All right so about a week ago I bought my second cavy my first Z'r. I'm not driving it right away because of insurance and it does need some work. Good thing I just started my GM apprenticeship and get a fair discount on parts. It's a '99 z24 5spd with just over 285,***km. A recent trade in to our w/s lot. I picked it up for $700 and now i wanna give it some grunt. The engine seems to run alright and I'm not sure if its original. So if you guys could give me some tips on how to get some moderate power out of it it would be greatly appreciated. I've been looking at the "secret cam" swap and the 2.3 HO intake mani swap with the larger throttle body. I figure since I'm not driving it right away and it's high mileage if i should tear it down further and save myself trouble down the road. I already have to pull the tranny due to the front main tranny seal is leaking. So you guyz think i should pull the motor out with it and rebuild it and p&p the head? sorry if i'm bugging you guyz with prolly overkilled questions i just wanna get my hands dirty and go faster

1990 Z24, mint shape-Under construction...soon to be Z24GTP
1996 cavalier base sedan aka the "purple people eater" my beater
1999 Z24-Sold.

If you have the money i would say just rebuild it. For boost mabey ? or if you want a N/A then just use high compression pistons. port the head get some ho valve springs they are stiffer or you could get some manipart springs. Do the 2.3l oil pump conversion.and header exhaust ho manifold and 56mm t/b

if you work at gm you could probley get a good deal on a m45 gm supercharger.
While you have the tranny out you might as well put the lsd insert in too.

Just my opinion,
Paul Tjepkes

I'm pretty new to this motor and the mileage is up there so i think to be safe I'll rebuild it and and do the oil pump conversion that you suggested. When i do that ill put a header on it port and resurface the head and resurface the block. The secret cam swap will still be on my list and now that ive read the sticky and got past everyones confusion correct me if I'm wrong for just the cams i need the '95 non HO cams to keep the hex end for my power steering. The HO intake manifold and the 56mm t/b sound good to. Where can i get the lsd insert you mentioned cuz I'm interested in that to. I want to make this motor turbocharged in the future, so if anyone could recommend anything for internals that would be great to cuz i want this thing to be strong and reliable before i go over to the boost forum
btw i made a typo the mileage is at 185,***km not 285,*** but thats still high enough for someone to have killed it

1990 Z24, mint shape-Under construction...soon to be Z24GTP
1996 cavalier base sedan aka the "purple people eater" my beater
1999 Z24-Sold.

as for the cams yes you need a 95 and only 95 intake cam from a 2.3l lo cavalier
and the exhaust is from a 90-94 2.3l lo i got mine from a grand am

i have a set for sale in the classifieds for $120 if your interested just pm me at paultjepkes_89@hotmail.com
my intake cam is from a 95 cavalier with a 2.3l lo (lift .360)
and my exhaust cam is from a 94 grand am with a 2.3l lo (lift .375)

The lsd insert i think you need to contact speedracerz

Internals you could check out carcustoms.net
get some forged low compression pistons and rods if your thinking boost

The oil pump is not as easy as it sounds ether you will need to plug old oil passages and tap one new oil passage you will also need to change the gear on the crank for the oil pump to the stock 2.3l gear
but will get better oiling than the crappy stock 2.4l oil pump

And if you want thos cams i still have them just pm me thanks

Thanks
Paul Tjepkes

there is a gm s/c for sale in the classifieds