Where is the best place to order parts for 2.2 eco tec l61
Wanting some performance upgrades and some stock parts to refresh the engine and does balance shaft delete actually help these engines and has anyone tried light weight crank is it worth it ?

I deleted my balance shafts. It makes a difference in how fast and high you can rev the engine.




On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.

Shopper who can disseminate? EBay. Other j-body enthusiasts. Scrap yards. I'd start with cleaning up the head a bit, port matching intake Mani and header, balancw the rotating assembly and either buy a kit or do your own balance delete (cut the balance shafts before the bearing surface and deburr the stubs, being careful not to scratch the bearing surface; also be careful removing the shafts as the piece that holds them in is made of aluminum and breaks really easily when disassembling and reasonably). You could knife edge the crank to reduce windage and add in piston oil squirrels from an LSJ while you're at it. You can do all that without buying a lot of extra performance stuff for these motors, but you'll need to let it breathe. Flow test the head and see what will work best on exhaust and intake side. See if you can optimize the head for the oem intake manifold runner size/length. Get a good tune on your PCM once you've ported the head and port matched stuff/optimized exhaust. Wide band o2, with heater if you get a 4-2-1 eBay header. Any 3" CAI that doesn't end in the engine bay will do. In my first build I removed my washer fluid reservoir and stuffed my air intake into the fender well through that opening (coldest air is found here ). Throttle body spacer can give you more power.

Throttle body spacer is really only good if you're looking for a way to add meth or nitrous. eBay 4-2-1 headers have a tendency to go through gaskets where the 4-2 transition is as the flanges tend to not be perfectly flat from the factory. Pacesetter 4-1 is a better header option. He would also need a bushing set to block the rear oil passages if he plans to make his own balance shaft deletes.

Turbotech racing is a pretty good source for parts. eBay can be as well as long as the seller has good feedback and you are buying name brand parts. Places like zzp and Ottperformance also carry ecotec parts. They tend to be more geared towards the lsj/le5/lnf but they do have some l61 stuff as well and a good portion of the parts are interchangeable.

strat81 wrote:Throttle body spacer is really only good if you're looking for a way to add meth or nitrous.

I'll bet you'll notice a torque increase with this mod on a dyno.

strat81 wrote:eBay 4-2-1 headers have a tendency to go through gaskets where the 4-2 transition is as the flanges tend to not be perfectly flat from the factory. Pacesetter 4-1 is a better header option.

I had luck with this header by machining the 4-2 and 2-1 flanges, thread locking the bolts, and installing a 1' x 2.5" flex pipe instead of using the header flex pipe.

strat81 wrote:He would also need a bushing set to block the rear oil passages if he plans to make his own balance shaft deletes.

Why would that be necessary if the stubs were used from the old balance shaft? You need them to run the water pump anyway.

*rears

Install them in the long block too for oil pressure. They're both already matched to their bearing surface per shaft.

There are oil galleys in the back of the block (opposite end of the gears) that require a set of bushings be pressed into the block to close the passages. You can't use part of the existing shafts to plug them as there would be nothing to prevent them from coming out of the journals as they are not a press fit.

People have dyno'd with a tb spacer and have found no discernible difference from without...

Plenty of guys have machined the flanges flat on the eBay header but still have not had as good a result as the pacesetter.

I'm not sure where I was going with the balance shaft delete. Jose Cuervo did the typing for me... There's always neutral shafts too, even if it's still just a little extra weight.

Pacesetter is a name brand. You definitely get what you pay for. And I won't go in full support on that eBay header either, but with some work and a new flex pipe I got a year and a half from it before I got rid of the car. I could admit I got lucky. There's plenty of evidence the other way. *shrugs*

Shame on the spacer. I was convinced it helped. But I never did a run with and without, so I really can't say either way.

Lightened crank, let's talk. If the crank is light it won't deliver as much force necessary to get the car going as a full weight crank. It means launching can be difficult. Stumbling. However, once you get going, moving through the RPM range is more consistent and smooth, assuming you've acquired the properly balance rotating assembly. If you have the right rods and pistons with this lightweight crank plus delete balance shafts, you'll notice a significantly increased RPM as well. You're going to run into the engine choking out if you don't have a head flow supporting high RPM air volume. That's where forced air comes in. ITB's help too. So yeah a lightened crank will help your top end power. Your low end power will suffer here though.

Awesome thanks for the feedback about to start building soon