so like 2 months ago the LD9 in the Z jumped timing real bad. skipped like 3 teeth, i expect it smashed a few valves because it has 0 compression across all cylinders and doesn't run. i've been having some trouble with the motor for the past year anyway, started seeing metal in the oil in like nov. 08 and it's been feeling like it's been losing power, but i didnt have the time or money at that point to toss in a motor, or to get a crank kit so i kept running it until it skipped timing. i was actually expecting it to throw a rod, but it didnt. it's bad, it's probably partially my own fault, but live and learn rite? i have indeed learned a whole hell of a lot working on this car over the past 5 years of ownership, and i feel like i'm not done with it yet. and as many say, a breakdown is only a reason to rebuild.
in my mind it's not worth fixing the top end with the extent of damage unknown, and in all likleyhood it's got a spun rod bearing (metal in the oil), so i've decided to just replace the motor. i'm not going to do anything big at all, the budget isn't there for that, so i've limited it to what i'm comfortable with and what i think will still suit my needs, which it should do quite well. it's purposely thought out to not put me in the poor house, but still keep me happy. i'm anxious to get it back on the road already. my goal is before summer, maybe middle of spring, but as long as the other car keeps running, i have no real date it HAS to be finished by. whenever it gets done, it gets done. take my time and do it rite.
here's the list of what i've decided to go with and some pics of what i have so far.
-want to find a low mile 00+ short block, clean it up a bit and put it in
-going to have this spare 96-98 head i have cleaned, checked for cracks and get a mild P&P done



gonna rebuild it with
-NEW keepers retainers and valve springs from GM(all in transit)
-TTR(SI) stainless steel valves



-TTR bronze valve guides(will be installed when the head work is done)


-NEW Clevite lifters
-if i can i will re-use the Secret cams in the motor now (intake cam checked out good, exhaust cam may have damage, haven't removed it yet) if i have to, i'll either get a new Melling exhaust cam, or buy another used set of secret cams. (old pic)


now i know some people will flat out tell me to go with the HO cams. i would like to, but i did the research and the combination of a surprising lack of Quad4 cars in the very few junk yards near me, and the expense of new parts has basically made me decide to stick with secret cams. i'm pretty solid on that for the time being. besides its not like i can't upgrade if i ever want to
-New Melling oil pump
-Spec stage3 clutch from TTR
-Stillen 11# Flywheel (i think its the same as unorthadox?)
-Fel-Pro head gasket set
-NEW Fel-pro head bolts- i know studs are availible, but in all honesty i dont plan to ever have the head off after i put it on. and if i ever remove the motor again it'll be to go BIG. many many miles down the road though.
-all new Cloyes timing set with the one piece tensioner, becuase i like it better.
-i have a brand new water pump laying around that i'll put on
-i'm planning on deleting the A/C. removing the compressor, condensor, and the lines leading in and out of the firewall. everything still works but i rarely use it, even in the summer, so its going. replacing the compressor with a brand new A/C delete pulley (24574519)


and now for the most expensive part of the new build, lol.
i recently had to pirate the exhaust off of the Z and put it on my '95 2.2 beater.(Jegs 2.25" cat-back piping with a large Dynomax superturbo muffler) so i need a new cat-back at least. it wasn't originally in my plans, but @!#$ happens. i'm gonna go all out on this one and get everything new from the Header-back.
-Bill& Stan's iperformance 4-2-1 Header with 2.5" Magnaflow cat
-Bill& Stan's iperformance 2.5" cat-back with Magnaflow muffler.
i was gonna go with a megan cat-back but after some looking around and really thinking about it, i'm gonna go with the iperformance one. it looks very subtle, which has been my whole thing from the get-go, and if it doesn't sound good or i dont like it resonators are cheap, or i can always swap out the magnaflow for a dynomax like i had.
-i will re-install the Venom Intake manifold i have sitting around



-i also have an OEM 58mm TB sitting here as well, which is untested, and looks like @!#$(looooong story), but hopefully itll do it's job.


eventually i will need to get a tune as well. it's not number 1 on the list, but it will get done, hopefully before this time next year i can find someone good with HPtuners to do it up rite.
i have a nice overhaul planned for the rest of the car as well, which i may or may not get to next winter. depends upon funds, as always.

TEAR DOWN PROGRESS:
i only have weekends to work on tearing it apart, (i work mon-fri 8-6 and sat 9-12. usually around 47+ hours a week) and it's in a small garage with 0 room to move around. not to mention its been cold. i have to roll the car outta the garage anytime it needs to get off the ground, and you can only fit 2 cars in my driveway, so i'm kinda waiting till the snow stops to do that kinda stuff. progress on teardown has been slow, but it'll get there.
it was nice out, and warm yesterday (mid 40's) so i decided to begin with the teardown. started with this


and like an hour and a half later would up with this. i love air tools.


removed the intake piping, TB, intake manifold, EGR pump, entire ignition system, starter, accessory belt, alternator, dipstick, brake booster vacuum tube, removed the fuel rail and left it hanging on the side, removed the P/S pump and left it on the side, pulled and labeled most of the harness(who knows what i'll remember when it's time to get it back together). placed everything in a nice neat little box.



i tore apart the spare head a while back. cleaned and kept everything on the side.




i still have a lot to buy, track down and a lot more to tear off of the old motor. like i said, it's nothing big, but it will definately keep me busy and my wallet slim through spring. i'll update with pics whenever i get to work, or new parts show up.

and heres one of my favorite pics for good measure.


thanks for looking



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, January 17, 2010 3:32 PM

Nice job, repairs are always a good reason to upgrade

If I can make a few suggestions though that will prolly save you a bit of money or not add much more to the final cost:
1. If you need an exhaust cam, Id go with an HO which drops right in with the 2.3 tower/lifters. Doesnt need modding like the HO intake cam, and is a nice addition with the secret intake.
2. Instead of the stans exhaust, just go with piping from CTI and you can choose your own muffler and start out with a res if you want. That alone would save you about $200 as 2.5" mandrel piping from cti is about $175, and the stans catback is like over $300 correct?
3. There havnt been any comparisons between the venom intake and the lo/ho mani, but with a mild build the 2.3 intake mani is a cheap and easy alternative and would go nicely with a ported head and larger cams.

Hurry up and bring this thing out to a meet



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, January 17, 2010 3:44 PM


JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.

Haynes manual FTW.

good stuff

definitely liking the amount of thought going into this build. nice job.

the venom intake... did it come with the decals placed on it like that or was that something you did? mine did not come with any and it was brand new. others i have seen did not come with any as well ( i know its trivial, i am just curious).

the stillen flywheel- yeah i think thats the same as the unorthodox.. made by aasco. very nice on this piece, it will hold up. unlike the junk fidanza's.



Trailer Queen corvette wanna-be with 40 coats of wax and powdercoating that soaks in.

icemike89 wrote:
1. If you need an exhaust cam, Id go with an HO which drops right in with the 2.3 tower/lifters. Doesnt need modding like the HO intake cam, and is a nice addition with the secret intake.
2. Instead of the stans exhaust, just go with piping from CTI and you can choose your own muffler and start out with a res if you want. That alone would save you about $200 as 2.5" mandrel piping from cti is about $175, and the stans catback is like over $300 correct?
3. There havnt been any comparisons between the venom intake and the lo/ho mani, but with a mild build the 2.3 intake mani is a cheap and easy alternative and would go nicely with a ported head and larger cams.

if any of my few yards had an HO i'd probably have the cams already lol. the fact is that yards are few and far between around me. car-part.com puts the closest 2.3 tower at 50+ miles away, and has 0 listings for any Quad4 exhaust cam in my area, let alone an HO. last time i went to my local pick and pull yard (15+ miles away) they were cleaning house. they had 1 cavalier. it was a 2000+ sedan with an OHV. just to give an idea how slim pickins are around here lol. i was pretty happy with the secret cams when i put em in. the fact the motor was on it's way out kinda left something to be imagined, but i think with the new setup they'll really shine. like i said too, the opportunity will always be there to upgrade if i like
if i was gonna go for a boosted motor i'd get the 3" CTI like you have, but the idea of a full exhuast made by one company has really grown on me, lol.
and if i didnt already have the venom from a great deal i got like a year ago i'd most likely be going with a HO intake mani, lets face it they look badass.

I SATCHMOE YOU!!!! wrote:Hurry up and bring this thing out to a meet

i may actually this summer if everything works out. would be my first, lol.

zdoubledozen [ Matt wrote:]Haynes manual FTW.

lol i knew when i was putting those pics in that someone would catch that. it's helped a lot in the past. its a very nice reference to have around now

z yaaaa wrote:definitely liking the amount of thought going into this build. nice job.

the venom intake... did it come with the decals placed on it like that or was that something you did? mine did not come with any and it was brand new. others i have seen did not come with any as well ( i know its trivial, i am just curious).

the stillen flywheel- yeah i think thats the same as the unorthodox.. made by aasco. very nice on this piece, it will hold up. unlike the junk fidanza's.

coming from the king of planning things out, that means something. thanks
the venom mani, it did come with those decals on it. from the info i got from the ebay listing when i got it, they said it was a shelf model that was sitting in a glass case since it was first produced. i think they may have put the decals on just for show, or something. they're kinda peeling at the corners so that leads me to believe it wasn't something that venom did, but who knows lol. heres a better pic

i can't remember where i first heard of the Stillen flywheel. definately on here and it was pretty recent. i've heard spec was junk, and i've seen too many sheared fidanza's to even go near them. there was an old Rocket Parts 7# steel flywheel on ebay for like 3 months a while ago that i had my eye on, but i got to thinking, and realized that for me, it woulda been waaayyy too light. it was really nice and cheap too, it only went for like $200. i thought it woulda been awesome to have an original GM produced lightweight flywheel, but i let it go. woulda been too light.

thanks for all the kind words guys. it's appreciated.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, January 17, 2010 8:59 PM

i have definitely never seen the anodized blue version before. i do like it!

and LOL i think i remember seeing it on ebay, the story sure sounds familiar.

speaking of decals.. i actually had one custom made by jm decals on here for mine. i put it down on the plenum though, horizontally. you can barely see it but thats ok.

so did you notice any gains from your's? i didnt on mine but i did a TON of things at the same time so i have absolutely no basis for comparison. the car was still ass slow regardless, though.



Trailer Queen corvette wanna-be with 40 coats of wax and powdercoating that soaks in.

i do like the blue, it's a nice color, but it doesn't really fit with anything else on the car. cept for my single blue PCV hose. not that it really makes a difference to me lol.
i do remember seeing pics of yours a while ago. always liked the chrome.
it's been a while since it's been on the car. i removed it due to fear of a rod coming through the block and damaging the manifold. when it was on though i had it on with the OEM phenolic spacer. it did feel a bit stronger, but nothing extreme. i never got the chance to run it with a bored TB. only had the stocker with it, so i would only imagine that it would get better with the increased volume. the mild P&P will probably help out a bit too but we'll see

little update. got a small package from GMPD today.
got my valve springs (x16)


keepers- only come in packs of 10 halves now. had to order 4 packs(40 halves) to get the 32 i needed.


and retainers(x16)


i now have everything i need to assemble the head(minus valve seals that come with the head gasket set).
i get a discount at a machine shop through my job, so i'm gonna have my parts guy send my head out to be cleaned, checked install the guides and do the mild P&P within the next couple of weeks.
just ordered my Clevite lifters tonight as well. tentative ship date 2/5/2010



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Tuesday, January 19, 2010 9:16 PM

Summit managed to get a hold of the 33mm Clevite lifters a lot sooner than expected. recieved them via UPS this morning.
it always boggles my mind how they're so expensive, but for lifters Clevite's are cheap. $325 shipped to my door for the set.




i'm kinda low on funds at the moment so it may be a few weeks before i get to order new parts. i'll probably just continue teardown a bit more for now.
here's what's left to order:
Melling Oil Pump
Spec Stage 3 clutch
STILLEN 11# Aluminum Flywheel
Bill& Stan's Cat-back
Bill& Stan's 4-2-1 Header
Fel- Pro engine gasket set
Fel- Pro head bolts
Cloyes Timing set
Cloyes '96 one piece tensioner
and of corse i need a motor to put all the goodies on.

oil pump and clutch i'm going to be getting from TTR. the Stillen flywheel i'm going to order directly from them. the Bill& Stan's stuff; the cat-back is availible on ebay but the header is a made to order piece that is only availible through a mail in order . timing components, head bolts and gasket set will be ordered from Rockauto.com (LOVE dealing with them, absolutely excellent. and very fast shipping). motor will be located through car-part.com, then i'll have to go pick it up myself, wherever the right one may be.





Edited 3 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, January 27, 2010 6:43 PM

although i am the first one to appreciate new lifters, i just do not understand why you would not want to just go the extra mile and put HO cams in there. you bought everything new, you might as well have just got 2.3 stuff instead. its actually quite a bit cheaper to...

ur probably rite about some of the parts being cheaper. i did price out an HO exhaust cam setup with the 2.3 springs and such, but i can't for the life of me find where i saved it at. i was on the fence about upgrading basically because i already have the secret cams, and if i were to upgrade i would need another cam, and a whole tower. not that it's a lot of work, but i just felt like for what i'm lookin for, the secret cams are ok. i was very happy with the secret cams when i put em in, even on a dieing motor i felt like they were a good choice for what i had, and that with a decent motor under them they'd really come to life. i dunno. i'm still not 100% with the decision to keep em, but like i keep saying, i can always upgrade if i feel the need to add more. just might take a little more time and saving to get it where i want it. whatever makes me happy in the end.

HO cams are NOT alot of work, little grinding, and 2.3 springs, retainer, and 2.4 keepers, all worth it man if wasn't for my bottom end being so old I would of been running 10:1 ho and 97 head thats p&p. but much rather go bigger lol


"As I lay rubber down the street, I pray for traction I can keep, but if I spin and begin to slide, please dear God protect my ride." -Amen

not much, but its an update.

recieved my Stillen (Aasco) 11lb flywheel today.






its a very, very nice piece. and Stillen was such a pleasure of a company to deal with. absolutely fantastic. 10 minutes after the order was placed and a comfirmation email was already recieved, i got another email from them saying

Stillen wrote:Dear Jonathan -
Thank you for choosing Stillen.com!
Your order is scheduled to ship between February 17-25.
More flywheels are being made right now
I will email you when your order ships.
If there is anything else I can help you with please feel free to contact me.

that is the first time i have ever been emailed by a company to be told that an item i have ordered is backordered, and more will be made soon. typically in the past i have had to email a company with my concerns almost a week later, as to when an item will be sent. Stillen was very direct, and quick about informing me of what's going on, to me that's a sign of really great customer service. which persisted even through a UPS oopsie where they were given an incorrect tracking number. they were very fast to respond to emails, and simple to deal with. i was very impressed, and based on that experience alone would reccomend purchasing from them to anyone. shipping was delayed only by the @!#$ ton of snow last week, and UPS not ringing my doorbell for a signature twice.

i also recieved an email from Bill @ Iperformance, stating that the order had been recieved, and the header was being sent out for coating. should be shipping this week, so i'm stoked for that.

very slow teardown progress. forgot some tools at work 2 weeks ago, so i couldn't get much done on the nice weekend we had, (and all the snow last weekend kinda killed any work) but i did manage to drain the oil, tranny fluid and removed the Jet-hot coated Pacesetter header, and magnaflow cat. it was a lazy day, didnt really feel like working anyway.

its not in too bad of shape for having almost 30k mi. on it. needs a nice cleaning.
what's left:
00+ motor
Melling Oil Pump
Spec Stage 3 clutch
Bill& Stan's Cat-back
Fel- Pro engine gasket set
Fel- Pro head bolts
Cloyes Timing set
Cloyes '96 one piece tensioner

next to be ordered will be all the stuff i can get from Rockauto.
more to come soon.

Any improvement with the venom intake over stock?

guess whats in the bubblewrap!


just kidding i @!#$ hate that game..

















Bill&Stan's 4-2-1 tri-y header, in their tri-coat ceramic coating. 2.5" Magnaflow (Carsound) cat


all the hardware that came with it: new copper gasket looks nice, cant be any thicker than a stock steel piece.

it looks fantastic. i'm really pleased with how it turned out, and dealing with Bill was a breeze. he kept me informed every step of the way, and even sent me a pic when it was done. i think i might polish it up a bit more before the time comes to install, but im really happy with it. and it was so well packaged that it actually took a good chunk of time to get it out of the 2 boxes all this was in, then the double wrapped bubble wrap on every piece, then the extra box over the cat, and the cardboard support for the gasket. no chance in hell this was getting damaged during shipping.
with a couple of the bigger parts here now, i can't wait to get it all back together and running again. the nice weather we've been having doesn't help either. i really want to get moving on this now. lol.

i still have to have the head sent out to be cleaned and checked, etc, etc. hopefully over the next week i will have that done.
all of the Rockauto parts will be ordered within the next week as well.
then i need to do a bit more saving for a couple weeks.

so i've decided to go with an HO exhaust cam setup...
i saw this on eBay last week for a great price and i couldn't pass on it. with the current exhaust cam in an unknown condition with some expected damage, and this being the only piece that really kept me from thinking about it in the first place i figured why the hell not.




it is a 2.3 exhaust tower, it has the threaded hole for the oil pressure sender on the driver's side of the tower. i tossed a factory LD9 exhaust cam in just for kicks and theres a HUGE amount of room in there, lol. i need to clean it out, but it's in nice shape. no scorring, no grooves, it looks like a nice piece.

also recieved all my stuff from Rockauto this past week.
Head gasket set, Head bolt set and a conversion gasket set (all Fel-Pro gaskets).


and a Cloyes timing set and one piece tensioner.


also got new Platinum AC/Delco plugs and new plug boots.

tore it apart a bit more as well.


axles out, coolant drained, linkage and linkage bracket removed from trans, harness completely disconnected,
with the exception of 2 coolant hoses, mounts and the entire a/c system (which i need to figure out how to discharge without the car being mobile enough to get to a machine), it's just about ready to come out.


updated list of stuff i still need:
- Melling Oil Pump from TTR
- Autometer Cobalt Electric Oil Pressure Gauge from TTR (gotta fill in that open oil port somehow )
- Luk Clutch kit - after reading all the hit or miss horror stories about spec clutches for these cars and hearing such good stories about the factory/ Luk clutches and what they handle i've decided to not even chance having a bad experience with spec. i like the feel of my stock clutch so why mess with it?
- Bill & Stan's 2.5" Catback with single Magnaflow muffler from their eBay store.
- Melling HO Exhaust cam from Autozone
- Sealed Power 35mm lifters from Rockauto.com

got links to the site where you got the header from?


~DVST8R~ aka ThaCaviKid
Nitrous is like wanting to have sex with a hot chick that has an STD... you wanna hit it,
but you are afraid of the consequences

Wow them are some sweet parts..pretty darn impressive !!! Header and pipe are just ...wow !!!




2003 Cavalier
Stock 2.2 Liter, 5 speed
" Leave the rice to Uncle Ben's and the wings to KFC..
Go clean or go home. "

damn man, you've got great taste in parts. i KNEW that 'stillen' flywheel was the aasco. (for those who dont know its also what unorthodox used to sell)

keep up the amazing work.



We all need somebody to believe in something...

z yaaaa wrote:

speaking of decals.. i actually had one custom made by jm decals on here for mine. i put it down on the plenum though, horizontally. you can barely see it but thats ok.

That decal turned out well, you ordered that from me at least 3.5 years ago lol

~DVST8R~ aka ThaCaviKid wrote:got links to the site where you got the header from?

lol, thanks for the kind words guys, makes me feel like i'm doing something rite.
Clicky for header
the header is an oldie, but a goodie. off the top of my head i can think of maybe 5 people that i know of who have used this header in the past (i'm sure there are more though). IMO its due to the very high price. when compared to the other 4-2-1 style headers availible for these motors; RKSport, or the DC Sports header(which is no longer availible), it's at the very least $200 more expensive, unless bought used. but It's a hand made piece that's made to order, and (if chosen) hand coated with several layers inside and out of ceramic coating, and then hand polished before being superduper wrapped for crazy shipping protection, lol. compared to the Pacesetter i've had for the past 2 years, it's not even in the same ballpark when it comes to quality. the pacesetter does it's job well and held up great, but i have high hopes for what this one can do.

oh and to answer your question from before blue02zee24, the Venom manifold made it feel a bit smoother and seemed to give a little more umph, but that's with a stock TB. i'm convinced that with a larger TB it will only enhance what the manifold can do. more volume= good. no HUGE gains from it though with the setup i had at the time.

thanks for looking guys.

before


after






had the head cleaned and resurfaced. unsure how much was taken off. nothing significant though. still has some carbon that needs cleaned up before it gets anymore work.

some extra cleaning i did








little bit of port work comes next.