The guys who run in the "Stock-appearing" class of drag-racing (Vintage muscle-cars dominate that field!) have their manifold Extrude-honed (Hot, abrasive putty is forced trough the passages) & "tweaked" with a die-grinding tool, just to see gains... Maybe you can take a cue from them.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

I was talking to someone, i cant remember who though, told me about a different stock manifold that flowed better. I want to say that it was off a 92-93ish beretta iirc.




1994 Cavalier 2.2 5 Speed - Scrapped.
1994 Cavalier Z24 3.1 Auto - Enduro
1995 Cavalier 2.2 Auto - Figure 8

well guys we had it on the dyno today, we were pulling to 7500 on the first 2 runs but wanted to take it higher on the third run seems we made some changes, at 7900 we some two big puffs of smoke and then lost compression as the motor stalled....

took the motor out tonight and this si what we found. the piston is in a bunch of pieces in the oil pan...

it never ran lean or anything the highest a/f ratio reading was 12.2 at 7850 and everything else looked great on the dyno. so we are thinking there was a casting defect in the piston...

we were up to 125hp but that was still with very conservative timing (30*) and a pig rich a/f mixture

if we had all day if should have been in the 160hp range before we left

Thats a bummer. Cast or forged pistons? What brand? Hopefully you didnt damage anything too bad and you can put it back together soon.




1994 Cavalier 2.2 5 Speed - Scrapped.
1994 Cavalier Z24 3.1 Auto - Enduro
1995 Cavalier 2.2 Auto - Figure 8

Sucks to hear Bob..... Hope you get it all worked out soon....





P&P Tuning
420.5whp / 359.8wtq

woops the second pic didnt show up right...
these pistons WERE sealed power factory replacements. note to self, keep it at or under 7500 rpm haha

we will be building another cast piston engine this week and dropping it in and in the mean time saving up for some flat top wisecos and eagles as well as a new cam tt runs more into the 8000-8500 range

here is what we fonud when we pulled the head

Oh jeez. I haven't seen something like that since a friend of a friend sprayed a 125hp dry-shot through the MAF on his 5.7, 4WD Silverado... Piston just fractured & shattered! Surprise-surprise, it still could run well-enough to limp home! He later replaced it with a lightly-used all-aluminum F-car LS1. Now he just needs to get that darn 4L65E rebuilt strong enough to stand-up to it & installed.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

was there bad cylinder wall damage? It would seem with something like that, it would be all messed up. I hope not, cause that will complicate repairs a bit. Best of luck gettign it back together. I know all to well what it's like to break internals in the combustion chamber...

we had another bottom end sitting there ready to go. just gotta replace 5 valves in the heasd and should be set to go

lesson learned people - forged pistons really are the way to go LOL

bob, what kind of tolerances do you guys run for the main bearings and cam bearings? stock clearance?



180hp in 1989 or 145hp in 2002, you decide. >

cam bearings were stock mains and rods were .0035

Quick question. If you omit the alt and powersteering pump and run just the water pump off the crank, wont the water pump turn backwards? Or will it make a diff?

yes the water pump does turn backwards... but on a good note we have run it like this for 4 years and only have an overheating issue when we run the stock crank pulley. the underdrive pulley makes the car run about 20* cooler. i tihnk because it slows the pump down a little... if anyone else does this remeber to remove the thermostat haha

the WP pulley is actually a PS pulley from a 99 explorer 5.0

I've often wondered about what gains could be had from running reverse-flow cooling on the LN2, only using electric pumps instead. Thought the same about removing the thermostat in such a setup, too... Maybe one day I'll get the chance to do it. Bet it'll warm-up quicker.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

warms up slow as heck haha... but we also runne a 4 core 26x19 radiator haha

How hard is it to convert my 97 2.2 to carburetion?

EFI to Carb swap help anyone please?

I LOVE UNDERDOG BUILDS!!!!! makes me wanna but a LN2 car and do a all motor build

I'd love to see what even a mildly-built LN2 would do in a lighter platform w/RWD... Like a Fiero, or a Chevette!


Go beyond the "bolt-on".