There is an entire community of J-Tuners (Cavlier & Sunfire) who deserve to be noticed.  Not the ricers in their 2.2 auto's with the fart cans and Uber-wings, the serious tuners.  Go to www.jbody.org and look up some of the serious work goin on.  Swapping 3400 and 3800 S/C V6's into Cavs. Turbo kits, Superchargers, etc.  I no longer own a Cavlier, but i feel this is a community that has been both ignored and disrespected for far far to long.  

sorry but i personally feel there are way better places to start, and honestly i am not a fan of the looks.  

i wrote the letter feature in the magazine.

I think they should do it.  
no need to swap a huge v6 in either, the ecotec is a more than potent powerplant capable of producting some great power with a basic build  

My dad works at the GM plant where the Chevy Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire were built, and where the Chevy Cobalt is currently being produced. He told me about a partnership between GM and Toyota to build a right-hand side driving car called the Toyota Cavalier for sale overseas especially in Japan and Australia. I thought that a Toyota Cavalier would be an interesting build because then you will satisfy readers who want a J-body and feature a unique Toyota in the process. I have owned a 1992 Cavalier Z24 and I am currently driving a 2001 Cavalier. I'm working on upgrading mine, but I'm pretty poor right now so it's slow going.    

SCC doesn't typically do JDM body parts unless it somehow helps the car dynamically (i.e. Project Silvia: The Silvia front end weighs 24lb. less than the 240SX front end. However, they did stray from that a little by using JDM Nissan Sunny parts on their recent Project Sentra SE-R). If you're talking about importing an RHD Cavalier from Japan, SCC doesn't do that either. If you can find one that's been imported to the US and tuned, you could suggest it as a feature.

BTW, the editors never post here. The rest of the regulars and I don't even think they read it.  

I've driven a Pimped out cavalier or what the avove mentions the fart can and the sort. To see the badass attitude of it. Things why they shouldn't do a project cavalier. 1st they suck. 2nd the unbeleabable amounts of obscene body roll. Going 65 on a mountain pass my face was practically glued to the window and thrown into the center console at every turn.3 NOt very agile. 4Its not very ergonomic either.5 Even with all the autozone upgrades the power just isn't there. The J-body is a horrible chasis and was never meant to be a sport compact. GM just made it look so cuz they didn't have anything to fight the Focus, SRT-4, Civic Si, the 84 to recent Z series, Supra, Celica, Tiburon, and continues. The only role of the Cavalier if you look at it right was to be a colledge student's or commuting car not a horrible horrible excuse of a sport compact.

I'm sorry to burst you J-body tuners buble but to actually encourage such actions would be just more false hope. There's a cure though-  Trade In!  

Master_Shake029:
I've driven a Pimped out cavalier or what the avove mentions the fart can and the sort. To see the badass attitude of it. Things why they shouldn't do a project cavalier. 1st they suck. 2nd the unbeleabable amounts of obscene body roll. Going 65 on a mountain pass my face was practically glued to the window and thrown into the center console at every turn.3 NOt very agile. 4Its not very ergonomic either.5 Even with all the autozone upgrades the power just isn't there. The J-body is a horrible chasis and was never meant to be a sport compact. GM just made it look so cuz they didn't have anything to fight the Focus, SRT-4, Civic Si, the 84 to recent Z series, Supra, Celica, Tiburon, and continues. The only role of the Cavalier if you look at it right was to be a colledge student's or commuting car not a horrible horrible excuse of a sport compact.

I'm sorry to burst you J-body tuners buble but to actually encourage such actions would be just more false hope. There's a cure though-  Trade In!

your definition of 'pimped out' may be a sad example of the majority of what has come to be known as 'ricers' in the community.  everyone here knows what I'm talking about.

1) plenty of cars suck in stock form.

2) upgrade the suspension, and the Jbody handles quite well.  I'm sure if this magazine had the balls to take one on as a project and did some lateral G testing, they would find that out as well.  But since a majority of the cool people who used to have their name on the credits page are no longer working here, I guess average joe tuner is no longer thought of as a target audience.

3) again, try upgrading the suspension.  a stock cavalier is not a great handling car.  a stock civic is not a great handling car.

4) go on a diet

5) I'm not sure what this is aimed at, but obviously more of the ricer mentality.

I have kept up with G35, beat Acura Integra while missing third gear and costing to a 14.3, Focus eat my fumes, mkIII turbo supras are an appetizer before feasting on V6 6 speed tibbys, VW 2.0T GTi, and Celica GT-S, RSX type-slow, and numerous other "superior" imports.  The one time I ran into a Civic Si however, he did prove to be a formidable opponent.

to see my track runs and some other videos of my car to see that what I'm saying isn't *** go to my youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DaFlyinSkwirl

The Jbody may be not the best starting point, but no other import in the same class is much better.  The prejudice against the car by the tuner "common folk" just makes the insult of being beat by one that more enjoyable to us 'lowly' jbody owners.

I'd be willing to bet SCC that My "peice of *** jbody would destroy their sentra SE-R project car in a drag race, and on a road course.  

sorry not that you can't make one fast but i don't think a cavalier is the best place to start. When my integra ls was stock beat my friends modded cavalier by a length.  

Define "modded Cavalier"? Listen I don't see why people have to hate on anyones choice of ride. The fact of the matter is, there is a large group of people who read SCC who want to see this. What damage will it do to feature it and give it some respect. Isn't that the whole point of this? To take a a basic, lite, cheap car and make it more fun? I'm pretty sure it wont take away from the multitude of evos, hondas, subies, and nissans the magazine already features.  

As stated in a thread bashing J-bodys earlier the Cavalier and Sunfire will never get props among tuners of the japenese market.

They have no real clue about the true potential of this car. Most modles (I'm sure of) that they have come across are probably pre-EOCTEC and most likely the lacluster 2.2HV that puts out a whoping 115 at the wheels. I once owned a 01 z24 and when it was stock I was never once beat in ANY race by ANY Honda or Acura of the same class. I've beaten many tibbys with their v6's. AND then once I supercharged it with the GM kit nothing was able to touch me except HIGHLY modified forced induction cars.

Why isn't it a good vehicle to start with. I mean they're cheap to come by with low miles. Most previously owned j-body's were owned by chicks so rarely beat on. The z models handled far better than comparable models in the same class from honda/acura.

The 2.2 Ecotec engine has a vast amount of potential. Check out Hahn Race Craft and what they're producing with their turbo kits.  I'd be more than willing to compare a 03+ Base Cav and 03+ Base Civic mod for mod.

But in the end I wouldn't use a project vehicle that has been dead for three years. I'd go with something relatively new and easily affordable. I'm going the sub-compact route.  

If your going to go with a J-Body project why not go real old school and pick a car that is:

1) extreemly cheap to buy
2) extreemly robust
3) relatively light
4) Came factory with a turbo 4cyl engine

The answer is the 1987 to 1991 Pontiac Sunbird GT or Pontiac Grand Am SE turbo.

The engine is an Opel design... it's like the Chevy 350... runs forever and hard to kill... it's been mass produced all over the world under Opel/Holden/Vauxhall/Pontiac/Passport/Chevrolet/Daewoo/Buick in pretty much every country in the world.

The engine has been around since the early eighties and is still the block of choice for the high end Vauxhall/Opel vehicles such as the Astra VXR

The iron block 2.0L turbo "C20GET" was an 8V engine that featured Mahle forged 8:1 compression pistons.

The factory engine only made 165hp and 175lb ft of torque but that was due to the fact that GM was too cheap to install an intercooler and GM had to tune the ECU to give it a really rich A/F in order to keep the engine safe with the stock 7psi of boost.

Drop in an intercooler and bump the stock T25 turbo to 13psi and you nearly double those numbers power wise.

Sure this iron block 2.0L turbo isn't as popular as the aluminum ecotec in north america but it has a huge aftermarket following in the UK and Europe where it was found in most of the perfomance orientated Opel/Vauxhall vehicles.

Varients of this engine have the potential for an easy 350whp... in fact you can puchase an "off the shelf" C20LET (16V version of the engine found in North america) with 750ps (740 horsepower)from a company in Germany ( www.vmax.de )

There are kits that allow the 16V versions to rev up into the 10K or 12K RPM range depending on your budget.

There are a number of Sunbirds running around with 400+hp that are practically stock...intercooler... extra injectors...bleed valve for the stock 2bar MAP sensor.... race fuel and a few upgrades to the stock transmission and you have a car that pulls into the high 10's or low 11's with slicks.

These old J-Body cars can easily be stripped down into the 2200lb range and there are a number of upgrades available for the engine, tranny and suspension through north american companies like Mantapart and Opel components drop right in so you can get forged connecting rods and pistons here in north america through Import Performance Parts (division of Flatlander racing)

If it were my project.... I'd pick up an 89 Sunbird GT turbo for a couple hundred dollars, drop in an aftermarket clutch, upgrade the MAP to a GM Cyclone 3bar sensor, increase the injector size, drop in a larger T28, drop in a GM Cyclone Walboro fuel pump and crank the boost to 25psi.

For a couple grand you will have a car that will show most modified imports the rear tail lights.  

for all u guys who bash the J...Ignorance must be bliss huh?  well, i mean its not AWD, and doesnt have 300 hp in stock trim so it must be garbage, right?  You cant compare a STi or an EVO to a J.  thats like comparing a Camaro to a J.  Just because they are both "sport compacts" doesnt mean they are in the same class of vehicle.

i would take my ECO sunfire over a Civic EX or whatever everyday of the week and twice on sunday.

Mod for mod a 2003 Sunfire or Cav would take a civic (or comparable).  i mean sure, a 2200 with a 3 speed auto is not a fast car by any stretch...but the ECO and the Quad 4 are kind of a differant story.  i mean how many "sport compact" cars do u know of that can rip second gear with an automatic?  ive never seen one.

frankly...im getting tired of 800hp Supra's and 500hp STi's, and civics that can rev to 10k.....its time to do something differant.  and i think a J is the right choice.  

The beauty of the J-Body is that GM uses a lot of the same parts throughout their different lines of cars. The rear suspension from the Grand Am can be swapped over very easily( to address the handling problems). The solid aluminum A-arms from the Grand Am in '99 are a easy swap as well to allow a lighter, and stiffer front end. The whole knuckle(aluminum) can be swapped to allow the larger brakes to be used from the Monte Carlo and Camaro. There are a lot of possibilities, and they should be explored. SCC should really do a Z24 build up and a Cobalt build up to compare the two motors 2.4l LD9 and Eco.  

Oh my skwirly friend "G35's Supras" now I can see that you're a liar. And for the rest of you J-body lovers. It's clear that you guys have a passion if not an obsession with stupidity. As a matter of fact all that you've pressented "specialy the skwirl guy" is nothing more that trash. I hope now that they do in fact make a project car of the "CRAPALIER" so you see how much its sucks. I guess the title should be "It's a P.O.S. Car, but it's as good as a P.O.S. will ever be."

flyingskwirl. A g35? Try taking on my Z on the circuit, or my favorite a mountain pass (rules. no one goes below 90). I'm not a lawer from Maine or whatever. I'm a 20year old rally grunt Tarmac is notting for me. Lets see if you keep up... Oh and by the way anybody can beat a Tibby its a fact. And don't insult Supras by saying you can beat them that makes me sick. Specially in a crapalier. Sorry for the Hate its just that I want to set things straight.  

I love it when 20yr olds flex their internet muscles! I get a hard on!