Hi everyone. Im a newbie to the site. I have a 99 grand am se2 right now and i think i want a 2dr cavi. They are increadbly cheap since i have read they have terrible resale value. I have that problem with the car that i have. My question to you is, are all the motors reliable or just the ld9.? Should I be considering a cavi, or sunfire? Do you think a saturn sc2 would be better? What should I avoid. Where Im from *grandamgt.com* its safe to say most of us hate our cars since they are all lemons. Im lookin at a 98 sunfire with 111k miles for 3 grand. Is that apear to be a good deal or not. Hope to learn lots about these cars. Thanks

From my experience that motors in J-bodys are pretty reliable as long as theyve been taken care of. The Cavalier and Sunfire is basically the same thing, just styling is different, your personnal preference is important there. Personnally I would take a J over the Saturn, and yes that seems to be a pretty good price.

Thanks. Found out that one I was lookin at is an auto, so i think im going to keep looking. Manual sounds like it would be a little more fun to me. Anyone elses input?

welcome to the nathan. i believe 3,000 is a bit much for a "J" with 111,000 miles. id keep looking if i was you. good luck man.



-Www.IznTrbl.Com-

Basically it comes down to how you take care of it and hopefully the previous owner(s) got it regularly maintained. Other than that, our motors our known for lasting a long time...if you go to the 3rd Gen forum there have been threads about how many miles people have.

Also, welcome to the



www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837

Welcome to the Org, Nathan. As the others said, it all comes down to owner history and how well the car has been taken care of. If you can find yourself a good price on a Cavi/Fire with the Ecotec engine then its worth thinking about (haha, I'm a bit biased).



Blown.

I've owned two Saturn SC2's, a 92 and a 96. Go with a J man, you'll thank me later.
And I'm all for the LD9.


Desert Tuners

“When you come across a big kettle of crazy, it’s best not to stir it.”

the ld9 is a great motor there are two things that can be problem #1 internal water pump and tends to go. going rate is about 7 hours by a mechanic (thats what they charged me).#2 spin the #3 rod bearing, but that can be preventibale with regular maint.

welcome to the org.



maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow....... but some day

Nathan Nighbert wrote:Hi everyone. Im a newbie to the site. I have a 99 grand am se2 right now and i think i want a 2dr cavi. They are increadbly cheap since i have read they have terrible resale value. I have that problem with the car that i have. My question to you is, are all the motors reliable or just the ld9.? Should I be considering a cavi, or sunfire? Do you think a saturn sc2 would be better? What should I avoid. Where Im from *grandamgt.com* its safe to say most of us hate our cars since they are all lemons. Im lookin at a 98 sunfire with 111k miles for 3 grand. Is that apear to be a good deal or not. Hope to learn lots about these cars. Thanks

Well I have an LD9 in my cavalier and its held up really really damn good, my buddy got a free car from his cousin when his cousin went off to the marines. It was a 98 z24 with the LD9 engine it it.. He didn't want the car and he had a 3100 from a buick he wanted to put into it. So he decided he was going to blow up the LD9... First test was driving it peggying it out at max rpms, he drove around the city all day pegging out every gear. That didn't do anything. So he pulled the ebrake and put a rock infront of the back tires, got in the car and started to burn out. He got it burning out in 2nd gear and he put a rock on the gas, got out and watched it.. The tires popped so he had to hurry and turn it off but it still did nothing and it drove fine after that still.. Another weird incident, he found out that he was running the car with little to no water in it, and he had put 200 miles on it.. So YES the LD9 is a very very stout engine. I would try to find a cavalier with one of those it in, other than that? i have no clue about the eco's

Hmm im a tad scared now about this water pump issue. Ive already had the LIM done on my grand am, and that was 800 dollars. But i just think a j-body style car with a 5 speed looks like fun. And the throught of 25-30 miles a gallon makes me singe praise. What are major differences between ls and z? and how much is z going to up my insurance, or my dads i should say. thanks

Well, I'm a newb myself, but I have owned two 97 SC2s. They're great cars, but you have to make sure you get one that was taken care of, or you'll run into oil consumption problems, neither of mine had that problem tho. Personally, it depends on what kind of J you're looking for. If your looking for an ecotec or a z24, I'd definitely choose the J, any other I'd go with the SC2. I recommend just doing some basic research at enthusiasts sites and auto sites just to get an idea of the basic problems and adavantages of each car. That's the best way to go about it.

Well i found a 98 or 99 z that needs a motor. Hes got like 1200 on the car with out a motor. Says it needs a 2.4. MY freind says he has a 2.2 that will bolt right to it, but i thought you had to have 2.4. Have to do some searching. He said 400 dollars for the motor, and it has 62xxx miles on it. But I think i could find one for about 1500 if i look close. I think I want a 2 door ls. Z sounds like it would be expensive on insurance. Thanks everyone