Modding a cavalier

[CAPTAIN CHAOS]

Don't know if your 02 has the 'Ecotec' engine or not. If it does get the updated timing chain oiler ASAP! The early Ecotec's have pretty marginal chain oiling (hole was too small) and by 160k you're WELL into the 'danger zone' of a catastrophic failure (valves crash into pistons). Realistically, a full timing set would be a wise investment.
Just a heads-up.

[dongs]

Originally Posted by CAPTAIN CHAOS

Don't know if your 02 has the 'Ecotec' engine or not. If it does get the updated timing chain oiler ASAP! The early Ecotec's have pretty marginal chain oiling (hole was too small) and by 160k you're WELL into the 'danger zone' of a catastrophic failure (valves crash into pistons). Realistically, a full timing set would be a wise investment.
Just a heads-up.

No ecotec, it's got the last of the old ohv motors. It's the same motor I had in my old s10 so I've got some familiarity with it's quirks. I'm going to look into doing some aero mods like a better air dam and changing the rear a little bit so air separates a little more clean. Probably just get some lawn edging to keep it cheap. Maybe blend it with some bondo and cover it with paint so it looks like it belongs there. Just waiting for my 1098-t from my school so I can get my tax return and buy an ultragauge! I've got a couple days off so after I get my homework done ill do some tinkering and post some pics of where I end up.

[CAPTAIN CHAOS]

Originally Posted by dongs

No ecotec, it's got the last of the old ohv motors. It's the same motor I had in my old s10 so I've got some familiarity with it's quirks. I'm going to look into doing some aero mods like a better air dam and changing the rear a little bit so air separates a little more clean. Probably just get some lawn edging to keep it cheap. Maybe blend it with some bondo and cover it with paint so it looks like it belongs there. Just waiting for my 1098-t from my school so I can get my tax return and buy an ultragauge! I've got a couple days off so after I get my homework done ill do some tinkering and post some pics of where I end up.

Cool.
I knew they started using the Ecotec somewhere in that time frame. I was unsure when the Cavalier got it.

[dongs]

Originally Posted by CAPTAIN CHAOS

Cool.
I knew they started using the Ecotec somewhere in that time frame. I was unsure when the Cavalier got it.

Of all the Cavaliers I looked at it seemed to be pretty mixed on which ones had the ecotec for the 2002 model year. The must have made the switch mid year I guess.

[dongs]

Filled up my tank today only to calculate an abysmal 26.2 mpg...
That's with pretty mixed city/highway driving. I did a couple small 'mods' today though: I removed the antenna and just used plain ol' clear packing tape to close off the vents on the bumper, and filled the tires to max sidewall(44psi). Also picked up some convex mirrors to mount inside. I did some reading on Oregon's rear view mirror laws and it's quite vague, only specifying that a vehicle must have an unobstructed view of at least 200' behind the vehicle. No mention of side mirrors so those will be coming off soon. Washington state on the other hand requires at least the drivers side mirror, and I do have family I see semi-frequently in Washington so I'll need to consider that.
Also poured in some Techron to give the valves and combustion chamber a repeat cleaning, I did this shortly after I bought it. The PEA in it does a pretty good job at cleaning things up. Now I just need to wait to get the oxygen sensor I ordered in the mail and hopefully that'll improve things a wee bit!
While I was at the hardware store getting some unrelated stuff I had a look at lawn edging to make an airflow trip strip and the selection was paltry at best. It's a local mom n' pop hardware store and I prefer to give them my business but I may have to check out the home depot to see if they have anything better suited.
While not specifically aero related, I did a spark plug check & regap after I bought the car and noticed they weren't oem plugs; the S10 I had with the same motor was believe it or not fairly picky about what plugs it had so I may see if I can pick up some oem variety plugs and use those.

[Daox]

Have you been able to figure out under what circumstances your torque converter locks up?

[dongs]

Not quite. This is the first auto trans I've owned. I've given it a little gas while cruising at light load and the rpm hasn't climbed independently of the vehicle speed so I know it at least locks probably around 45mph or so. If I give it too much it downshifts and of course is no longer locked. I'll try some more at different speeds and engine loads though. I've always tried that on the freeway going ~50mph though.
God I hate automatics.

[dongs]

I deleted the passenger side mirror today and also removed the splash guards from behind the front wheels. I may end up repurposing them into spats and/or mounting points for wheel skirts with some minor modifications. So far for this tank I'm at 320 miles with 1/4 tank remaining, this is usually when I have to fill it so when that time comes I'm hoping for a decent improvement! I know just going off the gauge isn't too accurate but I'm hopeful. I just downloaded dashcommand for android and I'll be ordering a Bluetooth obd dongle to get some instrumentation here soon. Next up is an improved front air dam and some side skirts made from lawn edging. Would metal edging or plastic be a better choice? The flexibility of plastic would be nice for pulling out of driveways so I don't break anything when I scrape but I'm not sure if that flexibility would be a good thing on the highway.

[awcook]

A couple people around here use the composite plastic, which isn't as flexible as regular plastic so it doesn't flop around on the highway but is flexible enough to get out of driveways. Side skirts are a little difficult with lawn edging because it always wants to curl up while you want your skirts to be straight.

The thing about auto transmissions with TC is that you need to be up to speed before it will allow it to lock up. In the automatic, 5th gear is cruising gear, not an accelerating gear, so of course it will downshift when you lay down the gas, but once you are up to the desired speed and the TC locks up, you will get pretty amazing gas mileage. So if you want to get the TC to work with you, you need to have a lighter load once you are up to speed, or else it won't work.

Remember, 80% load for accelerating, <20% for cruising. In my Civic, 80% would be about 3k RPMs while accelerating or 3.0 Gph. Anything past that would be out of the max torque powerband and slower than that would be too slow to get up to speed before the next light. Your car will be a little bit different since it is a little older and a completely different brand, try to look up the BSFC chart for your car to see where and how to accelerate.

Hope this helps!

[dongs]

Originally Posted by awcook

A couple people around here use the composite plastic, which isn't as flexible as regular plastic so it doesn't flop around on the highway but is flexible enough to get out of driveways. Side skirts are a little difficult with lawn edging because it always wants to curl up while you want your skirts to be straight.

The thing about auto transmissions with TC is that you need to be up to speed before it will allow it to lock up. In the automatic, 5th gear is cruising gear, not an accelerating gear, so of course it will downshift when you lay down the gas, but once you are up to the desired speed and the TC locks up, you will get pretty amazing gas mileage. So if you want to get the TC to work with you, you need to have a lighter load once you are up to speed, or else it won't work.

Remember, 80% load for accelerating, <20% for cruising. In my Civic, 80% would be about 3k RPMs while accelerating or 3.0 Gph. Anything past that would be out of the max torque powerband and slower than that would be too slow to get up to speed before the next light. Your car will be a little bit different since it is a little older and a completely different brand, try to look up the BSFC chart for your car to see where and how to accelerate.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the tip! I've been able to figure out how to coax the TC into lockup on certain roads I frequently take. Also have a gnarly hill on I-5 I take on my way home and have been able to keep it locked up in high gear by driving with load... tricky to do without proper instrumentation! Last night I built up a little speed before the hill and gently feathered the throttle to keep it from downshifting. I ended up bleeding off about 10mph when I reached the top and was able to coast all the way down to my exit where there's a very unfortunately placed stop sign to kill all the momentum I had