So my wifes 1997 cavalier 2.2 ohv motor went bad so i found a 95 2.2 and put it in but saw that it has no place for a cam sensor, there is also another sensor on the back of the motor im not really shore what it is, but the 97 is bigger so it wont thread in either, and car is not getting fire now, Is that cause the cam sensor is not hooked up? And if so can i just get a 95 computer And plug it in since it does not use a cam sensor, Any info helps thanks

a 95 engine is obd 1 where as the 97 is an obd2 system so you would have to change the whole wiring harness from the 95 in order to get it to work i believe and also if you did not drain the coolant from the lines and radiator the 95 engine is a non dex-cool engine where as the 96 97 run dex cool

can i just swap the engine harness? Is there any place you can unplug the engine harness from the car harness? or is it all one big harness

I'm going to throw out some info that I'm not 100% sure on, but I believe the 97 is SFI, whereas I know the 95 is not. I believe the simplest way to make it work for you is to change the head, but this may also have the effect of changing your compression ratio. Does the factory engine in your 97 have an intake manifold with the throttle body behind the engine pointing up, or on top of the engine pointing forward like the 95? If they are the same, the change should be easier. If they are not, you are going to have other things to consider. MadJack or OHV Notec are probably the best guys to check with regarding this issue.

You could swap the engine harness and ECU over to the 95 stuff. Keep in mind that this is probably technically illegal since going from OBD-II to OBD-I. Not like i have a ton of room to talk on that.

There are places that the engine harness will disconnect from the lighting and cabin harness. One thing that you need to know is that if you ever have a check engine light come on, you won't be able to get the code off of the 95 computer. Thats kind of the PITA thing about it.

Shawn - the 95 and 97 engines should be pretty much the same... asides from the cam sensor, obviously.

Andrew - the engine should still fire and run without that cam sensor. The engine light will probably constantly be on due to no input from that sensor though. One thing though, in order to do that swap, or even a swap to a 96 engine, I do believe that you need to swap the ICM from the 97 engine over to the new engine. The ICM changed in 97 and they're not interchangeable. So that might be what's causing your engine not to fire.





i find it amusing that SHOoff has nothing better to do but follow me around & be an unhelpful dick in even cross-forum. - Jon Mick

the 96 and 97 engines are the same thing just so everyone knows they went to the sfi 2200 in 98

Quiklilcav wrote:I'm going to throw out some info that I'm not 100% sure on, but I believe the 97 is SFI, whereas I know the 95 is not. I believe the simplest way to make it work for you is to change the head, but this may also have the effect of changing your compression ratio. Does the factory engine in your 97 have an intake manifold with the throttle body behind the engine pointing up, or on top of the engine pointing forward like the 95? If they are the same, the change should be easier. If they are not, you are going to have other things to consider. MadJack or OHV Notec are probably the best guys to check with regarding this issue.

98 started with sequential fuel injection. 92-94 motors should be one category, 95-97 should be another. Very minor differences for the 95-97, just swap the head.

The 95 should have a crank and knock, no cam sensor.




Your car may do 13 sec @ 103 mph, but my car does 146db @ 35 hz.

no the 92-95 engines are swappable due to OBD 1 and the 96 97 engines are OBD 2 the harasses computer ect must be swapped for the engine to properly work right in a 96 97

I just remembered that, the 95 2.2 are all obd1. So there's a ton of stuff that needs swapped. The innards are all almost identical.




Your car may do 13 sec @ 103 mph, but my car does 146db @ 35 hz.

switched the ICM and it fired up, idles rough tho like its missing but only at idle

you don't need to swap the head the difference in the head is on the side where the EGR and Tstat goes if yours is different swap that 95 head is the exact same as a 97 head

basicly the difference in 95 to 96-97 is the 95 had a vacuum EGR and no cam sensor and the 97 had a cam sensor and an electric EGR. OBD1 or 2 means nothing on the 2.2L except the OBD2 computer has the infor for the EGR and the cam sensor

97 motor in a 95 easy
95 motor in a 97 not as easy



JBO since July 30, 2001

NOTa2_4 wrote:you don't need to swap the head the difference in the head is on the side where the EGR and Tstat goes if yours is different swap that 95 head is the exact same as a 97 head

basicly the difference in 95 to 96-97 is the 95 had a vacuum EGR and no cam sensor and the 97 had a cam sensor and an electric EGR. OBD1 or 2 means nothing on the 2.2L except the OBD2 computer has the infor for the EGR and the cam sensor

97 motor in a 95 easy
95 motor in a 97 not as easy

So by your post....

I see that the OP has swapped over the ICM as I posted, and got the engine to run. From your post I read that he should swap the EGR over as well, or is the EGR physically different where it won't swap over?





i find it amusing that SHOoff has nothing better to do but follow me around & be an unhelpful dick in even cross-forum. - Jon Mick

I was thinking the 96 and 97, though not the 2200, had been SFI. Regardless, the 95 is not the same, as noted already.

Now here's the thing I don't see addressed in any of the posts: since the 95 does not have a cam sensor, don't you need to swap the cam as well? I wouldn't expect it to have the necessary ring and/or notches on it for the sensor to function.

Quiklilcav wrote:I was thinking the 96 and 97, though not the 2200, had been SFI. Regardless, the 95 is not the same, as noted already.

Now here's the thing I don't see addressed in any of the posts: since the 95 does not have a cam sensor, don't you need to swap the cam as well? I wouldn't expect it to have the necessary ring and/or notches on it for the sensor to function.

Yeah, but that would require A) drilling and tapping the block for the sensor. B) changing out the camshaft to a newer cam with the reluctor on it.



i find it amusing that SHOoff has nothing better to do but follow me around & be an unhelpful dick in even cross-forum. - Jon Mick

Any luck with that swap, would like to know if you were able to pull it off, since i have a 95 engine sitting in my garage i was thinking about just getting rid of due to the fact i cant build it into my 97, if you get this done and are able to make it run right i would like to hear about it thanks

its running fine now, it ended up being a sticking lifter,

no electircal problems,

chasing the wrong thing,

thanks to every body,

So I was doing some research on the web and no one has a thread on how to do this swap without swapping the harness and ecu. Well I have figured out a solution to bypass the cam angle censor which a 95 block does not have a spot for. First off I used my 97 Sunfire Coilpack, 97 Sunfire ecu, 97 Sunfire harness, 95 engine complete with intake and egr and 97 Sunfire 2 plug crank censor. I just finished this swap, it runs great so I know it works. The purple wire off of the crank shaft position censor is the signal wire you will need to tap into. Then there is a 3 wire harness that goes to where the cam position censor would be; there are 3 wires that go to the cam position censor: the red one that is on the right (is the power), the middle wire (is the ground), and the one on the left side is the one you need to tap into and connect to the purple wire (that is on the crank censor).

andrew kennedy wrote:So I was doing some research on the web and no one has a thread on how to do this swap without swapping the harness and ecu. Well I have figured out a solution to bypass the cam angle censor which a 95 block does not have a spot for. First off I used my 97 Sunfire Coilpack, 97 Sunfire ecu, 97 Sunfire harness, 95 engine complete with intake and egr and 97 Sunfire 2 plug crank censor. I just finished this swap, it runs great so I know it works. The purple wire off of the crank shaft position censor is the signal wire you will need to tap into. Then there is a 3 wire harness that goes to where the cam position censor would be; there are 3 wires that go to the cam position censor: the red one that is on the right (is the power), the middle wire (is the ground), and the one on the left side is the one you need to tap into and connect to the purple wire (that is on the crank censor).

So you are running the crank signal to the cam sensor plug?
I'm going to look up some parts to see if I can figure this out.


- Your not-so-local, untrained, uncertified, backyard mechanic. But my @!#$ runs

Y put an 95ohv on a 97 cavalier when you can put an 98 2200 ohv sfi. The 98 2200 motor still has an egr, n all you need to do
Is to make some wirings longer and injectors hardness. I would know cuz I have done it 2 my 97 cavalier and still using my 3speed auto