well after a long time of waiting on late parts and waiting for the paint both to be open for my car.. the exterior is done .. the interior i just f insihed today.. nothin special just repainted everything black .for the exterior i WAS thinking of getting a lip kit for it but i was thinking today ... nahhhh i like the way my fire looks right now .. heres a pic ..
.. i liek that look .. so now i am on to performance .. right now it has a 2200 with the 4 speed auto .. i have the basic bolt ons to it ... weapon r warm air intake , pacesetter header with full catback exhaust and high flow cat, upper and lower motor mounts , and the b&M shift plus .. i have to say i really don't feel a difference with these mods. i went t the track and ran a 16.4 at 78 i think mph ... somethin like that .. so i was thinking today i have 2 choices performance wise. i can turbo my motor right now ... but honestly my motor starting to make some funny noises .. and i don't trust it so the next thing i can think of is a motor swap . this is where i need suggestions .. whatever motor i put in it i will get the motor first .. then build it up while its not in the car . rods , pistons , .. make it strong on the bottom end then do the head after the block .. i just don't knwo if i should swap in another 2200 or 2.4 ... and i don't knwo if i wan to swap from an auto to standard.. whats yall opinion on it?? any help or information or just a simple push in a good direction is greatly appreciated..
personally i think you'd be better off going with either a 2.4L or an eco. more potential than the 2200. also not sure what all would be included in the swap from auto to manual. but it has been brought up on here a few times.
agreed car looks hot the way it is. is that the final color?
well thats just primer .. but i plan on just keeping it like that for now .. i';m ready to tackle performance.. i agree that the 2.4 and eco have more potential... if i do a swap it will be the 2.4 simply because it uses the exact same mounts and i have upper and lower mounts already.. i'm just tryint to find out if the auto trans will bolt up to the 2.4.. i know i would need the following ....
2000 + 2.4 engine..
engine wire harness
2.4 ecu
thats all i can think off to be honest... i knwo theres more . i'm gonna stay with automatic.
if you have a chance to get a 5spd swap.. take it.
it says ur cars a 2001 which means ur electrical is upgraded from us old dudes...whihc means much less work to get a "eco 2.2" in there...Since its a newer motor id go that route...but i dunno how the whole tranny thing comes into play.....oh well correct me if im wrong....
the four speed auto in pontiac sunfire gt's is an exact bolt up. to the 2.4 My friend has one.
so basically all i need is the 2.4 engine , wire harnes , and ecu and i'm done .. just swap it all in .. bolt right up ??
Well I will say something that no one has touched on...
The problem with building the motor outside of it being in the car is that you spend all this money on parts and a rebuild and to swap it in but are you sure you can afford another $3,000 or so for turbo parts and more for installation? I mean, it sounds simple and better to just do it while it's out but alot of times people who say to do that and attempt to do it alot of times neglect the project and/or just don't have the funds to even finish the turbo side of the project.
So my suggestion is, unless you are SURE you can afford to spend that much money in a reasonable amount of time, then don't spend your money on a motor build up. The reason I say don't build it up is because when you're building a motor for boost, you're usually doing these 2 things:
1. Doing a big port job like a 5 angle for example
2. Lowering the compression
Both things are not going to give you gains n/a...if you have no money for boost and you've spent all this money on a motor build and swap and you drive around with it in your car, you will feel like you've wasted money cause you will be slower.
This is just something to think about...just use your head before you start buying parts and a motor. Good luck.
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