I'm on an pretty small budget, and still have to pay back my car, but I was just wondering what you guys would do in my position. I have a stock 1996 Sunfire 2.2L 3spd auto. I would really like to do some Autocross events, if I get the time this year. Being still in high school, I have less time than money, and have next to no money (you can see what I'm trying to emphasize here, lol). So my question is, what do you suggest my first modifications be? I've come to the conclusion that a good suspension setup would be preferable over any performance modifications. Eibach pro kits without swaybars are around $550 or so, 17" rim-tire combos with pretty good tires are $650, and a full exhaust system from the header to the tip would be in the $500-range. Which would you choose? I haven't even moved the car yet, I really want to see what these J-Bodies can do. I'm leaning toward suspension so that I can put it on a newer Cavalier if I can buy one. My plan is to fix this car, and run it until I can afford to get a newer, 2.2 ecotec or 2.4 J-Body. I bought this car with 150K on it and a blown head gasket (some pretty bad clearcoat peel) for $1050. How much do you think it would be worth with a nice clearcoat and a new top end gasket set (no mechanical issues whatsoever)? I'm new to the forum and the car, any help is appreciated.
-Trav
I'll save the world in a minute, now let me finish my Whopper.
A 1996 Cavalier equpped with a 2200 and 3-speed auto is a terrible starting platform, so your first modification should be to sell it and buy a 2000+ Cavalier.
2001 Olds Alero (LD9)
636 whp / 543 ft-lb
@turboalero
Hahaha. I'm thinking that's what's going to have to happen. I'm driving this car until I can find a better platform.
-Trav
I'll save the world in a minute, now let me finish my Whopper.
save your money, get a newer Jbody.
I'd only bite the bullet to try and swap that car if you were more experienced and had a less constrained budget. Save up, keep the 3speed running then buy a 2003+ Jbody.
or, if you're not afraid to try and swap yourself 2000-2002. 03+ has the eco in it already so you can't go wrong there
You can race the j as is with no modifications in autocross they will have a class for you to run in. I'd agree with everyone else save your money and buy a newer j body. I'd keep the 96 for beater and or winter car if you do infact get a nicer newer j.....
I'm thinkin I'll get it into good condition, try and get some money out of it, and go for an Eco Cavalier. It needs some clear, and because of the clear peel I'll probably have to repaint a few areas, but after that it will be in awesome condition. The trick is finding an Eco 5spd Cavie that I can get for less than $2K. Most of them I find go for at least $3K. I'd have to find a buy like what I did with the Sunfire, got it cheap because of a blown head gasket, and the person selling it needed $$$ now. Is there a classifieds section on this forum, or is that just the regional area that I should look at?
-Trav
I'll save the world in a minute, now let me finish my Whopper.
You were thinking right to not do performance mods. Yes the 2.2 is not fast car, but in autoX it can be. I woudl start weth lowering springs and struts. This is all saying you know your going to get another J-Body. If you think you might not then I would not buy any mods for it.
FU Tuning
I say this all the time, but I'll say it again.
Don't modify your car at all until you have been autocrossing it for a year. The more modifications the car has, the more it will cover up your mistakes. If you feel you absolutely have to modify the car don't change parts around mid-way through your learning curve. Make sure you learn on street tires too-- the sticker the tire the more it will cover up your mistakes.
As far as having a new cavalier, I don't see any need for that. All of the suspension is completely interchangeable from 1995 though 2005. As far as motors go, a 2000+ Z24 is going to be just as fast as a 96-99. The eco's may sqeak out a slight weight advantage on the quad 4 powered cars, but they give up 10 hp.
As far as competitiveness, I have beaten some decent cars with my '97 2.2 4-spd auto (ie. Subaru's and the like) but it would never be competivie at a regional or national level due to the poor power to weight ratio.
VanquisherOfTheVariance (Zach) wrote:I say this all the time, but I'll say it again.
Don't modify your car at all until you have been autocrossing it for a year. The more modifications the car has, the more it will cover up your mistakes. If you feel you absolutely have to modify the car don't change parts around mid-way through your learning curve. Make sure you learn on street tires too-- the sticker the tire the more it will cover up your mistakes.
As far as having a new cavalier, I don't see any need for that. All of the suspension is completely interchangeable from 1995 though 2005. As far as motors go, a 2000+ Z24 is going to be just as fast as a 96-99. The eco's may sqeak out a slight weight advantage on the quad 4 powered cars, but they give up 10 hp.
As far as competitiveness, I have beaten some decent cars with my '97 2.2 4-spd auto (ie. Subaru's and the like) but it would never be competivie at a regional or national level due to the poor power to weight ratio.
Listen to alot of what he says. He has done very well with his 2.2 car's. I rode with him once and it made my Z24 feel slow!!! Only thing I do not agree with is the 00+ Z24's and 95-99 being the same speed wise. You will always have freaks, but in general 00+ Z24's are going to be faster than pre 00's, or pre 99's.
FU Tuning
Well thank you all for the input, and thank you Zach and John for that advice. Looks like I'll be sitting in the Sunfire for a while, with how my job searching is going. No one around here wants to hire young workers, cash is slow. All of the Ecotec cars seem to be quite a bit more expensive than the Z24s. I think I'll be trying to get this Sunfire as sharp as I can for some good resale value, and look at getting a Z24 or Sunfire GT when the time comes. I haven't seen very many Sunfire GT's on the forums, how do they rate compared to the Z24 Cav? Is there a reason there are less of them? They're kind of the same car, so I didn't see why it would make much of a difference, but I have no idea.
-Trav
I'll save the world in a minute, now let me finish my Whopper.
Don't worry too much about big mods. Right now, f you want to get a little advantage, leave your spare seats at home. Racing an automatic is actually a little tougher if you have to turn, because you can't get an ideal downshift when you need it. This is a huge obstacle, but if you work with it, you'll be better off later. Once you get comfortable with the car (set a goal to reduce your times in certain situations, and learn where to start and stop braking and start and stop accelerating), THEN change something. Don't change more than one thing at a time. A budget of even $250 can go a lot further if you know how to handle the car, and know where it needs to be improved, but you have to learn the car top to bottom.
The J is a great platform for beginner drivers because, let's be honest, it really only has one advantage over other cars in it's class: torque. Suspension is terrible. The weight in terms of it compared to other compacts is average at best. The suspension could only be described as squishy. Flatten out the weaknesses in an LN2 powered automatic cav/fire and you can basically work with anything short of most 80s/90s subcompacts.
As for the Sunfire GT vs. cav Z24, it's a matter of personal preference. Most people don't go for the Sunfire body style. In fact, they're pretty much twins. I happen to like the Sunfire body better. Looks more aggressive, and just generally cleaner. The cav is such a plain jane car to me. Stock, it has all the style of a cheap hooker. Don't get me wrong. Rims, a CF hood and some paint (or arrival blue stock paint) and you can have a very nice looking car, but a well done Sunfire is even better.
If you want to sell you car, give it a tune up, then sell it. Change the oil, cover up any scratches with paint, give it a new air filter (nothing special, just a cheap paper one will do for this), new spark plugs, and clean it as much as possible. Get rid of any stains, and make sure there aren't many rocks/dirt in the carpet. Simple things, to, like all season mats will catch someone's attention, simply because they're easier to keep clean than carpet ones. Once you get it running nice and smooth, sell it for a few hundred more than it's worth. Highball the price a little (ask more than what you really want, and let people heckle down if they're smart enough to), and take the best offer you can get. As for job hunting, don't be picky. McDonalds hands out paychecks every two weeks, and it's really not that hard to cook "meat" or sell it to people. I work two jobs and I'm not very stressed (though the difference in responsibility is sometimes overwhelming going back into my better job. Pharmacy is a lot more work than food, and people depend on you a lot more.)
2010 Honda Fit LX
THE key to racing an automatic is left-foot braking. Practice getting a feel for braking with your left foot around town. I've found that when exiting some corners the car will downshift for a second and then immediatley upshift. This is extremely inefficient and when I'm driving in such a corner, I will typically keep my right foot in the gas and modulate my speed with the brake. When I return to 100% thorttle at the exit it won't downshift. Don't conern yourself with this technique yet. You should be focusing on your lines first. Commanding the left foot braking technique will also help you trial brake better around large sweeping turns. Trail braking will help settle the car and keep it from understeering on such a turn.
Also, be sure to ride with as many people as you can. Try and get other more experienced people to ride with you as well.
Very good information here, you guys are awesome. And good at giving advice, it's much easier to read when geared for you and not AT you.
-Trav
I'll save the world in a minute, now let me finish my Whopper.
