Well as a few of you have heard, I am in the process of buying a vert. There are 2 that I am looking at and will be seeing them tomorrow. Thought I would give a bit of a rundown on them and get some opinions on them.

The first one is a 1995 cavalier. It is a southern car and has never seen snow. It has 130,000 miles on it. The bad part is it is a 2.3L 3 speed auto. There is not a mark on the car from what I am told and the under side of the body still has the original paint on it. The guy wants 1200.00 for the car.

Here are a few pictures of the car.







The Second car is a 1996 Sunfire vert. This car has not seen snow in about 5 years. It has 220,000 KM on it. The car has a 2.4L with a 5 speed. The clutch was done on it about 2 years ago. It has sportline lowering springs in it as well as a set of side skirts on it. The bad part of the car is the power top motor does not work. They have been putting the top down manually. The power door locks are also sticking and sometimes do not work. The top is in decent shape accept one quarter size hole that was patched a few years ago as well as the drivers side back corner leaks into the trunk a bit when it rains.

Sorry I only have one picture of the car.



The only thing that holds me back from the 95 is that damn 2.3L Any comments are welcomed. Thanks again.

whats wrong with the 2.3? it was the most powerful motor put in a j, plus it should be OBD1, which is chippable.





Check out my build thread!

and you can easily swap in the 2.3 HO.

"The bad part is it is a 2.3L 3 speed auto"

the 2.3 DOHC didnt come in a 3 speed auto, only 5sp manual and 4sp auto. i would go with the 95 just because of the better body and lower miles. the fire in my opinion just has to many issues. new motors or used ones are rare to come buy, and when you do find them they come with a premium. the 95 is a better car to start for reasons that its still stock and unmoded. oh and a 95 2.3 with the obd1 is just way cooler period. haha


edit. forgot to add.. if that 95 IS a 2.2ohv 3 speed, your gonna have one hell of a time entering on ramps haha.. IMO the 2.2ohv should have never even been put into a vert.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, October 21, 2009 11:43 PM

no brainer. the teal one!



WiGM-Tuners member.

If it's a 2.3L Quad 4 in a 95 'vert... it's one of the rarest combinations you'll find in a third-gen. I'd rock it for sure...the body kitted one was likely beat on, it sounds pretty beat up to begin with. Parts are harder to come by for the 'verts... and more expensive.

Gotta go with everyone else on the '95. It looks fine and the price is right. Lenko is right about the "parts" problem. Many of the small proprietary parts have long been discontinued and most owners don't realize how many unique parts there are. 'Vert owners who have room for a "parts car" are lucky (wish I did). Good luck.

go with the 95. as lenko said, its a pretty rare combo, even moreso if it has the vinyl interior.

First off the teal one is the one id go with, it looks in awesome shape

RuggedZ wrote:whats wrong with the 2.3? it was the most powerful motor put in a j, plus it should be OBD1, which is chippable.

I may be wrong but wasn't the 95 Js quad motor the LD2?

if so doesn't it put out about the same amount of hp and a tad less torque the the LD9?

Reberrabbit wrote:First off the teal one is the one id go with, it looks in awesome shape

RuggedZ wrote:whats wrong with the 2.3? it was the most powerful motor put in a j, plus it should be OBD1, which is chippable.

I may be wrong but wasn't the 95 Js quad motor the LD2?

if so doesn't it put out about the same amount of hp and a tad less torque the the LD9?

nope, the LD2 put out 160 hp, whereas the LD9 had 150 hp. and the LD2 had somewhere around 180 ft/lb or torque? someone correct me on that figure if i'm wrong.





Check out my build thread!

RuggedZ wrote:

Reberrabbit wrote:First off the teal one is the one id go with, it looks in awesome shape

RuggedZ wrote:whats wrong with the 2.3? it was the most powerful motor put in a j, plus it should be OBD1, which is chippable.

I may be wrong but wasn't the 95 Js quad motor the LD2?

if so doesn't it put out about the same amount of hp and a tad less torque the the LD9?

nope, the LD2 put out 160 hp, whereas the LD9 had 150 hp. and the LD2 had somewhere around 180 ft/lb or torque? someone correct me on that figure if i'm wrong.

i think your talking about the 2.3s from berettas and other gm cars.


-
2,260 cc 2.3 liters 4 in-line front transverse engine with 92 mm bore, 85 mm stroke, 9.5 compression ratio, double overhead cam and four valves per cylinder
-
Unleaded fuel
-
Multi-point injection fuel system
-
58 liter fuel tank
-
Power: SAE and 112 kW , 150 HP @ 6,000 rpm; 145 ft lb , 197 Nm @ 4,800 rpm

I also thought the 95 year all manuals were OBDI while the autos where OBDII

RuggedZ wrote:

Reberrabbit wrote:First off the teal one is the one id go with, it looks in awesome shape

RuggedZ wrote:whats wrong with the 2.3? it was the most powerful motor put in a j, plus it should be OBD1, which is chippable.

I may be wrong but wasn't the 95 Js quad motor the LD2?

if so doesn't it put out about the same amount of hp and a tad less torque the the LD9?

nope, the LD2 put out 160 hp, whereas the LD9 had 150 hp. and the LD2 had somewhere around 180 ft/lb or torque? someone correct me on that figure if i'm wrong.

they are correct....same hp less tq for the 2.3 used in the Js. its an easy swap to the higher hp 2.3s with the OBDI computer though. the engine youre thinking about is the 2.0 sunbird turbo that was offered in 2nd gen birds, most often seen on the top of the line verts

95 J with quad FTW, i swapped a w41 quad into my 95 almost plug and play

Spencer wrote:95 J with quad FTW, i swapped a w41 quad into my 95 almost plug and play

It may be plug in play, but finding a W41 is harder then a color blind person trying to solve a rubix cube

i say get the 95 like everyone else is saying

Reberrabbit wrote:

Spencer wrote:95 J with quad FTW, i swapped a w41 quad into my 95 almost plug and play

It may be plug in play, but finding a W41 is harder then a color blind person trying to solve a rubix cube

there were 3 full ones at a junkyard up here recently. I think only one is even near "full" now.

Reberrabbit wrote:

Spencer wrote:95 J with quad FTW, i swapped a w41 quad into my 95 almost plug and play

It may be plug in play, but finding a W41 is harder then a color blind person trying to solve a rubix cube

I lolled.

But cant you just do a reg HO with W41 cams and have the same motor?

Do you know if the top and the weather stripping on the '95 cav are original? If so, after almost 15 years -- even it they appear to be in good shape -- you are definitely going to be looking at replacement. That's because the top by now will has shrunk to the point (yes, vinyl tops do shrink) where (a) it is putting stress on the top mechanism (which will lead to problems, the rear tack strip as example is probably starting to crack from the stress) and also (b) exposing the stripping which causes it to wear faster.

The challenge you will be getting into with all that is that some of the parts required to properly replace a 3rd gen vet top and stripping are out of production and hard to find (the passenger side rear weather strip and left rear tack strip in particular; the former is literally impossible to find anywhere).

Also, be advised that '95 was the first year for the convertibles and there were problems with them that were fixed in subsequent year production (rear quarter window leaks at the bottom front corner - the fit was not right, the glass size was changed in '96 on, bolt ends going into the top well that could catch and tear the top when it was folded and unproper draining below the quarter windows.)

And per the photos, the interior of the Cav is cloth, not vinyl. I'm not sure the latter was even offered back in '95.

(tabs) wrote:go with the 95. as lenko said, its a pretty rare combo, even moreso if it has the vinyl interior.

by the looks of the pics it definatly doesn't have a vinyl interior

i would say the 95 for sure



JBO since July 30, 2001

Yeah find an HO thats what I started with. The w41 cams and IDI came later.