Now that I can start working full time, over the next year or two I'm going to try to do a few minor upgrades to my 2.2L just to get a little more oomph around town, and for merging etc. I'm more concerned with lower end torque (did read the torque thread) than I am with ultra high end power. With that in mind, I have no intention of tearing the engine apart.
It's a 97 2.2L 3sp auto (the main reason I'm doing this, as the tall 1st gear kills low end power)

What I'm thinking.

1- Replace the stock air intake hose with a custom made metal one, out of parts and fittings from auto parts stores. Thinking about connecting it straight to the airbox. Not really sure if this will make much difference, so if it won't, let me know I'll throw it out.

2- Replace the stock exhaust header with a 4-2-1. If anyone could point out a decent, yet affordable option I would appreciate it.

3- Not sure about exhaust. I was thinking maybe about leaving it be, aside from the header.

I'm hoping that the header would be enough to get a little boost in torque, don't plan on hitting tracks, ever, or street racing so it's strictly for practical purposes. All thoughts and comments, suggestions are welcome.

It will give it a little more get up and go but not much, id lose the stock airbox if you just run hard piping you will get no hp gain, get a full cai, get a pacesetter header, and then either custom make your own cat back or get a pacesetter catback, you may get 10-15 hp out of the mods your talking about, it wont be much get up and go more


Erik Packard

I have the same question i own a 05 cavi i already have a custom ram air intake which suprisingly gave better trottle response next im installing cat back exhaust what would be the next step to do thats affordable im not lookin for alot of power just an edge over the competition and its my dd so i want it to still be realiable any tips? Cams... I was thinkin maybe a stage 1 or 2 clutch? Any opinions? Header?


<RhYnO>

Nick wrote:

1- Replace the stock air intake hose with a custom made metal one, out of parts and fittings from auto parts stores. Thinking about connecting it straight to the airbox. Not really sure if this will make much difference, so if it won't, let me know I'll throw it out.

3- Not sure about exhaust.

Like said above cold air intake runnin it to stock box won t do much also if ur goin to add a intake and header go ahead and do all pacesetter header 4-2-1 or 4-1 there is a post somewhere in the forum about the differance maybe a magnaflo hi flow cat and pacesetter or magnaflo cat back exhaust that should help im bout to do same set up on my car


<RhYnO>

As far as exhaust, I would wnat something quiet. It doesn't have to be stock quiet, but as close to it as possible. I don't need loud. And I don't want to sound rice. I want a nice sound. I was thinking if anything, maybe dynaflow, as I've heard that pacesetter cat-backs are mild steel and thus rust out very quickly. The 4-2-1 header is the one I was considering primarily.

There is no way you will see 15hp out of a header and intake. I have all that and then some, I would say that I didn't even make an extra 15.

5 at the very most....Rolling downhill.

Mike wrote:There is no way you will see 15hp out of a header and intake. I have all that and then some, I would say that I didn't even make an extra 15.

5 at the very most....Rolling downhill.

i was saying with exhaust, header and intake you are looking at close to 10-15 hp i got that out of my 2.2 when i added a pacesetter header, custom made fender well intake, and custom flowmaster 2.5 in catback


Erik Packard

Well whatever it would be is on hold since it looks like I have a bad headgasket

Ricozero wrote:

Mike wrote:There is no way you will see 15hp out of a header and intake. I have all that and then some, I would say that I didn't even make an extra 15.

5 at the very most....Rolling downhill.

i was saying with exhaust, header and intake you are looking at close to 10-15 hp i got that out of my 2.2 when i added a pacesetter header, custom made fender well intake, and custom flowmaster 2.5 in catback

Same deal. You can open up airways all day. if you dont touch that head. you aint seeing 15hp from 3 bolt ons (1 of which does very little.)

15hp is what, a 15%-18% increase? Thats pretty big for bolt ons on these engines.

Do you have dyno sheets?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:19 AM

wats up guys i have a similar set up that didn't cost me much ebay ebay ebay i bought a obx header 421 and a magnaflo hi flow cat and an in take the intake makes a little difference but when u add the other 2 mods i noticed a big difference but my car can boogie lol and on top of that im rolling on 18'' rims and all my speakers and subs lol but i left the stock piping after the cat and if u want a nice tone from the exhaust i went to auto zone and brought a 3a racing muffler sounds great,next year im spending $4000 on my 2.2 engine +a turbo kit well see wat my 2.2 can really do,hope this post was a help

Get so tired of newbs claiming "I made 15 hp with just this." No you didnt...its been proven time and time again so stop claiming that you did. Also, Just getting a header wont do jack. The exhaust will just bottleneck at where the header runners end. Gotta replace the whole system to get any real gain. Of which, is extremely minimal.

Replace ALL your exhaust (dont buy catback, do all custom.), Get a new intake (doesnt matter if it's cold air or short ram, makes no difference) and then actually study into what you wanna do instead of just throwing parts at your car.

You say you wanna do cams...do you know how to tune, cause you will need a tune with those cams. That's $600 alone for HPtuners. That is, if your car is compatible.





"You can only feed them semen for so long before their legs fall off."

Senorguitar wrote:Get so tired of newbs claiming "I made 15 hp with just this." No you didnt...its been proven time and time again so stop claiming that you did. Also, Just getting a header wont do jack. The exhaust will just bottleneck at where the header runners end. Gotta replace the whole system to get any real gain. Of which, is extremely minimal.

Replace ALL your exhaust (dont buy catback, do all custom.), Get a new intake (doesnt matter if it's cold air or short ram, makes no difference) and then actually study into what you wanna do instead of just throwing parts at your car.

You say you wanna do cams...do you know how to tune, cause you will need a tune with those cams. That's $600 alone for HPtuners. That is, if your car is compatible.

/thread.

If you want to notice any real improvement in the 2.2, you need to do some porting work on the heads, and then add a header to it. The intake is not going to do crap for you unless you're turning high RPMs all the time. As said, anything that's going to make a real difference is also going to need tuning.

Anyone who claims real gains by just an intake and exhaust on these engines is being fooled by the increase in noise and interior vibrations.

how about you just do an engine swap or better yet buy something that magically increases hp when you do those things, ive been on this site long enough to know sh** dont work like that at all, invest in a s/c kit or turbo kit, internals if you do turbo, headers, and a full exhaust and there you will gain a moderate amount of hp, not alot but enough to see a good difference.



2010 Lonestar Bash 2nd place J-Body Street Class

Trey Reed wrote:ive been on this site long enough to know sh**

Trey Reed wrote:headers

Orly?


J/k Had to point it out

Mike wrote:

Trey Reed wrote:ive been on this site long enough to know sh**

Trey Reed wrote:headers

Orly?


J/k Had to point it out

yes header"s", have more than one so you can interchange them lol



2010 Lonestar Bash 2nd place J-Body Street Class

Hold up.

The stock header is pretty restrictive. With an aftermarket header on the Chevy S-10 2.2L (same engine)....it gained 12.6 hp on the dyno. http://www.minitruckinweb.com/tech/engine/0305mt_chevy_s10_aftermarket_headers/index.html Im not saying you will see the same gain on the Cavalier, but its something to take into consideration.....


'00 GMC Sonoma 2200
'02 Chevy Cavalier 2200

Senorguitar wrote:Get so tired of newbs claiming "I made 15 hp with just this." No you didnt...its been proven time and time again so stop claiming that you did. Also, Just getting a header wont do jack. The exhaust will just bottleneck at where the header runners end. Gotta replace the whole system to get any real gain. Of which, is extremely minimal.

Replace ALL your exhaust (dont buy catback, do all custom.), Get a new intake (doesnt matter if it's cold air or short ram, makes no difference) and then actually study into what you wanna do instead of just throwing parts at your car.

You say you wanna do cams...do you know how to tune, cause you will need a tune with those cams. That's $600 alone for HPtuners. That is, if your car is compatible.

ok sorry i dont know how much i got out of those mods, when i did those mods i didnt get it dynoed but stock it was 92 fwhp i got it dynoed again on a mustang dyno at hardcore motor sports old dyno in flint, after i shaved my head , ported and polished, 1mm o/s valves, 10.5:1 wiseco pistions, ipp stage 1 cam, comp cam hd valve springs, and had the block bored .020, top feed conversion injectors, at 141 fwhp and 151 ft/lbs so i was just guestimating on what i thought they were worth to my 2.2, and it was not hard to tune my cam in or the injectors, if you need a tune for them i think mine are still saved on my friends hp, and 97+ are hp tuner compatible


Erik Packard

Nick, There isn't anything that will make this motor magically more powerful, but a few things can help.

Are you doing the head gasket replacement yourself? If so, have the cylinder head machined approximately .035" and do the 1.6:1 adjustable roller rocker-arm conversion. (Please don't just torque the rocker arms down [like Chilton's or Haynes says, that's for stock rocker arms] with this conversion, do a proper hydraulic lifter preload!) This will slightly increase the compression ratio and valve lift, for a small improvement. If you're really want little more here, you can get the 1mm oversized valves(available from TurboTechRacing.com, CarCustoms.net or ImportPerformanceParts.net), with a good multi-angle valve job. Even more can be had with a port and polish job, but if time and or money are a concern, you wont be able to do this.

An OBX header (IIRC the only 4-2-1 header left, though they may have gone to a 4-1 design like PaceSetter) is stainless steel, to help it survive the Upstate winters. Get a good aftermarket 2.25" high flow cat, 2.25" stainless exhaust pipe, a Thrush Stainless Magnum Glasspack (as a resonator) and a Dynomax SuperTurbo Muffler. Have a shop do the bending and hook-up (and supply the pipe?). This will give you a nearly stock sound (just slightly louder and deeper, not ricey like a fart can) that will flow well. ( I recommended the stainless because of where you listed you live in your profile.

As for intakes, just an E-Bay intake with a K&N filter will do. No real gains to note with this mod alone, but will help with the other mods being done.

Finally, if the motor has over 100k miles on it, you'll want to think about replacing the timing chain, gears, chain dampener and tensioner. While there, you can get a Mr.Gasket Chevy Offset Crank Key, part number 985G. This is a key that is 2* offset. If installed with the offset to the Left when facing the front of the crankshaft snout, will retard the cam slightly to help move the power-band up a slight amount.

None of these mods are going to be a silver bullet, but they each will contribute to helping out.