Well I got my first 2nd Gen car, and my second chevy. I normally have driven nothing but FWDMopar (I know im going to get hell for saying that but they just fit for me for some reason). But after loosing my last car (93 Plymouth Acclaim) to hydrolock (dang flooding), i was forced to get another car. I ended up buying a 92 Chevy Cavalier with 2.2 and 3speed for 50$. It ran rought and over heated after driving a few miles. I pull the old thermostat and all though it still over heated, it gave me a little more time so i could get it home. Well after cussing at the thing for an hour to change the plugs and wires (why does chevy put the coils in the worst places?) And failing to get the first plug out due to all the dirt and grime that had build up above the plug to the point i cant get a socet over it, the car started to run better. Then to solve the overheating i replaced the radiator (over half the fins were rusted away). The car runs good now, just had to replace one tire today as it started to fall apart on the highway... And i will be taking care of the rest of the problems next week (leaking water pump, oil change, busted headlight mount, and crappy stereo),

Im just looking for any advice on the upkeep and improvments to this car, (vibrates at speed, would like a little better off the line acceleration and maybe a little better highway response). But im not looking to go all out, I need this to be reliable as i drive 500miles a week for work and school. My last car was pretty simple to upgrade, just had to get better coil, plugs, wires, make a simple airbox mod, and then add 2 more throttle body gaskets to raise the throttle body away from the intake bottom, and the car was perfect (all though the 5 speed helped). But as i said any mod is going to be simple and cheap. Drivability is my biggest concern, this car will start squealling its tires around even the easiest of corners, in my old car i could go around a corner at 40+ before the tires made noise, this car i can only do about 25 or less and it starts howling at me. Second a little more low end torque would be helpful. Other than that i dont have any more needs, I dont plan to do over 108 in this car as one i feel like i was going to die when i did a test run of 85-90 on the thing. And two i dont need to go that fast, i did enough of that in my past cars and its not worth the gas, all though it was pretty exciting doing about 120-130 in my old 1990 chevy celebrity station wagon (needed was pegged below the dash) trying to pass someone on the interstate that was trying to get ahead of me to cut me off.

Also if there is any recommendations for electrical, lighting it be appreacated, as i will need good lighting with the bad weather we get here in wisconsin.


Thanks
Jasper Johnson
jasperj@charter.net
http://3bpc.net84.net

J body suspensions are less than stellar to begin with, and I can just see the 14" steelies wrapped in $40 passenger tires now. Picking up a set of 16" Z wheels and some good rubber will help handling immensely. Acceleration wise the 3 speed auto is going to flat kill you, especially when behind a 110 hp OHV. Not being an overdrive transmission I can imagine the RPMs you were running at 90 MPH! Swapping to a five speed would yield better results than engine bolt ons as far as acceleration. As far as vibrations I'd suspect unbalanced tires or brake rotors first.

A couple of things to make note of. Check for external coolant leak around the number 1 and 4 cylinders where the head meets the block. Common headgasket failure on the 2.2L. You can get by for a while though as long as coolant and oil aren't mixing or water starts getting in the combustion chamber. If the car ever dies when coming to a stop the TCC solenoid has likely failed. Let the car cool off and unplug the connector going in to the transmission on the radiator side under the air filter. Common problem on the TH125c due to the location of the solenoid causing it to get trash in it. Solenoid can be replaced, but if the TCC took some damage it may not be worth it. Replaced mine but the TCC has some shudder in it so I unplugged it again as opposed to dropping the transmission and replacing the torque converter. Motor/transmission mounts are likely shot as well, but can all be replaced for less than $50 from rockauto.com. If it vibrates sitting still and smooths out once you start moving then chance are good the mounts are shot.

on the good side, you can get a good ol' fashioned shift kit for the tranny from NAPA, you can put on 1.6:1 rockers easily and pulling the chip and reflashing is pretty easy, since the .bin file has been decoded long ago.

Get the Maguires headlight polish kit for the headlights and replace the bulbs - makes a world of difference.

And the washers freeze up big time - I took about 4 feet of washer tubing, extending it from the tank and wrapped it around the upper heater hose, sealing it with a bit of silver heat tape (like metal duct tape)

The washer fluid ends up about 100 degrees and if you keep the nozzles clear, it won't freeze shut. In ice storms it will melt its way through if you use it often enough - and get winter wiper blades with the covers so ice doesn't make them useless. Can you tell I'm from Mn originally?? lol

I would say tires and an alignment would help out wonders - sounds like your toe may be off (toe out) if your squealing like that at low speeds in corners. That drags the inside tire when it gets light and makes that noise. Look for more wear on the inside edge of the front tires - thats toe out. If there is wear on the outsides, then its a toe in problem and your probably understeering like crazy! weee!!!!



Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

Well i had some time to get in touch with this car over the weekend, I had to replace the leaking water pump (alot of water coming out the weep hole) and i also had to fix the brakes as the driver side rear brake line burst and as a quick fix i had to take the line hit it with a hammer and fold it over to block the brake fluid from coming out, after bleeding the front brakes i finally can stop without worrying for a while (i will replace the lines just not right away), i got a tranny fluid leak which looks like its from the cooler lines where they go into the radiator (broke one line and had to make an adapter to the radiator to connect just the rubber hose.) and im thinking the other hard line is leaking, but that im going to replace when i install a external tranny cooler, im also going to do a tranny fluid change as its a little old. other than that most of the mechanical work is done for being a daily driver. I just removed that stupid t handle shifter and just slapped on a shifter from a manual since the t handle kept digging into my leg. to shift i just have to push down on the nob and move it to the position i want.

i got my old stereo installed so no i am happy with that. next comes the gauges (tach, o2, and boost/vacuum) I just need to figure out how to hook up the tach on this car.

BTW any recommendations on door jamb cancer (underbody is perfect but most of the door jamb and rockers are rusted to nothing)

RoboGeek wrote:on the good side, you can get a good ol' fashioned shift kit for the tranny from NAPA, you can put on 1.6:1 rockers easily and pulling the chip and reflashing is pretty easy, since the .bin file has been decoded long ago.

Can you point me to someone who reflashes chips for these cars? I have a 1993 Cavalier 2.2L that I race on dirt tracks and I have not been able to find anyone who can do any kind of tuning to it (including reflashing the chip) to save my life.