I posted awhile ago asking about building my Sonoma 2200. (Same as the S10) Well I decided that im gonna go through with it. Im trying to make a list of what to get and where to buy. But ill need some help from some of you, especially the experienced ones on here. Hopefully some of you will have some interest in my build as well.

So far I did this-

Installed K&N CAI
STS Pulleys
Removed clutch fan & installed Taurus electric fan
Al's header (Its on its way in the mail. Its the best one you can buy for a S10/Sonoma)


Heres what im looking to get-

Mild port & polish job
1.6 rockers- most likely from Summit Racing
SS 1mm oversize valves- Get them from Howell Automotive or carcustoms.net???
Head gasket, rod bearings...etc.- Howell???.......is Fel Pro or Cometic the best gasket?
Eagle rods- carcustoms.net or ????
Wiseco pistons- ??? What compression will require to run premium fuel? Also, "could" I gain and what if I decided to add nitrous later?
Push rods- ???



What else am I missing? Any better better links or cheaper places? Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks.




'00 GMC Sonoma 2.2L
'02 Chevy Cavalier 2.2L

Meant so say how much hp "could" I gain when going with higher compression pistons. Sorry, I dont know how to edit this.


'00 GMC Sonoma 2.2L
'02 Chevy Cavalier 2.2L

depending on compression ratio, 10:1 would put you into premium fuel and how good of a head you get. you would be looking in the 150 range at teh wheels. if you dont do nitrous the eagle rods are not needed if it is all motor

we use the fel pro gasket and clevite bearings

Im currently doing a head build on the 2200 using springs for a ford 5.4 motor that would need little machining and would provide us with higher pressure at the seats. Once i get the head back from P&P that machine work will start and i will post a thread on here. Looks like you have a nice build there, but i saw that you had +1mm valves. I was talking to my machinist and from what he said, the bigger valves aren't really completely necessary until you rev past 7500 to 8k, which is when they really come into play so i decided to go against them. Other than that i think you have most of it covered, but dont forget to get your head decked to make sure you have a good seating surface for the head gasket. I would recommend some stronger or hardened pushrods but i dont think that howell auto has them listed on their site anymore so you might have to go to a diff source. Good luck on the build!

i can get the number but there si a company that makes custom length and strength pushrods for us although we have never had one fail

Luis Marroquin wrote: i saw that you had +1mm valves. I was talking to my machinist and from what he said, the bigger valves aren't really completely necessary until you rev past 7500 to 8k, which is when they really come into play so i decided to go against them.

I have to disagree with you machinist here. With a proper back cut behind the seat and a good valve job, larger valves do very little to reduce velocity of the air charge. One of the rumors that seems to persist is that larger valve hinder the low rpm air flow, when actually the flow is greater at lower valve lifts, building more low rpm torque (let alone the upper rpm volume).

Mathematically, the intake valve diameter to bore ratio is short of what is considered "ideal." the +1mm valve you are there. Actually the exhaust valve is the right size in stock diameter. Using the +1mm exhaust will reduce some of the need for as long of an exhaust duration on the cam. You only need about 6*-8*, instead of 10*-12* more duration on the exhaust than on the intake for N/A and nitrous motors. Most profiles I've worked with like about 8* more for the best balance.

Finally they reduce shrouding of the valve that occurs when machining the seats to fit stock diameter valves. This isn't too great of a problem, unless the seats are severely worn, which hasn't been too much of a problem with these motors.

so by running the stock exhaust valve and running the +1mm intake valve, would that throw anything off? Would it be more beneficial to run both over sized valves or just the intake one. I have the crane springs in front of me and now i just need a top hat seal. any more info would be good before i get the machine work done. The machine shop doing my port and polish said that he will open up the ports alot, because i plan to eventually go turbo but for the mean time stay N/A with the new head. Until i have my entire turbo kit built and ready to go on. any more help madjack?

Bob Guptill wrote:depending on compression ratio, 10:1 would put you into premium fuel and how good of a head you get. you would be looking in the 150 range at teh wheels. if you dont do nitrous the eagle rods are not needed if it is all motor

we use the fel pro gasket and clevite bearings

Any idea if compression ratio is a factor when using nitrous? I know it matters when it comes to forced induction.


'00 GMC Sonoma 2.2L
'02 Chevy Cavalier 2.2L

Ok thanks for the responses.

Anybody have anymore links to buy parts from? Looking for some places to buy Wiseco pistons, Eagle rods...etc.

I also forgot to add MSD DIS ignition box and valve springs to my list.


'00 GMC Sonoma 2.2L
'02 Chevy Cavalier 2.2L

look at carcustoms, karo seems to be a really good dude to deal with.

nitrous is forced induction, just only when you hit the button, 10:1 and nitrous? possible, better have a good tune for it on the dyno

Luis Marroquin wrote:so by running the stock exhaust valve and running the +1mm intake valve, would that throw anything off? Would it be more beneficial to run both over sized valves or just the intake one. I have the crane springs in front of me and now i just need a top hat seal. any more info would be good before i get the machine work done. The machine shop doing my port and polish said that he will open up the ports alot, because i plan to eventually go turbo but for the mean time stay N/A with the new head. Until i have my entire turbo kit built and ready to go on. any more help madjack?

Running the stock exh w/ the +1 int would just give the mathematical (i.e. theoretical) ideal balance of flow. You can run the +1 exh with the +1 int, you just use a little less exhaust duration. This will also help a little if your using a larger turbo for the motor, as it will help it to spool quicker. The larger int valve and ported head will slightly reduce the back pressure generated form the forced induction and drop the boost pressure slightly, but not to fear you'll be putting a greater volume of air in the chambers, which is where the power gain comes from, not the pressure generated.

As for running N/A with the boosted ports sizes, you'll be okay with this motor. This motor has a short rod to stroke ratio (1.63:1) which is good for generating an earlier vacuum signal, so large ports won't hurt performance at the low end rpms and significant gains on the upper end rpms.

you amaze me with your knowledge! thanks you helped out alot. hopefully i can get some cash flow in and install the springs.

Bob Guptill wrote:depending on compression ratio, 10:1 would put you into premium fuel and how good of a head you get. you would be looking in the 150 range at teh wheels. if you dont do nitrous the eagle rods are not needed if it is all motor

we use the fel pro gasket and clevite bearings

I would have to disagree here....you could use the cheap gas for 10:1. The ecos have 10:1 stock. Bob knows his stuff about these engines but runs his with carburtation, fuel injection changes the rules. I have seen people run 10.75:1 compression and only need midgrade. And I will agree that eagle rods are not needed for a N/A engine they will siginifigantly lighten up the rotating assembly bringing out more of the engines power.

Also 10:1 and nitous should be ok...its all in the tuning.

try and run a RACE engine on super at 11:1 you will be able to see what happens when the rods are on the race track cause they blew out fo the bottom of the motor.... we have done this and had the same result. the eagle rods are actually a lot heavier than stock due to the h beam design they aare 550 grams per rod

Im not trying to argue and im not dealing with race motors, i know they take constant abuse. I just know from my experiences you can get away with a lot more compression with fuel injection and DIS than with a carb and a distributor. I am running 11.37:1 compression in my 2.4 with no problems on premium gas, where as my 78 chevy truck with a carb, distributor, and 10:1 needs premium or it pings its ass off. I had to use hptuners and slightly adjust the timing to get rid of the spark knock on the 2.4 but its been running strong for well over 1000 miles. And I did not know the weight of the LN2 rod, with the 2.3 and the 2.4 the eagles are cosiderably lighter. Bob I want you to know I respect the work you have done on the 2.2 and the innovative thinking you have brought to this site. Didnt mean to sound as if i was attacking you just remebered you saying you ran carburators and not fuel injection.

the link i posted above of the balck cav was a fuel injected car but we did run 110 sunoco on it, probably couldve got away with 100 octane but id rather have a little more than a little less

a lot of sweet stuff can be done with the right tuning unfortunately a lot fo people do go those routes they take the cheapest way out, in the focus community there is a guy with an svt focus, 10.2:1 stock and he is running 29lbs of boost on it 329 WHP on a fully stock motor on 93 octane


but like i said some guys dont pursue tuning as well as him and others do

the good thing about running 100 or 110 with that setup si that in the rare event of a lean spike or something he would probably still be ok with ta set up that is pushing the limits already it could mean certain disaster

thanks for the praise on our LN2 accomplsihments. we have found the power!!! we are just looking for different routes to enhance the durability of high power LN@'s under our rules package

Your welcome and good luck. The extra octane does sound like a nice fall back especially on a race engine. Tuning is a pain to comprehend in the begining but can definitely make or break the engine.