just recently bought a cavalier z24....i want to really do stuff to this car and im wondering what should i do first? get an intake?
do whatever your little heart wants
Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!
99redz24 wrote:do whatever your little heart wants
And thats why this site is a large steaming pile of @!#$ lately. You have to love smart ass remarks that don't help the thread... thats what 90% of this site is.
Now for an answer to your question Jimmy Truong.
You can do the basic bolt ons first, everyone does them and you can find 100's of threads about them all over the forum.
Intake: A simple e-bay intake will be just as good as the $300 ones you can get anywhere else.
Ebay intake - Click here
Exhaust: You can get a simple cat back exhaust. Try and stay away from the cheap ebay mufflers as they just fall apart over time, and the packing just blows out.
Catback - Click Here
Motor Mounts: You should also pick up motor mounts as your stock ones are probably crap by now.
Motor Mounts - Click Here
Jimmy Truong wrote:just recently bought a cavalier z24....I want to really do stuff to this car and im wondering what should I do first? Get an intake?
Im going to give you the three Jbody.org answers.
1.Be a complete smart ass and rag on you for not using the search function/not posting in the n00b section.
And speaking of not using the search function its a little button at the top of the page 3rd to the right. Says "search". That button should be your best friend for any question or anything your interested in. This site is over 5 years old. Every question ever asked has been answered 1000's of times. You shouldn't be allowed to make a new thread until you've been a member for 6 months and have installed at least an intake motor mounts and full exhaust. And you shouldn't have any questions about things such as under drive pulleys and spark plugs because these topics are brought up at least once a week. You should have to read ever write up at least 10 times before deciding to do anything to your car and save us all from asking "where can buy a kit to make my car RWD".
2.I could be the good guy (not really seen on this forum) and help you answer your question.
Welcome to the forum. You should fill out your registry and information about your car to help everybody be able to answer question so we don't have to keep asking things like "What year is your car?" or "what kind of engine do you have?" Now with that said im going to just assume you have a 3rd Gen Z24 Cavalier. If this is the case you could for very cheap pick up an intake off ebay for under $30.00 shipped. An intake is a VERY simple device. Its a piece of pipe that's bent with an air filter on the end of it to keep dust out. There are several different types and some of the lingo thrown around like
WAI=Warm Air Intake (most basic just a piece of pipe generally filtered in the engine bay sucking in semi war air hence the "WARM"
CAI= Cold Air Intake (a little more complex bending generally out of the engine bay closer to the ground. This in theory sucks in colder air hence "COLD" Now every website and every manufacturer will claim there intake produces more horse power then the rest. These are just marketing scams to get you to pay more for a piece of pipe with a brand name filter. In all honesty you could make your own intake that works better than theres for 1/4 the price.
3.I could be the normal guy that cant think of anything intelligent to say by just quoting the guy posting above me and just saying "x2"
EcoCav wrote:Thats why this site is a large steaming pile of @!#$ lately. You have to love smart ass remarks that don't help the thread... That's what 90% of this site is.
X2
EcoCav (DesertTuners) wrote:99redz24 wrote:do whatever your little heart wants
And thats why this site is a large steaming pile of @!#$ lately. You have to love smart ass remarks that don't help the thread... thats what 90% of this site is.
lol. sand in your vagina much? everyone has a different starting point as far as cars go. some start with an intake, some exhaust, some rims, suspension, etc etc.
what i did first may not what Jimmy wants to do. everyone on this site can tell Jimmy what to do but its going to be up to him.
Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!
99redz24 wrote: lol. sand in your vagina much?
Wow... did you sit up all night to think that one up, or did you say "
hey, I will use the most played out reponse on the org I can find"?
99redz24 wrote:everyone has a different starting point as far as cars go. some start with an intake, some exhaust, some rims, suspension, etc etc.
So instead of giving him options, you opt out and just post something that is 100% useless? Good call
99redz24 wrote:everyone on this site can tell Jimmy what to do but its going to be up to him.
So instead of being an ass and not giving him any information, why don't you give him some help? This site is for people to get more information about what they love. You don't pop open a hayens manual and look up how to change a fuel pump and get the reply "do it however you want". This guy is asking for some help, and expecting a decent reponse. Stop being an ass, and help him with some information and not a douchebag response.
SS-J wrote:I could be the normal guy that cant think of anything intelligent to say by just quoting the guy posting above me and just saying "x2"
x3
thanks guys lol yeah im going to buy an intake...im scared to buy an ebay one though kus i dnt want it to mess up on me....and for catback i was thinking of megan or magnaflow....i want a deep sounding exhaust sound....and for headers i was thinink sum dc headers.
99redz24 wrote:sand in your vagina much?
That will show him..
99redz24 wrote:everyone has a different starting point as far as cars go. some start with an intake, some exhaust, some rims, suspension, etc etc.
and you started where ever your little heart desired?
About Us wrote:This website is dedicated to the General Motors J-platform vehicles... The purpose of this site is to educate and inform others about these cars, as well as to put j-body owners in contact with other owners and resources.
From the front page of this site.
Jimmy Truong wrote:thanks guys lol yeah im going to buy an intake...im scared to buy an ebay one though kus i dnt want it to mess up on me....and for catback i was thinking of megan or magnaflow....i want a deep sounding exhaust sound....and for headers i was thinink sum dc headers.
Like anything on ebay if it seems sketchy dont buy it.. if it seems legit double check on here through a search first before you start making a new thread about "hey is this ebay part a scam?" But an intake is an intake dude.. take our words for it.. unless you have a show car like ECOCAV and have a real need for brand name performance intakes then you might as well (save the $$ for something worth spending it on aka EXHAUST) buy yourself an ebay intake for less. It will do the same job and you will not regret it.
Ebay has quite a few
ebay specific venders like OBX and Tsudo that you wont find on places like
CarCustoms.net But in some cases these products are just as good if not better then the big brand name stuff.
But its a great idea to use the search function to your full advantage. There's MILLIONS of posts.. plethora's of information in that button.. its not just something Old Fags say to shut New Fags up. Its the most powerful and cost effective tool you could use.. Knowledge
And just a hint after you get an intake.. look at motor mounts before you do your exhaust.
Wasting money on an expensive intake is pointless. They are all just tubes with filters on them. Just save up your money and get forced induction or nitrous. If you don't have money to do that then stop modding the car because its just going to perpetuate the ricer stigma of the Jbody platform.
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Jimmy Truong wrote:thanks guys lol yeah im going to buy an intake...im scared to buy an ebay one though kus i dnt want it to mess up on me....and for catback i was thinking of megan or magnaflow....i want a deep sounding exhaust sound....and for headers i was thinink sum dc headers.
dont be scared to buy the ebay intake. they work JUST as good as any of the high dollar ones. if your worried at all about the cheapie filter not flowing as much as say like a k&n, just go buy a k&n for it.
dc sports dis-continued the 2.4 headeR they made for our cars so finding one of them (considering they werent out long and not many people bought them because of the expensive price) is going to be a challenge.
people have had good experiences with pace setter. they have a decent header for the 2.4. its cheap and gets the job done.
if your not buying for 'name brands' then go ahead and get the megan racing catback. its a really nice system and a hell of a lot less then the magnaflow. if your wanting a nice 'deep' sound i recommend adding a nice long resonator somewhere in the system.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, November 30, 2008 12:05 PM
You look so much cuter with something in your mouth.
I've got an OBX stainless header in mine, and a home-build 2.5 inch exhaust for the rest of it (Mr. Pute gets the credit for it though, I just traded for it that way.) It's pretty nice.
It's noticeably peppier than my old Z24 was stock.
So, header+exhaust is a nice place to start, unless you want to run a turbo.
Maybe do suspension next.
After you've got the suspension tightened up (stock suspension on a J BLOWS) you might be hankering for some more power.
Then save up for the GMPP supercharger (or pick one up used here) for the 2.4 TwinCam. I did have one of those, and it's F'n Sweet.
That would be my suggestion
Feel free to start anywhere (Suspension, then blower, then exhaust, or blower-suspension-exhaust, or whatever).
That will get you a pretty killer-fun car to drive around, and still be reliable. Just expect to drop close to 5 grand if you buy everything new (and quality).
The single most fun mod you can do though (IMO) is the suspension. If I had my red car to do over again, I would do the suspension first.
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Sleeper style, they don't see it coming that way.
BlackEco wrote:Wasting money on an expensive intake is pointless. They are all just tubes with filters on them. Just save up your money and get forced induction or nitrous. If you don't have money to do that then stop modding the car because its just going to perpetuate the ricer stigma of the Jbody platform.
WOW! Wasting money modding a car is pointless????Hmm.. I started with a bone stock car except koni yellows, sprint springs, and a CRAPPY Weapon R intake, that were on it when I bought it. Car ran like butt. I've worked on it, changed plugs, coil packs, added a AEM/NOPI edition CIA, a magnalfow exhaust, the LSJ header....blah blah blah its in my registry, my point is that spending money on anything BUT forced induction is NOT pointless.
To the OP. What direction do you wanna go with the car? I would start with the intake, header, exhaust, then work into suspension and wheels/tires/brakes. Thats just me though. I've had my car for about 18 months now, and have gained a 1.2-1.5 seconds in the 1/4 miles from when I FIRST got it. Some of it is me (the driver) some of it is the upgrades I have done. Each person will do something different. I love what I have done to my car. Pick a area of the car, and start there, then work from there....
The OP asked what he should do FIRST, I think that is the key. Some cars respond to things in a bang-for-buck ratio differently than others.
For my money and since I've owned 3 Z24's now, I'd do it in this order - Intake and throttle body. Then header and exhaust. Then suspension. No reason to do brakes if you're not going to autocross or something. After that, doesn't really matter. Make sure it looks nice and you'll be happy. It's just a Cavalier, you'd have to spend a lot of money to make it
AS fast as many stock 4 bangers that are now sold, and the platform just isn't up to snuff anymore.
My opinion is that if you are looked to be FAST, sell it and get used Z28 or a motorcycle.
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