Well since my turbo'd Cavy kicked the bucket in April, I decided to build another and go all out with the 3800 SC swap. I'm building the powerplant first and sourcing a victim car after; sorta the reverse of the normal progression. The goal is as follows:
00-02 2dr Cavalier
3800 L67 swap
cam, pulley, injectors, tune, headers, etc.
IRS rear suspension (need to research this more)
OEM 17" wheels from an equinox or other GM car
OEM swap larger front discs
Basically, build the cavalier that GM should have and retain an OEM or OEM+ look.
HF engine stand in my apt. :
extracting the powerplant and trans from an 01 GTP with some help from jbrody and one of his buddies:
1 bolt made us have to buy the trans too:
... but we ended up trading the trans for another motor:
01 and 97... the 97 is getting built:
header score!:
stripped and ready for the machine shop:
The block is currently being cleaned and line-honed with ARP hardware holding down the mains. New cam bearings are also being pressed in. Hopefully, I'll be picking her up next weekend for some lower end building!
Ahhh a bare L67 block. Spent many a weekend playing with those.
What cam are you going with? My friende ran an Comp XP Hot. It was nasty. Good luck keeping traction in a Cavalier.
Looks Like its going to be a interesting build , Hope it goes well.
Brian wrote:Ahhh a bare L67 block. Spent many a weekend playing with those.
What cam are you going with? My friende ran an Comp XP Hot. It was nasty. Good luck keeping traction in a Cavalier.
ZZP XP "hot cam" is the one I'm going with as well as the accompanying tune from ZZP. Survey says it's the nastiest one that can be run with stock heads. Also, I plan on intercooling in the future, so it seems to be a good option.
Traction might be possible in 3rd. ]:->
Josh Meyers wrote:Brian wrote:Ahhh a bare L67 block. Spent many a weekend playing with those.
What cam are you going with? My friende ran an Comp XP Hot. It was nasty. Good luck keeping traction in a Cavalier.
ZZP XP "hot cam" is the one I'm going with as well as the accompanying tune from ZZP. Survey says it's the nastiest one that can be run with stock heads. Also, I plan on intercooling in the future, so it seems to be a good option.
Traction might be possible in 3rd. ]:->
Good to hear. I'm not big on canned ZZP tunes or really any canned tune for that matter. Please please please get a tune specific to your car. The canned ones are good to get your car running but I'd never trust them for long term stability. Everyone make too many assumptions when making them.
Brian wrote:
Good to hear. I'm not big on canned ZZP tunes or really any canned tune for that matter. Please please please get a tune specific to your car. The canned ones are good to get your car running but I'd never trust them for long term stability. Everyone make too many assumptions when making them.
That's the plan. I need a reflash of the PCM anyway so it'll run as an 04 Impala SS. A dyno tune will be in order after the bugs are worked out and such.
I gotta keep my eye on this build
Skr8 Goodz in tha hood
Good luck & have fun! They are a blast.
I believe my engine was rebuilt at one time since it looked so good inside, even some cylinder hone hatch marks are visible. Also, there was a tag on the back that said "guarantee void if removed," which I don't believe came from GM.
looks like an interesting fun build, good luck with everything and keep us posted!
looks like a lot of fun is going to be present in your future. nice
Enjoy life while you can, because you only have one shot. So go BIG or go home.
Well here's the progress:
- block is back from having the mains honed w/ ARP main studs and side bolts
- new freeze plugs are in
- cylinders are honed
- factory pistons are installed with Hastings rings
- balance shaft is deleted via setscrew w/ loctite (one broken tap in the process :/) versus the "JB weld" and "440 cam bearing" methods
Next, the heads are off to be treated to a fresh valve job with reground OEM intake valves and new stainless exhaust valves. If things work out in my favor, I may have the donor/ victim Cavalier in the driveway sometime soon as well. ]:->
So is this why you sold me some of your turbo parts? So that you could diss my yellow belly turbo build just so you could start your own thread!
Terrible.. lol good luck on the build.. I wanna see the results of this build for sure!
To turbocharge, or not to uh, uh..... eh, that last part don't matter.
Well the donor car is sitting outside the shop waiting to have its motor pulled next weekend. Getting it to the house was quite an event. After buying it in an area about 25 minutes away from my dad's place, we planned to drive it home with a badly knocking motor. This wasn't out of line since the couple selling her had driven it to meet us. In less than one mile, six tenths to be exact, she gave up spectacularly and we had to leave the car on the side of the road. I believe it threw a rod, but we'll diagnose that once we tear into the grenaded motor. One wrecker call later, we got it home.
2001 Cavalier Z24
power mirrors, locks, and windows
tilt column
purchased from the original owner with the original window sticker (17K or so sticker price)
beige/ gray interior (getting swapped)
2.4L LD9 and auto trans (5 speed and a V6 going back in)
16" alloy wheels
Here's how she sits:
Nice find , looks like its in good shape.
tjvjr wrote:Nice find , looks like its in good shape.
Other than the shot motor, and a spot in the clear coat on the driver's rear quarter, she's a gem! Only 102,400 on the clock as well.
Ive always wondered about this swap. My parents had a 2000 GTP (forest green, ebony leather, fully loaded, was nice!) and a 2000 Bonneville SSEi (black with gold trim, special edition, limited) new when they first came out. I was impressed with the GTP but the Bonneville actually felt smoother when rhomping on it on the highway. Both mean down low but couldn't hold against even nearly stock 350z's for example up top (they did have 60 more hp in all fairness).
this will be a really cool build in a jbody...def looking forward to this when its finished!
04 Cav. 2dr. 5spd. My DD. 'Nuff said.
It looks like this weekend will be a stripping party (of the car that is).
Motor/ trans are coming out as well as the interior. In the mean time, here's a snap of the beast with my "recycled" toyo tails. Is it bad that I based my car purchase (versus a sunfire) based on the fact that I already had a set of tails and springs/ struts?
The adhesive for the bowtie is now gone as is the Cavalier and dealership emblems. The side moldings are off, but the tape is a b***h to get off.
A white, spoilerless trunk is on the "pull-a-part" shopping list.
Damn looks exactly like my car nice build man!!!! Ill be watching
I Love My J ♡
Well the old 2.4 is pulled out along with the interior. There are 4 holes in the block and #2 and #3 rods are thrown.
Now the cleanup commences along with getting the car able to be rolled/pushed out of the shop.
Another tan interior car getting swapped...
I'm keepin' mine! LOL.
Awesome build man!
2004 Cavalier Sedan
damn you pre 03 jbody guys who can just swap in a dirt cheap steering wheel hub
a white jbody with a clean tan interior looks pretty sweet!
04 Cav. 2dr. 5spd. My DD. 'Nuff said.
I Love My J ♡ 
