maybe even more. Change the spark plugs, that helped my cavy tremedously, and if you have the DIS system upgrade to hi perf. coils. You might want to put some money aside for a tranny rebuild down the road since it sounds like you drive it kind of hard, just drive it regularly it's not a sportscar it's a reliable economy car.

Forgot to add GM put out a TSB on the rear springs of the 1st and 2nd gen cavy sedans and wagons because the original ones aren't able to hold the specified passanger weight of 800lbs so you might want to buy new ones at your local auto parts store.

spikej wrote:Forgot to add GM put out a TSB on the rear springs of the 1st and 2nd gen cavy sedans and wagons because the original ones aren't able to hold the specified passanger weight of 800lbs so you might want to buy new ones at your local auto parts store.

I was wondering why my car looked like it was allways going UPHILL when I was parked or driving rofl!!! Thanks for that tip on those springs.

what is that DIS you're talking about? and those high perf. coils? Im sort of a n00b here so those tech terms you'll have to spell out


Do they even make cold-air intakes for my year/model/make of car? or will this be a custom job done by some specialty store that sells these things?



Thanks for the replies, sorry I was late on mine. Busy few weeks trying to get my neons to work (bad grounds lol)


1987 Chevy Cavalier Stationwagon RS
I NEED OVERHAULED

DIS- Digital Ignition system. 2nd gen cavy 2.0's had 2 coil packs attached behind the motor underneath the intake (IIRC) instead of a distributor. You'll have to fabricate your own Cold air intake however if you want to go the cheap route get an Air cleaner housing and piping from a 90-91 2.2L Cavy since K&N already make an air filter for that one and you can buy heat wrap made by DEI to wrap around the piping. Check out <a href="http://www.geocities.com/oldcavs/">OldSchoolCavs</a> for more info on 1st and 2nd gens and upgrades. hth.

I myself spent about 2 to 3 wks on a completely redone rear end job,new EVERYTHING.Just go to the post HAPPY 4th its all there.Keep in mind I have 2dr type 10.The springs cost me 70.00 plus tax at advance auto and the brand was TRW.Oh my my car rides dreamy now.Still got to do my front suspension as soon as $ comes my way.

FYI P.S.T makes a polygraphite front suspension kit with a 20yr gaurantee.

Let me know how your body mods turn out--I've got an 87 wagon, too.
Mel

If you can find some, go with the stock front and rear Z24 bumpers. The side moldings would require a lot of work as the Z's were only 2 -door. Definately go with a hi-flow cat. and you will certainly fry your tranny by shifting it that way. A good tranny shop should be able to raise the shift points.


___________________________________________________________

car alarms are as effective as screen doors on a submarine!

i'd love to have a cavi wagon. but i'll settle for my old vert








Sorry.....
You have been banned from posting on this site as of 2005-01-13 10:15:53.
This ban will expire 2005-01-14 10:15:35 Pacific Time.
Reason: Free 84 Cavi Drop Top!

There isn't much to be done with your engine I'm afraid, other than what you mentioned.

As for the body, you will find that Z24 stuff will fit with very few modifications. You will need 2 door sets as they will have to be cut down, the hood will just bolt on, as will the front bumper cover, and your header panel should be OK.
The rear bumper is a different matter. You will have to use the top part of yours and cut it down where it starts to curve so it can be attached to the lower part (cut just above the side "wings") of a Z24 bumper cover. These "side wings" may also have to be lenthened abot 1 inch.

Find someone in your area that is in the SPECIFIC business of re-furbishing bumper covers. The mods will have to be done by them as ABS needs to be WELDED, and they will be the ONLY people who are capable of doing this. It is quite inexpensive really.

I speak from experience. There are many products now on the market, primarily from 3M that purport to "glue" pieces together. They don't work. If you try some you will find that the parts glued can be seperated again.

Hope this helps. It's a lot easier than what you are proposing and autowreckers have lots of these parts.