Ok....i'm trying to decide if it would be cheaper to continue modding my 3spd auto OHV and eventually boost it OR swap into an ecotec and start modding that....would it be cheaper to do that or what....could someone plz advise me on what i should do....Mods i currently have is a custom cold air intake, custom cat back exhaust, and getting rdy to install a pacesetter header for free with a friend.
Thanks.

im kinda in the same boat with you as i have the same car lol but i have finally decided to boost mine. i think its less time and money than swaping out a new engine and you would see more increases. like a stock eco will not go faster than a boosted 2.2 ohv and it will cost alot less in the end

Swap in a 5 speed and build the motor with 10:1 compression, zero deck the block, shave the head, oversized vavles, .040 overbore wiseco pistons, eagle rods, get the rotating assembly balanced, port and polish the head, cold air intake, bigger bore throttle body, stage 2 JBP cam or a comp cams regrind, and tune it with HPT tuners. If you do it right you should be able to get atleast 175hp at the flywheel..... that would probably beat any full bolton eco especially with a shift kit and a yank torque converter on the 3 speed id say keep the pushrod power

swap in the speed if you can drive... but if not keep that 3 speed they can be made for performance

well i never really learned how to drive a manual but i have been told that it is not that hard. idk....i mean my budget at this point is not really in there to go swapping the tranny. I mean can my tranny hold a boost or would it be better to just hp tune it? Secondly, how much does it generally cost to port and polish the head? will it improve the performance significantly? which mods listed will give it the most improvement and performance with keeping the tranny i have....thanks.

oh yea....ya know what else i don't enjoy....my girlfriend's ecotec being able to smoke my OHV....it's sad i know....plz help with costly ways to increase my hp....

i could port and polish ur head for $125-$150 just send me a pm, your 3 speed should hold up decently to boost, they are reliable transmissions.

yea that would be great, depending on where you live. What exactly will port and polishing do? Like what is it specifically?

Rule #1 of modifying your car:
NEVER buy something if you don't know what it does and exactly how it works (google.com is your friend here, as it will point you towards sites like Standard Abrasives' porting guide).

Rule #2:
NEVER buy anything that might cause a conflict with something else. (in this case, ports possibly not matching up with the manifolds and cam, since you haven't specified other mods).



fortune cookie say:
better a delay than a disaster.

cavaliertuner20 wrote:oh yea....ya know what else i don't enjoy....my girlfriend's ecotec being able to smoke my OHV....it's sad i know....plz help with costly ways to increase my hp....

if you swap in an Ecotec, thats 30-35 hp more right there just stock. The ecotec has way more aftermarket parts than the OHV, and runs a higher compression (10:1). it has many options as far as boost and can was made to handle boost better than the OHV. This also gives you the option to stay with an auto (4 speed auto) or go with a 5 speed manual. ***4 speed autos > 3 speed autos*** all day long.

but depending on what year your car is, might determine what you swap in. The choices are Ecotec or LD9 Twincam (2.4) If the car is 99 or older swapping an ecotec in will be ALOT OF WORK, as bascially the entire car's wiring need swapped. The 00 and newer cars have it made as its basically an exact swap with alot less work...Supposedly the Twincam 2.4 is much easier to swap into a pre 00 car. and the 2.4 also has alot of parts available. But the ecotec is becoming GM's best and most reliable 4 cylinder engine. Im doing the swap too.

hears what I have been told:

95-99 swap to LD9 Twincam 2.4
00+ swap to L61 ECOtec 2.2






PROUD MEMBER OF JBOK.

........... ask madjack about 3 speeds, with a new torque converter and a nice shift kit theyd blow away any 4 speed auto and for the money u spend buying an eco motor and then doing all the work to get it installed ud have a badass OHV for less money that would eat that stock eco up

one of my friends had the LD9 DOHC 2.4 in his 01' Z24 and he actually swapped in a High Output 2.4 chevy racing engine.... Mine is a 99'. Do ya think i should swap in the LD9 or Boost what i got?

boost what u got, ur lookin at roughly an 80 hp difference there lol compared to that stock 2.4

OHV CAV wrote:Swap in a 5 speed and build the motor with 10:1 compression, zero deck the block, shave the head, oversized vavles, .040 overbore wiseco pistons, eagle rods, get the rotating assembly balanced, port and polish the head, cold air intake, bigger bore throttle body, stage 2 JBP cam or a comp cams regrind, and tune it with HPT tuners. If you do it right you should be able to get atleast 175hp at the flywheel..... that would probably beat any full bolton eco especially with a shift kit and a yank torque converter on the 3 speed id say keep the pushrod power

If you mod your engine internally what do you have to do as far as with all the sensors and what not? do you have to upgrade all of them to accomodate all the other upgrades?

ummm nothing unless you did an overbore, but you tune sensors in with hpt tuners

so let me get this straight....if i get a performance torque converter and shift kit for the existing tranny i have i could significantly increase my horse power with just that?

cavaliertuner20 wrote:so let me get this straight....if i get a performance torque converter and shift kit for the existing tranny i have i could significantly increase my horse power with just that?

Wow, a true noob who isn't being an @!#$, just... noob, haha.

No, it will not increase HP, it makes your car go faster though. How? Because the torque converter has a stall, which means the transmission doesn't let itself engage until you reach a certain RPM, say, 3500 as an extreme example. This puts you into the engine power range, which causes less overall bog when you start off the line, because the engine is already in its powerband. Shift kits just allow the transmission to shift faster, reducing overall times.

Also remember, horsepower is @!#$ on the street, ricers say "how much HP does your car have?" but what really matters is torque, which thank god even the chevy 4 cylinders make really well. Torque is the rotational force that actual gets your car moving, HP keeps it moving, so to speak, or is "high end" it's rather hard to explain to a newbie.

Just soak up all the info you can buddy.


There will always be someone faster than you, but thousands slower and dumber than you.

OHV CAV wrote:........... ask madjack about 3 speeds, with a new torque converter and a nice shift kit theyd blow away any 4 speed auto and for the money u spend buying an eco motor and then doing all the work to get it installed ud have a badass OHV for less money that would eat that stock eco up

dont call BS on what I wrote...I said thats what I have been told...yea 3 speeds blow away 4 speeds all day, thats why people like 4 speeds better or just coincidence? and you are a tool if you think people would swap in an Ecotec and leave it stock anyway you build your 3 speed and ohv motor that is 30 hp less than an Ecotec stock. someone in an Eco can do half the mods and have more power, so call BS if you want but he asked a question and I answered to try to help. Dont need a tool to respond to me.

Have fun trying to find aftermarket parts for the OHV as easy as the Ecotec. oh and thats why the fastest people on here are OHV? NOT






PROUD MEMBER OF JBOK.

Tha01cav wrote:someone in an Eco can do half the mods and have more power, so call BS if you want but he asked a question and I answered to try to help. Dont need a tool to respond to me.
Have fun trying to find aftermarket parts for the OHV as easy as the Ecotec. oh and thats why the fastest people on here are OHV? NOT

Other than superchargers (which are just 'blah' anyway), anything you can buy for 2.4 or ECO can be had for the OHV.
Oh yeah, the 'half the mods and more power' comment, please find the world beyond worthless bolt-ons.
You want to know the REAL reason we don't have any high-power pushrods on this site? People like you spend too much time trying to talk them out of it



fortune cookie say:
better a delay than a disaster.

OHV notec wrote:

Tha01cav wrote:someone in an Eco can do half the mods and have more power, so call BS if you want but he asked a question and I answered to try to help. Dont need a tool to respond to me.
Have fun trying to find aftermarket parts for the OHV as easy as the Ecotec. oh and thats why the fastest people on here are OHV? NOT

Other than superchargers (which are just 'blah' anyway), anything you can buy for 2.4 or ECO can be had for the OHV.
Oh yeah, the 'half the mods and more power' comment, please find the world beyond worthless bolt-ons.
You want to know the REAL reason we don't have any high-power pushrods on this site? People like you spend too much time trying to talk them out of it

dont try that "talk them out of it" crap with me. If someone wants to do something with their car, no one has any say in that but them. As a matter of fact I do know of someone with a Turbo OHV 2200, so that statement is void. The fact is the Ecotec is better for boost and has more mods and options than the OHV, I dont talk anyone out of doing anything, I gave an opinion on a swap he said he might do. He also mentioned being tired of getting smoked by his girls Ecotec. I love my 2200 engine but if I am going to put money in an engine I want better results. I got an Eco swap for cheap and will build it and swap it in, and then boost........oh and your thought about S/C being blah? thats what you think........ tool



PROUD MEMBER OF JBOK.

Tha01cav wrote:

OHV notec wrote:

Tha01cav wrote:someone in an Eco can do half the mods and have more power, so call BS if you want but he asked a question and I answered to try to help. Dont need a tool to respond to me.
Have fun trying to find aftermarket parts for the OHV as easy as the Ecotec. oh and thats why the fastest people on here are OHV? NOT

Other than superchargers (which are just 'blah' anyway), anything you can buy for 2.4 or ECO can be had for the OHV.
Oh yeah, the 'half the mods and more power' comment, please find the world beyond worthless bolt-ons.
You want to know the REAL reason we don't have any high-power pushrods on this site? People like you spend too much time trying to talk them out of it

dont try that "talk them out of it" crap with me. If someone wants to do something with their car, no one has any say in that but them. As a matter of fact I do know of someone with a Turbo OHV 2200, so that statement is void. The fact is the Ecotec is better for boost and has more mods and options than the OHV, I dont talk anyone out of doing anything, I gave an opinion on a swap he said he might do. He also mentioned being tired of getting smoked by his girls Ecotec. I love my 2200 engine but if I am going to put money in an engine I want better results. I got an Eco swap for cheap and will build it and swap it in, and then boost........oh and your thought about S/C being blah? thats what you think........ tool

Actually it's false catch-phrases like "better for boost", "half the mods and more power", and "has more mod options" that convince people they need an ECO. Please, please, please, prove any of those statements. Have you thought about a career in politics ?
And yes, the blowers are blah (they're not even superchargers actually, but we've gone over that before here). Have you noticed the trend in people selling their GM blowers for turbos recently? There's a reason for that believe it or not...



fortune cookie say:
better a delay than a disaster.

wow i really like how this has turned into a debate over advice....lol

Quote:

cavaliertuner20 Online
Yesterday 2:19 AM

oh yea....ya know what else i don't enjoy....my girlfriend's ecotec being able to smoke my OHV....it's sad i know....plz help with costly ways to increase my hp....

been there, done that.

good luck. if you can't beat em, join em

Thanks PJ......A FORMER 2200 GUY WHO SWAPPED IN AN ECOTEC AND NOW HAS ONE OF THE FASTEST N/A CAVALIERS AROUND.....

ECOTEC > ALL WHO OPPOSE IT



PROUD MEMBER OF JBOK.

the only thing is the OP has an old school cav so a swap is a bitch

any 2000 or higher can accept the eco with ease. so maybe you can find a 2200 jbody thats a 2000 or newer and swap the eco in.

you will never, ever regret it.

$4000 in parts... 2200 with ported head, valvtrain upgrade, full exhaust, intake, motormounts = 15.769 @ 86mph and 115whp 130 tq
$3200 for swap... stock ecotec with intake, catback, motormounts, flywheel + stage 3 clutch = 14.91 @ 90mph and 135whp 140wtq