Hi everyone, been a lurker for many years but this is my first time posting. Wanted some advice on my car

I own an 04 Cavalier LS Sport - bought it in 04 brand new. Absolutely love the car, but unfortunately I took it for granted and didn't maintain it like I should. My bike would get regular oil changes and chain lube and whatnot, while the car got ignored. Due to my stupidity, the car threw a rod in January.

I'm considering options now - want to buy a new engine I think, but while I'm doing that I am considering trying to stretch a little more performance out of it. Certainly don't want a racer, but a little bit more power would be nice. I was also stupid (I was a young guy when I bought it) and it has an automatic, so I know that limits some modifications. Basically I want to make it more "fun" to drive

Does anyone have any recommendations and also is there anything I should know about doing an engine swap in this car? Anything else I should check while I'm in there? etc?

Thanks everyone!

For fun-to-drive factor, I've always been of the opinion that you want suspension upgrades.
With our cars, all the bolt-ons in the world aren't gonna rock your world as much as a simple drop and some stiffening.

Get rid of the ridiculous body roll and flexing we have and I guarantee you'll feel like you have a brand new car.

RoboticPotPie wrote:For fun-to-drive factor, I've always been of the opinion that you want suspension upgrades.
With our cars, all the bolt-ons in the world aren't gonna rock your world as much as a simple drop and some stiffening.

Get rid of the ridiculous body roll and flexing we have and I guarantee you'll feel like you have a brand new car.

all of this is irrelevent considering hes got a blown motor

OP, I say go to the junkyard and find you another motor. Build that motor from the ground up and go from there.

supercharge the biotch... after you find a good motor of course.