Alright, so my name is Cramer, and i am relatively new to this forum and Jays in general. I know pretty much nothing when it comes to these vehicle but i have learned quite a lot since first buying one a year ago. I find myself always hungry for more info/knowledge.

Anyway lets get to the good stuff.

This is the beater i drove before, around a year and a half ago. I warped the crap outta that head after taking it up some steep terrain. So i decided to move on up in years and bought a 2000 z24



z24


This thing to me was awesome, i went from a car that didnt have anything to a car that had the works, power windows/locks, more power in general, but more confusing engine wise IMO.

I loved it, it had high kilometers, but i did all the necessary check ups including checking the oil levels once a week.

I did a couple things here and there minor like a warm air intake and a cherry bomb muffler. First upgrade was clear turn signal housing. I personally don't understand the amber? side markers at all, i feel they are just out of place. Also i picked up a OEM strut tower bar from my Local Guru Lenko.



This thing was pretty dirty inside the engine bay but it had 245000 kms on it. What else to expect.



Me and a buddy installed a 02 LS Front lip by following a guide from someone on this forum (forgot who but i would link if i could)

I also de-badged the front and back but i left the side moldings on, just because i feel they look fine with them on.

And then i found a full body kit off of someone locally that i snatched up for the total price of $150. I think that was a steal for a BC2 99 front, BMX sides, a 03 BC2 rear and also some z3 fenders.




I was beginning to salivate at the thought of doing a front end conversion so i quickly purchased some 99 projector headlights, Ebay special.


I began painting the body kit black to get it ready to put on. (I know, @!#$ty painting job, why is this noob doing it on his deck and spray bombing it. Well i bought the body kit cheap, i am a do-it-myself kinda guy and it turned out pretty good anyway)


But alas, my hopes were shot down, as one Monday morning, i go downstairs into my underground parking lot, and i find my car was molested. Someone had broken into my car by putting a screw driver into the door and tried to "punch" the ignition. Obviously once they had failed to crank the car over (or maybe they did but passlock stopped them) they tried to "hotwire" the car. Now i know the pictures don't do it justice but it was just gross and disturbing



Literally the last photos i have of it.



(Oh Black Cat Custom Gauge face, good quality stuff, less frustrating then changing the lights behind the cluster. But my Radio chime interface kinda dims a section of my cluster.)


Now my local insurance company wrote off my vehicle. They said the total damage was $2500 worth of damage and my car was only worth $1200 (So thats all i got for it, whatever)
The last few minutes with her, stripping her of everything i could, and then watching them tow it away


NOW, you're probably thinking, WHAT THE HELL, you didn't bother buying it back and fixing it, for cheap? Well like i said i have/had no knowledge on how to fix these kinda things and i let the opportunity just float away.
A day or two later someone from my local car club said he had a whole new steering column he could have swapped in for $100. I just hung my head in shame.

Well anyway, the hunt for another Cavalier had begun.

For some reason at the time all the LD9s I looked at, all had their 3rd rod bearing busting and when i looked at peoples z24s for sale they were literally all ticking time bombs, and like i said, i'm not that mechanically inclined. And i am also not a fan of the 03-05 look of cavaliers, So in a sort of panic i found a somewhat low mileage 2001 5 speed 2.2 non ecotec.

So here's what I bought, and what i settled with.


Little did i know how much less power and "pep" this 2200 had compared to the 2.4, but i took a chance at a car that i thought i could build off of.
So, with 139000kms on it i bought it for a little under $2000.



It came with the wheels it has, some random 17s but some very "summery" tires that don't have that much grip in the rain.
Also it came lowered on Eibach Sportlines (ON STOCK STRUTS) window tint on the rear windows, and it has keyless entry with fob.
For some reason my last Cavalier even though it was a z24 did not have a sunroof. This one i currently have does have a sunroof and i absolutely love it.
Now some of the cosmetic things i lost, were, not having AC anymore, not that big of a deal, live in Vancouver area, rains for 10 months of the year, doesn't get too hot,
And not having a couple options like the entire tilt steering column with cruise control and intermediate wipers, and fogs.
But the big main thing that bugged me is the fact it doesn't have power windows and FE0 suspension so no sway bar.

An advantage i gained was i lost that silly 2000-2002 z24 spoiler. I personally think that thing is ugly. The base model one is far superior.

I must just have bad luck with these cars, because within 2 weeks of purchasing the vehicle i went and got the timing chain replaced because it starting making a annoying chattering sound.
And then 2 weeks after that, my fuel pump went on me.
And then 2 weeks later my water pump just decided to dump everything out.

So i put some money into it and it runs very well now.

So once again i went back to painting my body kit like a noob.



Got around to putting the side skirts on, Not bad if i do say so myself.



Finally got around to doing the 99 front end swap.




This was the first picture after it was done with a local friend Robby Smith. Sorry for the blurry pic


First daylight pic


More blurry pics





(And yes in know, my car is always dirty, disadvantage of living in a rainy city.)

One day i went to the dealer for a wiring diagram of the headlights because i was (and still am) having some issues with my turn signal bulbs blinking faster than normal without having LEDs in them. As far as i can tell its because of the resistance in bulb change from whatever the stock bulb is, too that 194 bulb i think. Anyway, the guy at the counter just randomly gave me 2 free brand new still in there plastic wrap fobs and relearned them to my vehicle. Nice guy, stealership actually did something awesome for once.



I opened up my door panels one day just to look around and i found out i had the harness for the power mirrors, so i put a pair of those on there for @!#$s and gigs.



After a short period of time i curbed my bumper and this happened



And i soon realized that i hate fiberglass and i want something stronger, so i might go back to stock looking feel. but with the lip that i had before on it. Much like a vs sport look. Lol (Joke from lenko)


I was having a strange oscillating feeling when i braked so i figured i would change out my front brakes and routers.

Before


After (Nothing fancy, not planning on racing or what not)


Didn't have time to paint my calipers, but i eventually will.

I had a couple friends over and i decided to paint my rear drums red. While i was in there i tightened the rear shoes, lots of pad left, ebrake was just on its last click. All good now



Now you are probably thinking, why haven't you tackled your strut problem. Just this last weekend i managed to pic up a set of KYB AGX used off of a friend where i live for $150.

Little dirty/rusty but i don't care.

They drove nice on his ride and are far superior then my blown struts already, and i heard they go well with eibach. so why not. wont be for a little bit before i can get them installed

My next cosmetic project will be installing power windows. So far i picked up a OEM switch with the tail end of the harness so that i can just colour code them. I will then order window motors/actuators whatever they are called, and pick up door panels from a scrapyard. Heard people have done it this way and it takes about an hour, so why not.


And that's about it for now.
Please feel free to comment on whatever you like, I know i am a noob and am doing it pretty "shoty" like, but hey, its my car and i like what i have done. But feedback is ALWAYS appreciated. I can't learn otherwise.

The car appears to sit quite high for sporlines, at least in the front. There are people here who know much more about suspension setups than I do, but I believe the AGX's are not designed for the sportline drop, so you may have issues with those shortly down the road. But again, your car does not appear to sit as low as the sportlines I've seen, so maybe you will be fine. Overall, not a bad start on the car. I preferred the original front end, but to each his own.

Ya, the only real body kit look i enjoyed was the BC2 front, but now everyday im thinking about going back to stock. I have the Lip already attached to my stock bumper and i also have a pair of z side skirts in the same colour, but ive heard those are hard to install if you don't already have the clips. So whenever i get a chance i am going to swap back to the OEM style.

So I finally got around to getting my car washed so it looks a little bit better (still a broken bumper but whatever)



And just today I picked up some OEM shock mounts for the rears because I am pretty sure both the sets I have are blown (they are starting to crack)

And i might start to compress the springs tonight and take them off (Ill need a vice grip and a 9/16 angled socket i think)

While you're doing that. Flip the springs since they are upside down.

I like everything except the red on the rear brake drums. If you don't have calipers to show off, just paint it black and make the wheels stand out more IMO. I love the body kit and the color of the car fo sho.





2004 Cavalier Sedan

gtpsunfire wrote:While you're doing that. Flip the springs since they are upside down.

Was going to say..pretty sure those are on upside down lol.

Ya I was quite aware of the springs being upside down, no worries they weren't mine and I wasn't going to be using them.

So I got around to putting the rears on for now

Newer shock beside my blown shocks with Eibach Sportlines


A picture of them together at last before I put them on


And heres a funny pic, my shocks were so blown that once I took the mount off, the shock just dropped down started spewing fluid and never return. Yup so glad they are off.



And here is a pic of them on, a little blurry but i did this in my underground parking lot with little lighting.





I am starting to think there is just waaaaaaaaay too much red. Might think to change that if i get around to it. So far i havent drove it very far, but i have it set at 3 and i already feel my backside thanking me.

Paint the drums black or silver.

Red drums are a little.......eh...

Not something you really want standing out.

Haven't done much lately but just today i decided to swap back the front back to the original style.



Both bumpers side by side. Totally different height. Hopefully will not bottom out anymore

And back to stock (sorta, but with the OEM lip)

Much better.

I agree. Now if only I can take the time and figure out a painless way of installing the OEM sideskirts so that I have a more "stock" looking ride.

Should be pretty easy to install them.

You have the clip holes on the rockers?, or are the clips still on there?

My ride is a base model cav. No clips on the underside of the car. Didn't come with the side skirts, I just managed to pick up a pair in the same colour for free.

Well iirc the clips just pop into holes on the rocker.

If it was me id go to pick and pull and pull a side off and take some measurements to give you a better idea of how they screw on.

Basically a screw in each wheel well and then on the 03's (not sure if the 2k-2k2 style is the same) but they just screw to the body underneath and then the clips along the rocker.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edited Sunday, August 25, 2013 10:25 AM

Come to think of it....are you sure there is no stock holes? They will be on the rocker.

You have a sunroof and power mirrors, and power locks. Most optioned base ive ever saw.

Ill go see if i can take a look, I might. I had the hole in the front fender well for the OEM front Lip (which i thought was weird because it wasn't till the next year that these things were available) so maybe. Going to be tough to see with it being lowered and only 3 inches off the ground with the side skirts i currently have.

So I raised the car up and there is no holes in the rocker panel. Just 3 rubber grommet things. So I'll see if I can get some measurements to drill holes into it.

So ya, no holes in the rocker panel.



Ill probably have to clean these things and repaint anyway.

Well the bottom, and both ends are no biggie. Just use self drilling screws.

As for the clip holes itll be some measuring im sure.

Ya I just came back from a scrapyard and measured the spaces for the holes and took pictures of them just to look back at. I pocketed some clips, but most broke. Wonder how much these silly things will cost me.

Looks way better with the stock front bumper. Keep up the good work!



"In Oldskool we trust"

Cars looking good I really like the blue and the fact you're going back to a stock look. Make sure to double and triple check your measurements before you drill your rockers good thing you got the picture too so you have an idea of where they go. You can get the clips from a dealer not sure how much they cost off the top of my head did the same to my last J a long time ago it's not that hard but again just make sure you drill the holes in the right spot.

Alright so here are the pictures I managed to get the other day from the scrapyard. I got these hole pictures off of a 2001 z24 cavalier. (same year the skirts came off of)

Don't know if the years differed, but here is what i got,


Pic 1 Hole 1


Pic 2 Hole 2


Pic 3 Hole 3


Pic 4 Hole 4


Pic 5 Hole 5


Pic 6 Hole 6


Pic 7 Hole 7



Now there is a hole 8 but alas i cannot seem to find that picture, i must have deleted accidentally, but i am not worried as 7/8 is still suitable.
ALSO, in case anyone was actually caring, this is measured from the rear edge of the rocker panel of the PASSENGER side.
I am assuming the other side is identical as the side skirts look identical.

Now I just have to find a time that i am not busy and take the terrible fiberglass side skirts off and lift up the car and get to drilling some holes and try mocking up the 12 or so clips that i have, that seem to be somewhat usable.

ALSO, while i was out today at my local mall, a fellow in a 2002 LS Sport parked beside me and he had this as an interior

(Sorry for the blurry picture threw the window, hope you can see something)



I asked Lenko about it, and he said that it was a dealer installed package. I don't know about you guys but this interior seems gorgeous in my opinion for a "Semi stock" look. I wish i could find this leather interior with blue stitching.

I wouldn't even care that mine is not a z24. Maybe the grass is just greener

Thought you were creeping on my car lol.

I have that package.

Keep that in mind for when I sell my car